Horses: All About Mashes?

I give a daily mash, as a treat after I ride. I do not hand treat this horse. But, he gets a soggy, super wet mash of beet pulp/water/stomach remedy. His favorite is papaya puree, but it is hard to come by now. Next is about 9 oz. of concentrated aloe vera juice, and now I trying a dryed clay product with trace minerals and acid inhibitors. The horse likes it quite well in his 1/2 cup beetpulp treat. Put a lot of water in the mix....before I ride than add more if needed 30 min later...after horse is ridden and cooled. He loves this, and I don't have a begging horse looking for "treats" the whole time I am with him. All told there are about 2 or 3 cups of water in this mash and it is also a good source of hydration although he normally drinks another 1/2 bucket of water afterwards/ I like a mash to warm, to hydrate, to bond supplements to feed.

I keep bran on hand for incidences when I suspect colic. My husband's mare was kind of off her feed earlier in the week, and got a mash two days in a row (she's fine now). For those cases, I just use bran, salt and warm water. For a treat, say for Christmas or something, I'll give them mashes made of bran, salt and sliced carrots or apples. That's about the extent of my mash use.

I have never ever used mashes. I think they may be unhealthy and in extreme cases I have known them to cause fatalities. I have never seen the benefit.

Having said that, I have been known to give a chilled horse warm cooked oat bran mash to begin to warm them from the inside. Maybe twice or three times in 50 years.

Smart pack would say that.... they want to sell smart packs.

The same flyer arrived in my box Friday... the wormer sale on the back was the only "deal" within