Old Horse Special Mash, Half Recipe

Here is a halved recipe of the Old Horse Special Mash, for your convenience:

This is a scaled-down version of Recipe #1, which I developed to put condition on an ancient draft horse. 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:
2 quarts crushed oats (milled enough to crush hulls) - measured after grinding; could substitute oatmeal (steam-rolled oats) if desired
2 cups steam-rolled barley
2 quarts alfalfa pellets
1 quart beet pulp
1 quart wheat bran
1 cup whole flax seed (measured before grinding), then ground (makes a scant pint)
2 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup molasses
1 Tablespoon salt


STEP ONE: Combine the oats and barley with 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and 2 cups water.

STEP TWO: Combine the alfalfa pellets with 2 cups vegetable oil.

STEP THREE: Combine the beet pulp with 2 cups 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. (Easily done using a quart jar, then wrapping it in a towel, and setting the works in a bucket to cool.)

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 should make roughly 7 quarts of finished feed. Feed changes should be made gradually. If starting a new horse on it, I might start with a quart a day, maybe a bit more for a big horse, and increase gradually, if desired. The old Belgian mare for whom it was devised, and who really needed help putting condition on, got about a gallon a day. Rations depend on size of horse, condition of horse, and amount of exercise. My present large draft (1700 lbs) gets no more than 1/2 gallon of mash per day, of Recipe #3, and that is plenty to keep the shine and condition on her. She is already fat and sleek. The smaller draft, 1200 pounds, also gets 1/2 gallon a day, but she needs to gain a little weight and condition at present. I may cut her back to a quart for maintenance, and we often skip a day here and there, depending on work load and schedules.

Mashes have to be used up while they are fresh, so it helps to evaluate your rations and make just enough for one, maybe two days at most. Keep it cool in hot weather, if you can. If it sours, you have to pitch it (or give it to the chickens) and make a fresh batch for the horses.

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