French feed advice please

As the title says really. Up until now my OH has been bringing my trusted favourite feeds back each time he goes over to the UK each month. He isn't going to be travelling anymore after this July so I need to get myself sorted out with what's what!!
I have New Forest ponies with a variety of dietary types.
My regular feeds that I need to find alternatives for are:
Spillers Horse and Pony cubes
Spillers Cool Mix
Spillers Happy Hoof (this is the one I'm worried about!)
Any recommendations would be much appreciated, trying to get myself organised before the panic sets in!

Keep getting it from the UK the French stuff is rubbish [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Mine thrive on Pasture mix and Destrier club. My old boy used to have 16+ with added cider vinegar and oil. Plus vitamins and a mineral/salt lick.
But if you need specialist feeds.. I dunno.. much use as a chocolate teapot I know.

I second Jann on that I'm afraid. You don't have a hope in h**** chance of getting happy hoof here. I do buy D&H cool mix and 16+ from magasin vert. Is horse and pony cubes "cool cubes" ? if so maybe check the protein levels on the destrier.

Pen [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Actually my daughter Ella wants to start up a food business
this autumn, she'll be getting her stuff from retailers in the south
of England, she's going to sell, Baileys, Spillers, Dodson, Naf
ect. starting up sort of with a farm shop, I don't know the prices yet
but it'll be cheaper than the English stuff over here, she's busy doing her website
at the minute, I'll get her to come on with details [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Oh that's great Jann, wish her good luck from me I will definitley be interested. xxx

WTG (stolen from another thread) Ella [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Pen

By all accounts that stands for Way To Go... big up the Jann for that one.. *cough*..hahha.. joke [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] (I luv her really) xxx

Due to the fact that french mixes are absolutely s**t, and only designed for performance/race horses - I've gone back to basics (I knew one day all those horse exams would come in handy) [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I buy all the base ingredients that I want and then mix up a quantity, so that all I have to do is take a scoop from the feed bin.
Costs about €7 or €8 for 25kg (rough guesstimate).

At least I know what my horses are getting, and hopefully not going to go off their feet or blow their brains unnecessarily.

Mixing your own feeds is what we used to do on a yard years ago. I can't remember much of it now though, so I would be interested to hear what you do, and the quanities. I also came across a french feed company (link below) and they give you a break down of the nutrition content of some of their feeds, one them contains no grains, so would be good for hooves. Bare in mind my French is not very good. The price in one store I went to was 9.87 euros for a 25kg bag.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I make the mix using alfa-a, barley, lucerne, flaked maize and add garlic.
I mix quantities that suit my horses, I also use sugar beet.

Don't make the mistake of overfeeding, or over complicating.

If nobody minds - I would be interested to know who is actually giving 'hard feed' at the moment, if so for what reason, etc, (lack of weight?/work load?/treat)

I'm giving a hard feed to my old boy TB(23yrs) a half scoop, twice a day of 16+, it's not making a lot of difference, he's still like a hat rack. My riding horse gets the odd handful of mix as a treat, it keeps him "sweet" [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Pen

I have 4 horse.

2 cobs,1 trotter and 1 German warmblood,so as you can imagine i need something to keep the cobs ticking over and something to keep weight on the trotter and warmblood,well I have found some excellent feed

There is a big horsey tack and feed shop near Caen
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I buy from there this feed [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Which is a like chaff but with a mix.Its is called 2 en 1.the cobs have this for their feed and the other 2 have this and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Tradition, it is an oat free feed and smells the same as dodson and horrell pasture mix,it is also only 9.99 euros for 25 kgs.

Cavalor also do other feeds which are of very good quality.

Hope this helps,if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Charly

Thanks everyone for your replies, I'm not feeling quite so despondent now. The feeds that I have tried have been completely unsuitable for mine unfortunately. Even the Alfa A that I've been getting has to be 'screened' as it has huge lumps of molasses in it. Having one that's had laminitis in the past and the breed can be very prone to it anyway I do need to be very careful.

Charly, a question if you don't mind!

The company Ceres64, do they deliver or are their feeds only available in outlets? As their feeds would be ideal, they do Dengie Hifi Lite which I haven't seen anywhere else and would love to get hold of some.

I'm also going to have a look at the Sanders feeds as they are available about 25km away from us.

Thanks again everyone.

