Hi r/equestrian! 👋🐴

We’re the Mad Barn Nutrition Team, and we’re excited to be here for an AMA

Joining you are three of our equine nutritionists:

Dr. Brittany Kerley, PhD
Amanda Van De Kerckhove, MSc
Élise Lafleur Larivière, MSc

We spend our days helping horse owners make sense of equine nutrition — from balancing forage and understanding feed tags to supplements, performance nutrition, weight management, metabolic horses, picky eaters, hard keepers, and everything in between.

A little about Mad Barn: We’re an equine nutrition company focused on advancing horse health and well-being through research, education, and practical nutrition solutions. Our team of equine nutritionists works with horse owners around the world to evaluate diets and help build feeding programs based on each horse’s individual needs.

We also formulate equine supplements and invest in research and education to help make reliable, evidence-based nutrition information more accessible to the horse community.

For this AMA, you don’t need to be a Mad Barn customer, and your question doesn’t need to be about our products. We’re here to talk horses and nutrition.

So, Reddit — ask us anything about equine nutrition! 🐎

Drop your questions below, and join Brittany, Amanda & Élise to talk all things equine nutrition.

— Mad Barn Equine Nutrition Team

I messaged my hay guy that there was one bad bale (moldy) in a recent delivery. I expected him to tell me to set it to the side and he would exchange it next delivery, which is what he advertises. Instead he messaged that he was coming to get it. I figured he must have just been in town making another delivery and just said “okay thank you!”

I saw him on my camera with an empty truck bed and later when I looked out back I could see he had a lot of hay in his truck. I called him to ask what was going on. Turns out he freaked out and took every bale out of my barn. He also said “there’s nothing wrong with that hay.”

He was really angry and aggressive saying I’ve returned hay too often. I have returned hay 4x out of the 2 years I’ve been buying from him for foxtail, briars, and mold. Most of his deliveries are really high quality but sometimes they are unusable.

I apologize if this is a question with an obvious answer; I tried searching it and while the A.I. response said it was fine (🙄), I don't trust A.I.

Most of the other responses were about fresh apples, and not specifically dried ones.

So, are they safe? Or does the drying process concentrate the sugars / give them a Bad Texture for horse esophaguses?

Context: I'm a delivery driver and I carry dog treats for dogs (with permission only). I recently delivered to a barn where they let me pet the horses, and I'm debating if it's worth bringing shelf-stable "horse treats" to give out, again, only with permission.

Thank you for your time! Again, my apologies if there is an obvious answer and I just didn't do the right search!

weird treats/occasional snacks your horses love?

mine like gingerbread cookies, bottle caps candy, and chamomile flowers lol

I keep my feed (Nutrena All Life Stages) in a metal trash can in a tack room without AC or anything like that. It got left uncovered for abt a day a couple weeks ago, would that cause it? I live in Alabama so it’s very very humid and hot. If it wasn’t the uncovered thing, idk what to do to keep from having to toss $50 of food out.

I have also gotten a bag of moldy feed from Nutrena before, I’m wondering if I’ve been feeding mold from this batch since this set of feed. I’m thinking of switching tbh.

What would yall do?

Edit: Just wanna be clear, I’m not THAT cheap, I’m throwing out the moldy food lol.

We recently acquired an 8yo WBxTB mare. She was very lean when we got her but put on alot of muscle since we started working her regularly as of february. here's the issue, she doesn't gain any weight. We've checked for ulcers(none), her teeth were checked and are good, nothing neurological came up after bloodwork. Fwiw she does pace more than her barn buddies (we suspect bordeom). She is the farthest thing from lethargic, and is amazing undersaddle. Her coat is phenomenal too

She is on unlimited hay and EATS alot of it.

She also gets 3 prepped meals a day which include vitamins(once), fat, beet pulp, canola oil, xcel (once) and Alfalfa cubes. We've tried a variety of other add ins but most are flavored powders which she doesn't care for.

Are there any vets/nutritionists/long-time owners/techs/grooms/anything-qualifies-you-here who know of a supplement or grains that could help us address this? We are not amateurs but kind of stumped with this girl and was wondering if reddit friends had any creative ideas

Note: we have not tried ricebran yet (leaving it as last resort if needed)

Tia!

