# Does anyone just feed pony nuts and chaff?



## dreambigpony (19 January 2016)

Just wanted to know if anyone feeds pony nuts alongside chaff? I've got a good doer and currently buy a broad vitamin and mineral feed but wondered whether pony nuts would contain the same nutrients she needs at a fraction of the price?


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## peaceandquiet1 (19 January 2016)

I have had to stop feeding balancers etc to all of mine as it just got too expensive. The youngster is on a youngstock balancer but the rest are on cheap cubes and chaff.


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## wench (19 January 2016)

Yes... But you would need to feed recommended amount of nuts to get vits/mins which sometimes can be a lot.

If you are looking for cheap, just use an everyday vit and min supp. Cheapest one I've found is mole valley own blend followed by healthy animal products.


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## WelshD (19 January 2016)

Where I work we sell a lot of cubes and basic chaff, even big stables that you'd expect to feed brand names buy a lot of bog standard stuff. certainly the cubes we sell are a complete feed with general vits and minerals in


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## DD (19 January 2016)

mine have pony nuts about half a pound and a handful of chaff, home made from our own hay. they have this twice a day. its really just a token feed when they come in or go out. they do well on just hay. I dont feed balancers. if any are loosing condition then they have some micronized linseed added.


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## Shay (19 January 2016)

As long as you feed to manufacturer's recommended amount then you don't "need" anything else.  You may choose to feed a specific supplement for a specific purpose - but it is always worth reading the label as you may well find you are repeating something already in your feed!  Balencers (fed alongside normal feed) and broad spec vits & mins are almost always a complete waste of money IMO.


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## Bav (19 January 2016)

Yep. Although I also add magnesium. New horsey is the cheapest horse I've ever had to feed. 
I don't understand why, if the horse is obviously happy, people feel the need to complicate feeding?


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## TGM (19 January 2016)

Depends what you are feeding your horse for - as it is a good doer then presumably you are not feeding for extra calories.  If you are giving a handful of pony nuts/chaff just as a token feed to keep yours quiet whilst others are being fed, then it will do that job OK.  If, however, you are feeding them to get the same amount of vit/mins as your current feed does, then it will only do so if you feed the amount the manufacturers recommend.  To give you an idea, Spillers recommend 3kg of their horse/pony cubes for a 500kg horse in light/medium work!  That amount is likely to make your horse fat and your wallet thin!

However, it is possible that if your horse has access to good grazing and forage then it may not need extra vit/mins anyway!


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## MyBoyChe (19 January 2016)

My very good doer get chaff on its own.  I soak it well and add a few veggies in the winter.  Apart from his hay and grass the only other thing he gets is a Red Rockie block for vits and mins.  I put it in the field in summer and in his stable in winter.


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## thatsmygirl (19 January 2016)

No I won't feed pony nuts, after looking into the ingredients id rather not feed them and won't feed basic chaff as again most is straw and mollases which I won't feed. 
All mine get equimins advance complete which is a high spec vits/mins supplement, you get what you pay for and again most are full of cheap fillers which I won't pay for or feed ( NAF, nettex,mole valley, all mostly fillers and very very low amounts off vits/mins and not worth buying) 
Mine get linseed with it and purabeet. Any that need more get blue bag grass nuts. 

I just won't feed 90 % off horse feeds, its awful as I work in the feed industry and will not feed most, its like you eating mc Donald's every meal every day. I perfer to feed my horses healthy meals like I feed my kids.


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## Southern (19 January 2016)

Mine gets conditioning cubes and apple chaff.


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## Bojingles (19 January 2016)

Yes, I feed chaff and pony nuts but only as a carrier for her turmeric and linseed. She also has a vits and mineral lick which she attacks while I muck out. I did try her on Codlivine once and it sent her loopy.


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## JennBags (19 January 2016)

I feed chaff and speedibeet,  but I also feed a powder balancer (alltech lifeforce).  My horse has never looked better, I regularly get compliments on his wellbeing.


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## Bernster (20 January 2016)

My good doer gets chaff and a balancer, he doesn't need the extra calories from nuts. The balancer is in pellet from so it has a bit of texture to it.


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## Tnavas (20 January 2016)

thatsmygirl said:



			No I won't feed pony nuts, after looking into the ingredients id rather not feed them and won't feed basic chaff as again most is straw and mollases which I won't feed. 
All mine get equimins advance complete which is a high spec vits/mins supplement, you get what you pay for and again most are full of cheap fillers which I won't pay for or feed ( NAF, nettex,mole valley, all mostly fillers and very very low amounts off vits/mins and not worth buying) 
Mine get linseed with it and purabeet. Any that need more get blue bag grass nuts. 

I just won't feed 90 % off horse feeds, its awful as I work in the feed industry and will not feed most, its like you eating mc Donald's every meal every day. I perfer to feed my horses healthy meals like I feed my kids.
		
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Regardless of the quality they all contain fillers with minimal feed value, ground up to powder, bran, straw from various plants, molasses added to help stick it all together.

