Most horses love mash, whether it’s as a treat or as daily complete feed. But how can Pavo SlobberMash be prepared, how often can it be fed and what’s the different between mash and bran?
What exactly is mash?
Mash is a well-known horse feed with bran as main ingredient. Mash has to be fed wet, making it a delicious soupy porridge for you horse. The mash from Pavo is a complete feed and can be given daily, as it contains all vitamins and elements to meet the daily nutritional needs of a horse.
How to prepare mash
The most important characteristic of mash is that is cannot be fed dry. It always has to be mixed with hot (or maybe cold) water, to make it a tasty porridge for your horse. But, make sure that the mash is not too hot when you feed it to your horse, when you’re using hot water! Let it cool and work its magic first, before giving it to your horse (and don’t give in to your horse’s impatience!).
Feeding options
Mash is a versatile feed and can be used in various ways. We compiled a list of all the reasons and for feeding mash:
- As extra. Did your horse have an exhausting training with you? That can use up a lot of energy, so feeding mash can be a little extra boost in addition to the normal, daily feed.
- As reward. Do you want to treat your horse for a special occasion, or maybe just because? In this instance, you can feed mash instead of the normal feed. But keep in mind that a scoop of dry mash has less weight than a scoop of normal pellets or muesli. If you give your horse a half scoop full of dry mash, feed ¼ scoop less pellets that day.
- On a warm day. When your horse has been sweating much during a ride on a warm day, mash can help supplement electrolytes. In this way, you’re restoring both fluids and electrolytes in one go!
- As a cure. Was your horse sick, had colid or are there other reasons for a bad condition of your horse? Temporarily feed your horse mash once a day instead of the normal feed.
- For picky eaters. Is your horse a bit of a difficult, fussy eater? Mash is a very good choice for those horses, as it contains a lot of moisture and only very few horses don’t like it.
- As a fixed part of the feeding routine. Mash is a complete feed, good for the horse’s coat, gives a lot of energy and horses just love it.
Pavo SlobberMash
The most important thing to know about
Pavo SlobberMash is that is does not contain strongly swelling ingredients. This means that there is barely any waiting time, before you can feed it – the ideal time for letting the mash soak is about 10 minutes. It’s important for preparing the mash, that no excessively hot water is being used. The linseed contained in this mash is pre-processed, making boiling water unnecessary. Within the 10 minute soaking time, the linseed has enough time to get nice and slimy. When you prepare the SlobberMash with cold water, the mash will be less slimy and the treat factor is therefore lower. Other than that, it makes no difference whether you use hot/warm or cold water.
Grainfree mash
Nowadays, many different kinds of mash don’t contain any grains or sugars. But those other kinds of mash can’t be fed as a complete feed, while the Pavo SlobberMash is indeed a complete feed containing grains, sugar/starch, minerals and vitamins.
Bran mash, what is that?
After the starch has been removed from a grain, a layer of skin remains. This remaining skin is called bran. Wheat bran is usually used for horse feed, which is suitable for horses because it’s low in starch and fibre. The disadvantage, however, is that the calcium/phosphorus ratio is very low and needs to be compensated. The calcium/phosphorus ratio in bran is about 1:10, but the desired ratio is 2:1. A skewed ratio can cause problems with the growth and recovery of bones, tendons and muscles and must therefore be compensated in the rest of your horse's diet.
Wheat bran is one of the main ingredients in Pavo SlobberMash. The calcium/phosphorus ratio in this product is balanced, so you don’t have to worry about. Furthermore, the mesh contains linseed, vitamins and minerals to make it a complete feed.