This was great, I love seeing people with a platform such as yourself advocating for a simpler, more natural diet, it could be beneficial to so many horses out there. I've stripped my horses diet back to grass nuts, chaff, balancer and linseed almost a year ago and it's the best he's felt and looked in a while
It's so great to hear you talk so sensibly about feeding, I do worry about all the poor horses out there off their brains on competition mix because they do a prelim test once a month 🤣. I know you have been struggling with RU-vid recently but I think your videos are real gems, please keep going!
I do not own horse, I was rididng some in the past. The thing is I love to hear what you are telling about those beautiful creatures. I really do! Kisses!
Loved it! So glad that you care so much to give them only what they actually need. Also, happy to hear that they can basically free graze on either grass or hay 24/7, as they would in nature. They produce 2 big buckets of gastric acid per day! So for those feeding only once a day, please research more - no wonder so many 🐴 develop ulcers. Great explanation!
I was one of the ones that suggested this on instagram. Thank you for this!! I'm in Florida and I feed exactly the same way. Only what each horse NEEDS.
You are my absolute favorite RU-vidr. I love your videos!! If more trainers had your philosophies I genuinely feel we would have far more happy horses and riders.
Oooohhh do love me a feed vlog! I have the Weatherbeeta Therapy Tec fleece for my lad and he loves it - he moves so much better and is much happier when ridden too :) Love Obi and his mango bless him ❤️
@Hackett Equine - with regards to the spirulina what benefits have you found from using it? My lad has COPD and also age is catching up with him in regards to his joints, so would it be of benefit do you think? He is a fussy monkey and will refuse feed so do you find it is palatable too? :)
Love this ! Ad lib grass or hay is so important . I had my gelding on agistment and he was in a small paddock and I kept requesting more hay and they basically refused . He ended up bucking under saddle etc I assume due to ulcers . I now have him home with me . Although no facilities he is sooo much happier in a big grassy 2 acres to himself with all the grass he can eat . He gets a small feed of lucerne pellets and some supplements . The agistment place basically labeled my horse as a problem horse lol and he’s the most sweet horse ever . So nutrition definitely makes a difference and ad lib is so important can’t say it enough
Really loved this very good chat about feed. Only just found you so I'm a year late. ! I've known 2 horses allergic to linseed..came out in hives ..so changed them onto sunflower oil. Also I've noticed that linseed can go off in dog kibble and gives a sour smell. Used to boil barley and soak sugar beet years ago.
I always love learning about feed! My cob gets a lite balancer, and some zero chaff. And then a gut cookie & seaweed. I used to be one of them that would feed a bundle of stuff, but I stripped it right back. When he was in heavy work I would add pink mash too!
I live in Florida US and I feed very similarly to you, primarily hay with a good ration balancer, soaked beet pulp, ground flax seed (linseed), salt and supplements based on the needs of each individual horse.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU ALL CHECK OUT FEEDXL. There is a website program called FeedXL it was created by a team of vets and equine nutritionists and its specifically designed to take the guesswork out of creating a balanced diet and worrying about deficiencies (or overdosing), you just input the feed that you give your horse- like hay, pellets, supplements, how much time it spends eating grass, etc- and then it gives you a breakdown of the nutrition. So you can work out if your horse is deficient in anything or if you're overfeeding them something like crude protein for example. The majority of horses have deficiencies or overfeeding of certain things in their diet which can cause them to have gut issues/behavioural issues or general lack of performance. Here in Australia for example we have very little iodine in the soils/grass/hays so by putting that info in the program it lets you know how many MG of iodine you need to add to the diet for the horse to have its recommended daily intake requirement met.
Hi Miri! Have you ever tried Farnam's 'Rain Maker' hoof treatment? I had an OTTB with OK hooves, but not great. During really dry, or even wet months - I brushed on almost daily, made a huge difference. The Farrier was shocked & impressed because he always had used almost a hoof (nail) varnish, like a clear coat. It was not good for him. I finally went opposite & did a moisturizing trial. I used Rain Maker & it worked miracles. Instead of chipping, the hoof was more flexible & stopped chipping completely! It's kind of like using 'Barielle' moisturizer for human nails! Barielle was modified from a moisturizer French grooms were using on their horse's hooves & noticed their own nails grew faster, stronger & stopped breaking. Esp. good in summer if they stomp during fly season. PS: No - I don't work for Rain Maker or Barielle 😁
Thank you for the feed vlog. Loved it really useful, and the massage tips. I'm very interested in the green stuff for allergies. I found it on amazon. My mare gets itchy etc. I got the batonic cream you talked about and that has helped her a lot. She is on no turn out because is recovering from a injury and has arthritis in one knee. She is slowly coming back to work now. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I love these informative and interesting videos 👌🏻! So interesting to see and hear about what other people feed their horses and their philosophy on feed 🌟.
