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Expert
Posts: 1611
  
| Those who feed oats. What kind do you feed? Where do you get them and around what prices? What do you feed to balance everything out? Any and all info about Oats would be appreciated Thanks! | |
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Veteran
Posts: 294
| I feed whole oats with equipride and timothy hay. | |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| Guiness - 2014-10-14 11:11 AM
I feed whole oats with equipride and timothy hay.
How many lbs of oats do you feed a day? | |
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Veteran
Posts: 294
| I feed 2-4 lbs per day depending on body condition. I add equipride and Cocoasoya because he isnt thrilled with the taste of equipride. | |
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 Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| Roughly 2lbs a day of steamed rolled oats with renew gold and alfalfa pellets. Ive heard and read both sides of the spectrum when it comes to feeding oats. I believe in moderation they are beneficial. The only proof I have of them being beneficial is how my horses look act and feel. Seems to fit into my program well. | |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| want2chase3 - 2014-10-14 12:21 PM
Roughly 2lbs a day of steamed rolled oats with renew gold and alfalfa pellets. Ive heard and read both sides of the spectrum when it comes to feeding oats. I believe in moderation they are beneficial. The only proof I have of them being beneficial is how my horses look act and feel. Seems to fit into my program well.
Why rolled and steamed oats? Educate me please because I don't know the difference between them. | |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 823
Location: East Texas | lol...this post reminds me of the guy on FB that is always talking about the difference in ropers and barrel racers.
We feed oats daily and have had no problems.
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Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| astreakinchic - 2014-10-14 11:35 AM
want2chase3 - 2014-10-14 12:21 PM
Roughly 2lbs a day of steamed rolled oats with renew gold and alfalfa pellets. Ive heard and read both sides of the spectrum when it comes to feeding oats. I believe in moderation they are beneficial. The only proof I have of them being beneficial is how my horses look act and feel. Seems to fit into my program well.
Why rolled and steamed oats? Educate me please because I don't know the difference between them.
Well to be honest I dont know much about the difference in rolled steamed and whole or crimped.. other than the obvious. I fed whole oats a while and when we ran out sent hubby to the feed store and he came back with rolled steamed oats so im just sticking to those . Reads on the sack its more digestible than whole oats because of the processing. | |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| CrossDRanch - 2014-10-14 12:36 PM
lol...this post reminds me of the guy on FB that is always talking about the difference in ropers and barrel racers.
We feed oats daily and have had no problems.
Gah I hope your not comparing me to Corbin LOL
I'm just getting frustrated with the inconstitant quality of feeds in my area and the extremely high prices of ones like renew gold or TC. Looking for an alternative but I never really paid attention to any oat discussions on here on anywhere before LOL | |
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 Big Gun
Posts: 2216
Location: Texas | astreakinchic - 2014-10-14 12:37 PM CrossDRanch - 2014-10-14 12:36 PM lol...this post reminds me of the guy on FB that is always talking about the difference in ropers and barrel racers. We feed oats daily and have had no problems. Gah I hope your not comparing me to Corbin LOL I'm just getting frustrated with the inconstitant quality of feeds in my area and the extremely high prices of ones like renew gold or TC. Looking for an alternative but I never really paid attention to any oat discussions on here on anywhere before LOL
I have been feeding whole oats for many years and have no ulcer problems and just feed him about 3 cups 2xs a day and he is still fat and he only gets a little bit of pasture grass during. Once I took one horse off of oats to try something different and he started bleeding, put him back on oats and he stopped. I had him scoped to make sure he wasn't bleeding.only thing you do have to feed some type of vit.min. Suppliment if they arent getting quality grass hay and during the winter. Right now I'm giving plat. Perf. CJ and I may have to switch back to 707 daily essentials because his hooves are in bad shape and he just doesn't look as well. I only keep 1 or. 2 horses at a time, but I can also say I have never had a horse to colic or tie up on oats. Oats are a natural feed and what you see us what you get and you can't say that about processed feeds | |
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Boot Detective
Posts: 1900
