FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 12

[HairOfTheDog]

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - (very out of date) Who's Who *pics*

This is a horse chat thread where we share ideas, ask for input from other horsemen, and talk about our riding and horse-keeping. We have a lot of different kinds of riders and horses, and a lot to share, usually about our horses, sometimes about our dogs, gardens and other stuff we do. :~)

I have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and MissTargets will ping everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list.

So... like the previous threads, this is intended as fun place to come and share stories, pictures, questions and chit-chat, unguided and unmoderated and that we come together here as friends.

Previous threads:

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - thread ONE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread TWO!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread THREE!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FOUR
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FIVE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SIX
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SEVEN
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread NINE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread TEN
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 11

New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Well, the project horse adventure has been put off till Sat. afternoon. I think this may be for the best. They are going to bring him here where we will have a confined area to work with him in. At their place they have no enclosed pen, just wide open pasture with other horses.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Ah - that does sound better then.

[FrogInABlender]

For what it's worth, it looks like Equine Senior has a lower NSC level than Strategy. See the chart here from Purina mills.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

What is NSC?

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

Non Soluble Carbs. It’s the measure of sugar and starch combined.

[FrogInABlender]

No wait, it’s Non STRUCTURAL Carbs. Sorry ‘bout that.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Is that good or bad?

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

Well, if you’ve got a horse that’s sensitive to sugar then lower NSC values are better. A horse with full-blown Insulin Resistance should have 10% NSC or less in his total daily ration. If you look on that chart, just plain oats has an NSC rating of 60%, but you wouldn’t think that would be so because it has no ADDED sugars, but the metabolized sugars that come from all those carbs is what gets ya.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Well darn, the link you gave for the NSC doesn’t work anymore.

I checked my horse chow 100 and the NSC of it is 16%...is that good or bad?

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

Well shoot! I don’t know what the deal is. It worked a few minutes ago.

But yes, 16% is pretty good for a feed that’s not specifically designed to be low carb. But I guess a lot of that has to do with the fact that it has the roughage built into it so that’s probably what’s helping to keep the carb level down. I think the Strategy was 22%. I can’t remember what the value for Equine Senior was.

[FrogInABlender]

I went back over on the yahoo group and found this chart for the NSC percentages on Purina feeds:

Horse Chow 100 - 16%
Horse Chow 200 - 18%
Strategy - 28%
Omelene 100 - 40.5% (eeegads!)
Equine Adult - 20%
Equine Jr - 23%
Equine Sr - 22%
Complete Advantage 22.9% (beet pulp based)
Nature Essentials (Mare & Main) supplement - 16% (protein about 12-14%)
Nature Essentials Born to Win 16% (but 32% protein)

So I’d say your Horse Chow 100 is the best of the lot.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Ok, thanks for that.

I feel better about it now:)

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I “egaads this: but 32% protein)...

Becky

[Beaker]

I don’t think Bay is Cushings/IR (yet). I just agree he probably doesn’t need the sugar.

You'd know if Bay had Cushings or was insulin resistant. Oliver has signs of Cushings (a coat that is slow to shed out, and his poop is loose and watery,) but he's fed a suppliment to try to combat that, and we groom the heck out of him rgfd ( (sorry the cat is trying to help) in the summer. I can ask what exactly my trainer does for him in terms of diet, because I don't know. 2sew. (Woah! the cat knows how to spell!) But aside from those symptoms, he's a happy, active horse.

[Beaker]

I’ve never had hay or feed analyzed, and wouldn’t even know how to do that.

You're state or county agricultural office would know, and they might even do it for you depending on the state/county that you live in. My county AG office does it.

[Duchess47]

If I remember what the Purina guy told us - the Born to Win is for race horses - he said it would be good for endurance horses also but not all the time, just prior to a race.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

So what would be the reason for the feed with the higher NSC...is it something that can’t be controlled due to the ingredients...or is it added to make the feed palatable?

What do you feed?

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

All NSC is is a measure of total starch and sugar. So a higher number is just a reflection of what’s in the feed. I imagine that the Omolene 100 having an NSC value of 42 is a result of the fact that it’s mostly oats, corn and molasses. Since the NSC rating of plain oats is 60% I’m sure that’s a large part of it. You’ve basically got Starch, Starch and Sugar in that feed and not much else, aside from some vitamins. It’d be like us eating mashed potatoes, Mac and Cheeze and a candy bar for every meal, but popping a vitamin to be “healthy”.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I was just a bit disturbed to see that in the Omelene considering how popular a feed it is. If too much NSC is not healthy I’d think that Purina of all feed companies wouldn’t make something like that.

Just something interesting to consider.

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

Oh, my older horses are just on pasture during the summer, with a half cup of Farrier’s Formula and a tablespoon of salt thrown on top at feeding time just so they think they’ve had SOMETHING. During the winter they have a roll of hay that I give them access to over night along with the FF. The brood mares and young ones get about a pound of Mare and Foal twice a day, along with about a cup of a 32% protein Calf Manna type pellet, just to boost the protein level. But that Mare and Foal has quite a bit of molasses in it so wouldn’t mind switching to something else. I just don’t know what. I’d love to use the Horse Chow 100 but nobody around here carries it.