When Belle came off the track, she had been consuming about 18 quarts of grain per day. To put that in perspective a horse's stomach is roughly the size of a foot ball. They can only safely fit about 5 quarts in it at a time. Many boarding barns are only willing to feed up to about 8 quarts per day. Race horses routinely get fed a crap load of grain because they are sprinters and use a lot of energy in a short amount of time and grain has a lot of calories. So transitioning horses from what they are fed on the track to what they will be fed as a "normal" horse can sometimes be tricky since their metabolism is used to processing such high quantities.
Belle grew like Jack's bean stalk in the first 2 years. It was so hard to keep weight on her that I would loose sleep over it. She was ribby and had long spider legs, and vibrated ALL THE TIME so she was using all of the 10 quarts of grain I was feeding her, plus some. I tried fat supplements, amino acids, extra other protein and many of the latest and greatest grains out there. She was on a calming supplement at all times because without it she couldn't bare to be in her own skin. I was still struggling to figure out why she wasn't getting stronger, and many trainers would tell me "put more weight on her so she has more to turn into muscle"... well, I would if I could.
Belle grew like Jack's bean stalk in the first 2 years. It was so hard to keep weight on her that I would loose sleep over it. She was ribby and had long spider legs, and vibrated ALL THE TIME so she was using all of the 10 quarts of grain I was feeding her, plus some. I tried fat supplements, amino acids, extra other protein and many of the latest and greatest grains out there. She was on a calming supplement at all times because without it she couldn't bare to be in her own skin. I was still struggling to figure out why she wasn't getting stronger, and many trainers would tell me "put more weight on her so she has more to turn into muscle"... well, I would if I could.
All good horsemen know that the base of a horse's diets should be forage. We do not have access to pasture, so hay it is. Hay is great, if your horse will eat it. The most that I could ever get into Belle was 12 pounds in 24 hours. They say that horses need 15-20% of their weight in forage. So if Belle weighs approximately 1000 pounds, 12 pounds of hay would barely sustain an easy keeper, never mind a hard one. I've tried second cut, I've tried it in a hay bag, I've tried it loose on the ground, it didn't matter. So I resorted to adding hay stretcher, beet pulp, alfalfa cubes, you name it.
We finally got her to a weight that I was ok with. She was still a hot head, and reactive to way more than I'd like. I kept telling her that if she would stop having dramatic outbursts that he could use that energy for good instead of evil. JUST STAND STILL AND GAIN SOME WEIGHT! But we kept plugging along.
I am a researcher. If I want to know about something (like how to make my skinny mare fat) I will stay up far after my bed time reading university studies, scrolling though forums, comparing nutrition facts, etc. I had always thought "wouldn't it be nice to have a horse that could be on zero grain" and "concentrated grains can't be the only option" but I had put all of this effort into getting her to an ok weight... taking her off of grain may totally throw a wrench in things. This past August, we decided to try her on an altrenogest hormone therapy. Her heat cycles didn't seem that bad before, but this year her hormones seemed to be taking her on a bit more of a roller coaster ride and it was tough on both of us. For those of you who don't know- altrenogest suppresses estrus in mares, making her hormones get back in their jail cell and behave themselves. It is an oily liquid consistency and highly hazardous to women. So, while this magic juice did help Belle A LOT, it also is pretty toxic to have to handle each day. So I was back on the web to find a better long term solution.
I found a few mare owners who stated that taking their horse off of all soy made a night and day difference in how reactive they were. I did more research and found that owners with super hot horses had a different, calmer, horse when they took them off of soy and grains. "OK, I've come this far", I said to myself, "might as well dive in"!
We finally got her to a weight that I was ok with. She was still a hot head, and reactive to way more than I'd like. I kept telling her that if she would stop having dramatic outbursts that he could use that energy for good instead of evil. JUST STAND STILL AND GAIN SOME WEIGHT! But we kept plugging along.
I am a researcher. If I want to know about something (like how to make my skinny mare fat) I will stay up far after my bed time reading university studies, scrolling though forums, comparing nutrition facts, etc. I had always thought "wouldn't it be nice to have a horse that could be on zero grain" and "concentrated grains can't be the only option" but I had put all of this effort into getting her to an ok weight... taking her off of grain may totally throw a wrench in things. This past August, we decided to try her on an altrenogest hormone therapy. Her heat cycles didn't seem that bad before, but this year her hormones seemed to be taking her on a bit more of a roller coaster ride and it was tough on both of us. For those of you who don't know- altrenogest suppresses estrus in mares, making her hormones get back in their jail cell and behave themselves. It is an oily liquid consistency and highly hazardous to women. So, while this magic juice did help Belle A LOT, it also is pretty toxic to have to handle each day. So I was back on the web to find a better long term solution.
I found a few mare owners who stated that taking their horse off of all soy made a night and day difference in how reactive they were. I did more research and found that owners with super hot horses had a different, calmer, horse when they took them off of soy and grains. "OK, I've come this far", I said to myself, "might as well dive in"!