| There is so much opposing information out there, I'm convinced none of it is the absolute truth. I think some horses are prone to ulcers and some are not and the feed doesn't make much difference. I grew up on a large ranch and all we fed our horses was oats. Those horses worked long days roping and doing cattle work all week and then rodeo on the weekends and we never had a colic, really never had anything that didn't stay mud fat. I have tried so many expensive feeds and still been disappointed at how some horses have looked while on those expensive ones. I recently bought a "dry-mix" horse ration made by Martindale Feeds. It is oats, cracked corn, and has some pellets. No syrup in it. My picky eater loves this stuff and has bloomed out and dappled out. I put a few more on it and got the same results. One colt that came here about 3 months ago has looked like crap the whole time (40-50 lbs underweight). After being on the dry mix for a week, he put on the weight, dappled out, and looks awesome. I do feed alfalfa hay once a day and top dress with a vitamin supplement. It seems to be working for me AND they feel better. | |
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Expert
Posts: 1314
Location: North Central Iowa Land of white frozen grass | I feed whole oats, cracked corn, beet pulp, horse mineral, salt, soybean meal, and soy oil all mixed and bagged at the local feed mill for me. Cost me about $ 9.00 a 50 lb. bag. They get 3 pounds morning and night of the mixture. They are on a grass hay, alfalfa mixture round bale 24/7. They are also on a 14 % protein lick tub. My horses are outside and they don't even have a building to get in. I have never had a sick horse in 20 years. Horses need to have forage in front of them 24/7 for them to be healthy and not live in a building for them to be mentally normal. I know I will get flamed for this coment. I don't think that you should feed a lot of proccessed feed. | |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Oats is high in NSC, it can be compared to giving children candy
Yes there have been studies that have shown oats exacerbates ulcers due to the fermentation process and the shift in ph in the hind gut. Oats alone won't cause ulcers, the horse needs to have other factors as well such as limited forage (only being fed twice/day), and stress are two examples.
There is the sugar rush, then the sugar low, I always had a hard time timing it perfectly.
Excess oats can cause a horse to founder, a horse with Pssm or cushings are more prone to founder on oats then a horse not. I personally never had a horse founder on oats alone, but my neighbours had two get into the grain bin one had to be euthanized due to founder. My aunt has a pony he will founder on oats or even grass if he is not on his pergolide, if he is on his pergolide he can eat everything and not founder.
The rings in the foot sometimes called founder rings can be cause by oats as high blood sugar levels cause the rings.
I have heard crushed/steamed oats loose the nutrient value faster then whole due to the damage to the shell and the oxidation process
Edited by cheryl makofka 2014-10-15 6:56 AM
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Expert
Posts: 1207
| I found this as I am thinking about switching all 3 of my horses to oats and alfalfa cubes.
or The Health Of Horses Feed Oats
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188
For The Health Of Horses Feed Oats
(But That's Not All!)
By Dan Moore, The Natural Vet®
Has anyone ever been told to NOT feed oats? And if so, has the same person ever offered any reason other than that oats are carbs and may make your horse “hot”?
Probably not!
So let me preface this article by saying that, personally, I have suggested oats to thousands upon thousands of horse owners (as have many other nutrition minded educators) and not once can I remember those to whom I suggested such not loving the results. Oats work - despite the rumors!
But let’s look more closely at why, and also look at why other feeds may NOT be so great. And let’s take a close look at why these commercial feeds may actually be directly related to, and in my opinion the very cause of many of our overweight, cresty necked, insulin resistant, allergic and laminitis prone horses today. In addition, we’ll consider why the idea of supplementing either commercial or individual grains, oats or otherwise, with vitamins, minerals, microbials, etc. is critical as well.
So what is bad about oats? Oats like ALL grains are mineral and vitamin deficient. Horses simply can’t get the overall nutrition that they need from any grain UNLESS they are fortified. Oats, corn, barley, etc., etc. are all are deficient. Today, what farmers essentially use to fertilize is chemical fertilizer. The 10-10-10’s or 2010-10’s are only nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus: 10% nitrogen, 10% phosphorous, 10% potassium. What happened to all the other minerals on the periodic chart that we learned about in high school? To make matters worse, these fertilizers are salt based. Salt destroys the soil over time and makes it very packed, claylike and sticky – AND in doing so kills the earthworms, the soil’s true method for oxygenation.
BUT fertilizer sure does make the grass and crops grow, doesn’t it? Have you ever thought about how salt attracts water? Alright, now we have nice lush grass and crops or grain full of fertilizer and water.
Doesn’t that sound nutritious? On the positive side it does weigh more, looks great and brings more dollars for the farmer despite its lack of nutrition. I don’t mean to be critical, but I assure you the ones who are really profiting here are the petrochemical companies selling this junk (not to mention the pesticides and herbicides being sold,because our ground is so sick) and the pharmaceutical companies selling the drugs because we AND OUR HORSES become sick.
