Benefits of Feeding a Horse Mash During Summer
It’s important to mention that not all horse mashes are nutritionally balanced. While traditional wheat bran or beet pulp mashes are a good source of fibre, they can unbalance the horse’s diet due to their poor calcium to phosphorus ratio and lack of key vitamins and minerals.
Traditionally, in the winter, a bran mash for horses was fed as a tasty and warming horse feed. However, feeding a conditioning mash for horses during the summer months has a number of benefits too.
Choosing the Right Horse Mash for summer
So, if you would like to feed a horse mash this summer, we recommend feeding a nutritionally balanced high fibre horse mash such as Connolly’s RED MILLS Comfort Mash or our Horse Care Mash.
These products are ideal for:
- Stimulating appetite
- Mares post foaling
- Horses that travel and compete on a regular basis
- Supporting hydration and gut motility
- Improving fibre intake of the horse’s diet
Connolly’s RED MILLS Comfort Mash is a palatable, quick-soaking, high fibre mash for horses and provides a wide range of nutritional benefits including:
Helps Stimulate and Maintains Appetite During Summer
During a busy competition season or if your horse is feeling a little under the weather, they can often back off their feed, but a tempting, tasty feed of RED MILLS Comfort Mash will help tempt even the fussiest horse. Comfort Mash contains a blend of wholegrain cereals, super fibres and peas, plus added B-vitamins for horses, to help stimulate and maintain your horse’s appetite. It can also be an ideal way to disguise any equine supplements or medicines your horse needs.
Connolly’s Red Mills Horse Care Mash is also a palatable, quick-soaking, high fibre mash. The main difference between Horse Care Mash and Comfort Mash is that Horse Care Mash is cereal grain free and therefore lower in starch (at only 7 %). Care Mash also fits in well when a horse is already being fed our Care range products such as Horse Care 10, 14 or Horse Care Ultra Cubes or Mix.
Horse Care Mash is a cereal grain free, high fibre conditioning mash. Ideal for horses needing a low starch diet, including those prone to gastric ulcers. Alongside a fully balanced vitamin and mineral package, Horse Care Mash also contains additional beneficial additives including therapeutic levels of biotin, vitamin C to aid immune function, prebiotics and probiotics to support hindgut health, chelated minerals and organic selenium for optimum adsorption, and a natural gastric acid buffer to support stomach health.
Support Water Intake for Hydration and Recovery
Horses are often suspicious of new water sources and tend to drink less while travelling and competing away from home. This coupled with warmer temperatures during the summer months can increase the risk of dehydration. Wet fibre feeds may support hydration by increasing hindgut water reserves, which can help maintain fluid balance during exercise. This also makes Comfort Mash or Horse Care Mash a great recovery mash for horses.
Soft & Palatable for Older Horses with Poor Dentition
Horses that have previously suffered an episode of choke or senior horses may need a soft, easy to swallow feed. Comfort Mash or Horse Care Mash is an ideal choice for older horses as, when soaked, it provides a soft textured, easy to chew ‘porridge’.
To find out more about feeding the older competition horse see here.
Supports the Immune System
Comfort Mash is fully balanced with our Pro Vitamin and Mineral package, including the added antioxidants vitamin E and selenium for horses, to help support immune function in horses, which can be particularly challenged during a busy competition season or during periods of illness.
To learn more about supporting your horses immune system see here.
Horse Care Mash is also fully balanced with our Care Vitamin and Mineral premix package. It includes a higher level of antioxidants vitamin E, vitamin C and selenium to help support immunity. The “care package” also includes chelated minerals, beneficial probiotic yeast, prebiotics MOS and FOS. These support gut function and the gut harbours 70 % of the body’s immune cells as well as hormones such serotonin.
Supports Digestive Health
Comfort Mash includes cereals that have been steamed cooked to help maximise digestive efficiency. It also contains a number of ‘super fibres’ including soya hulls and chopped alfalfa. These highly digestible fibre sources help to support digestive health in horses and provide an important source of slow-release energy. Fibre also retains water in the GI tract, potentially providing a slower-release hydration source.
To read more about why it is so beneficial to process horse feed click here.
Suitable for Horses Prone to Gastric Ulcers
Horse Care Mash contains 7% starch and is suitable for horses prone to gastric ulcers or other digestive upsets. International Expert Nutritionists’ recognised guidelines state that when managing a horse with digestive issues, the diet should contain less than 2g of starch per kg bodyweight per day and 1g per kg bodyweight per meal.
So, for an average 500kg horse, you would be looking to keep the starch content per meal at less than 500g and the total daily starch intake per day should be less than 1,000g. When feeding 1kg of Horse Care Mash twice a day your horse would receive just 70 grams or starch per meal and 140 grams of starch per day so well below the guidelines.
Horse Care Mash is certified according to BETA Feed Approval Mark for feeds suitable for horses and ponies prone to gastric ulcers and has undergone a stringent three-stage application process, which includes the examination of ingredients, labelling, marketing claims and independent laboratory analysis. Certificates are only issued for feeds that are particularly low in sugar and starch and therefore suitable to feed, as part of a balanced diet, to horses and ponies prone to gastric ulcers.
Suitable for Horses with EMS, Cushing's or Laminitis
Horse Care Mash is low in starch and sugar and is cereal grain free. It is suitable for horses and ponies suffering from, or prone to laminitis or Cushing’s, that need support gaining or maintaining condition.
Comfort Mash is a Great Conditioning Mash For Horses
Comfort Mash is a high in oil horse feed, including linseed oil, which makes it a conditioning horse feed. It also contains quality protein to support muscle development, as well as key vitamins and minerals to help promote a healthy, glossy coat.
To read more about feeding horses for condition see here.
Horse Care Mash is also a higher oil feed. When fed at the recommended rates Horse Care Mash is conditioning. It provides calories from highly digestible fibre (e.g. alfalfa) and oil rich ingredients (e.g. linseed). It is also high in quality protein to support muscle and topline.
How to Prepare Comfort Mash for Horses
Both feeds are incredibly convenient, quick-soaking mashes.
Comfort Mash is easy to prepare; simply mix two parts water (cold or hot), with one-part Comfort Mash, leave to soak for 15 minutes, then stir and feed. Unlike a traditional bran mash for horses, Comfort Mash is nutritionally balanced so can be fed as either the sole hard feed or to replace part of your horse’s normal ration daily. Additional water can be added to make it an even more sloppier consistency if desired.
We also recommend soaking 1 part Horse Care Mash to 2 parts water, however you can of course add more than 2 parts water if you want a sloppier consistency.
One important caution of feeding soaked feeds in the heat is that they are h managed and not left fermenting in warm weather. It is important to store soaked mash in a cool dark place and ideally feed within a few hours of soaking.
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