Food for horses?

Good description of your problem... In that case you'll be nomadic. Me and the wife have a plan for bugging out and yes our horses are going. Bug in first and if necessary we're ready to bug out. Horses are like family and can't be left out. Things like a tank of water and a generator come to mind. You may have to try and downsize your herd or buy property.... I know it will take all of my muscle and alot of luck to support my 4 on 7 acres. My wife is a walking horse encyclopedia if you have any questions be glad to help.

I'm the mini jackass that Cowboy was talking about.

Horses have been a mainstay in that part of the country for a hundred years, at least. Why not talk to your vet and some of the old timers in the area and see what they have to say. You don't have to tell them it's for your bug out plan. You can tell them you like to ride and camp and are worried about the horses. You would like to stay out for a week or so at times but you don't know what the horses need to eat. Folks should be happy to help in that regard.

Just a thought.

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Originally Posted by Sarge47

Hey, cats make tasty survival food as well, just ask the Chinese, the Viet Nameese, etc...

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Remember the rule.....cats old, dogs young! BonAppetite

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Originally Posted by pocomoonskyeyes

Well the both of you are just way too funny!!! at least I know you would be optimistic in a survival situation. Hey let's face it meat is meat when you are hungry. but agree w/RebelChick why waste a good survival tool unless you have to. Hey RC would alfalfa work planted around those watering holes? it's hard to beat for horses and deer hunters plant it on food plots to attract deer.

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Well, alfalfa is extremely hard on horses. Especially my arabs. It burns their stomachs. It could kill them or lame them, if they eat too much, especially in the heat like we have here. Now, the bales you buy at the feed stores and what not are dried out, they sit in the field for however long (unless used to feed cattle). I am not sure exactly why, so therefore I don't know if they could eat it fresh, that is something to look into tho.

Hey cowboy,

if you want to ask your wife what kind of wild edibles have nutritional value to horses. That is what I am trying to find out now. wild flowers, tree bark, etc. How bout mesquite beans? I know they like them, do they hold any value to the horse tho?

Rick- you have a great idea there. I have a sort of naturalist vet here and a great old cowboy friend, I can't beleive that I didn't think of that myself, I will let ya'll know what I find out.

Ok alfalfa is not as bad as you think as it contains calcium and helps with indigestion and ulcers. But the wildlife mixture for deer contains other things like rye grass, sort of a pasture mix ready to go,and if it attracts wildlife so much the better.

the pasture mix is ok. But you don't think alfalfa is bad? I was feeding my gelding mix, (alfalfa/bermuda) he was nuts, he couldn't think straight and tried to bolt with me several times. I switched him over to bermuda, hes a completely different horse. I have seen alfalfa kill horses. I have also seen it make the horse lame. When it is 120 degrees out and you are giving the horse food that is basically fast burning energy, it makes them hot, and if they are already a hot breed then, you have a big mess on your hands. I don't know why, I just know that it is. Vets, horse folks, anyone around here will tell you the same. If it is mixed with some sort of grass it generally is ok, its the straight, green, wet alfalfa that really effects them. Now in the winter time, they could use a little extra of that heat.

Now that mix seed is something to look into. Where do I find it?

A lot of hunting supply stores/outlets carry something like that and it would probably be better to look locally instead of nationally as it will probably contain plants that are suitable for your environment. Considering the heat yeah green alfalfa could be bad especially for hot blood breeds like your Arabs. For a survival breed of horse I don't think anything could beat a Mustang here in the US.they'll drink water other horses would turn up their noses at, and can find food other breeds would miss. If I could find a pinto mustang that would be my first choice. Piinto cause of the uneven coat would help them blend in better I think,especially in Winter. Good for hunting I think,if not pinto,then black,then sorrel,for the same reasons...blending in.

She read over your post and said simply that the horses will just have to browse for food as I had said they'll have to cover some ground to stay fed with the sparse sources available. We feed bermuda. My Paint Quarter gets real "hot" when we have given him feed. He doesn't get any. Our 19 yr. old arabian gets old lady feed. The horse will choose what to eat in the wild, it would be hard I would think to gather any acceptable amount of feed from the wild yourself. I know my 4 eat 800lbs. a week in addition to free grazing.

guess they would have to do some adapting huh? I try not to feed grain, it is a huge hassle, but some need it. I found this stuff by purina called amplify, its supposed to help them gain weight without all the stuff that makes them hot. Haven't tried it, my feed store just ordered me a bag tho.