With the cost of such expensive farming it is truly a wonder ANY farms are still in business. Since I don’t work for a major university who teaches such farming practices (and receives lots of money from such megalopolies), I guess I just spilled the beans! Praise the Lord for the up and coming organic farmers – they deserve your dollar!
OK, so NOW we need to address this hot horse, high carb myth. Now don’t get me wrong, oats are carbs! BUT compared to corn which is IDENTICAL to sugar, which is worse? I know you have heard of the glycemic index by now – Sugar has a gylcemic index of 100, and corn has the same. That is, a cup of corn will have the same effect on the body as a cup of sugar. Now that sounds healthy, doesn’t it? (Oats do have a lower glycemic index.)
VERY few, if any commercial feeds that I am aware of are corn free, and most contain lots of corn at that. Now granted, corn has gone up in price lately because of the alcohol gas that is being made from it, so more than likely you will find corn being used less now than before. BUT what you are also likely to find is that more molasses and other sweetening additives will be used to cover up the other worse tasting grains (or whatever) that will be substituted.
Just so you also fully understand – molasses IS SUGAR. Both cause insulin spikes, subsequent insulin resistance from over- production by the body, hypothyroid, Cushing’s horses, etc. Sugar highs (hyperglycemia) and sugar lows (hypoglycemia) are the culprits. Feeding corn and sugar at the morning meal is like us eating donuts and candy for breakfast. These high sugar levels wear the pancreas out. The pancreas produces insulin to handle the sugar and then later in the day the sugar low causes tremendous stress on the body because the body is starving to death. This hypoglycemia also wears out the adrenals (glands that handle stress) and eventually hypothyroidism, Cushing’s (from over production of adrenal glands), and laminitis, as well as metabolic issues of all types can result.
Heck, the body is “just flat out worn out” from working too hard trying to handle the ups and down of simply living. The body’s reserves get worn out simply from living and sometimes even the slightest stress can cause havoc.
So what is the answer to feeding today? Our choices are countless. It is so easy to be swayed by feeds that talk about low carbs, senior feeds and even such things as beet pulp. But I keep going back to oats!
All commercial feeds are produced to “hit the middle of the road” when it comes to vitamin and mineral fortification. For instance, a typical formulation might provide the correct nutrition for a 1,000 lb horse that, say, eats 10 lbs of that feed each day. That is about 1% of the body weight…. So if the horse ate 10 lbs that day he would get “everything” he needed.
Does every “typical, average” 1,000 lb horse in your barn eat 10 lbs each day? If they all did, chances are that you would have some horses that looked like the Goodyear Blimp and some that were as skinny as a rail! They all need different amounts of grain – they all have different metabolisms…. just like us. What about that easy keeper horse that only eats 5 lbs? Is he not getting only ½ of what he needs of the “extra fortification”? How about the horse that needs more? Is he not getting too much?
Let’s take this just a little further about the easy keeper, cresty necked, overweight horse, since this is one of the biggest problems I see today. If your horse fit the above description, what would be the first thing you would do? Most likely you would give him less feed, right? But if you cut back would he not be getting less of the “added” vitamins, minerals etc? Chances are, he was already the easy keeper 5- pounder-horse and now you cut him back more!
Definitely the right thinking but definitely missing the very important point that he needs the vitamins and minerals regardless of how much grain he eats! If you feed less of such “premixed”, he gets less of the very nutrients that he really needs to regulate his metabolism in the first place. Such deficiencies eventually lead to hypothyroidism, laminitis prone, metabolic, Cushing’s type situations.
The point is that regardless of the amount of grain you feed – you must supplement the vitamins and minerals if you have an easy keeper, otherwise you will have an even sicker easy keeper! And certainly hard keepers get out of balance, too, from getting too much.
Once again I suggest oats to handle the problem, regardless of carbs, because oats are easiest to balance – Just add a vitamin mineral supplement to whatever amount of oats that horse needs to maintain HIS proper weight. If you are already feeding commercial grain, simply gradually switch to oats over a week or so. After he has been on that same volume for awhile you can give more oats or less depending on the horse’s personal weight needs. Each day just add the vitamin, mineral supplement as a top dressing at every feeding. That way you know he’s getting the correct amount of both oats and supplement. I know this sounds elementary but it is critical, especially for easy keepers. By the way, clean, whole oats are fine. Crimped are only about 6% more efficient and once the hull is cracked they start going rancid. Flax seed is also very likely to go rancid by the way, one of the reasons I generally don’t suggest flax – it goes rancid much faster, a problem especially given the way we have to buy in bulk for our horses.
