Hot Mash?

[missdixie]

Do any of you make a hot mash for your old guys in the evening? If so what do you use and what do you like about it? I'm thinking about putting my 30 year old on it, he's getting kind of ribby and I think it's because he doesn't have good enough teeth to properly digest his food.....

[AUEquine]

We use bran mash here alot at the vet school. It's great for starting horses back on feed that have been off it for illnesses. We make them lots of different ways depending on the horse.
If the horse needs to have soft feces (ie. RV tear, etc) we add lots of mineral oil to keep thing soft and moving.
If the horse isn't wanting to eat it's mash, we add lots of things like equine senior, dried molassas, sweet feed, etc.

I used to love making mashes for my guys back home on cold nights as a treat! I either did an alfalfa mash with the cubes, or a bran mash with some moalsass. Just a nice treat to say I love you!

[walkinthewalk]

I don't do that yet. I'm sure I will have to somewhere down the road.

All of my horses are on pelleted rice bran and a pelleted vit/min supplement.

All year long I top-dress that with warm canola oil and also add a couple big splashes of water. During the cold months I heat the water.

I keep the canola oil and water in sports bottles and heat them in the microwave just before going to the barn. I am very fortunate my horses are on my property so I can do these extra things.

I also bought heated water buckets last winter because I have finally grown weary of carrying hot water to the barn that is near-frozen by morning anyway:(

We have heated tubs for outside the barn too.

I discovered all my horses drink a lot more water when it's heated.

So if it's possible and feasible, investing in heated buckets and/or heated outdoor tubs, I recommend them from my own experience:cowboy:

Just be sure to properly ground your outside tubs with copper wire, and if you have to run extension cords for anything , buy the HEAVY DUTY cords for industrial use, instead of those skinny & frail, worthless things that are sold for the house:)

I am lucky that hubby installed outdoor sockets by each tub. If we'd had to run the "not recommended" extension cords, they would have been of the outdoor type, put in plastic pvc pipe, and then run overhead on the overhang that's attached to the barn.

Hope that made sense:)

[vicklynn]

I did, yrs ago. And only in the cold of winter.
I like a good hot mixed feed, well he did...lol
My only advice is, watch what your putting into it, your needing the horse to gain weight.
Where's Ryle.

[mustangluver]

All the horses get it at night.
We use bran mash, their feed (pellets for my girl) sometimes carrots or apples and then I take warm water and soak it and hand it to my girl and she knickers and dances and wears it ALL over including mane!!


Do any of you make a hot mash for your old guys in the evening? If so what do you use and what do you like about it? I'm thinking about putting my 30 year old on it, he's getting kind of ribby and I think it's because he doesn't have good enough teeth to properly digest his food.....

[Ryle]

While bran mash is ok for occasional feeding it should not be fed on a regular basis because the calcium to phophorus ratio is really messed up for a horse's needs. A better choice for doing regular warm mashes is to just add water to whatever you normally feed. For these senior guys, a complete senior feed that is designed to be easily digestible also tends to be really really easy to turn into a mash with just the addition of a little water and a few minutes. My old man gets a warm mash 2-3 times a day in the winter depending on how he is holding his weight and the outside conditions. I just add warm water to his Equine Senior. This way he's still getting a balanced diet and I'm not changing his diet which can trigger colic.

[fire1]

My guy lives warm grain in the cool evenings. I always use hot water to make his beet pulp and then it cools as it soaks to a nice warm temp. He likes it warm and isn't as fond of it now when it is cold! He is not spoiled honest:rolleyes:! He gets his pulp, his grain a handful of cob and some rice bran on accasion, just a small amount, like 1/2 a cup. When we do training rides for endurance he gete a little electrolytes in there too. He lickes his bowl clean!

[WashingtonBay]

I give hot mashes... not so much at night, I give them on those really cold mornings! I just pour hot water on their regular feed... If things are frozen and I'm worried they aren't drinking enough, or think they'd appreciate a nice warm breakfast in their belly, I make it plenty soupy! Doesn't that look yummy? :)

[Mercury]

I do the same as Bay in the winter and mine definately aren't seniors. But yes, soaking his feed will help your senior tremendously!

[mustangluver]

I like doing it in the winter to to make sure they are getting fluids.

I have never heard you don't bran mash daily... something I have never worried about. My stang gets it 2-3 a week for supplements thats it. The old girl gets it nightly with her MSM.

[grandmadeb]

Al gets the soupy Senior all year long to make sure he gets enough fluid. He tends to forget to drink, especially in the autumn and gets impaction colic. Had surgery and we can't have a repeat.

[SedonaThunder]

All four of mine get two "mashes" each day.:( It all started a few years ago when I would make oatmeal consistency grass pellets to put their herbal wormer in for a week every other month. I marveled at how they dove into it, looked so happy and it was fun to watch... and one time when the week of wormer ended - I just kept bringing out the "oatmeal". It's been three years now and we use cold water in the summer and warm/hot water in the winter. Although it's a pain when we have a sitter feeding (this is very rare) the horses love it and I like it because it makes it easy to add things (glucosamine, msm, vitamins, electrolytes...) here and there when I need to without them hardly noticing. Also, after Lele coliced horribly in June I started making her "oatmeal" more like soup - I get a gallon and a half of water in her guaranteed every day this way!:)

[offgridgirl]

Good time for hot mashes!! I do beetpulp,molasses and oats on cold evenings. I offer hot water all day and they all come for am good long drink!!....

[missdixie]

Thanks! I will try adding some hot water to his senior feed tonight and see if that gets him excited :)

[ownedby7horses]

I soak my beetpulp in HOT water. By the time he gets it, it's nice & warm. Throw a bit of dried molasses on there, some senior horse vits & min (starting tomorrow) and he laps that up like a puppy! I give it to him in the morning & he gets beetpulp w/molasses at night too.

I love making them hot mashes! They love it.

For my other horse I used to mix his beetpulp (hot water), throw in a handful of molasses, oats, and electolytes & he would go nuts for the stuff....he wouldn't quit talking to me the whole time I was making it for him! He could see the feed room from his stall & would stand there & nicker constantly. As I would come towards him with the pail, he'd stamp his feet, spin in circles in his stall, whinny, he was a real character, & obviously loved it. He'd have the pail cleaned spotless for me for the next day!

[Ryle]

Gosh, they can be persistant about their "requests" for dinner can't they? LOL I can't even open my front door without my old man looking up and nickering from way out in the pasture. If I go outside he talks all the way up to the fence around our shop-building where the feed is kept and then acts all pitiful if I don't get his soup fast enough.

[ownedby7horses]

Yup! I hear that one! Cawl talks as he walks in from the pasture! He doesn't hurry though, he just moseys right along, he'll get there when he gets there! He knows I wont let the others have it!