Eats Anything except Garlic!

[Albert]

Before my cob arrived I was quite worried that I would colic him.My previous experience has always been with large saddle mules. Living in this part of Spain means I do not have easy access to the feed services you folks enjoy in the UK. Now I really understand what a 'Good Doer' really means. MY 14.3hh MW Cob eats any sack feed I can find. Sadly here, often the feed is also past it's Sell By date! Still I keep a good eye on it's quality. Mainly out of date sack feed losses it's Vitamins. They just de value or just don't work! I make sure obviously the feed is dry and clean. There are times when we can never get 2 sacks of the same feed but as long as I mix the remains of the earlier feed in slowly with the new feed we never get a problem.
If the feed is a very high protein feed I cut it with Bran rather than reduce the quantity. He has Bran mixed to varies quantities with each meal during the day! To all who raise an eyebrow to this I would say my horse is putting on weight. Has a great coat and long main and flowing tail.
MY Cob never sees hay,alfalfa etc. If I could get it I could not afford it! I feed him Straw to fill his belly. He loves it. Since being in Spain he has never seen pasture! If the straw is poor quality I hose it in the bin and rinse away the water. Then he gets it clean in his manger. Hundreds of Ex Pats and Spanish live here with their horses and most of us are in the same boat, particularly with the economy as it is. I will say my Cob does a lot better than many horses I see! I worm him 6 weekly and he is passported and micro chipped, and insured! I love him to bits and if I thought he was suffering in any way I would deal with it! He has just had is 2nd vetting this year and is " fit and healthy" according to the vet! My boy is eating exactly the same diet I feed to my mules. You see sometimes we go a little overboard with the must and must not's of owning a horse. If any forum members are in Malaga and would like to meet me and Casper you can contact me at mulesspain@gmail.com

[erica&george]

Goodness, feeding sounds like a nightmare out there Albert!
My horses eat anything as well, thistles being a particular treat, and I encourage them to browse the hedgerows as much as they want.
I cannot bed them on straw because they would eat that as well, as the piebald mare proved to me when she was kept in overnight due to an abscess. Next morning there was barely a strand of bedding left and she was looking very fat.
Alot of the feeds over here are straw based with added vitamins to prevent fatness as we do tend to overfeed. To help with the digestion and provide extra nutrients you could adding herbs, I use chopped mint, oregano, marjoram, and rosemary, basically whatever I have available. When I am weeding I also put aside any dandelions that I find and the horses also get cooking scraps such as carrot peelings, cauliflower, sprouts and cabbage. I don't feed potatoes (too much starch) or parsnips (they hate them). In the spring I cut the young nettles and pour boiling water over them to make a nettle tea which I add to the feed with the wilted nettles. It is a great tonic after the winter. There is lots of free food especially in the spring and autumn if you know where to look.
Good luck,
Erika & George