I have a 14.1 native who has Asthma I have just discovered pink mash which he gets fed and loves I add boswellia for his joints and zero chaff just give him something to chew in his mash Will look at adding spirulina for his asthma 👌
couldn’t agree more too many people add so much stuff into their horses feed which is to no benefit to them! and also end up getting so much when most horses don’t need necessarily need as much as they get hard feed wise
PS Miri: did you ask for some music suggestions for your dressage competitions? I hope so ( otherwise ignore this 🙃) Artist - Bob James, from his album: Three, it's called 'Westchester Lady' - if spliced correctly it would be magnificent as Zora progresses!
Very informative for me my geldings 20 this year and is quite the fussy eater so finding feeds he likes and one that serves his needs is brilliant, premier performance's calming cokies/powder have been amazing for him he can be quite nervous hacking/off the yard as I compete veteran dressage with him the supplement has been amazing for him.
I love these feeding videos! I am giving my mare spirulina and she is bulking up so much muscle! I am going to have a closer look at her feed and see if I can switch anything. Thanks a lot, Miri!
Absolutely love the way you feed, natural and simple which is what I'm trying to do with my boy. If you get time, i would love to have a chat with you and see what you would recommend/ change with my boy
Fabulous vlog, thank you. Would you mind going through how much you feed to each of your horses and costs of bags/ hay/ supplements etc just to help give an idea of budgeting (although I fully acknowledge it’ll vary depending on the horse being fed!) xx
This was so informative! Super interesting to hear about the benefits of the spirulina, my horse was diagnosed with asthma this winter and I have been in a vicious cycle of expensive respiratory supplements that don’t seem to be helping :( amazon order placed for that and some Himalayan salts :) thanks Miri xx
Love this video!!! I also try to keep things as simple as possible. I will definitely be looking a spirulina for allergies in the future :) Thanks heaps
I always worry that I won’t be feeding vitamins and minerals they need so currently feed a balancer although appreciate what you’re saying regarding them! How do you cover this basis? Would love to strip my feeds back to basics
Wowww I wish my livery yard owner was this conscious about feeding! All the horses in my yard get the same, Equerry conditioning mash mixed with bluegrass horse and pony mix. And haylage, again wish it was ad lib. I always give them haylage if they've none when I'm up there but I can't always be there to control the diet
Thanks for sharing Miri! Can you feed any spirulina powder to horses, or does it have to be a specific horse blend? I think it would really help my guy, but everything I'm finding in the USA is for vegan smoothies and stuff lol, but it looks the same as the Seven Hills brand. Thanks!
hallo lovely, i like how pragmatic and down to earth you are. also appreciate the consideration you give to the animals, enjoyed the training videos and your kindness to both animal and rider! after watching the feeding videos i want to start going that direction for my F 18 year old cushings/lamenitic pony. the main complication is i live in california (which really makes the terminology confusing, no one seems to know what "chaff" is). the feed in the US is atrocious and i think is mostly what's lead to her health problems. instinctfully i started manually cutting her feeding time hay and even added straw which has helped with her tendency to colic, i really had to nurse her this last end of summer (seasons really effect her). I am on the hunt trying desperately to get Dengie Healthy Hoof out here and found a couple (shady) dealers, one is $95, just not sure i can trust them. Anyhoo my main question is can you make a video on which hays you use (we have her on alfalfa, orchard, bermuda grass) as well as the cut (1st, 2nd, etc.) This year she was mostly on orchard but that was an early cut (looked like alfalfa/lucerne) and this cut looks like grass and she's barely eating it. Considering what a large part of the horses diet hay is, it would be a tremendous help to get some solid advice on it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. 🤠
Suregrow is a balancer ? So for kenco a welshie do gooder. What do you feed her with her chaff. I use the same chaff as you non mollassed healthy hooves.. With Forage plus winter hoof and skin.vit min powder. FP has pure vits and mins linseed and hoof supplement.pony Only 5 still growing.so i know pony is getting all vits she needs. As hay not analysed....she is barefoot. Hooves amazing on FP. Miri. Xxx
Any advice for my feed? I have a good doer who gets FAT in the spring if not tightly controlled but needs more energy- she’s on a handful basic chaff and a nutrient balancer designed for overweight horses xxx Loved the video!! Really interesting. Xx
Hi I was looking on Amazon for the boswellia , not sure that I spelled that right. You feed it to Mo for inflammation. I Have an older mare I would like to try it on. Which one is it?
