Yeah, I got into all that when I started having to keep Tennessee on a dry lot and feed only hay. There really is quite a bit to have to learn about horse nutrition when you can’t feed a prepackaged feed. The Yahoo Equine Cushings/Insulin Resistance group was very helpful in that regard. They have spreadsheets that let you punch in the numbers of whatever feed and supplements you’re using, along with the numbers from your hay analysis and it’ll tell you what you need to add or subtract to get the horse’s vitamin/mineral ratios balanced in relation to each other. The one that blew me away was the ratio of Iron to Copper needs to be just so or it can cause BIG problems. Most feeds have way too much iron anyways, and since we’ve got this iron-rich red clay soil here, they get more than enough iron in their hay, forage and water so there needs to be more copper in their diet to balance it out. It’s mind-boggling, but that spreadsheet has been a lifesaver for me.
See... all that goes right over my head. :~) Not sure what I would do with the spreadsheet. ;~)
I don’t think Bay is Cushings/IR (yet). I just agree he probably doesn’t need the sugar.