Isn't the rule:

Beer for the horses,
whiskey for the men?

:wine::pepsi:

LOL I have not doubt in my mind that my horses would drink beer. LOL. But whiskey for my men...eeehhhh...they aint that good.

I don't know if this applies or not buuut I've read that to keep your horses warm in winter feed more hay than grain,as digestion of the hay gives them more warmth than the sweet feed. If the same holds true it sems that feeding less hay and more sweet feed in the summer would provide more nutrition and less "heat" from digestion. Just a thought, don't know for sure. Cowboy I have 6 - 4 adults and 2 foals and they don't eat as much as you are feeding,and on a body condition scale they are probably a 6, just a little fat. They will lose some weight in the winter though, bringing them down to a 5.

We have 2 we are trying to put some weight on, a result of the boarder we used prior to buying our new place. The other thing is My Paint Qtr. is huge and very active so he eats his fair share too! How big is your pasture? Our horses have 2 acres. We do not put them in stalls either so they are used to the environment. I think it is a shame if a horse cannot thrive in an outdoor environment.

Yeah I agree with that last Cowboy, I have to board my horses,and my Stallion stays up about half the time in a stall. The landowner Will not Handle him at all as he has very limited knowledge of horses. They and 3 others run on about 10 acres,and we use pasture rotation. Pasture is a mix of Fescue,timothy,orchard grasses and red,and white clover. So it's a little over an acre/horse we augment the pasture with some hay occassionally. Even when the Stallion is out (daytime run)he is only on about 1/4 acre, and feed him hay 1x /day and sweet feed 1x/day and he is getting just a little overweight as I said about a 6 on the body condition score. mares are between 5 and 6. Mares get sweet feed 2x/week. For the most part they are easy keepers.

It may be different where ya'll live but i we feed sweet feed during the summer, you might as well give them a bullet in the head. They will be miserable. But, I don't feed sweet feed at all bc it makes them hot in an already 120+ degree weather. I was in the feed store the other day and we were just talking about how many people are still feeding sweet feed in the middle of July. And that applies to any horse out here. Bermuda hay is a slower burning energy so it keeps them from getting to hot in the summer yet keeps the heat in in the winter. Grain is over-rated. Most horses do not need it.

My pasture is about an acre of moon dust! I hate it. Yea, Cowboy, I know that they would have to move to find food but was wonderdering what is really good or really bad for them. I guess the horse will tell me. I know that they are picky, they won't eat certain weeds and stuff. Maybe I will spend a weekend out and see what they do.

POCO- the standard for a horse at 1,000lb horse will eat 20 lbs of hay per day. But that depends on your horse. If they need extra for weight, coat, hooves, etc. My guys get free fed bermuda, when they are full, they just stop eating on go about their normal day. when they get hungry again, they will go much for half hour or so, and stop again. I am just telling what I know and what I have learned in the past ten years or so of trial and error and people who know "everything".

O Cowboy- I wanted to tell you also to try the Purina Amplify. Supposed to be great for putting weight on with out making them hot. Haven't tried it yet, guess it is kinda expensive. Let me know if you check it out tho. I am still stuck on the beet pulp, just bought a new bag, trying in a new way to try to get weight on this arab.

R_C, How much pasture do you have? I had 3 acres and 2 horses turned that into moon dust(summer)/mud puddle(spring and fall) in one year. So what I did was fence their pasture in half and seed the half I kept them out of. the following year I swapped pastures and did the sme.

Sarky,

I am working on doing the same we have another pasture outside of the 2 acre pasture and we seeded it with bermuda. We are also planning to partition the 2 acre pasture soon.

by splitting your pastures and rotating them then it will give your horses grass all yaer during the spring and into the fall. where poco and i board our horses there are a total of 9 horses toatal. the stallion has his own place he does not get to roam with the others because the owners of a mare that i gave them do not want her bred again. i have a 2 month old stud colt that will be gelded as soon as possible then i will put him in with his dad so that sky has company and not totally by himself. i hate to see sky by himself alot and right now he is up in his stall because cutter (3 year old) paint filly injured both of her front legs so she stays in his pasture for now until her legs heal up and i can put her in the back field.

I only have an acre for the horses. We are thinking about trying to plant some grass on one side. I just have to get the fence to do that. I am so sick of the dust and wind. Why couldn't we have lived in the forest. LOL. A friend of mine has 70 acres in Arkansas that she wants us to go move with her to. I want to but don't want to leave my family. I am so torn!