I have recently got a new mare who seems to have a terrible bout of ulcers ( I think acquired through stress of travel (sea) to arrive at my place), as apparently she's never had a problem before. She has BAD scouring, but apart from that no other clear symptoms. Have you had any experience with anything like this? On a no grain diet, plenty of plain hay and also ulcer meds, but no improvements yet. Any recommendations feed wise or other?
Is haylage bad for horses with ulcers? If so why? My horse was diagnosed with glandular ulcers 2 years ago and the vets never gave me much nutritional info. He is currently fed a mix of hay/haylage, graze on and an ulcer supplement x
Always appreciate your approach. And also will have to look into trying the split peas for my mare. She's also a big cobby type (not quite as big as Obi) and doesn't really keep energy up in the heat of the summer. I feed her a pretty simple diet, just a cup of alfalfa and a balancer twice a day. Just one question, as I'm in the US, are pony nuts what we call hay stretcher? Anyone know haha
Pink mash is a new one to me but it looks fabulous. What's your opinion on feeding oats? I was taught by a very old school BHS instructor who had the same philosophy as you but she based her horses' diet around as much good hay as they'd eat, rolled, soaked oats, (old fashioned - it was twenty years ago) sugar beet and linseed. She was also a huge advocate for horses getting some grass each day, even if you just walked them out to graze.
There are benefits to oats but also troubles such as too much energy so negative behaviours. You also have to feed huge quantities of oats for the nutritional benefits which I don’t feel is very practical. We have come along way since those days and many modern feeds have been developed in place of feeding straights.
Great video, love looking around feed rooms haha! I have a question about the suregrow as I feed it to my rising 2 year old also, how long will you feed it to the youngsters before you move on to a more 'adult' feed? I believe on the bag it says weaning - 2years and have been wondering when or what to feed instead after summer when mines 2 🤔
I love your feed videos. I stripped my ponies feed right back to the basics since watching your videos (since the original feed video you did). He now only gets half a scoop of thunderbrooks healthy herbal chaff (highly recommend) and boswellia, as he has arthritis. I’m tempted to put him back on the 4cyte, which I saw in the background, is that something you use or is it for one of the liveries?
They actually don’t get nets but just piles of hay when needed, and the same in the field. We hay them twice per day at the moment in the winter but most of the time they are eating plenty of grass
Hi Miri, do you ever get horses in that have intolerances? I have a Welsh who cannot have alfalfa and I struggle to find alfalfa free feeds. What would you recommend to start with ? (Currently feeding the Pure easy complete feed)
Hi yes we have had, I have used an Agrobs chaff for one that was alfalfa intolerant equally if he is happy on what you have then no reason to change necessarily
Probably totally different here in Australia where my ex racehorse horse is on pasture 24/7. We feed mostly oaten hay which is high in sugar but it's hard to get good quality grass hay. I was thinking of putting her on speedibeet instead of a processed pellet. Do you think that's enough?
Very hard to comment as I don’t know enough about what you are already feeding. I would chat to an independent nutritionist in Australia that is Experienced with your hay etc xx
Unless you have a specific concern, with adequate forage and turn out along with salt and a basic diet is for me enough. If I felt a horse was deficient I would look into speaking with the vet
There is a website program called FeedXL that was created by a team of vets and equine nutritionists and its specifically designed to take the guesswork out of creating a balanced diet and worrying about deficiencies (or overdosing), you just input the feed that you give your horse- like hay, pellets, supplements, how much time it spends eating grass, etc- and then it gives you a breakdown of the nutrition. So you can work out if your horse is deficient in anything or if you're overfeeding them something like crude protein for example. The majority of horses have deficiencies or overfeeding of certain things in their diet which can cause them to have gut issues/behavioural issues or general lack of performance. Here in Australia for example we have very little iodine in the soils/grass/hays so by putting that info in the program it lets you know how many MG of iodine you need to add to the diet for the horse to have its recommended daily intake requirement met.
