# Coolstance Copra



## PennywithHenry (15 October 2009)

I've just been and bought a bag of Coolstance Copra to try the new mare on and the lady at the shop said it must be soaked...only I didn't ask how long for and now I think she's gone home as there's no answer on the phone.

I've looked on their website and it actually says it can be fed wet or dry. I soak her feeds anyway and wanted to, so does anyone know if it needs soaking for X amount of time?

It doesn't say on the sack either  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 I wanted to start introducing it into her feeds but obviously I don't want to do something wrong. I've seached the net but have found a lot of conflicting advice, so figured you guys would know!

Help!!

Also, how do those of you who feed it find it? Is it as good for weight gain as claimed?


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## grubby (15 October 2009)

Yes its good for weight gain, and coats etc.

I soak mine, in winter I put one scoop of copra to 4 of water and then feed in the morning.  In summer it goes smelly quite quick so I just put however much in their feed buckets, add water, wait 10mins then add supplements and feed it straight away.

I wouldn't feed it dry personally, would be like chewing sand!


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## Chestnutter (15 October 2009)

You can't feed copra dry!! 

You basically need to add the right amount of water to the proportion of copra that you have. 
We have mahoosive buckets and they take about 20 minutes.
One scoop takes about 5-10 minutes i think. 
You should be able to tell when it's ready anyway, it goes very mashy 
	
	
		
		
	


	






And as for how do we find it, amazing. It's the perfect feed for every horse in my opinion. 
May be a little biased but yeah, it's brill!


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## PennywithHenry (15 October 2009)

QR
Thanks!!

It actually says on the website that providing fresh water is available it can be fed wet or dry?

I have no intention of feeding dry but will find that page and paste once I've sprinted outside and put my copra on to soak now I know what to do!!


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## ofcourseyoucan (15 October 2009)

if i want to feed it quickly i do it with hot water and wait ten mins, or i do it with cold water and leave for a couple of hours. dont think you should feed it dry as it swells (1 part copra to 4 parts water). really good at conditioning horses but not all of mine like it!


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## Paula18 (15 October 2009)

There should be a small paper type attachment to the top of the bag which has all the instructions. You need to make 1 part of feed to 3 parts water. If you are feeding it cold it needs to be soaked for 1 hour, if you mix with hot water it can be fed straight away.
I've had great results with it, used it last winter and back on it again this winter. My boy gained weight and condition and his coat has gleamed all summer! (its quite tasty too, my friend dared me to try it, tastes a bit like cheesecake biscuit base!!!)


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## PennywithHenry (15 October 2009)

QR

Me again. Thanks for taking the time to reply to me.

Thre was indeed a little purple and white label sewn into the top of the bag...unfortunately since I attacked to bottom of the bag with a knife I missed it-duh!

It says to feed soaked-immdiately if soaked with warm water and after an hour if soaked with cold...however I went back through my search history as I was sure I'd read on their own pages that it could be fed wet or dry and came across;

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Do you feed CoolStance® wet or dry? 

CoolStance can be fed dry or as a wet mash. Some horse may prefer the texture of CoolStance® when it is wet.

When CoolStance is soaked in water, it will swell to at least 4 times the volume.  If we feed it dry will CoolStance swell up and hurt my horse?

One of the major attributes of CoolStance is that it will swell in water, which helps to rehydrate horses. When CoolStance is fed dry, the horses eat the feed more slowly, and by having the water trough away from the feed trough, they have to walk away from the feeders to have a drink of water.

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Taken from here;

http://www.stanceequine.com/horsefeedproducts.php?CoolStance-Copra-2

I wanted to soak it anyway-just wanted to prove I wasn't losing my marbles lol


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## Paula18 (15 October 2009)

i just went off the instructions on mine but i wouldnt fancy feeding it dry given that it does swell up. I feed it warm but add extra cold water to the rest of my feed to make it nice and wet and they love it!! It would help if they made instructions were a bit clearer and visible!!


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## Scunny (17 October 2009)

hmm, I'm really interested in this too as I've been feeding ours on it since last autumn and they are doing and looking fab on it.

But after reading the bag and the website blurb I soak mine for between  10 and 20 minutes with plenty of cold water to turn it to mush, I'm worried now that I might be causing them harm??

Our mare is a stressy poor doer TB, and over the winter she ended up putting too much weight on so we had to cut the copra back. We were feeding it alongside fibrebeet and seaweed supplement along with a handful of molly to slow her down as she loves the copra so much she really gobbles it which she doesn't do with any other feed!

One other thing that I have noticed is that both our TB and Welshie (bays) have had a much deeper, richer colour this summer and not faded in the sun as they usually do, but I'm not sure if that was the copra or the seaweed?

edited to add not to wear nice light coloured clothes round horses on copra at feed time..... our welsh c pone thinks it is great to get it all over his muzzle then come over for some sloppy copra coated kisses and groom mummy - a few weeks ago I nipped into the shop on the way home and wondered why I got some funny looks.....half way round the shop my OH remarked on the lovely brown copra stain all down one side of my face


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## Paula18 (17 October 2009)

Our horses must think the same, my boy loves to give what i think of as kisses but pretty sure what he sees as perfect opportunity to wipe his mush all over Mums clean clothes!! 
I definitely put my boys gleaming coat down to the copra but then again i dont feed seaweed. He's always had a shiny coat in summer but even more so this year since feeding the copra. 
As for the soaking i dont know whether it would be doing any harm but i wouldnt soak for less than an hour if your feeding it cold. I started feeding it cold but then kept forgetting to make it up so now i just stick the kettle on while i'm making my feeds and give it warm. I always feed it really sloppy too with more water than recommended with it swelling up so much.


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