# What can 6 month old foals eat?



## pinkcatkin (18 November 2008)

My foal has only ever had mother's milk, grass, hay, a mouthful of mum's feed (low energy cubes) a few Stud Balancer pellets.  The other day I offered her a piece of carrot (thinking no harm as natural food) and she ate it very gingerly but seemed to like it (NOT given as a titbit but on the floor).

Following on from my water play post and Callie bobbing for applies, is it OK for them to eat anything now?  I know they are not meant to have sugar beet pulp yet, but what about stale bread - mum gets some stale bread sometimes at late check.


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## CrazyMare (18 November 2008)

Well Callie thinks everything is edible.

If her mum has it, she pinches it. Seems to have done her no harm whatsoever.

I scatter all sorts in the stable when they were in as just before Callie was weaned, Holz had to be on box rest for her leg. 

Maybe its wrong, but she seems absolutly fine.


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## Maggie2 (18 November 2008)

I'd never feed bread, stale or otherwise, it has a high starch content and is very likely to cause a blockage.


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## ischa (18 November 2008)

leo eats carrots as has done for the last month or so he eats little bits atime because his baby teeth but he seems to like it he seems to raid me everytime i go into field know and if my son has a apple on him he will try some of that too with the bread i would just leave that for a while till he got the art of eating things such as apples,carrots etc


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## Tempi (18 November 2008)

Hey hun, how are you? 
I personally dont feed any type of bread to my horses but thats just personal preference.   
Jupi likes polos, he dosent get loads as hes still at stud so i dont see him very often, but he has a couple when i go to visit. He likes a bit of apple aswell and carrot.  The stud feed him so he gets hay and not sure what else.


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## Tempi (18 November 2008)

PW - youve exceeded your messages so i cant message back!!! Im just going to work, i wont be online until sunday now but il message you then xx


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## Rollin (19 November 2008)

I am interested in the bit about s/b.  I can find no reference to harmful effects of s/b to foals in my boods.  As Crazy Mare says my youn'un pinches mum's food and does not seem to have suffered any digestive problems.

He has ad-lib hay and grass and has been having his own small feed since 6 months.  He loves chopped up apple but I have had a couple of adult new arrivals who disliked carrots at first.


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## pinkcatkin (20 November 2008)

I have read in several places (but cant remember where) that foals should not have molassed sugar beet until at least 6 months old. There was a thread on here about it a few months ago, but interesting that you have no reference to it.

I will see if I can find it.


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## ischa (20 November 2008)

www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showflat.php?Number=2563291&amp;page=0 this one p/w


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## Rollin (20 November 2008)

Thankyou very much that made very interesting reading indeed.  All the s/b available in France is non-molassed - but the issue of low glycaemic feed for foals also seems to lack logic.

Don't we all rest and save a really nice small paddock for our mares and foals?  Ruth Bishop in her Nutrition Bible states that spring grass contains 5% sugar in grass dry matter.  She estimates that a 500kg horse will consume more than 5 lbs of sugar per day on spring grazing!!!  Not very low glyacaemic.  I have very good grazing so my little foalie must have eaten pounds of sugar.


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## Maesfen (21 November 2008)

If you go back to that thread mentioned above, I have just replied in there and I really don't want to type it all out again!


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