Horsey people! I have a question

[jerseygirl]

No, I’m not getting a horse. And there are no horse pictures.  (Though anyone is welcome to add photos here of their horses!!!   )

I wanted to know about horse feeds and temperament. I know there are varying feeds available for horses of different energy levels. “Cool” feeds, Mid energy feeds etc. So is this just for their energy needs – say if they are a performance horse, they’d need higher levels of energy – or are the feeds used to regulate temperament also. Or both?? So if you had a horse that is naturally hot-headed, you’d choose a feed that doesn’t contribute to this right?

I could google but Id rather hear it from the horse owners mouth. 

My interest really relates to rabbits. Does anyone see temperament changes in their rabbits due to some foods?

I wondered whether too much energy intake – especially for a house rabbit – could make them hot-headed. 

[Muchelle]

I had never thought about this, actually ò_o Sadly I don’t know about horses (though I was a super horse nerd when I was little) but I can tell for sure the bun will be extra-annoying after receiving fruit. Sugar high?

[Azerane]

I’m interested to know as well. I remember reading a bit about it at some point, but I don’t quite recall the details. I think it can definitely affect temperament, and maybe health too if a too hot feed is fed or something.

[Limit]

I owned horses and now help out with riding other people’s horses.

You’re exactly right with certain feeds for horses – hot headed ones are advised to have calming feeds (though some people will still feed high energy feeds to them…) , horses that need extra because they’re eventing or working far more will often have feed for their discipline. I used to add garlic, mint and other beneficial things to my horses feed (garlic keeps flys away).

I remember giving a substance called ‘moody mare’ for my.. moody mare it had calming herbs in. There’s some feeds that benefit both temperament and energy levels, but most of the time you choose between having one for temperament and having one for energy intake.

I’d imagine it’s the same for bunnies, giving a bun that’s hot headed a full carrot will only contribute to that hot headedness

I’m not on my laptop but once I am I’ll add some photos of my previous horses

[Vienna Blue in France]

I read temperament but I read temperature and I was interested immediately because I find that Zou and Henry have different temperature of their ears at the same time!!!
Henry’s are generally boiling…
Maybe temperament IS related to temperature !!

[Limit]

Henry must be hot headed!

[jerseygirl]

Would love to see your horses, Limit!

[Looneyluna]

I own horses, and rabbits and I do see a change in behavior depending on feed, I have a mare that is really hot headed and I give her supplements that have calming herbs in them and she is better, I feed my rabbits a Timothy based pellet feed as well as Timothy hat and they are so out of control I’ve used multiple feeds and I don’t think that really works on rabbits as it does horses I could be wrong though

[Bianca]

I own horses, and my husband worked at a fodder store for years so has lots of experience from the other side of the fence.

It depends on the horse and the feed, along with how much work the horse is in.

Often people try to blame the feed when it is actually their riding and training causing issues. But definitely you don’t need to feed a high energy feed to a horse that isn’t in work. Really high energy feeds aren’t useful for any horse unless it is competing and training heavily. Those feeds if fed correctly need to be fed in very high amounts to meet the nutritional needs of the horse. None of this “1 scoop” nonsense – feed needs to be weighed and fed according to the packet.

Then it can depend how the horse reacts to feeds. I have one who will go absolutely off his rocker (think child with ADHD on a sugar high) if fed anything soy based – even a handful of pellets. But I can load him up on high starch grains like corn and oats, and he is absolutely fine. Wheat has that effect on a lot of horses, which many owners don’t realise.

I have a mare who can be pretty nutty at times, but a lot of that comes down to hormones. Thankfully with her raspberry leaves and chaste tree berries (powdered for both) work really well. I don’t like using chamomile which is a great calming herb because it is a banned substance at shows and they do test for it.

I do think the majority of horses are fed a higher energy feed than needed. I go for as much hay as they need (I have never had to limit for an overweight horse thankfully!), and a small hard feed. At the moment all of mine get a handful of chaff and rice bran pellets. Rice bran is basically fat and oil. Not healthy in overly large doses but great for maintaining weight for growing horses, old horses, hard keepers, and horses over winter. All of my horses fit at least one of those categories. My OTTB who is nearly 15 gets the most rice bran, followed closely by my 24yo stock horse. My mare gets a bit more when she is having a growth spurt, but a small amount most of the time. I mix a powdered vitamin and mineral supplement through. It’s so much cheaper this way.

But realistically with horses, a lot of their behaviour comes down to their rider/trainer as much as their feed.

