THE BASE FEED

The optimal base feed we recommend is tried and tested and serves as a carrier to have your chosen HHIO supplements mixed into.

Its main purposes are to make the feed palatable, offer some feed source options of both calcium and phosphorus together and help bind the minerals into the feed, so they don't fall to the bottom of the bucket. It is a damp/wet feed.

Hard feeds are the icing on the cake to a forage based diet - when used smartly they will top up what is missing from the forage being consumed alongside the HHIO formulations. Keep it Simple, don't over think it. 

Our formulations are highly concentrated with very little, to no fillers.  Minerals by themselves don't taste nice - why supplement and feed companies use fillers to help dilute the product.  We prefer to not dilute, save you money with a lower dose and higher inclusion rate and you feed in a carrier feed instead. To feed even more smartly, feed the things your horse actually needs in the base feed!  Feeding just plain chaff and minerals, is typically not well accepted. If you have a shining unicorn that does - go you! However the majority of horses prefer something to help dilute the minerals and make it more palatable.  The feed must contain no feeds with added minerals which pretty much rules out most commercial complete premixed feeds. Why? read The Relationship Between Iron, Copper, Manganese & Zinc and Clean Feeding Principals resources.

The base of the feed starts with chaff of your choice. We generally suggest 1-2 ice cream containers full. Lucerne is a great option for those that can tolerate it and is the best source of highly absorbable calcium. Timothy is very popular also. Then you need something to mix in with the chaff. Our plain feed top choices are copra (limit to 1/2 cup - refer to IRON RELATIONSHIPS) or 1-2 cups plain rice bran pellets. Both options provide highly absorbable phosphorus which balances to the calcium in the lucerne chaff option. Soaked timothy (a great replacement for beet) or lucerne pellets are also an option.

To this base feed you will then add salt (10g per 100kg) and your chosen omega 3 source which also offers another phosphorus source if choosing flake or linseed. Refer to OMEGA 3 for more on what choice to make. That makes the complete base feed. 

Then, and only then would you consider adding a higher calorie or protein option for horses that actually need it - elderly, poor condition or keeper, hard working and breeding if necessary.

For best results don't deviate, be consistent. Don't over think it. Let the HHIO Formulas work unimpeded.