Conditioning Horse Feed #2 (Simpler than Old-Horse Special Mash)

If you saw the earlier recipe that I posted for the old-horse special mash, you probably noticed that it was a recipe with several steps. While none of those steps was terribly time-consuming in itself, it did require some work, and there are times in the busy life of the farm when something simpler is called for. We will keep the previous recipe in our arsenal and use it as needed, but meanwhile, here is a more streamlined recipe that is getting noticeable results.

We have been using it to put condition on our two other horses, ages 5 and 6. Both are drafts, one large (1800 lbs) and one small (1000 lbs); but because of differences in condition (the bigger one is also fatter), they each get half. This mash is working wonderfully well. In fact, it has turned their coats to silk in short order.

The basic ingredients are flax, oats, barley, and bran.

This recipe makes enough for two horses.

1 cup whole flax
4 cups whole oats
2 cups steam-rolled barley
2 cups wheat bran

Measure out the flax, 1/2 cup at a time, and grind it in a coffee grinder. (We have a grinder dedicated to this purpose.) Put the resulting flax meal in a quart jar and add boiling water to fill the jar. Stir to mix well. Put the lid on, then wrap the jar in a towel, and place this in a pail or other container, to hold in the heat. Let this sit for at least four hours. It is easiest to just do this in the morning, and come back to it in the evening, when you are ready to feed (or vice versa). (See note below on the importance of heating the flax.)

Next, grind the oats. For this, an old cast-iron feed mill works well. If you don't have one of these, you can just use steam-rolled oats. If you have a mill, then grind the whole oats enough to crush the hulls well. Then grind the steam-rolled barley. This barley grinding isn't absolutely essential, but it does help to make the mash nice and fluffy.

Combine the ground oats, the ground-up steam-rolled barley, and the bran, and mix together well. This mixture will be very light. Then add the flax mixture, which after sitting for hours will be a nicely cooled flax gel. Mix this thoroughly into the oats-barley-bran.

About the flax:

According to what I have read in old livestock-feeding books, flax should be heated because in its raw state it contains a substance which in rare instances can give rise to prussic acid, which is poisonous.

Also, you can buy flax meal, and it doesn't have this problem, but it also has most of the oil removed, which for my purposes, materially decreases its charm as a conditioning feed. In the old days, you could get flax meal that still had the oil in it, but not so anymore. Thus the homemade flax gel.