What my own ponies eat, as of July 2008
I used to make my own custom mineral supplements from bags of straight minerals like magnesium oxide and copper sulfate. It takes some math expertise and time, and requires experimenting with various carriers to cover the taste, but it is less expensive if you want to go that route. When I traveled, I had to measure out lots of this and that in little tubs so other people who are in hurry can do it easy. Now I am happy to say that ADM Alliance and Foxden Equine are supplying me with supplements that make it very easy to feed my insulin resistant ponies the minerals they need in a palatable form that does not require soaking up buckets of mush to hide nasty tasting powders. They eat StaySTRONG Metabolic Mineral Pellets and Quiessence all alone. A scoop of this and that and it's done. It's so simple, even a non-horsey husband can do it! These are products I have recommended for a long time, and I am happy to endorse them and feed them to my own ponies. Guiness Kaliber, born 1996, 14.1 H is Kelcie's daughter by Foxglove Farm's Killians Red, a Connemara. She also gets 3/4 lbs of StaySTRONG Metabolic Mineral Pellets and 4 oz of Quiessence. When I took her off a fortified Junior feed as a fat 2 YO, I really messed up and let her get so deficient in copper and zinc that as a 4 YO, her hair coat was dry, bleached and dull, with little fishhook ends. Her first founder was that winter , at 4 1/2 YO. Since I got her trace minerals corrected, her hair coat is soft and gleaming without soap or shine in a bottle. In winter, people say their hair looks and feels like mink coats; soft and shiny.
StaySTRONG Metabolic Mineral Pellets have a hefty dose of copper and zinc, plus selenium, Vit E,Vit A and yeast to help with fiber fermentation. It's concentrated so you don't need to feed much. The soy hull carrier is high in pectin and low in sugar. Even Kelcie, my fussy eater considers the apple flavoring good enough for treats. To find a dealer, call
800 680-8254 or email:
AN_equinehelp@admworld.comMagnesium and chromium are the most important ingredients in any supplement targeted for insulin resistant horses. This bananna flavored pellet is tasty enough that some horses will eat it plain. I had to mix with a handful to alfalfa mush for a week to get mine used to it, but then they ate it fine plain.
Both these ponies can eat about 2-3 hours of carefully managed pasture early in the morning during summer months, and mid to late winter. They do not graze spring or fall when the sugar levels in grass peak. . The rest of their diet is blue gramma hay (native, C4 grass) that is 8 % protein and 8% dm NSC. When off pasture, they eat from 22 to 25 lbs of hay per da, so they are far from feeling deprived, yet have a hint of rib showing, just the way I like. I know it's really difficult sometimes to find hay low enough in sugar for horses with insulin resistnce, but when you find the right kind of hay, they can eat nearly free choice if exercised. Frequent feeding of low NSC hay is far preferable than limited amounts of higher sugar hay.
During winter, when there is no green grass, I add 3 oz of freshly ground flax seed for omega-3 fatty acids, and add some anti-oxidant vitamins (E, A, C) because I am feeding 2 year old hay. Kelcie is on thryroid and arthritis supplements, so she gets a handful of soaked alfalfa cubes mixed in to make them stick.
Hay, and a pound of mixed ADM metabolic Pellets and Quiessence is my basic diet now. Thanks, this is so easy!