I will not feed ANY processed feeds. Oats, meadow chaff, Sugarbeet, Linseed, and if they need extra weight some crushed Barley. Minerals come from blocks in the paddock or stable. My horses have all looked so well.

If people don't like what is in their horses feeds just don't buy it. Tell the manufacturer why. Most of these processed feeds are only trailed on racehorses and then 'watered down' for the pleasure horse.

I've worked in a racing stable that only feeds its horses the base feeds, and has many, many winners here in NZ and Australia.


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## ycbm (20 January 2016)

I don't feed any vitamins except vitamin E to two horses with EPSM that need extra. One gets only chaff, one gets a kilo of own brand cubes, nowhere near enough to give him the vitamins they 'should'.  In nearly forty years of feeding my own, my horses all shine and I've never had a vitamin related health issue. I think there's enough in grass and hay/haylage for most horses.

I am, though, a big advocate of minerals, because so much British land is unbalanced with high levels of iron and manganese, and low selenium. I supplement copper, zinc, magnesium, selenium and salt.


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## DD (20 January 2016)

ycbm said:



			I don't feed any vitamins except vitamin E to two horses with EPSM that need extra. One gets only chaff, one gets a kilo of own brand cubes, nowhere near enough to give him the vitamins they 'should'.  In nearly forty years of feeding my own, my horses all shine and I've never had a vitamin related health issue. I think there's enough in grass and hay/haylage for most horses.

I am, though, a big advocate of minerals, because so much British land is unbalanced with high levels of iron and manganese, and low selenium. I supplement copper, zinc, magnesium, selenium and salt.
		
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^^^^
this
excellent advice and understanding of nutritional requirements


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## MissJessica (20 January 2016)

No. I just feed a balancer alone. (With the odd carrot).
Lots & lots of hay!


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## honetpot (20 January 2016)

I have three brood mares who just get hay when they are in. I brought them in two weeks ago and looking at their coat and hooves they are blooming, in fact two are blooming a bit too well.
  Horses were designed to live on minimal nutrients and a lot of roughage and I think unless there is a specific problem or need I would imagine most of these 'extras' get excreted because the animals can not store them.
  There is a lot of money in the vitamin industry, animal and human, but most of them are just not needed


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## Damnation (20 January 2016)

Tnavas said:



			Regardless of the quality they all contain fillers with minimal feed value, ground up to powder, bran, straw from various plants, molasses added to help stick it all together.

I will not feed ANY processed feeds. Oats, meadow chaff, Sugarbeet, Linseed, and if they need extra weight some crushed Barley. Minerals come from blocks in the paddock or stable. My horses have all looked so well.

If people don't like what is in their horses feeds just don't buy it. Tell the manufacturer why. Most of these processed feeds are only trailed on racehorses and then 'watered down' for the pleasure horse.

I've worked in a racing stable that only feeds its horses the base feeds, and has many, many winners here in NZ and Australia.
		
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I am of this school, mostly! My mare is on a basic chaff and calm cubes, for now. She has a vit/min lick in her stable. If she was in work I'd feed oats. I prefer straights. People shy away from them thinking that it sends horses bonkers, but my last mare who was an Ex Racer was on oats, she looked fantastic, the best I had ever seen her actually when I swapped to Oats. Put her on any form of mix or nuts, she would blow her top. 

One girl I know has a mix, Calm and condition, a balancer, and a chaff, OTT to me. Its a big bucket of expensive poo. (She feeds SO MUCH of it!)


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## Fiona (20 January 2016)

Our two mares are on a basic mix, chaff and alfa a and look well on it. 

Used to be readigrass but we had problems sourcing it over here sadly. 

Fiona


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## The Fuzzy Furry (20 January 2016)

Mine are on hi fi lite and high fibre nuts at present for maintenance.
FLF also has Enduro mix when working hard


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## Cortez (20 January 2016)

I haven't fed any of mine anything other than hay/straw for several years now. If there was a need for anything more, it would be oats.


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## muckypony (20 January 2016)

Yes, I always fed that and nothing else.

When my lot came in for the winter I was stuck on what to feed them as the Shetlands don't actually need anything, just a token feed while the other one gets his. I eventually decided to put them on a balancer following lots of reviews etc on feeding one and put my other boy on it too as the Shetlands get such a small amount I may as well. They seemed fine on it. A while down the line they all came up in tiny little lumps, two were itchy, one wasn't. Had the vet to look, treated for mites, spent money pointlessly only to find that it was in fact the balancer causing it - too rich. 

They are happy with a sprinkle of chaff and a few pony nuts so that's what they'll get.


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## MissMistletoe (20 January 2016)

My 30yr old can no longer chew hay, so she gets 4kg of soaked cheap as chips pony nuts to get fibre into her a day. She also gets an ad-lib bucket of cheap as chips mollichop to scoff on in the stable.

She looks splendid and is bright eyed and bushy tailed!!.


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## Red-1 (20 January 2016)

Mine is resting at the moment from injury, and he is now on a measure of Formula 4 Feet at night, and nothing else! He does have ad lib dry hay, but no need for a bucket feed, as Formula 4 Feet has loads of vits etc in, and the measure in the bucket makes him feel he is getting a feed!


