Old Horse & Pellet Calamity -- A Cautionary Tale

Pellets and I have not gotten off to a good start. They seem to be all the rage for feeding to old horses, as they are said to be easy to digest, and our vet recommends them, so I decided to give them a try to see how they compared with our "Old-Horse Special Mash" (listed below). The old horse did like them, and ate them with relish (yum!), but this did not work out too well, as she choked on them, and we had to treat her aggressively for aspiration pneumonia. This was serious stuff, and the prognosis was 10 to 1 against. Fortunately the horse did not become seriously ill and fall down and die, and perhaps she choked without actually inhaling the pellets after all, but it was still a close call requiring extra work and expense and worry, and this gave me great pause on the subject of feeding pellets.

In twelve years of horse-keeping, I have never had a horse choke on its feed. Perhaps it wasn't just the pellets -- my vet said a horse can choke on anything -- but adding (Equine Senior) pellets was the only significant change I made to the feeding program, so this raised a red flag. As a result, I have set a policy that if pellets are to be used at all, they will only be used after they are soaked.

I would probably apply this policy to younger horses, too, if I were to feed them pellets... which I won't.

After this calamity, I experimented with soaking the pellets, and found that adding an equal portion of water to the pellets and soaking overnight yielded a nice non-soupy mush. I added 1/2 part of ground oats to that to make it a little more crumbly, and the old horse was able to eat it well... without choking.

I still prefer my own recipe, but this works okay, and it is good to have backup plans or alternatives to suit variations in situation.

I hope this helps somebody to prevent a potentially disastrous but easily avoidable problem.

Smoothie of Destiny

I love this recipe. It is delicious, satisfying, and very health-building. It makes an energizing and sustaining breakfast, and goes nicely with whole grain toast, if a more substantial meal is desired.

2 cups fruit, fresh or frozen (peaches, strawberries, etc) or a banana or two
2 cups milk
2 eggs
Honey to taste
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon Spirulina (optional)

Combine ingredients in blender and blend until fully pureed. Recipe can be cut in half, but I make the whole batch, because if there are any leftovers, they make a nice mid-morning pickup.

This drink varies in its health-building properties, of course, with the quality of ingredients used. In our case, the honey is from our hives, the eggs from our partially-free-range hens, the milk from our mostly-grass-fed cow, and all ingredients are whole and raw. If you live on or have access to a farm, and can take advantage of similar blessings, wonderful. If you live in the city, you may still find good organic ingredients through health food or farmer's markets. Whatever your circumstances, use the best you can find and afford. It is worth it.

NOTE: If there is no fruit on hand, the smoothie can be made without it, which variation yields egg nog, and benefits from a splash of vanilla. Also, if I am feeling decadent, I'm not above leaving the fruit out anyway (unless it is banana), and adding a tablespoon of cocoa in place of the Spirulina. Just, you know, for Chocolate Emergencies.

Conditioning Horse Feed #1: Old-Horse Special Mash

I developed this recipe to put condition on a very old draft horse. It requires a mill for crushing the oats. (I use a small old-style cast-iron mill that is set up in the feed room.) If you don't have access to one of these, you could substitute rolled oats (oatmeal) from the local feed store, or from a mill that prepares livestock feeds, but it isn't as good as freshly crushed oats, which have needed fiber and fresh-ground nutrition. This mix has several steps that are done in separate buckets, and the feed requires soaking from morning to evening or vice versa, but once you get the routine in place, it is easy to prepare.

Ingredients:
4 quarts crushed oats (milled enough to crush hulls) - measured after grinding
1 quart steam-rolled barley
4 quarts alfalfa pellets
2 quarts beet pulp
2 quarts wheat bran
1 scant quart crushed flax seed (2 cups whole flax, ground)
1 quart vegetable oil (yes, a whole quart)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup molasses
1 oz (2 Tablespoons) salt


STEP ONE: Combine the oats and barley with 1 cup apple cider vinegar and 1 quart water.

STEP TWO: Combine the alfalfa pellets with 1 quart vegetable oil.

STEP THREE: Combine the beet pulp with 1 quart water.

STEP FOUR: Combine the ground flax, molasses and salt with 1 quart BOILING water. Put a cover on it to hold the heat in.

Leave all of these buckets of stuff to soak, then come back that evening or the next morning, depending on when you started, and dump all ingredients from all the buckets into a tub. Add the wheat bran, and mix until everything is well combined.

That's it. After this sits for a while, the mix gets a little drier, and the alfalfa pellets soften up and fall apart, as they soak up the excess moisture in the feed. All of the farm animals surveyed so far have loved this recipe: horses, cows, goats, and even dogs.

This mix makes about 3.5 gallons, which on this farm lasts about a day and a half. I would not keep it around for much longer than that, especially in hot weather, in case it might get moldy. I haven't tested that point, as it always gets gobbled up too quickly.

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