I had a person tell me the other day that horses were not likely to get oats in the wild? I wanted to say “Lady, here is your sign” but I didn’t! I reminded her that horses sure were not going to get corn, sugar, or cooked pellets in the wild and that seed heads such as oats were about as close to whatever they could get in the wild. Oats are the seed off of about the closest thing to grass I know! Horses were made to eat grass- right? I am amazed at all the info out there on grass and easy keepers. Only let them eat 1 hour here and one hour there, and only at night and not day, and soak your hay to get the sugars out and on and on and on and on. Can you imagine abiding by such recommendations? It is just not feasible – especially with the 30 or so horses we have – and ours are all easy keeper mountain horses. Oats, added supplements (vitamins, minerals and GOOD FAT), decent hay (or the grass in summer) and FREE CHOICE NATURAL SALT AND MINERALS – (see the article on laminitis) will answer your problems and prevent problems.
I am telling you that thousands upon thousands of horses can’t be wrong!
Now before I close I want to discuss one more very important supplement that is needed – GOOD FAT!
Now I know I am picking on commercial feeds here but in my humble opinion they need it - pretty much all commercial feeds contain JUNK FAT! AND this is probably the biggest reason we have so many overweight, insulin resistant horses today. Junk fat is in our horse feed just like it is in our food! JUNK FAT IS KILLING US AND OUR HORSES! Processed, hydrogenated vegetable oils (flax, corn, etc.) are destroying our cells internally and even messing with our nervous systems – nerves and cells are all surrounded by fat membranes. It has the effect of making all such membranes impermeable, like plastic balls.
Today, diets are higher in fat than they were in years past, especially senior feeds and “low carbs” type diets, BUT THE PROBLEM is the type of fat they are using is awful. If your feed says only vegetable oil or doesn’t say that it is NOT HYROGENATED, chances are it is – and, again, awful for our horse.
The same goes for your food, especially snacks - read the labels and avoid these fats. BUT remember - horses do need fat. It should be a great source of omega fatty acids (they need omega 3, 6 and 9, by the way, not just 3). These fats “slow” the absorption of grain, oats or otherwise making the digestion process slower, and obviously will help lubricate the gut as well (great for sandy conditions,too).
In addition, these good fats are great because they nourish the cells.
I prefer to use crude, cold pressed, NON hydrogenated, NON refined soybean oil.
Have you ever heard the expression that “the only way to burn fat is with fat” – well I do believe it is true, because these fat horses (and people) do get better when the good fat is used to displace the bad. I have no doubt that cells, overall, just start to function better n conjunction with these fats because the membrane’s major function is to allow the good stuff to get in and the junk to get out.
I suggest good fats for all horses as both a preventive and a treatment.
Yes, too much can make a fat horse, but a couple ounces per day of our GMO-Free Weight Check Oil, that meets all of the preferred criteria set forth above can make all the difference in the health of a horse. You can actually see the difference in just a few weeks.
I also think that any metabolic, even EPM, neurodegenerative horses require lots of good oil. I have a sneaky suspicion that many “super bugs’ such as those that cause EPM get trapped in fats cells and good fats can flush them out, so to speak. Regardless, they are healthy – commercially used fats are generally not!
By the way, I have had many people ask about beet pulp over the last few years. Beets have essentially no nutritional value except fiber. Why pay for “extra fiber” when hay and or grass would do the same?
Also, beet pulp is a by product of the beet industry and a lot of pesticides are used on beets - roots do tend to accumulate more pesticides than plants. Just food for thought!
Ok, so I think by now you can see I like oats and not commercial feeds. BUT do remember that oats alone are not balanced anymore than commercial feeds are – it is just that they are easier to balance, more nutritious and as close to the “wild” as I have been able to find. They must be supplemented with fat (unprocessed oil) and vitamins and minerals, and free choice natural salt and minerals should be available at all times. If you don’t add the supplements they won’t provide all of what is needed, either ( this is especially so in young horses because they can really get out of balance quickly!)
