Garlic - the debate

[harleydales]

Dodson & Horrell maintain that if you are feeding a formulated feed, then adding anything to it will de-formulate it, and some supplements can 'lock up' or alter the effects of others.

Too difficult!! Remember when we were kids with string girths and just chucked a saddle on and fed nothing but pony nuts? Were they ever sick?

[greydales]

Well I've come to the conclusion that no matter what you feed your horses in the way of supplements, that someone somewhere will come up with evidence that it is detrimental! Same as the supplements you take yourself, how many times do you read in the papers that 'new research' shows it to have some negative effect.

Mine just have grass in summer, supplemented by hay/haylage in winter. I always have some hi-fibre cubes and happy hoof for a token feed if they come in, but don't bother any more with supplements. I do have a sack of garlic which I bought ages ago and am just using up! Never seen it to be of any benefit regarding flies though.

However I do think very often that the 'research' they quote is based on feeding the horses quite a high quantity of the product, far more than you would normally use on a daily basis - so I wouldn't necessarily get panicked by this.

[harleydales]

Exactley - this garlic research was based on feeding 1 pound of garlic per day!! No wonder the horses were poorly!

[DalesLady]

bet they felt awful - 1lb garlic!

[ruthie]

I don't feed garlic, never seen the point. I don't think it helps with flies, and I don't think it is great for there guts.

[bevbob]

Blimey!! 1lb!!! I wonder why they do that??? surely no one would feed that much!?

[DalesLady]

mmm and so the debate goes on!

We decided to stop feeding garlic about 5 months ago mainly see if it does make any difference.....and we have ponies who are even less itchy than they were. They are not rubbing their tails even as much as they were. They haven't been stung much either, so I don't really feel it worth introducing again.

[NFK Dumpling]

James wouldn't eat garlic so I never bothered after trying it once.

[lucydales]

I put garlic granules and seaweed (and any other herbs I choose to feed) in an individual bucket for each full of water. The horses can then CHOOSE (!) what they want or need. Seaweed usually goes on the same day, garlic often takes two or more. Amy has had a lot of garlic this year, the others less so, but is does vary throughout the year.

This is one of my hobby-horses (not that you'll have noticed!! LOL!). I strongly believe horses can self medicate given access to the things that they require, and that the prolongued use of feed supplements/additives can be detrimental to them as we don't really know what they need. In my mind better to give them the choice. If you look at the ingredients on the tub you can offer a little of each thing daily and see what they have, but remember that they may have it one day and not for the next few as they have enough in their system then come back to it. If you start down this road it's facinating what they do choose to have!!

Choc will often just sniff or nibble anything new then leave it, after a few days she'll be okay with it, I thinks she's testing it to see how it makes her feel, Amy is similar. Isaac stuff everything in (true Dales!) but he does have a fairly cast iron constitutiion!! That said when he had laminitis I did eventually get to the point with him where he stopped having some things (herbs and essential oils)!

Hope this isn't too provocative.

Luce

PS. Before I sound too high and mighty (!), I did feed Amy a skin and coat condition supplement for two months this summer as she's always been very scurffy and itchy, and the ingredients I couldn't source, it did make a difference to her. I wouldn't have feed it for a prolongued period though. Pity there aren't more equine herballists about!!

[harleydales]

I agree Luce, they will take what they need, which is why I use unmolassed rockies so that they don't take them for the taste, only for what they need. If I feed electrolytes, it's always in a seperate bucket to the water and they can choose. More often than not, they ignore the electrolytes.

I finished my garlic and won't buy any more for now, going to try a year without and see what happens to H's itching.

[scoobynewby]

After reading this I have taken Tom off garlic, he's too special to me to cause any sort of discomfort or medical reaction especially if it's not always apparent.

I will continue with the TopSpec comprehensive powder as he is quite happy with it and has a shine like no other.

I appreciate the info - keep it coming!

Lynn.

[SuzieP]

What an interesting thread.

I used to feed garlic (about 1oz a day) to my cob because he got a recurring abscess and I hoped the garlic would help with the infection. He never got the abscess again after I started feeding garlic - but then you could argue that the underlying cause had been dealt with and it was nothing to do with the garlic.

I can't get away from the fact that horses are designed to eat forage - grass, herbs and plants as they find/need them - and that we are being conned by supplement manufacturers into the belief that our equines NEED supplemented feed. I can accept that those horses who are in work, or competition animals, need more in the way of nutrition, but still feel that the most natural diet is the one they would choose for themselves.

As Lynn says - keep the info coming..... It's good to talk this stuff through...

[dalesponyrider]

I'm interested in this too. I've never fed garlic but have read a fair bit about it not being good for horses.

[sammy]

I used to feed it but have now stopped. I've got an unopened tub here!!!