Hi

yes i think they do deliver,you can actually buy the feed through the link that I gave.I buy mine from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
not sure if there are any outlets near you.It is really good feed,calavor do a very big range of feeds,I have tried Sanders but I didnt really like them and found them quite expensive but thats my opinion.
If I can help in anyway please do not hesitate to contact me.

Charly

i find destria sport is a good general feed, not too nutty or fizzy making, the info on the bag about content and protein ratio etc is clear, it is easy to feed in nice tiny nuts so no choke problem, & they all seem to like it, even the goats and chickens will have a bit if i run short on their feed.
the destria range has lots of different mixes, so far i have only needed to buy sport, as i top it up with sugar beet to boost it for old saltie & to cool it for the youngsters who just get a bit to thank them for coming in at night.

a riding school i worked for made their own course mixes with straight grains,grass pellets, linseed, chaff, addatives, & mollasses they used a CEMENT MIXER (a clean keep for it only mixer) to make it by the tub full for 30+ horses, they made a hot mix & a cool mix, it must have saved them a fortune!.

bye [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

You can get everything you need in France feed and tack wise if you look for it [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.].

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] based in Loudeac dept 22, they do feed (all different types), supplements, tack, English brand haylage etc.. and do it by mail order or go and buy at the shop.

Jardiland in Pontivy sell Spillers feeds and chaffs what they don't have in stock they will order for you.
This is where we got all of our spillers and sanders feed from last winter, prices are cheaper than what English "feed shops" where charging for the same feeds.

Padd in Quimper is a huge tack and feed store.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] do stables and field shelters from 700E

Equ'Attitud in Quimper another huge tack and feed store.

L'espace vert in Languidic (near Hennebont dept 56) a huge store that do tack, feed, stables and fencing.

Gam vert in Carhaix sell tack and feed, what they don't have in stock they will order for you, a lot of the tack they get in is from Ekkia that sell wintec saddles, norton tack and rider equipment etc, etc....

Equip'horse (french robinsons) do mail order, again they do tack, stables and field equipment.

Cheval liberté do horse boxes, stables, barns and field shelters.

Everything is covered [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Maybe I'm in a minority of one here, but I have found the French cube I feed to be very good indeed. The horses thrive on it and are shiny and fit. Feet are good too (as long as the farrier shoes them right). It's Yearly Complet and you can get it at any good Agrial/Pont Vert. It's higher in protein than the Spillers Cooling Pencil I used to feed in the UK so you have to watch that, but I've got no complaints at all about the product which I have fed for 7 years. I also feed Alfa A / garlic / salts / oil/herbal additive for the competing mare / plus carrots and sugar beet (latter normally only in the Winter). I have to get the additive and sugar beet in the UK. I never feed mixes as I have found them more heating.

Thanks for that recommendation Rona, that's more the sort of thing that I'm looking for. I just don't want to waste money trying lots of things also, don't want to muck the ponies' diets around too much by chopping and changing feeds. I don't want to pay over the odds just to get Spillers as that's not what I'm looking for, I want to give them french feeds that are readily available here, just looking for the best equivalents to get them through the worst of the winter and have to be sooo careful as they are natives. They don't need much help but it has to be the right feedstuff that does the job.

Yes of course I made a mistake! It was not Spillers Cooling Pencils I fed in the UK but Saracen's Cooling Pencils! Good product, probably similar to the Spillers etc although I preferred it. I think you will find that the Complet is pretty close to an equivalent although maybe more heating (protein), but it's got all the ingredients and percentages clearly marked on the bag so you can check them out and compare. Although it's 9.80 euros a bag, it's a 25 kg bag so works out similar in price kilo for kilo to the the UK where generally 20 kg bags are used.

Just a thought Rona, you can get sb here in france, unless of course you want speedi beet
Pen [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Now it's funny you should say that Pen, because yesterday morning I put some of my remaining English sb in to soak and I do realise it's old and has been through a certain amount of cold and heat, but this morning it wasn't anything like ready after 24 hours. I did wonder whether sb goes sort of hard after a while. I know it can go off in moist conditions, but not come across this. Obviously not safe to feed so I'd better look out for the French variety. Very happy to feed French everything if I can get an equivalent. Presume I will be looking for betterave a sucre?

Rona ask for "pulpe de betterave" most of the stuff isn't mollassed but I did manage to pick up a bag once that was so watch out for that [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]