Pelleted feed vs. sweet feed?

[Snow-white]

My horse just arrived from Ohio to New Orleans, and she has been fed Equine Merit 12% pelleted pleasure feed exclusively. The new barn feeds Sweet feed and bran (plus whatever supplements you'll buy).
They sent two bags of the "old" feed with the horse and we are gradually switching her over, but my question is this: When she arrived from a considerably colder climate, her coat was MUCH shinier and "finer" than the other horses at the current barn. (AND they blanket every night and on colder days, mine was never blanketed in Ohio).

What are the benefits of Pelleted vs. sweet feed.. should I keep her on a mixture of both, maybe 1/2 and 1/2? Does their coat and its condition just depend on genetics?

Any other stellar supplements I should know of?
Also, she is out for several hours a day and is very active, (3 yo, 16 H), How much do you feed your sport-horse types?

Thank you for all help!

[snickers]

If you feel like she would do good on the half and half, I dont see
where that will be a problem, unless where you board her, they wont
mix it. Yes, feed does have something to do with their coats. It seems she is getting everything she needs from the feed she was on.
I feed during the summer pellets. It doesnt go bad, and my horses
dont sweat as much. They also have a trace mineral block, and electralites.
During the winter I feed a high molassis feed, because it generates warmth for them. .
It was great having a father in the feed mill bussiness.
You learn about all the different feeds.
But a lot has changed since then.
If you swtich ehr all the way to the other feed and she starts losing weight, and dull coat, I would switch her back.
Think of it this way, if its not broken, dont try to fix it.

[DixieHorseChick18]

I learned from a dude tring to sell me expencive food ( so I dont know it its true) but he was telling me about sweat feed , because I told him I fed my horses it and was perfectly fine with it at 5 dollars at our mill, but he told me alot of sweat feed will not digest it and use it in their body and go right through a horses system. I dont know if its true but he convienced me pretty good ( DARN YOU SALES PEOPLE!!!!) and I bought pellets.

I dont know any benifits, I just know that my horse is eating. And with these winter coats I cant tell a darn thing with difference in shine and stuff. I know Kibbles had the runs for a long time and we could never find anything to stop it, and after we started feeding pellets, stopped. It might have been the hay though.

Sorry I couldnt be of any help to you, I am not always a big ball of information about some stuff but I wish I could be more help.

[Range]

I have fed both and I much prefer pellets. Less spoilage, less opportunity for the molasses to freeze when it's cold, better digestibility - thus better utilization. My horses (ALL of them) pass out quite a bit of the grain from sweet feed, so I know it's not being utilized. My horses all gain better and look better on pellets.

[ToveroMom]

We feed pellets only-12% protein 8%fat..love it
I have not fed molassas for years.

[mel35horses]

From what I have read. I understand the the horse's stomach is very small and the food moves through the digestive tract pretty quickly so the easier that the feed is to digest (ie pellets vs sweet feed) pellets since they are already processed more than sweet feed they digest more quickly and therefore your horse gets much more out of them with the short time that they are in the stomach.

I have switched from sweet feed to pellets and I have noticed that there is very little left when he poops and can't see any whole feed in his manure.

I believe that pellets are much more economical even though when you purchase them they usually cost more if the horse is able to utilize them more and doesn't send them out the back end you are actually saving money.

Just my 2 cents hope it helps

[Faceman]

Interesting - I don't feed much sweet feed except to pregnant and nursing mares and to weanlings, because mine don't seem to need the extra nutrition, but when I do feed them sweet feed, much of it passes through undigested as a couple of you mentioned. I may give the pellets a try.

By the way, blanketing horses in New Orleans? Why? I lived in New Orleans for 2 years and it only got below 32 degrees 2 or 3 nights the whole time I was there. There must be a reason. Maybe the climate is so mild they don't grow a winter coat and are suceptible to getting chilled on those rare nights when it does gets cold?

[Rebecca]

I have known some horse traders who automatically put the horses they buy on sweet feed to fatten them up.
Many people buy sweet feed because it tends to be less expensive, and the horses love it.
We usually feed our horses pellets, and add sweet in the winter to help them stay warm. The sweet tends to make the horses sweat in the summer.
As you know, any change of feed should be gradual.

Rebecca

[Snow-white]

no, it really doesn't get that cold herer, which is why I haven't bothered to blanket her, but the other horses have full-on thick wintercoats.
I would've thought that the horses, having been blanketed would've had nicer coats than mine, which is why I wondered if the feed was causing them to look a bit dull and extra furry, they are all very plump and round, though!

[beth55051]

I'm feeding Nutrena 12% (mostly pellets with some oats) to all of my horses. It's a bit more than the stuff you get at the feed mill but I don't have to feed as much. If I could afford to I would feed straight pellets. I notice that most of my horses don't digest oats and alot of corn goes right through also. The pellets are easily digested plus they make sure that the horses are getting all of the minerals and vitamins. Molasses can also rot out your horses teeth. You won't notice until they start gettin older but it will happen. I have also had horses that didn't like molasses. I also feed my harder keepers (the ones who actually need the grain) Empower. It's a rice bran based pelleted supplement. I much prefer pellets vs. oats/sweet feed why pay that much just to seed your pasture? See if they will allow you to keep her on her current feed. If not see about giving her something like Empower or Moorman's as a supplement? As far as the shiny coat it could also be the type of hay they are on. Higher quality not just protein hay will provide them with more energy which will allow them to have a better hair coat. They might also not be getting the minerals and vitamins from the sweet feed as they usually just sift down to the bottom of the bin or bag and don't get fed evenly. As far as supplements for a shiny coat and good hooves anything with biotin will help or even just a good all around supplement. Try Super Coat made by MVP