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## NZJenny (20 January 2016)

thatsmygirl said:



			I just won't feed 90 % off horse feeds, its awful as I work in the feed industry and will not feed most, its like you eating mc Donald's every meal every day. I perfer to feed my horses healthy meals like I feed my kids.
		
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We are so lucky here - can still get "real" chaff, it even comes in a hessian sack still, and really good quality whole grains.  Big market for the processed feeds though.


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## thatsmygirl (20 January 2016)

NZJenny said:



			We are so lucky here - can still get "real" chaff, it even comes in a hessian sack still, and really good quality whole grains.  Big market for the processed feeds though.
		
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^^^ that's good 
Sadly yes the processed feed is a big market, I do feel if people looked into what they fed as in what the ingredients actually are and some of the chemicals used etc they may think about it. I also believe its half the health problems we see now, never use to be so bad before the feeds started coming out. I have actually managed to take a few horses off all processed feeds and their health problems have improved no end, a lot of horses would be far better off just get a extra bit off hay/haylage at night


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## Sukistokes2 (20 January 2016)

Feed molichaff calmer and basic nuts, in the colder weather I add a dollop of fast fibre so it sticks to the ribs. It all mainly acts as a medium to add the turmeric too.


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## MagicMelon (20 January 2016)

I feed cubes on their own, dont even use chaff - mainly because none of my horses bolt their feed down so dont need slowing down as such and they get 24/7 access to hay and live out on grass so its not like they need the additional forage (I think its a waste of money).  My OH works for the company so 2 of mine get their h&p cubes and the other 2 get their conditioning cubes simply because they don't hold their weight as well now they're veterans.  Only thing I add is golden paste (turmeric,coconut oil,pepper) and general veg (carrots, peelings etc.). In summer or after competing I will add homemade electrolytes as well.


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## Dubsie (20 January 2016)

Used to feed our old pony an little speedibeet and a handful of pony nuts just to occupy him while the oldie had his Veteran Vitality (otherwise he'd hoover it up, and the oldie would let him).  Originally I'd put some mollichaff in too (to slow him down more) but as he got more mature about feed he stopped wolfing it down, so I cut it out.


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## SatansLittleHelper (20 January 2016)

Mine has one feed a day...just a scoop of Top Spec Lite and a General Purpose supplement. Fat git doesn't need any more than that lol


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## Tnavas (21 January 2016)

NZJenny said:



			We are so lucky here - can still get "real" chaff, it even comes in a hessian sack still, and really good quality whole grains.  Big market for the processed feeds though.
		
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Really great chaff too
Lucerne Chaff
Meadow Chaff
Oat Chaff - Oat Straw
Oaten Chaff - contains the whole plant, Oats included
Even seen an Oat/Lucerne chaff

Cambridge has 3 Feed merchants where you can buy just about any Straight feed, the commercially prepared feeds are available at most places.

SAdly NZ is jumping on the pretty wrapper band wagon - so many people are now riding naughty over fed horses and ponies.

I love that mine eats grass - (sorry Jenny), very, very short grass too, to keep her dimensions in trim - she has to walk her butt (fat) off moving around the paddock all day getting enough to eat. She shares with the fatty ponies - no laminitis where I graze just happy, healthy horses and ponies.


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## ILuvCowparsely (21 January 2016)

dreambigpony said:



			Just wanted to know if anyone feeds pony nuts alongside chaff? I've got a good doer and currently buy a broad vitamin and mineral feed but wondered whether pony nuts would contain the same nutrients she needs at a fraction of the price?
		
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yes I do as I wont feed mix to mine so mine have Fibergy and nuts


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## cundlegreen (21 January 2016)

Shay said:



			As long as you feed to manufacturer's recommended amount then you don't "need" anything else.  You may choose to feed a specific supplement for a specific purpose - but it is always worth reading the label as you may well find you are repeating something already in your feed!  Balencers (fed alongside normal feed) and broad spec vits & mins are almost always a complete waste of money IMO.
		
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I don't feed any vitamins except vitamin E to two horses with EPSM that need extra. One gets only chaff, one gets a kilo of own brand cubes, nowhere near enough to give him the vitamins they 'should'. In nearly forty years of feeding my own, my horses all shine and I've never had a vitamin related health issue. I think there's enough in grass and hay/haylage for most horses.


So glad to see common sense!!! I think the majority of horse owners (maybe newer ones who want to be seen to be doing everything right) overfeed, and believe everything said by feed companies as gospel. I've owned horses for 45 years, and have never fed a balancer or felt the need to do so. Mine are in full work and event, but are all fed on a 13% H&P nut with grazeon and some unmollassed sugar beet. I might add oats to some feeds, but no supplements at all. If I have a horse not looking quite right, then I get a urine sample tested for mineral deficiencies. I can't see any point in paying money for something that may not be needed. When you've got 5+ horses,  you have to count the pennies!! Having said that, I've got 4 horses on 4 different supplements ATM.


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