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Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition

   Welcome to my forum. 

Here you will find more than 6 years of questions and my answers. It is searchable and offers a great deal of information. 

Currently, I am discontinuing new questions. This may change in the future, but in the meantime, please know that It has been a true pleasure serving you. 

Take a look at my Nutrition Library and Tips of the Month for a variety of answers on selected topics. Be sure to sign up for my monthly e-newsletter, Forage for Thought

I also have a growing number of recordings on "Teleseminars on Nutrition Topics that Concern You" as well as the new, Spotlight on Equine Nutrition Series -- printed versions of favorite teleseminars.

And finally, look for my articles in a variety of local publications and online newsletters, as well as the Horse Journal, where I am the Contributing Nutrition Editor.  

 

All the best,

 Dr. Getty 

 



Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition
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Changing feed

Hi Dr. Getty,
First of all, Merry Christmas!
In a couple of weeks my stallion will go out for training where they only feed strategy and hay. He's getting beet pulp and Safe Choice now. Should I gradually cut down on the beet pulp and up the Safe Choice? Buy a bag of Strategy now and change over? How similar are Safe Choice and Strategy and do you have to be careful to slowly change from one to the other?
Many thanks for your help and you nutrition site! It's a winner and big benefit for all of us here.
Pam

Where are you from? Arizona

How did you locate this forum? Been here many times before

Re: Changing feed

Hi Pam, sorry to interupt your post but is there anyway you can keep him on the safe choice? Stragedy is so high in sugars/starches you may see a big difference in him. You want to stay away from feeds that have oats/corn/ in them, stragedy made my husbands QH totally nuts, put him on Triple Crown Lite and vitamin b's and later only Glanzen and he is a real joy to take on the trails. And yes you need to change your feed slowly, take about a week to 10 days to do it to avoid possible colic.

Re: Changing feed

Hi Pam,

I'm with Vicky on Strategy -- it really is a high starch, sweet feed and your stallion may not be his sweet self after being on this feed. So, see what you can do. If you can't keep him on Safe Choice, see if you can give him just Beet Pulp along with a good supplement such as Glanzen Complete. That's all he would need.

You don't need to reduce the Beet Pulp since that gets digested like hay, in the hind gut. However, if you should change to another feed (Strategy), then slowly diminish the amount of Safe Choice and replace it with the other feed -- 10 days is the minimum, actually. Three to 4 weeks is much safer.

If you have to switch more quickly, then definitely add a double dose of Ration Plus to each meal for about a week.

Thanks for bringing up this very important topic.

Happy New Year!

Dr. Getty

Where are you from? Bayfield, CO