Why no soy? Soy has phytoestrogens called isoflavones. Phytoestrogens are compounds found in plants that are chemically similar to the hormone estrogen. So, when you're trying to control the naughty estrogen already in your mare's body... adding more may tip her over the edge. Just about every grain company out there uses soy as one of the top ingredients. It is a good, cheap source of protein and easy to mix with other ingredients.
Why no grain? Many of the grains that are fed to horses are high in sugar and non structural carbohydrates (NSC). The type and amount of sugar can create insulin resistance or sugar highs and lows. Horses are created to digest structural carbohydrates, like grass, with their hind gut. When you feed them NSCs, they rely on their foregut to digest it all and if it passes to the hind gut without being completely broken down it can cause all kinds of issues.
We feed grain to horses who are working in order to support the extra protein, fat, calories and minerals their bodies need. So I needed to find a way to replace the minerals and vitamins, and provide extra calories, fat, and protein. Many grain companies make a ration balancer to help add vitamins and minerals to a diet that doesn't need a lot of grain (ponies!!) BUT most ration balancers have soy as the binding ingredient. So, I did more research and finally found a company that creates a soy free balancer! (I ultimately went with their High Point instead of Fuel) Replacing the calories fed in grain is much easier, I decided to feed a mixture of beet pulp and alfalfa pellets. Replacing the fat is easy too, I decided to use ground flax seed, which also offers a good amount of extra protein and a few other vitamins including extra E.
Why no grain? Many of the grains that are fed to horses are high in sugar and non structural carbohydrates (NSC). The type and amount of sugar can create insulin resistance or sugar highs and lows. Horses are created to digest structural carbohydrates, like grass, with their hind gut. When you feed them NSCs, they rely on their foregut to digest it all and if it passes to the hind gut without being completely broken down it can cause all kinds of issues.
We feed grain to horses who are working in order to support the extra protein, fat, calories and minerals their bodies need. So I needed to find a way to replace the minerals and vitamins, and provide extra calories, fat, and protein. Many grain companies make a ration balancer to help add vitamins and minerals to a diet that doesn't need a lot of grain (ponies!!) BUT most ration balancers have soy as the binding ingredient. So, I did more research and finally found a company that creates a soy free balancer! (I ultimately went with their High Point instead of Fuel) Replacing the calories fed in grain is much easier, I decided to feed a mixture of beet pulp and alfalfa pellets. Replacing the fat is easy too, I decided to use ground flax seed, which also offers a good amount of extra protein and a few other vitamins including extra E.
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I slowly transitioned Belle to her new diet over the course of 3 weeks. After 2, I already noticed a difference. After completely switching her, I had a new horse. She wasn't vibrating out of her own skin, she wasn't over reacting to sounds or being spooky, she was leading to and from the paddock like a gem and overall she just started to be a peach to be around! Not only was she calm, cool and collected.... she was EATING!!! She couldn't wait for her next meal and was finishing all of her hay. She has kept her weight and I'm hoping to have her gaining more now that she will happily eat whatever is put in front of her.
I have a pony mare that came here in the Fall. She's a cutie and mostly red ;) but had been out of work for a while and just seemed amped up more than she'd like to be. I had hoped that after she got into the routine that she would settle, but it never really happened. I had tried a full horse size dose of two different calming supplements and they barely made a dent. After two weeks off of grains and soy my kids were asking "what did you do with Maybel?!" She seems to be so much happier in her own skin which makes her much easier to use, and that means I can use her more and she is loving it.
I have two more mares at the farm that struggle with their heat cycles, a horse who cribs and is chronically ulcery, another horse very prone to ulcers, and one who could use a little less energy to use for evil. So, I'm becoming one of "those" barns that is crunchy like granola and doesn't feed her horses fast food. I'm still in the process of transitioning most of them to their new diet and will be keeping a very close, skeptical, eye on everyone's weight and condition but for now I'm sold. When you have a red mare it pays to go back to the basics of nutrition.
I have a pony mare that came here in the Fall. She's a cutie and mostly red ;) but had been out of work for a while and just seemed amped up more than she'd like to be. I had hoped that after she got into the routine that she would settle, but it never really happened. I had tried a full horse size dose of two different calming supplements and they barely made a dent. After two weeks off of grains and soy my kids were asking "what did you do with Maybel?!" She seems to be so much happier in her own skin which makes her much easier to use, and that means I can use her more and she is loving it.
I have two more mares at the farm that struggle with their heat cycles, a horse who cribs and is chronically ulcery, another horse very prone to ulcers, and one who could use a little less energy to use for evil. So, I'm becoming one of "those" barns that is crunchy like granola and doesn't feed her horses fast food. I'm still in the process of transitioning most of them to their new diet and will be keeping a very close, skeptical, eye on everyone's weight and condition but for now I'm sold. When you have a red mare it pays to go back to the basics of nutrition.
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