It comes in loose, processed, cubes and not forgetting cereals and make sure they have plenty of water for afterwards to drink.
It really does all depend on the work the horse is doing and also their age and health!
Commercial mixes provide a balance of nutrients which your own mixture is likely to do.
All concentrates are unnatural to the horse but they do provide energy and variety.
You must not guess how much feed to give to your horse, many people make this mistake and also use a
scoop to measure the feed out and it can still be wrong. Different feeds weigh different amounts. Many also vary in their volume per unit weight from batch to batch.
Always remember never to completely change your horse’s diet quickly. You should introduce new feeds slowly and doing the same with grass and hay.
Avoid feeding these feeds with horses or ponies that have or suffered from laminitis.
Coarse Mix
Avoid if horse/pony has suffered or has laminitis. Many horses/ponies do not need supplementary feed in
light work but will still need their vitamins and minerals!
It does take longer to eat which can only be better for the horse’s digestion.It also comes in different grades.
You can get the all so many different coarse mixes to suit all types.
The quite horse, working horse, calming mix, brood mare mixes, mare and foal coarse mix, yearling mix, weight plus, low starch mixes, high energy competition mix and many more.
Knowing which to feed your horse and getting the weight of feed is important.
Alfalfa Pellets
These are higher in protein then grass and hay, they contain good concentrations of the vitamin and minerals found in grass.
To add more protein to the diet you can use the pellets but you would need to add a lot of pellets to the diet to do this. Grass and hay would be the best option for protein then the pellets.
They are also very good for calcium and fibre content. The pellets will suit an horse that is in light to medium work.
But be careful, some horse can have a bad reaction to them! They can develop lumps on their skin and become hyper.
Always reduce feed slowly if it is not suiting your horse.
Oats
There are a few different kinds of oats you can get for the horse.
Whole oats;
This is how they come from the field complete with the husks and keeps a lot longer then rolled oats. Whole oats have the highest fibre of all the oats and grains. Feeding the whole oats to horses with teeth problems will have difficulty chewing the oats and will lose out on the nutritional valve of the
oats. Oats are high in phosphorus and low in calcium.
Rolled oats;
The fibrous husk (outer layer) is broken. This makes the oats easier to digest.
Bruised oats:
Is very similar to the rolled oats. This is what the horseman used to do when they bought the whole oats and then roll them out. Once the oats have been rolled or bruised, they do last as long as the whole oats.
Barley;
It does have a large energy content and low in fibre. Do take care when feeding this to your horse because even a small change in the amount of fed can have significant nutritional consequences.
It is also good for putting condition on the horse. It comes, flaked, rolled, crushed and also micronized.
If you over feed your horse with barley, the horse can come out in rashes.
Linseed:
Uncooked linseed is poisonous! It must be boiled for many hours until the seeds have split. It is also a laxative.
Bran;
Feeding bran to horses as been passed down through the years. Horses love this!
Take great care when feeding bran, especially to the young and growing horses. It has to much
phosphorous and not enough calcium.
Horses fed large amounts over time with bran took the calcium from their bones causing them to develop skeletal problems which then causes ‘big head’
This is a link that explains all you need to know about this here;
Bran information and the horse