Winter Stall Board Feeding Plan
After her rehab last summer, Violet needed a new summer and winter diet to support her different seasonal nutritional needs.
For some reason, I forgot to post Violet's pasture board feeding plan last summer. Instead of deleting that post, I am going to combine it into a post about my stall board feeding plan for winter.
Pasture Board Feeding Plan (August 31-October 13)
Violet is home! And being home comes with some changes to her management. Since July 2020, Violet has had a stall with daily (or nightly) turnout. At her new barn, Violet is turned out 24/7 on a large, grassy pasture with only one other pasture mate. In addition to free access to grass, she still gets hay and grain twice a day. It's time to transition Violet's Rehab Feeding Plan to a Pasture Board Feeding Plan.
Grain
Violet was exposed to a lot of stressful situations this year: injury, surgery, moving, and more. Because of that, I made sure to supplement her diet with Standlee Alfalfa pellets and Purina Outlast. However, now that she is in a more permanent situation at a peaceful barn, I have decided to cut both of these out of her regular grain meals. I have also decided to move her back down to 0.5 pounds of Triple Crown 30% Balancer twice a day, which is the recommended feeding rate for her size.
Supplements
I removed six supplements from her diet:
Equine Elixirs Ulceraser
UltraCruz Equine Skin and Allergy
Platinum Performance Refresh
Uckele G.U.T.
Uckele Tri Amino
LubrisynHA
Related to my changes to her grain, I have decided to remove Equine Elixirs Ulceraser and Uckele G.U.T. from her diet. In truth, the universe decided to remove Uckele G.U.T. when I discovered my bulk tote of it was filled with beetles... I may add this supplement back if I feel like she needs extra gastric support, but for now, I will trust the universe.
It is the end of the summer, so I am phasing out UltraCruz Equine Skin and Allergy in the hopes of maintaining her allergies on just allergy shots alone. I will write up a full post on her allergies soon. Additionally, I am removing Platinum Performance Refresh until next spring when I can hopefully do more scientific testing of her potential anhidrosis.
In pursuit of simplicity, I have also removed Uckele Tri Amino and LubrisynHA from her diet. If it seems like she would benefit from Uckele Tri Amino, I am willing to add it back in the future. I love LubrisynHA, but its temperature intolerance is difficult to maintain in non-climate-controlled grain rooms, and Violet seems to be maintaining well on her biannual Adequan injections.
Below are the supplements I have introduced into her diet.
Quiessence
I know I said she's living a peaceful life, but I can feel the fall spookies coming on. Given that we will be spending a lot of time walking around in the dark to and from her pasture this fall and winter, I am happy to try anything that might take the edge off.
As an added benefit, research has shown a correlation between chromium supplementation and increased insulin sensitivity in horses. It has even been suggested that chromium supplementation may reduce the risk of developing insulin resistance; however, this has not yet been substantiated through research.
HorseTech NutraChia
To replace Equine Elixirs Ulceraser, I decided to try HorseTech NutraChia. One of the primary ingredients in Equine Elixirs is chia seeds, so I am hopeful she will eat them. Violet absolutely hates flax, so the cheaper flax seed alternatively is off the table. Naturally.
Chia seeds are low in NSC and high in Omega-3s with a relatively low feeding rate, which is good for picky mares. Chia seeds are also hydrophilic and create a mucilage gel in the digestive tract. This mucilage gel can increase its volume up to 12 times, which can assist with stimulating the horse's digestive tract and clearing out unwanted debris (like sand).
Mare Magic
I go through cycles (no pun intended) of putting Violet on Mare Magic. I know there is a lot of chatter about how it's just raspberry leaves and there is no science to back up its claims. However, as the owner of a flirty, squirty mare, it really seems like it works for her! After a couple of weeks of being on Mare Magic, Violet is much less interested in the boys and rarely puts on a show. It smells heavenly, she loves it, and it seems to make her less gross in public — what's the harm?
Feeding Plan
All together, her final diet includes the following (fed AM and PM):
0.5 pounds Triple Crown 30% Balancer
28g Quiessence
28g Redmond Rock Salt
25g HorseTech NutraChia
7.5g Uckele Poly Copper
7.5g Uckele Poly Zinc
2g Mare Magic
At current prices, this works out to approximately $164 / month.
Stall Board Feeding Plan (October 13-February 7)
After only about a month of pasture board, Violet has migrated up to the main barn for stall board. She still shares a large pasture with one other mare, but she has more friends on either side of her, and she has a stall for inclement weather. With winter coming, it's time to make some changes to her diet again.
Grain
I haven't made any changes to her grain yet. I am still planning on feeding her 0.5 pounds of Triple Crown 30% Balancer twice a day. In the past, she has been on supplemental Triple Crown Senior or Triple Crown Rice Bran during the winter months, but I will keep a close eye on her weight this year before adding anything else.
Supplements
I removed two supplements from her diet:
HorseTech NutraChia
Quiessence
While I love the NutraChia for her, she doesn't seem to love it for herself. There is always a lot leftover in her feeding pan, and chia seeds aren't particularly cheap. I think she believes the small seeds identify as a powder, so she is avoiding them.
I am also removing the Quiessence from her diet. I really haven't noticed a difference in her behavior, and she has since moved to a less spooky area of the property. Additionally, she is getting more than the recommended daily amount of magnesium with her ration balancer and the new MadBarn Visceral+ supplement I recently added.
Below are the supplements I have introduced into her diet.
MadBarn Visceral+
The universe spoke to me again and indicated Violet would be happier on a gut supplement. In all seriousness, I noticed Violet being a little girthier than normal a few weeks after I took her off Uckele G.U.T. I decided to do a trial of MadBarn's Visceral+ because it has a bit more oomph than Uckele G.U.T., Visceral+ has quite good reviews, and I was struggling to find a decent price (with shipping) for Uckele G.U.T. pellets.
Visceral+ combines targeted amino acids, probiotics, minerals, and other nutrients with natural herbs to support a healthy stomach and hindgut. Because Violet was coming off a lot of changes, including the seasonal change and transition to stall board, I thought it couldn't hurt to try something a bit more comprehensive. And expensive.
UltraCruz Vitamin E Plus
This is not my first year supplementing Violet with Vitamin E in the winter. Because of the lack of pasture, I pre-emptively supplement her with extra Vitamin E for a few months until the spring grass starts growing. However, this is my first year using UltraCruz Vitamin E Plus.
Previously, I had used Uckele E-5000, which is a course powder. It's actually one of the few powders she will begrudgingly eat. However, it was quite expensive. I really like the UltraCruz Vitamin E Plus pellets because they are very palatable and easy to feed. Each scoop has 4000 IU of natural Vitamin E.
Majesty's Omega Wafers
The Majesty's Omega Wafers are my last-ditch effort at getting some Omegas and biotin in her. She does not like flax or chia seeds, which are the easiest options for supplementing Omegas. The wafers don't have quite as much biotin as I would like at only 10mg; however, some is better than none, and my other option is Uckele Biotin, which, while only a very small amount, is still a powder.
Feeding Plan
All together, her final diet includes the following (fed AM and PM):
0.5 pounds Triple Crown 30% Balancer
40g MadBarn Visceral+
34g UltraCruz Vitamin E
28g Redmond Rock Salt
7.5g Uckele Poly Copper
7.5g Uckele Poly Zinc
2g Mare Magic
0.5 Majety's Omega Wafer
At current prices, this works out to approximately $169 / month.
I absolutely love learning about horse nutrition, and I spend a lot of time researching this topic. However, I am not a veterinarian or a nutritionist, so the information here should not be taken as veterinary or nutritional advice for your horse.