[Drafty]

I say NO SWEET FEED! I used to swear by that stuff, until my riding instructor got me to switch over to pellets. If you get the right pellets, everything a horse needs is in them. Also, sweet feed makes horses hyper, especially those leisure horses who don’t get ridden hard every day!! My filly was started on sweet feed and it made her crib. When we switched over to pellets she stopped the cribbing. It is also a lot easier to manage her weight now. Not as easy to make a bran mash, but my horses don’t seem to mind. Anyway, I guess it depends on your preference and what you do with your horse. And better yet, if you’ve got the grass and the good hay, don’t feed grain at all!

I don’t use blankets on my horses and it gets mighty cold where I live. They don’t need them, and it is just too much work to adjust a bunch of blankets twice a day.

[beth55051]

Most horses do just fine without blankets. I only blanket mine when the weather gets really nasty because I don't have enough shelter for all of them to actually get inside. They can all get behind a wind break but sometimes the young ones need more than that. Contrary to populare belief blanketing will NOT prevent a horse from growing a winter coat only time lighting will. But it does keep them clean. I only blanket one horse and that's the horse that I ride in indoor arenas all winter and haul to shows. It's only to keep her clean. But becuse I keep her blanketed all the time I have to pay closer attention to her coat, weight and make sure her blanket is always clean and dry.

[DixieHorseChick18]

I have never put a blanket on a horse. One, I dont have one, and two, I have not bought one because they seem to be fine. As ong as they have nice hay to eat, they stay pretty warm. I wanted to get a blanket but then i thought about it and desided, waste of money. It does get pretty cold around here. it only got a couple degrees over 32 for a while today then it went back down. The left over ice from WED. last week was solid as a rock when I got home, it wont got away. I about busted my butt one good time.

[LiquidStarlight]

I definately prefer pellets to sweet feed. The two horses I have bought that were being fed sweet feed, 1. Was a big, giant butterball. 2. Was Sonny, and he couldn't digest the sweet feed properly. The pelleted feed that I have always fed my horses makes their coats wondeful. They also seem to waste less.

I blanket Sonny on those "cold" Florida nights. My rule right now is that below 40 degrees, I'll blanket him. And only because he is still on the thin side and he is a bit older. When his weight is up to par, I don't think I will blanket him anymore. Does help with his coat, though.

[Rebecca]

My husband prefers pellets to sweet.
Sweet is so sticky, and messy, and it tends to draw bugs.
When we have it on the place we have to keep it in a plastic garbage can
with a lid to keep the ants and flies away.
Because it clumps together it is difficult to measure.

Rebecca

[Orchid]

I much prefer pellets to sweet feed. Yes, it is more expensive per bag than sweet feed, but I can feed less and keep the horses in the same body condition, and I don't see it coming out the other end undigested.

[ToveroMom]

I had always heard to keep horses warmer in the winter -feed more forage/hay.
That does create more heat as it is digested in the horse.
Am curious as to why feeding molassas is thought by some to keep them warm? Not arguing-just never heard it.

[Orchid]

Originally Posted by ToveroMom

I had always heard to keep horses warmer in the winter -feed more forage/hay.
That does create more heat as it is digested in the horse.
Am curious as to why feeding molassas is thought by some to keep them warm? Not arguing-just never heard it.

Me too?

[pasomystic]

Am curious as to why feeding molassas is thought by some to keep them warm? Not arguing-just never heard it.

Me three?

I also haven't fed sweet feed in..let's see.....25 years or so. If necessary because of lack of good hay or pasture, I would definitely feed pellets. However, I never feed grain because I have always managed to find good hay that keeps the various breeds of horse I have had plump and shiny with a little pasture time in the growing season. To have good pasture like I have now, I only feed a total of about 1.5 tons of hay per horse per year--good mineral/salt supply and the odd treat.

This includes horses in their 20's used for all day cattle drives and pleasure rides, plus a couple of CTR horses.

Also, since I do not show or ride hard in winter, I have never blanketed. My horses all, without exception, have not used shelters and barns in bad weather, only for shade/fly control in summer. The worst storms will still see them only use windbreaks. Hmmmm so why do I spend so much time and money building them for them anyway??? Well, just in case, I guess.

I have always had more trouble keeping horses slender enough rather than needing to pack any more weight on them--including my TWH X TB 16.3 hh gelding who even at age 2 was easy to keep, lol.

[PaintedWonders]

Do you think it would stunt the growth of a weanling if it didn't get grain/pellets, but had a plush pasture-plenty of timothy/alfalfa hay-mineral/salt blocks-water-occastional treats? Everything it would need, except the grain or pellets? I'm asking because my neighbor has a weanling that gets everything but the grain/pellets..& she asked me the other day if I thought it would affect her growth...

Also, the filly Im getting is on a 18% pellet & beet pulp diet. She gets 3 lbs soaked 2x daily with a 18% pellet mixed in... 1 lb of 18% pellets over the pulp. At the moment, she is being stalled for the majority of the day, and turned out the rest. A friend of mine thinks this is way too much for her to be getting right now.. what do you guys think?