I suggest this approach for essentially all horses instead of commercial feeds. Such customization is really rather easy - give the horse whatever amount of oats he needs, add the supplement, add the oil and check the free-choice salt and mineral bucket to make sure it is available, and you have a healthy horse ( I do suggest you check out our website on the types of salt and minerals that are best).
Dr. Dan Moore [DVM]
Referenced:
www.DrDanMag.com
www.WhatToFeedYourHorse.com | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 823
Location: East Texas | NSC, if I am not mistaken, stands for Non structural carbohydrates....pretty much a made up term to sell feed. It basically means how much starch is in a food (and starch definitely has a structure). All so called cereal grains are high in starch, and starches basically break down into sugar. That is why if a human is on a diet to lose weight it is a good idea to cut down on these foods. Just like people can get too much sugar so can horses, but saying a food high in starch/sugar is bad in not always true. Crap, I have a 20+yo horse that eats snickers and is still cashing checks.
I grew up on one of the largest ranches in the area. Our horses were saddled first thing in the morning and unsaddles last thing in the evening. They got oats and grass, and we never had a problem due to feeding oats. Now, with what I said above, oats have a lot of calories for the amount they were eating and our horses were burning a lot of calories. So, maybe that had something to do with it. On the other hand, where I am now, our horses are not used daily. We feed oats, and the horses are turned out in the pasture during the day and are in the lot at night. There is grass in our lot for them to eat at night. I am just trying to give you my personal experiences.
I think it is like someone mentioned above. Not every thing being said about the pros/cons is totally accurate. I think it is a case of not one size fits all.
I saw an interview with one of the nutritionist from Purina (sorry dont remember her name), and she basically said the best thing for your horse to eat is green grass.
Edited by CrossDRanch 2014-10-15 10:59 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 823
Location: East Texas | astreakinchic - 2014-10-14 12:37 PM
CrossDRanch - 2014-10-14 12:36 PM
lol...this post reminds me of the guy on FB that is always talking about the difference in ropers and barrel racers.
We feed oats daily and have had no problems.
Gah I hope your not comparing me to Corbin LOL
I'm just getting frustrated with the inconstitant quality of feeds in my area and the extremely high prices of ones like renew gold or TC. Looking for an alternative but I never really paid attention to any oat discussions on here on anywhere before LOL
lol....not at all, but it did remind me of this
https://vine.co/v/MwLqKdjvAUH
Kind of like all these team ropers showing up with their horses in stock trailers.....are they trying to convince people they are real cowboys?
Edited by CrossDRanch 2014-10-15 11:05 AM
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| I feed whole oats mixed with rice bran and depending on the horse I might add a processed feed(safe choice) to it. I have a couple ulcer prone horses that I moved off of oats to just alfalfa and a processed feed for meds or supplements. | |
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Expert
Posts: 3147
| want2chase3 - 2014-10-14 12:06 PM
astreakinchic - 2014-10-14 11:35 AM
want2chase3 - 2014-10-14 12:21 PM
Roughly 2lbs a day of steamed rolled oats with renew gold and alfalfa pellets. Ive heard and read both sides of the spectrum when it comes to feeding oats. I believe in moderation they are beneficial. The only proof I have of them being beneficial is how my horses look act and feel. Seems to fit into my program well.
Why rolled and steamed oats? Educate me please because I don't know the difference between them.
Well to be honest I dont know much about the difference in rolled steamed and whole or crimped.. other than the obvious. I fed whole oats a while and when we ran out sent hubby to the feed store and he came back with rolled steamed oats so im just sticking to those . Reads on the sack its more digestible than whole oats because of the processing.
Whole oats have the non nutritious/undigestible husk on the kernel. Rolled oats have had the husks removed, the kernel is then run thru a roller that flattens them making them very easy to digest. They are great for the senior horse with few teeth. If they have been over crimped/rolled they will be dusty due to the kernel being flattened, but good rolled oats shouldn't be dusty if rolled correctly. Crimped oats are run through a crimper that cracks the husk but doesn't remove it. Often crimped oats are dusty due to the kernel being cracked. Pound for pound rolled oats give you more TDN, but they are also higher in cost. I fed whole oats for many, many years until my mare developed ulcers due to bute. The oats continued to irritate her so I had to stop feeding them. Oats are a very safe feed due to their bulk. The horse will get full before he over eats and founders or colics. | |
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