I would assume it would be similar with rabbits – Greebo certainly eats as much if not more than the bigger guys, but he is way, WAY more active. I feed Jack Rabbit as a bit of a fatty treat, but other than that they get lots of veg and 24/7 hay – the same hay I feed my horses and it is really good quality. The store bought hay I once had to buy when I ran out at night made Terry sneeze like crazy and none of them really liked it anyway, despite being “grown for rabbits.” I haven’t noticed any behaviour changes from the Jack Rabbit feed apart from less interest in veggies – so I never feed it until they have eaten their veg for the day. But then again, I don’t really feed that much of it because like I said, it’s more of a treat. They do really love it!

I’ll load some horse photos up for you in a sec.

[Bianca]

Sorry, for some reason the “insert image” bit isn’t appearing or working, so I can’t upload any photos right now. I’ll try again tomorrow. 

[jerseygirl]

But realistically with horses, a lot of their behaviour comes down to their rider/trainer as much as their feed.

Like with dogs too!

I don’t like using chamomile which is a great calming herb because it is a banned substance at shows and they do test for it.

Wow, banned?

Because they are scored on temperament & using the herb would be like using valium or something?? 

Looking forward to seeing photos. You’ll need to change the file name to something simple on the image you attached. That’s while the insert button isn’t showing.

[Bianca]

Posted By jerseygirl on 9/26/2017 4:35 AM

But realistically with horses, a lot of their behaviour comes down to their rider/trainer as much as their feed.

Like with dogs too!

I don’t like using chamomile which is a great calming herb because it is a banned substance at shows and they do test for it.

Wow, banned?
Because they are scored on temperament & using the herb would be like using valium or something??

Looking forward to seeing photos. You’ll need to change the file name to something simple on the image you attached. That’s while the insert button isn’t showing.

Thanks I suspected the file name was the issue I just can’t be bothered right now because I’m tired.

Yup, banned. Doesn’t matter so much in low level shows, but high level it’s considered a drug. I don’t really compete at the moment but I don’t want to use it as a crutch when good training and something to help with her hormones will do the job. The raspberry leaves help with any pain associated with being in season, and the chaste tree berries apparently help regulate the hormones. It is different for every horse though – I’m lucky that works for her!

[jerseygirl]

Okay. I shall wait…patiently…  

There are a lot of herbs that are known to benefit horses that also benefit rabbits. Interesting about raspberry. It’s apparently good during pregnancy (human) and I know it’s good for rabbit with gut issues too. Im not familiar with chaste tree berry but I want to read up on it now. 

btw, are you in Australia?  I recognise the pellet brand. I had thought you were posting from the UK. 

[Bianca]

Yeah raspberry leaves can also be useful for pregnant mares but shouldn’t be overdone. We used it on my mare’s dam when she had her next foal.

Yes I’m from Adelaide, South Australia.

[Q8bunny]

If I give Chewie sage (fresh or dried), he goes BERSERK within minutes. Literally runs around the house jumping on and off everything and crashing into walls or trying to nip my toes. Eventually he drops from sheer exhaustion.

[joea64]

Posted By Q8bunny on 9/27/2017 7:54 AM

If I give Chewie sage (fresh or dried), he goes BERSERK within minutes. Literally runs around the house jumping on and off everything and crashing into walls or trying to nip my toes. Eventually he drops from sheer exhaustion.

I haven’t run into any herbs yet that my bunnies go bonkers on…though they will grab at the leaves of parsley that are in each other’s mouth, greedy little things that they are. Interestingly, I’ve noticed that Fernando seems to prefer the leaves on this week’s batch of parsley (purchased in the supermarket section at Walmart, so the old warning about “cheap, fast, good, pick two” may apply &nbsp to the stems – he cheerfully ate the leaves but turned his nose up at the stems – while Panda happily noms both leaves and stems. I offered the sprigs to him stem first, and he sniffed at them but went “meh” rabbit-style, then I turned it around leaf-first and *chomp* *chomp* *chomp*

[Reesebun]

Reese is super picky for some reason, and won’t eat any herbs. She won’t even eat many carrot tops, maybe a few nibbles. She mainly just wants to eat lettuces, spinaches, chards, arugula (rocket), and some fruits. She doesn’t even like carrots or papaya!

[Bianca]

Here are photos of 3 of my horses. Unfortunately even though I have a lot of photos of Josh, I couldn’t find any that were a small enough file size.

This is King, 15yo OTTB. 

This is Ciarra. Nearly 6yo cleveland bay sporthorse (this is the only small enough photo I could find, she was having an allergic reaction to a big bite – hence the puffy face). 

And this is Odin, Ciarra’s nearly 3yo half brother.

These photos were taken in May this year – they are the most recent ones that fit the file size requirements.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Beautiful, Bianca.

I had a beautiful Morgan named Winnie for 15 years whom I adored but sadly lost her last September.

[Author]

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