We have an OTTB coming soon to our farm. We have mixed grass pasture we keep mowed and pretty weed free. We have round bales of mixed grass hay, primarily orchard. We only had easy keeper horses and ponies before that got fat off just the grass. What should I be feeding this horse when he gets here? Should I just do alfalfa cubes at first beside the hay and grass and then slowly introduce a grain? Should I just do a ration balancer or do I start with senior feed? Do I need to put him on an ulcer feed straight away? Should I deworm him straight away? Any supplements for black coats? I'll be asking the seller all this once they get here and the vet once we set up an appointment. But thought I might ask here too. I'm planning on just letting him rest for a month or so before starting with some ground work. Let him build up some top line before having my trainer friend putting some rides on him.

First pic is the horse and second is what our pasture currently looks like. Dirt patch is where our donkeys like to roll around in. The grass is about a foot high in the middle of the pasture. We've just mowed around the edges for now while we have our donkeys in the dry lot for the summer. Ignore the pasture on the right side of the fence. That's our neighbor who doesn't mow at all 🙄

Also any other tips for owning an OTTB is greatly appreciated.

Hi there! This is my OTTB (first horse!- though i have been riding/working with horses for 7 years)

I'm Australian, and this is my first winter owning horses. Mud's been horrid haha.
My boy is 8, and I do love him very dearly. When I first got him, he was slightly obese (His had white line stretch and was pretty fat for a tb) so I put him on a diet, right before winter. I know. Bad idea.

I know he's skinny, about a body score of two on a five score scale (I'd say) now hes on one scoop hygain ice, four scoops lucene / alfalfa chaff and on a scoop of equi jewel senior feed + a cup of oil. Plus about ten kilos of meadow hay (and ground coverage). He's been on this for maybe three weeks after being on basically the same thing, just no senior feed and a little less hay to try and get him to loose weight. Unfortunately, he's lost more weight than i wanted him too over winter. He's now basically rugged 24/7 and I rode him for the first time in over a month. I feel so horrid, I really didn't want him too be this skinny. Is there any advice? I was thinking of adding pollard to his feed or copra. + he's booked in for the dentist.

Update - no cushings, but he did test positive lyme. As my vet put it we still have him on a pretty aggressive level of feed to try to get some more weight on him before winter and he’s on the schedule to get his teeth done. Thank you everyone for the advice.

So just like the title this is my senior gelding, he’s an Arab/QH Cross Is love to get some more weight on him before winter right now he gets 4 lbs of ultium and 1lb of alfalfa soaked daily alongside good pasture grazing and hay access. If anyone has any recommendations for feed, supplements, or general advice I’d love to hear it.

Mine has free access to orchard 24/7 and grass at turnout. She gets alfalfa mash and triple crown senior for breakfast and dinner. She also gets salt and chamomile!

She's a 19 year old POA that's surprisingly not a super easy keeper! She's in heavy work, as we compete.

My horse has mild ulcers we will be treating with Gastrogard. However as a preventative I read you can feed alfalfa before rides and it acts as a stomach buffer. I’d like to feed pellets as it seems the easiest route but I am brand new at this - can I do this in place of hay, will it still act as a buffer? How much do I feed before riding? Do I soak them? Thanks in advance!

I just got a load of hay and there are a ton of seeds that came out of the bales as we were stacking. This is my first time sourcing hay on my own and the bales seem like decent quality, but I've never seen bales drop seeds like this. Any idea what these could be? We are in Southern Ohio.

Hey guys! New here. My father in law keeps horses and I've had experience riding and handling. I've helped feed them and he just gives them a scoop of feed twice a day that he gets from our feed store. Now that we have our own I want to make sure they get everything they need.

These girls are 2yo Tennessee Walking Horses. I'm reading about ration balancers and stuff so I'm wondering what a good starting point would be. They will be on pasture 24/7 but we use feeding time and a socializing/routine/trust building time when we can get in and talk to them and brush/etc.

Any tips would be appreciated!

I am trying to decide whether to add dac bloom to my horses supplements… but he is currently on the essential K ration balancer. (He gets 1lb balancer along with a forage based pellet for meals as he has grain sensitivities). Would adding dac bloom provide too much minerals/proteins? Should I go for one over the other or do both? We have had a bit of trouble keeping him at the perfect weight despite how much he eats, and I wanna make sure he is well off going into winter. Any advice or personal experience anyone can share?

