Spoiler Alert: Horse feed storage is critically important

 Specialty feeds for horses come with all sorts of intriguing extra ingredients, mostly for added vitamins and minerals and other nutritional bonuses. Sometimes equine grain formulations are aimed at easier digestibility, or even better taste.

 

Horse owners pay extra for all that good stuff.

 I was all-in for my horses, willing to shell out extra dough-re-mi to obtain the optimum feed choices for each of them. And we were basically happy with our feed supplier, who was generally pleasant and dependable. Also, he was local and accessible and convenient, storing his inventory in a big airy outbuilding not far from the horse farm.

 So I bought bag after bag after bag from him. And all was well.

 

Then I found a surprise inside a bag of pricey grain.

 Fuzzy, stinky, damp, decaying horse feed was not exactly what the equine veterinarian ordered. My horses wouldn’t be likely to approve of it either. 

Most horses will reject moldy grain (or moldy hay), if possible. But if they consume the offensive feed, it can cause digestive troubles (even colic), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (heaves), reproductive problems and other issues.

 Avoiding this exact situation was one of the main reasons I bought our horses’ feed on an as-needed basis, rather than stockpiling at the stables.

 

I was a little steamed. Maybe more than a little.

 I schlepped the bulky bag back to our animal feed guy. He blamed the unseasonably humid weather we’d had for the moldy grain. He offered to credit me for half the price of the product.

 Let’s see … how much of that fungus-filled feed was I going to be able to use?

 

Hey, sometimes ya just gotta break the mold.

 Or at least, sometimes ya just gotta find a new feed supplier, if the grain comes with mold.

 Ever since that moldy mishap, I have purchased our horse feeds from merchants with climate-controlled feed storage. They’re a little out of the way, but worth the trips.

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Product review: Who's wondering about Winnie's Cookies organic horse treats?

Winnie’s Cookies are showing up in equine feed buckets and horse lovers’ hands all over, with horses nickering for more.

What are Winnie’s Cookies?

Made from certified organic ingredients, Winnie's Cookies are soft, sweet, grainy horse treats that include nutritional supplement ingredients like amino acids, minerals, and vitamins. Product publicity materials claim the cookies detoxify a horse’s digestive tract within two months of regular daily usage.

Basic ingredients of Winnie’s Cookies include alfalfa seed, barley, corn, dulse, flax seed, millet, molasses, rye, triticale, wheat bran, whole wheat, and filtered water.

Winnie’s Cookies are produced and sold directly by the manufacturer. They are also available from Amazon.  The equine treats are marketed in quantities ranging from four dozen (currently priced at $27.95) to 32 dozen. A  Cookie Club offers quantity discounts.

The company agrees to bake and ship the cookies on the same day, sending the parcels directly to customers’ homes or barns. Auto-ship  promotions are also offered.

NOTE: Written by this author, this copyrighted material originally appeared on another publisher’s site. That site no longer exists. This author holds all rights to this content. No republication is allowed without permission.

Do horses like Winnie’s Cookies?

The equine treats, which smell a lot like fresh oatmeal-molasses cookies for humans, seem to appeal to all sorts of horses. A recent sample, received from Winnie’s Cookies, was shared (with horse owners’ permissions) with an Appaloosa, an Arabian, a Morgan, a Paint, a Quarterhorse, and a Thoroughbred in a Southeastern Wisconsin equestrian boarding facility. All of these horses gobbled the treat readily.

Because of their soft-baked organic nature, including the complete absence of additives or preservatives, Winnie’s Cookies must be refrigerated or frozen for safe storage. Also, they need to be handled gently, as they tend to break and crumble easily.

Complimentary (0.5-lb.) samples of Winnie’s Cookies are available (with customers paying for shipping).

Reviewer’s Note: This product reviewer received a free sample of the product described and evaluated here, although the reviewer has no prior or existing relationship (either familial or professional) with the creator, manufacturer or marketer of the product.

What other Winnie’s Cookies products may be found?

Winnie’s Cookies also offers versions for calming, flexion, and mare care needs. A canine cookie variety is available as well.

Image/s:

Adapted from public domain artwork

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50 primo dollar store finds for horse lovers

Horse ownership can be quite expensive. Horse care, horse feed and supplements, horse tack, and horse supply expenditures add up fast. Toss in some everyday riding and show apparel for the human, and the bottom-line grows.

Fortunately, thrifty-minded horse owners learn quickly how to cut costs.

An equestrian who might spend plenty of a quality saddle, a beautiful bridle, or a smashing show outfit may still seek savings on other purchases.

