Barley

[Lilyaust]

At the moment I'm using boiled barley in my horses feed. I want to keep him on it as it does amazing things for his weight and coat and doesn't heat him up. As a bonus it's natural. I'm hoping to move him to an agistment place it's just not possible for me to boil it up anymore as it goes off quite quickly. Does it come in a powder form as well?? Or is there another natural suppliment i can use?

[mig]

Maybe try steam-extruded (ie mitavite) or micronised (i.e mi-feed) barley?

[ctor0310]

I use steam flaked barley and love it for the same reasons you do. It give him enough energy, keeps his weight on, doesn't make him too 'happy' and very inexpensive! Maybe it's worth giving it a go in your situation. I've also used the Mitavite Extra cool which is a barley base. I liked it for a very hot horse I used to have but I'm now feeding a much better multivitamin to the current horse so I don't need the additives which were in the mitavite.

[marhar]

Better Blend Feeds do an expandat Barley which we give our warmblood and she is doing really well with it - no fizziness, great condition.

[becca]

I second the steam flaked barley, its only about $15-16 for a 20kg bag, great conditioner, low fizz. I use the barastoc one, although there's a few brands around. I feed .5kg-2kg/day (depending on the season and availability of pastue) to my retired TB gelding with a vit/min supplement and he is in pretty good condition. I also feed it to my other horses when needed as an aid in weight gain.