what does the average in-training race horse get? high fiber? high protien? how much (%) of what does the horse get? how much hay, on top of that?
found myself wondering this today so i figured id ask people who have/work with horses vs reading what some webpage says is typical.
Two of the most popular feeds at our track;
Race Ready
Summer Heat
Usually a good flake or two of alfalfa (Most use the stuff from out west, expensive but sooo good) and quality timothy is also given as free-choice.
Ask 10 people and you will get 10 different answers!!!
kinda why i asked here; getting different types of feeds, etc, would be interesting to read, like FSixteen posting 2 different types and getting to see the difference between the 2.Originally Posted by pokeyman
It would be very difficult to say. In fact, in one barn alone you could encounter several feeding programs based on each individual horse. You might feed one specific feed for horses that tie up; another feed that is high in fat for a hard keeper with rice bran added; etc.
Personally, I like my horses at the track fed Triple Crown Complete. But, I have one hard keeper so she gets corn oil and rice bran. The other two are easy keepers so they don't get any extras and less grain.
I also like my horses at the track fed a super nice second cut grass hay as I think rich alfalfa hay coupled with high grain diets and stalling is asking for trouble but a lot of stables swear by alfalfa.
There are as many feeds and programs as there are horses!
Plus, a lot of it is based on a regional market. So, you can't get certain types of feeds in different ares of the country. Thus, you tend to buy what is available in your region.
Anyway, hope this helps!
I agree that you feed the horses like individuals for the most part. Hopefully the days of buckets full of sweet feed at every meal are gone. I love Triple Crown but would never feed the Complete to a race horse as it is made to be fed is huge quantities for horses who can not have hay. It is very nutrient sparse on purpose. I am a huge fan of ration balancers for all my horses with a low carb grain added for additional calories.
...And of course crimped oats mixed in..at least that's what ours got..
Well, I don't believe I asked you to critique the feeding program for my horses. Since my horses are stakes horse and allowance/msw horses, I don't think their feeding program is a inappropriate.
BTW- you are wrong. You don't have to feed large amounts and I feed hay. The feed has the highest fiber content of any feed which is in keeping more with a horses natural diet. It is also high fat and moderate protein.
My horses do the best on this feeding program. It is appropriate for them and that is the bottom line.
As I posted originally, if one asks about feed you will get 10 different answers and everyone thinks their own feeding program is the best!
I didn't say it was inappropriate. I said I wouldn't feed it. You can feed them rocks for all I care. How can I be wrong that it is a complete feed? It says so in the name. I also wouldn't feed a grain that listed sugar as it's second ingredient as with TC Complete. If it works for you that is great.
Per the label: feed a minimum of 5 to 15 pounds per day for desired body condition
That is a crap load in my opinion.
Yes, to each his own.
TC Complete only has 20% NSC which isn't horrible, and is lower than many regular pellets (including SafeChoice). It is fed at where my horse is kept and most horses barely get 5 pounds a day and do great, when coupled with very nice hay you can feed less and still get proper nutrition. Yes a RB could work as well with stuff added like you do, but 5 pounds of grain a day for a horse that is super fit isn't much.
Our personal horses when they are home at the farm usually get fed Legends Performance Textured at the track we feed race ready and we'd do the same at the farm but our local feed stores don't have much demand for it. We may start ordering it for the farm though because our horses seem to prefer it over the legends. We also feed whole oats in a seperate feed bucket, they prefer a choice and don't seem to eat well if it's all in the same bucket.
We have 1 hard keeper gets Gastrogard every day along with being dosed with Rice Bran Oil (she will not eat her grain if you put ANYTHING foreign in it). She gets 2 buckets with a choice of oats or race ready. She gets a haynet filled with a nice grass/timothy mix and gets a pile of alfalfa in a corner of her stall. We also make sure to get all of our horses out for handgrazing as much as we can while they are at the track.
One of our other guys who is also a little bit of a hard keeper gets gastrogard, a choice of oats and race ready and the same hay and grass regimen. He also gets supplemented with Weight Builder which he LOVES. But you can't mix it in his grain. In the morning we mix it with water in a cup and stuff it in a syringe with the end cut off. You bring it over he takes it between his teeth and sucks it down. In the afternoon we mix it up but then plop it on top of the race ready. After taking it he goes over and eats his grain which is an added bonus.
We have 2 that are in training at the farm they are both pretty easy keepers they get the same grain and hay options though their hay is on the ground in their stalls. The one is actively racing and gets turned out on the grass for about a week after each race but when gearing up for a race she only gets handgrazed, which we do as often as possible. She was a bit of a hard keeper for a time but since she won her first race a few weeks ago she's been eating great. *knock on wood*
The other who's in training is a suprising easy keeper considering mentally she is a very fragile girl. Luckily though she eats great and gets turned out each day. She's only allowed in a 40' x 40' dry lot, when she goes out onto the grass she loses her mind. She also gets handgrazed as often as we can.
So there you have it, thats our personal feeding plan!
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