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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 449
 
| Anyone feed this? Looking at it for a very easy keeper. Thanks!! |
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 Expert
Posts: 5293
| For easy keeper, any keeper for that matter I would go back to all natural diet . Whole oats. Anything processed with synthetic vitamins etc is not good for the horse.
Edited by FLITASTIC 2015-09-21 4:49 PM
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
 
Location: Florida.. | I personally dont like safe choice |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 415
| Following, within the last two months I bought two bags for my extremely fat mares and I would also love ideas on what to feed. We feed all of our other horses strategy, and have always fed these two Enrich 32 (now Enrich Plus) just for the vitamins but I am always open to learning!
Edited to add: I wanted something cheaper and specifically meant for horses that are overweight to prevent any insulin related problems, especially in my 23 year old Arab cross. I will say she got unusually fluffy this year (MN) because usually it takes her a while and she doesn't grow much hair. This was her first year being retired and the only change in her normal routine was the change to Safe Choice. I am thinking about getting her sugar levels checked though just to be sure and possibly for cushings which I hope to God she doesn't have! No other symptoms so far though.
Edited by cheeka77 2015-09-22 12:41 AM
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Member
Posts: 39
| I feed safe choice special care to my 30+ year old pony. He loves it, and it helps keep down the sugar and carb levels since he has Cushings, and has foundered before. It also helped him lose some much needed weight. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | I have always wondered why anyone would feed a concentrate to a really easy keeper, and why there are products even for them?
Why not just feed hay and no grain? By definition, you don't need a concentrate, they are for getting more calories into a horse and these products are a bit of a scam.
Bottom line, feed hay and a vitamin/mineral. Your horse will be much better off. A horse's "only" need for a grain is extra calories.
Edited by Tdove 2015-09-22 9:16 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | If you look at the ingredient list, any quality hay is better for them than Safechoice Special Care:
Wheat Middlings
Soybean Hulls
Rice Bran
Rice Hulls
Cottonseed meal
Alfalfa meal
Soybean oil
Cane molasses
De hulled soybean meal
Personally, I would run from this product. Cottonseed meal should never be in a horse feed, in my opinion! Several of the other ingredients are not great either.
Also, another point. This is a low calorie concentrate with a lot of junk filler. I find it interesting that the first two ingredients are the exact same as grain marketed as super calorie dense, high end products, like Purina Ultium and many others. What does that tell you about them? It does not give me much confidence in any of it.
Edited by Tdove 2015-09-22 2:00 PM
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 Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | This feed is processed diet food for horses, comparable to rice cakes for people... There's no substance and is only useful if you want something to feed them so that they feel like they are getting something.
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| Bibliafarm - 2015-09-21 10:15 PM I personally dont like safe choice
Ditto, years ago when I fed grain I fed Safe Choice and found from bag to bag to be very inconsistent, horses would refuse to eat it sometimes. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | rachellyn80 - 2015-09-22 8:38 AM
This feed is processed diet food for horses, comparable to rice cakes for people... There's no substance and is only useful if you want something to feed them so that they feel like they are getting something.
Exactly, fill them up with a good quality grass hay. A much more natural and healthier filler, than ground cottonseed meal, soybean hulls, and rice hulls. Concentrates are not useful at all in the manner that this product is marketed to. I try to be open minded and realize there are many ways to feed a horse well. But this is only a marketing attempt, by Safechoice, to con you into feeding grain, by tapping into the horse owner's misconception that all horses need grain. The ingredient list looks more like a cattle feed than a horse feed. I would also be concerned with contamination in the cottonseed meal, as this is a major component in cattle feeds and range cubes. Rachel, is this concern justified?
Edited by Tdove 2015-09-22 9:28 AM
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Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | rachellyn80 - 2015-09-22 9:38 AM This feed is processed diet food for horses, comparable to rice cakes for people... There's no substance and is only useful if you want something to feed them so that they feel like they are getting something.
This is exactly right. if you want horse to feel like its eating because there is no nutritional value or substance to this grain.. Personally id give her lil oats and good hay. |
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Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | Tdove - 2015-09-22 9:26 AM rachellyn80 - 2015-09-22 8:38 AM This feed is processed diet food for horses, comparable to rice cakes for people... There's no substance and is only useful if you want something to feed them so that they feel like they are getting something.
Exactly, fill them up with a good quality grass hay. A much more natural and healthier filler, than ground cottonseed meal, soybean hulls, and rice hulls. Concentrates are not useful at all in the manner that this product is marketed to. I try to be open minded and realize there are many ways to feed a horse well. But this is only a marketing attempt, by Safechoice, to con you into feeding grain, by tapping into the horse owner's misconception that all horses need grain. The ingredient list looks more like a cattle feed than a horse feed. I would also be concerned with contamination in the cottonseed meal, as this is a major component in cattle feeds and range cubes. Rachel, is this concern justified?
That was exactly what I thought when I saw the list. It looks like variable leftovers that will create a pellet that will meet the guaranteed analysis at an extremely low cost. Then they market it to people in a way that makes them think that it's been created to be a safe alternative to other concentrates.........when there is no rule in life that says that you have to feed horses concentrates at all. Be thankful for an easy keeper and save yourself some money!
The way that Nutrena was answering my questions when I contacted them about their facilities and medicated feeds did not give me a good feeling. They were not upfront about their facts and would not answer questions directly. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 449
| Thank you to everyone who answered my question!! It certainly helped make my mind up about that feed!! After some more research and talking with some others, I have decided to go with whole oats, mainly something to mix in her supplement. Hoping to get good results from this and good hay!! Thank you all again!! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 415
| Yes, very good replies! Thanks MObrlrcr for posting it! I guess we always just used a little of these types of grain because we wanted to have the horses to have an incentive to come in the barn at night and have a treat and being that it was marketed to fat horses I thought it would be a great idea. I can see how if maybe you had an insulin resistant horse that couldn't have a lot of hay (say if yours was really rich) it would work better.
Any ideas on what to give as a "treat" then? My fat horses would NOT be happy if they have to watch the others eat LOL!
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SafeChoice Special Care