# Mollichaff, good or bad?



## H89 (2 August 2014)

My 20 year old TB has arthritis and I'm trying to get a good balance of feed and supplements to make him as comfortable as possible. He has been on TopSpec balancer but I have recently changed to spillers senior fibre, feedmark multivitamin, devils claw, suppleaze gold and turmeric (oil and pepper). He is on about 3KGs of hay in that day, out at night for the summer and will be on turnout daytime and ad lib hay during the night in the winter plus speedibeet and readigrass during the winter. He is a fairly good doer In the summer but does tend to drop a bit of weight in the winter. I have been doing a bit of research into oils and feeds and found out that spillers use rapeseed oil in their feeds which is an inflammatory so bad for arthritis. I am thinking of putting him on mollichaff veteran instead and maybe A&P veteran if he needs a bit mote during the winter. I don't hear much about mollichaff though so wondering if anyone uses it and what they think. It seems to be what I'm looking for, linseed and soya oil added in it and pretty natural. Any ideas would be great. 
Thanks!


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## Nugget La Poneh (2 August 2014)

Mollichaff is loaded with molasses (hence it's name). If you are wanting a chop, look to Dengie molasses free and Simple Systems etc. 

I am sure he would be fine with Mollichaff, but I found my arthritic mare did better when she came off the sugar loaded feeds. She didn't like the A&P Veteran Vitality, but ate the fast fibre with gusto and if she needed weight, or was competing she would get sunflower oil.


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## H89 (2 August 2014)

I hadn't even thought of the name like that! Silly me. I assumed as it said 'light dressing of molasses' it would actually be a light dressing but I guess not. It's a mind field trying to get feed right! Thanks, I will have a look at those.


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## Nugget La Poneh (2 August 2014)

To be far, in comparison to say, Mollichop, it possibly is a light dressing. But the average horse does nowhere near the amount of work to warrant the amount of sugar that goes on a lot of chops, and in feeds now. I personally don't rate TopSpec as some of the products I think are a bit misleading and have hidden sugars (and the TopSpec lite chop I got for mine gave him the squits), and I have come round to Simple Systems for both pelleted feeds and chops. 
You can try micronised linseed as well to add condition, vital omegas etc.


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## MotherOfChickens (2 August 2014)

I feed the veteran to a youngster that needs condition, I feed the donkey chaff to two native ponies. all are also on pro hoof and have fabulous barefoot feet. if you look at the actual sugar content, its not as bad as a lot of other feeds. I won't feed alfalfa to the ponies so avoid SS and Dengie like the plague.


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## thatsmygirl (2 August 2014)

Mollichaff = straw and mollases, I wouldn't feed it personally as horses just don't need extra sugar in their diet


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## H89 (2 August 2014)

Thanks. I use to use TopSpec balancer and chop till they reduced the size by 1/4 and I don't think it's worth  about £40 a month. Dengie put rapeseed oil in all their chaff so that's a no no. Simple solutions looks good but not sure I want just alfalfa as that can make his legs swell sometimes. Thinking the Timothy one might be good though. I definitely don't want any added sugar in his diet as he really doesn't need it!!


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## Clip1clop1 (3 August 2014)

Hi First Molasses Free (Dengie). Has a very light coating of soya oil and smells great.


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## H89 (3 August 2014)

Unfortunately dengie use rapeseed oil. Just double checked the hi if molasses free one and it does have rapeseed in it. Surprisingly, lots of the big brands do!


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## be positive (3 August 2014)

I would use A&P veteran vitality rather than chop that way you can start with a token amount and up it as and when rather than adding to something else, I stopped using chaff years ago apart from the odd time to add alfalfa  or for something on box rest to give them more in the bowl, as I feel it is an expensive way to feed and most have far too much molasses than ideal.
For an older horse having a soaked feed is ideal they spend plenty of time chewing hay so unless they really need to be slowed down it is easy for them to eat, the supplements mix in much better not ending up at the bottom being left by a fussy horse.


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## Casey76 (3 August 2014)

Honeychop (despite the name), is plain to straw if you're looking for an unmollassed chop/caff.


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## Beausmate (3 August 2014)

Do you need to feed chaff?  For weight, what about micronised linseed, soaked grass nuts or copra?


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