Equestrians and horsey gift shoppers can save plenty on gifts and supplies by picking up plenty of practical items at dollar stores and discount centers. Check out these 50 fine bargains for horse lovers at any local dollar store or discount center. 

Graphic created by this user. All rights reserved.

Listed alphabetically, these items may often be found for just a buck or two at a local dollar store.

50 dollar and discount items for horse lovers and their horses:

1. Artificial flowers (for horse jumps and horse show decorating)
2. Baby wipes (for quick cleanups of horses, humans, and tack)
3. Bandages (including adhesive bandaids, first aid tape, and gauzes)
4. Batteries (for flashlights, cameras and other devices)
5. Bicycle hooks (for hanging bridles and other tack room items)
6. Brooms (for barn and horse trailer cleanups)
7. Buckets (for grain, water, and tack cleaning)
8. Bungee cords (for hanging stall fans
9. Candy canes (for favorite horse treats, even after Christmas)
10. Car wash mitts (for horse bathing)
11. Christmas stockings (for horse friends)
12. Combs (for horses and humans)
13. Dry erase markers (for barn boards and stall front messages)
14. Duct tape (for quick repairs and horse poultices)
15. Dust pans (for swift cleanups)
16. First aid supplies (antibacterial creams or ointments, wound cleansers, tweezers, and more)
17. Flashlights (outdoor-quality)
18. Furniture polish wipes (for wooden tack trunks)
19. Garbage bags (for trash pickup, emergency rain wear, and perhaps horse bombproofing exercises)
20. Gift bags (for holiday horse presents)
21. Ginger snaps (for horses and humans)
22. Gloves (for warmth, work, schooling or showing)
23. Hair clips (for humans and for horse mane and tail braiding)
24. Hairbrushes (for manes and tails)
25. Hammers (for barn tool kit)
26. Hand sanitizer gel (or baby wipes)
27. Ibuprofen (for human aches and pains)
28. Laundry baskets (for barn clothes, polo wraps, saddle pads, and tack towels)
29. Leather wipes (for cleaning tack)
30. Pantiliners (for dressing horse wounds)
31. Paper towels (for innumerable uses)
32. Peppermints (for horse treats)
33. Picture frames (for the horse gallery)
34. Plastic bags (for storage and supplements)
35. Plastic baskets (for organizing tack closets and trunks)
36. Plastic storage containers (for storing feed supplement portions)
37. Plastic gloves (for messy or medical tasks)
38. Plastic wrap (for poultices and wound wrapping)
39. Pliers (for barn tool kit)
40. Reusable shopping bags (for toting stuff back and forth from barn to home)
41. Scissors (for horse grooming)
42. Screwdrivers (for barn tool kit)
43. Shampoo (for horse bathing)
44. Socks (for tack wiping)
45. Sponges (for horse bathing and tack cleaning)
46. Stain removal sticks (for stable stains)
47. Super glue (for quick repairs)
48. Tape measures (for barn tool kit)
49. Towels (for horse bathing and tack cleaning)
50. Whisk brooms (for tack room and trailer cleanups)

Copyrighted material. Unauthorized reproduction or publication is not allowed.

Dollar store product inventories vary greatly, especially with holidays and changing seasons. Even so, a well-stocked bargain store is likely to offer plenty of low-priced picks for horse lovers.

Image/s:

Public domain photo

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Hay and straw are NOT the same thing.

Hey there. Lots of people confuse hay and straw, using the two terms interchangeably. But they are two very different things, and they are not used the same ways. Both hay and straw are baled, but the similarities sort of stop right there.

Nice, grassy hay

Hay is produced from alfalfa, brome, orchard, timothy, and other grasses. It may contain some clover or even a little rye. Hay is cut when the grasses are still green and soft. It usually has lots of seeds. Horses, goats, cattle, sheep, and other farm animals eat hay for forage. It’s fragrant and yummy and filled with minerals and vitamins that make livestock thrive.

Straw, not hay (See sneaker for scale.)

Straw, on the other hand, is stalky and twiggy and hollow and coarse. It’s chaff, basically a by-product of actual crops (like barley, oats, or wheat) and has little or no nutritional value.

Still, straw is handy for lots of purposes. Use it to bed a foaling stall. Mulch a garden with it. Cover your freshly seeded lawn with it to protect emerging baby grass. Add it to your Halloween or harvest festival display. Pack it into your horse- or tractor-drawn wagon for tourists to sit upon. Stuff a scarecrow with it. Pile it up for winter insulation. Go ahead and weave a basket or make a porch chair with it, if you want.

But please don’t try to feed that straw to my horse … or yours.

Hey, now.

Image/s

Photos by The Mane Point: A Haven for Horse Lovers

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