What’s the Scoop on the
By Liz Cornell
certainly sounds like a daunting task to take on after every- thing else we already do for our mounts. Chances are these custom diets will need to be just that: customized for each individual horse, which again, is another reason to feel over- whelmed when trying to put together a healthy diet plan.
H
THE OLD SCOOP For decades most equestrians have been feeding bagged ‘complete feeds’ available from local dealers, a convenient way to feed. Some of this feed is sold nationwide, so if you frequently move around the country with show horses, you can feel confident you can buy that brand of feed almost anywhere. (Regionally manufactured feeds tend to be avail- able at a more economical price.) Bagged horse feeds come in the form of pellets, textured
feeds or sweet feeds, made up of a very long list of ingre- dients. Let Google be your friend—chances are you’ll need help understanding what many of the ingredients are! Unfor- tunately these processed feeds are known for their fillers, requiring the manufacturers to add vitamins and minerals, often synthetic, to the feed.
THE NEW SCOOP We tend to feed our horses by measuring in scoops—a scoop of this and a scoop of that and we’re done. But is there a better way? Since eating healthier is on everybody’s radar these days, why not make certain our horses get the same benefit? To find out more, we spoke to four different horse owners who each had their reasons for making the switch to whole food diets for their horses—and have never looked back.
orse people are busy. Sport horse people are really busy. Who has the time to deal with formulating a custom, whole-food diet for a barn full of horses? It
Whole Food Diet? Breeder Jean Brinkman
According to Jean Brinkman, a Trakehner breeder and farm owner for over 40 years at Valhalla Farm in northern Florida, formulating your own healthy diet for horses is not diffi- cult. She (with the help of her husband) has been feed- ing a custom whole-food diet for more than 20 years with great success. Currently they feed over 40 horses (some are client horses), with about 30 of them in steady work. “I couldn’t do it without my husband,” she laughs, “as he is an integral part of our working farm.” Every year he harvests 60 acres of perennial peanut hay which grows well in their soil and provides the horses their forage nutrition. (Perennial peanut hay is grown regionally in north Florida and south Georgia and is comparable to alfalfa hay grown in other parts of the country, according to two studies conducted by the University of Florida.) Jean, age 77, and her husband, 85, are both in excellent health and live medication-free. “The phrase ‘you are what you eat’ is so true. I switched to organic diets for our family long ago and was aware of GMOs when they were first introduced. For the horses, I’ve never fed bagged feeds and I avoid corn, soy and beet pulp,” she says. Her journey of developing the right ‘recipe of success’
for their horses took some time, but she never steered away from the foundation of their feed: whole oats. “I know many think oats should be rolled or crimped, but since we soak our feed in hot water first, it’s never an issue,” she explains.
A family photo of the Brinkman’s in 2016 featuring husband Roy, Jean, Erin (on the horse at left), Shannon and her daughter Roya.
Warmbloods Today 31
Shannon Brinkman
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
