| Bob, If you subscribe to Equus magazine or know anyone who does,
look up in one of the indexes the subject of feeding or oats. I'm
sure they must have written an article at one time or another.
As far as oats being 'hot', it is true that they give the horse
more energy as opposed to Blue Seal trotter pellets, and a horse
on a diet of strictly oats that is not being worked every day will
probably be hyper. But, oats do make up a good part of sweet feed
such as Blue Seal Charger, and corn can be very 'heating' as well.
A horse could founder from being overfed on corn and possibly oats,
but both oats and corn can be fed to the horse in moderate amounts
as long as the horse is being ridden/exercised daily. For a horse
in heavy training, usually more oats are included in the diet to
give him that extra energy, but for a pasture fit horse that is
not ridden, he doesn't need the oats in his diet - just a good quality
hay, and maybe a pelletted feed.
I don't think this really answered your question, but I'm not sure
what is in the oats to make it a 'hot' feed. I suppose you could
compare it to carbohydrates such as pasta. If there is a feed store
in your area, I'm sure the people there could answer you questions
in more detail.
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