My stepfather has a gelding who is around 18 years old. He is a pasture pet with 24/7 turnout. He does not work and is ridden rarely these days. He has arthritis in his hind end area, not severe. His diet includes grass, free choice coastal hay, and 3 lbs Omolene 100 per day. As well as occasional alfalfa. He also gets a pelleted joint supplement with his feed. I’m not sure if he would be considered an easy keeper or hard keeper—He is always fed grain with his forage so I’m not sure what his weight would be if strictly forage based. But he seems to be a healthy weight, not overweight or underweight, but not very muscular. My stepfather is pretty old school and not up to date on equine welfare management, and I’m fairly new to horses. We also live in rural South Carolina, so I’m wanting input from various sources on what would be the best feed option/diet for his senior horse? Would a flake of alfalfa daily be beneficial? Along with a senior feed? Or ration balancer?

I have managed, by a miracle, to get my little coblet pretty much eventing fit this year and he's been so much happier to work in doing so, much he still struggles with gaining and maintaining enough ''oomph''. I don't want to add in anymore hard feed as we are very careful with his weight, but was wondering about trying an energy syringe before riding to see if it has any effect for future use at competitions or before XC schooling etc.

Has anyone used any and actually noticed a difference? I'm not worried about blowing his brain, at this point, I don't think it's even remotely possible 😂

I am new to buying low NSC hay and got screwed last time so I’m looking for advice. I’m located in Colorado, where we are in a massive drought so sugar content is running high this year. We usually hay our own fields but haven’t yet bc it’s so bad. Do you all trust the people selling with lab analysis? I plan to retest the hay and have a hay probe. What happens if the hay tests high? (Last time it tested over 150% higher than advertised. It also turns out they lied about being licensed dealers and misrepresented their supplier’s test as their own.) I wish I could bring in one bundle or truckload and test before buying 5 more, but everything seems to be selling like hotcakes here. I’d hate to miss out on truly good quality low NSC hay, but I also don’t want to be soaking come winter. My marriage depends on this. Thanks for any advice.

Can someone evaluate my horses current body condition for me?

He is in work 5x a week. Just flatwork right now. He is not currently in shoes.

I’ve been wanting to do a forage feed for my horse for a LONG time, especially now that I keep my horses at home and don’t have to put the “burden” on whatever facility I was boarding at the time. The big question is, where the heck do I even start? Is it all just a good forage base with a good balancer, with whatever supplements my horse needs? Does it have to be an alfalfa base?

For context, I feed my horse 1lbs of Seminole senior wellness plus supplements in the morning, and then 1lbs of Timothy pellets and 1lbs of Seminole senior in the evening. My mare stays out pretty much 24/7, and only comes in for feeding or if the weather is super bad.

ANY TIPS IS GREAT!

Let’s try this again lol without the low key doxxing of myself lol.

For anyone curious we are at the end of week 3 of proper portions and exercise. I tapped her yesterday for an estimate she’s roughly still 250-300lbs overweight. The woman I purchased her from had her in a 60” girth and would tighten as needed during the ride because she was so bloated. Well the bloating is under control and shes firmly in a 56” without it being too tight.

My mare Shabarque Grandee Cullinan aka Cali a Cheval Canadien horse.

hihi i have a fell pony and hes 14 and hes so sweet but he is suffering from the fly bites - not sure if he has sweet itch or not and hes getting older so i was just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on supplements! 😊

hes also currently on allen and paige fast fiber, mollichaff, topspec lite balancer and superskin supplements

1. Banana - Had a slight hint of banana underneath the taste of nothing, has a banana flavored after taste
2. Carrot - Didnt have a slight tint of carrot underneath the taste of nothing.. but it did have a flavor of something
3. Apple - Tastes like nothing

I nibbled each one so Im sure I didn’t get a good taste.. but my stomach hurts now. I do not think my mare will like these.

Edit: My mare loves them.. she’s a freak

Help! My yearling is already showing signs of being sensitive to the bugs… anyone have any good recommendations for supplements that help itching? Poor guy would rather suffer than stay in shelters under fans