Please can we do an updated meet my horses and it was very informative because as horse owners you think you are doing the best but you just don’t look into the feed you are feeding because you think it is feed how can that make them behave in funny ways yes you are told not to feed oat if your horse does not need extra energy etc but you don’t think of the other things can sometimes stem from the feed you are feeding so very interesting thank you
My horse has had a cough for almost a year now, We have tried soaking his hay, hay fever tablets, we’ve had him checked by a vet and he said try supplements, nothing had worked. Would you suggest spirulina?
Have you had him on medication from the vet? It sounds like it could be more serious if he has been coughing for a year. I would seek a second opinion from a different vet?
I have published many many videos on just this over on my Patreon page. Let me know if you would like the link, it’s like RU-vid but with a small subscription fee of £5 per month
Linseeds in these small amounts won’t do much in the way of weight gain, but they will benefit shine and gut health. You have got to be careful with feeding larger quantities though, cause uncooked (!) they become toxic to any organism if too much is ingested. 100/150g for a 500kg horse is perfectly fine though:)
It’s to do with it being long stranded so when it’s digested it can cause build up of gas in the hind gut. Some is better that others but I chose to avoid it x
Any supplement that has marine derived Omega 3. If you want any information about it, I highly recommend looking at Kentucky Equine Research’s library of articles :)
If you have specific concerns regarding the immune system I would recommend speaking to your vet. Premier performance also do a multi vitamin supplement that has a great range of vitamins for overall immune support ☺️
Thanks so much for your video so interesting to learn what others are feeding especially in other countries! I have found from so much trial and error with my boy that it is so up to the individual horse. I found out he has intolerances to certain feeds (soy, lupins and copra - go figure all ingredients often used in ‘grain free’ feeds). He also didn’t do well (put on no weight and seem to have constant ulcer like symptoms despite medication and supplements) on a high fibre grain free based feed (speedibeet - with supplements and oil) recommended by an independent nutritionist. I also think the volume of feed (being soaked speedibeet), despite its dry weight, was far too much which could have contributed to his upset stomach. The mash almost removed chewing and therefore saliva production that is so important for buffering stomach acid. Whatever the reason, he is now back to a canola meal and extruded barley cubed complete feed with probiotics and yeasts for digestion, designed for older horses, and is doing brilliantly. There is really interesting research on whether starch is the absolute enemy and really it comes down to (as was said in the video) gut bacteria balance feedxl.com/starch-ulcers-whats-the-deal/. Again though it all depends on the individual horse. I ended up using the FeedXL calculator and their research database to understand scientifically what I was feeding and needed to feed instead feedxl.com. I think anyone have feeding troubles should use this calculator to see exactly what their horse is getting, getting too much of and not getting. It has nutrient analyses of thousands of horse feeds and supplements. The site also has a tonne of scientifically based articles that you can use. Im not a sponsor I just want other horse owners to find a feed that finally works like I did that is evidence based and not have to use the hundreds of conflicting pieces of information out there! 😊.have found from so much trial and error with my boy that it is so up to the individual horse. I found out he has intolerances to certain feeds (soy, lupins and copra - go figure all ingredients often used in ‘grain free’ feeds). He also didn’t do well (put on no weight and seem to have constant ulcer like symptoms despite medication and supplements) on a high fibre grain free based feed (speedibeet - with supplements and oil) recommended by an independent nutritionist. I also think the volume of feed (being soaked speedibeet), despite its dry weight, was far too much which could have contributed to his upset stomach. The mash almost removed chewing and therefore saliva production that is so important for buffering stomach acid. Whatever the reason, he is now back to a canola meal and extruded barley cubed complete feed with probiotics and yeasts for digestion, designed for older horses, and is doing brilliantly. There is really interesting research on whether starch is the absolute enemy and really it comes down to (as was said in the video) gut bacteria balance feedxl.com/starch-ulcers-whats-the-deal/. Again though it all depends on the individual horse. I ended up using the FeedXL calculator and their research database to understand scientifically what I was feeding and needed to feed instead feedxl.com. I think anyone have feeding troubles should use this calculator to see exactly what their horse is getting and not getting. It has nutrient analyses of thousands of horse feeds and supplements. The site also has a tonne of scientifically based articles that you can use. Im not a sponsor I just want other horse owners to find a feed that finally works like I did that is evidence based and not have to use the hundreds of conflicting pieces of information out there! 😊.
