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Post by bonniesmum on Dec 20, 2011 9:49:09 GMT 1
I am looking to get our hay analysed but am conscious that grass and feed also make up a horses diet. Our paddocks are weedy and without following Bonnie round all day at different times of the year it is impossible to tell which ones she eats.
Will balancing against hay alone be right? Are any minerals lost if hay is soaked?
Has anyone had any experiences good or bad with testing hair or blood ( via vet) for mineral deficiencies?
My gut feeling with Bonnie is copper deficiency. She is black but her coat and mane at times will turn red, plus she will eat the untreated wooden fence. She has also had a teeny bit of thrush and a teeny but of seedy toe / WLD plus flat thin soles.
I am tempted in the meantime to supplement with EA copper plus to see if it makes any difference.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2011 11:44:08 GMT 1
If her diet is mainly hay in winter then balancing to the hay will work fine for winter. You might want to consider grass analysis next year when it starts to form more of her diet. You should take into account hard feeds as well.
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Post by donnalex on Dec 20, 2011 13:23:12 GMT 1
If you dont want to go the whole hog you could supplement her with Farriers Formula, salt and magnesium. It would be a fair assumption that she eats everything in her paddock that does not get nipped short, anything that goes to seed is obviously undesirable.
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Post by taklishim on Dec 20, 2011 13:42:10 GMT 1
I was unable to mineral balance as I had too many different sources of hay but I felt things needed improvement especially in coat colour and density of colour. I initially tried D & H Hoofmender. There started to be improvement in colour. I decided that was not good enough and moved onto Equimins meta balance. (you cannot get it through their website you order over the phone) I now have 2 on it and each has improved considerably. A third I put onto equimins advance complete which is similar to meta balance but not as high spec. (he is retired) He has now nearly finished his first kilo tub and already I have noticed the coat colour improvement.
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Post by horsesfirst on Dec 20, 2011 14:20:23 GMT 1
Bonniesmum I've emailed you - but if you are going to get your hay tested - if you soak it you need to send a soaked batch. If you are not going to soak it any more you need to send a dry sample. D&H explain it quite well
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Post by bonniesmum on Dec 22, 2011 8:58:09 GMT 1
Thanks for the email horsesfirst. Both you and new vet independently said to test forage and not bother to do blood or hair testing which kind of seals it :-)
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bicky
Grand Prix Poster
If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got!
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Post by bicky on Dec 22, 2011 20:07:13 GMT 1
My hay is currently away for analysis with Forage Plus - Sarah Braithwaite. I really rate her and her efforts with regard to the abscess problems I'm having with my youngster.
I've also started him on minerals recomended by Sarah and when the analysis comes back, his diet will be tweaked to balance things up. Good luck!
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Post by holi on Dec 23, 2011 12:28:47 GMT 1
Worth doing it eventually. Down here is Sussex we are magnesium deficient so we can get some fun and games with the horses on the new grass!
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