What's In Your Feed Bag?

During the 1990s, I was stabled at the track with 25 head of horses, all doing well in their races and looking great... but I had a nagging feeling that *maybe* they weren't being fed quite right.

Sure, my feedroom was stocked with the best feed available for racehorses (I know it was, because it came in a glossy bag with full-color racers on the front and cost a lot).
I had buckets of supplements and herbal remedies, blood builder tonics, probiotics, prebiotics, and every biotic in between. 
Potions, lotions, and notions... all promising to make my horses healthier, happier, stronger, bigger, shinier, and faster.

HOGWASH.
What I had was a large collection of urine enhancers that had a far more profound mental effect on ME than physical effect on my horses.

I walked around with the peace of mind of those who don't know better... thinking I was really on-the-ball in keeping my horses at their optimum health with all those pricey products.

The horses however, backed out of their feedtubs and became finicky eaters.  They peed excessively trying to expel the overload, and their manure and urine had a strong smell.

The Problem?
ME, of course... I had not yet evolved into a realistic horsekeeper, and was buying into every sales pitch the feed companies offered without knowing whether I was doing right or wrong.
I was doing WRONG... and OVERFEEDING my Thoroughbred Racehorses.

I decided the best way to wise-up was to educate myself, so I took a course in Equine Nutrition at the local college and became a certified nutritionist.
We covered the major livestock animals, and I was amazed to learn that in comparison to many other classes of farm animals, horses have a relatively low need for supplemental nutrition beyond roughage. 

It was a real eye-opener to discover what a horse's nutritional requirements really are (much lower than you'd probably guess!)
I recommend taking this course to every horse owner, but that's not where this story is going.

It just so happens that I was also dating the guy who supplied most of the feed at the track, and through him, I managed to land a part-time job as a consultant for the regional mill, while still having time for my racing duties.

This well-known and respected mill facility had the capabilities to produce not only various horse feeds, but also a line of popular supplements and holistic remedies.

Well, the very first day I worked there, somebody stomped on my rose colored glasses.... and I wised-up.

Do You Know:

That even at the best of mills, practices prevail that are intended solely to assist you in parting ways with your hard-earned money?

One of the most common and effective methods of increasing sales is to redesign the bag, even though the feed itself stays the same. 
The fancy packaging "upgrades" the product in the minds of customers, especially if it features a full-color photo of a horse glowing with good health.
Subliminal marketing at it's best.

I'm all in favor of "fixed formula" feeds, but even those aren't above reproach.
Let's say the price of Oats goes up.
The mill keeps the "fixed formula" of 15% oats, but switches from a "heavy oat" to the more economical "light oat" or "oat screenings".... yes, there are several grades of oats used in milling feeds.
The formula remains "fixed", but the nutritional level has dropped because light oats are more fibrous, and offer reduced energy and calories in comparison to the plump, heavy oats.
Just one simple example of how the formula can remain "fixed" while nutritional value downgrades.

Another ploy that works well is catering to whatever the current "fad" is... 
When I worked at the mill, the *high fat* craze had just begun, so we jumped on the bandwagon and developed a new line of feeds (actually simply the old recipes with boosted fat content) that became our top sellers, even though our "elite" formula (at 12% fat) actually contained more fat than a horse can utilize... FYI:  10% is the highest fat content tolerated by a horse, and anything above that is wasted (not to mention stressful to a horse's vital organs to expel the excess).

As that fad waned, and the new "low starch/high fiber" craze began, feed manufacturers were delighted... replacing expensive grains in feed formulas with much cheaper fiber sources was money in the bank.
At our mill, profits soared as sales of our new low-starch/high-fiber "Designer Feeds" went through the roof, fueled by horse owners who didn't realize that they could accomplish the same end goal simply by feeding more roughage (ie: HAY), and less packaged feed.
All the manufacturer was doing was cutting back the amount of actual grain in the bag, and replacing it with ingredients such as ground hay, oat hulls, and fibrous by-products... fillers... cheap to manufacture, but priced well above our other more traditional feeds that were actually more expensive to make.
People tend to equate price with quality, so we increased the prices on these *fad feeds* accordingly, even though Bang For The Buck had actually decreased.

The Beet Pulp fad (which has cooled a bit now) is another good example.
Beet Pulp is very cheap to purchase in bulk... simply replacing 8% of our grain content with beet pulp saved the mill thousands of dollars weekly, plus we could charge more per bag for this new "designer feed"!
All that was needed was a splashy declaration on the bag; *Now with added Beet Pulp!* in bold red letters, and it flew off the shelves.

We manufactured *specialty* racehorse feeds with a rediculously high water soluable vitamin content to please the track trainers who thought they knew how to read a feed tag (but really didn't).
The horses peed most of it away as overkill.
By the way, did you know that it costs a feed mill about $3 to enrich a TON of horse feed with the vitamins and minerals that are considered optimum for equine health?  Yes... $3 a Ton.

In REALITY, none of these *designer feeds* were superior to the traditional feeds... but they appealed to people who wanted to be on the cutting edge of fad feeding their horses (and willing to pay the greatly inflated prices), even though the benefits simply weren't there for the average horse.

I'm not going to attempt to educate you here on the nutritional needs of horses... but I will say that most horses do not require a *designer feed*, and in some cases these fad feeds can be detrimental to more than your pocketbook... especially if you are feeding other supplements along with them.
People worry about vitamin/mineral deficiencies, but seem to forget that the pendulum swings both ways.

In my case (with my racehorses), I discovered that I could dial-back my feeding program to a level that was much more cost-effective and simple, eliminate most supplements, and by "downgrading" my feeding program to a more realistic level, I actually boosted the health of my horses.
Since they were no longer stressing their kidneys and other vital organs in an attempt to expel the overload of nutrients,  their manure and urine lost the strong aroma... the stalls were easier to clean, and my barn smelled better too!  
All Good.

Now, if I was unknowingly overfeeding Thoroughbred Racehorses with these fancy feeds, just imagine your own lightly ridden Dobbin, and what his nutritional requirements really are.
Makes you think, huh?