1. Why is Thrive Feed so different?
   

2. To understand why Thrive Feed works so well, you first have to understand the attributes of the ingredients horse feeds are made from. The most fundamentally important fact is that wholegrain is naturally designed to be indigestible. This is for a very good reason. Nature intended grazing animals to eat the grass including the seeds. The seeds have chemicals in them to stop them being digested, so they pass through the animals digestive system and are excreted somewhere else, in effect a natural seed sowing process designed as part of nature. The system is perfect, and has worked very efficiently since creation. What we have done is interrupt the natural process, harvested the seeds from the grass, and fed the animals the seeds that were never meant to be digested in the first place. The chemicals contained within the grain and grain byproducts are powerful enzyme inhibitors, they resist the enzymatic action of digestion, so the non-chewed grain berries pass through unharmed and go on to spread out and grow more grass so that the animals can live on the fiber each they were designed to consume.  If the first part of a horses digestive system is driven by enzymes, and raw grain has enzyme inhibitors included in it, it is not hard to work out what happens when horses are given grain and grain by-products with those inhibitors in an active state. They do exactly what they were designed to do, effectively shut down the very processes needed to build a healthy horse.
   

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4. What I have done is process the enzyme inhibitors to denature them, but leave the nutrients intact. When Thrive Feed is consumed, it encourages and supports normal small intestine enzymatic digestive function. This is why we see horses being able to consume in excess of 50,000 calories per day without any ill effects. To the best of my knowledge this has never been safely achieved before, yet it is practical, safe, and proven on many rescue horses, most of which were in terrible states of starvation when they started free choice Thrive Feed.

Frequent Questions

1. What about the ingredients?
   

2. The ingredients are straightforward, they are of the purest quality available, and minimally processed to create the digestive ease that Thrive Feed is already famous for.  Thrive Feed does not contain the enzyme inhibitors that can create so much digestive distress in equines. Strangely, nonstructural carbohydrates have been blamed for Cushing's disease, laminitis, founder, and a host of other problems. Thrive Feed has a substantial level of nonstructural carbohydrates, yet the horses on Thrive Feed never display these problems, is that enough to make you think and maybe investigate more.  Thrive Feed operates with it’s own set of rules, and the old thinking simply does not apply. Literally Thrive Feed is rewriting the rulebooks of equine health, and I'm proud to say America’s horses are benefiting from this in a major way.
   

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4. What size bag does Thrive come in?
   

5. The sack holds 40 pounds. The high digestibility ensures the contents equal or exceed the nutritional value of a normal 50 pound sack. The big benefit is the 10 pound lighter sack is so much easier for ladies to move around, and a lot of ladies have horses.
   

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7. Is Thrive Feed made on a "least cost" formulation?
   

8. Thrive feed will never be made on a least cost formulation model. You can usually tell horse feeds that are by looking at the feed tag. When you see descriptions like, ground roughage products, grain byproducts, or any description that appears to be ambiguous and not concise, you can pretty much be sure that the product description has been designed to allow the manufacturer a range of raw materials that fall within that category to be used in the feed formulation. This allows the feed manufacturer to use the cheapest available product and still conform with the product description on the tag. To me that is taking the low road, I prefer to positively identify each and every ingredient in order of magnitude on every bag of feed, so people know exactly what they are getting. When they see the results with their horses, they understand why. There's no truer saying than "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear".
   

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10. Is Thrive Feed expensive
    

11. Thrive Feed is an investment in your horses future. Many people consider Thrive Feed an absolute bargain, some people think it's pricey. Really, the cost of a horse feed can't be measured in how much a bag it is, but rather what effect it has on your horses health over a long period of time, and also how efficient your horse becomes at digesting grass. I know people who don't feed Thrive Feed all year round, because their horses gut is in a pristine state and their horse is able to live on just grass for a good part of the year.  That makes Thrive Feed very good value. Also, it's extremely difficult to compare Thrive Feed to normal horse feed bag by bag, because there isn't a comparison.  You simply can't do the things you can do with Thrive Feed with normal horse feed.  Really, when considering which feed to purchase, the question you should be asking yourself is, "Is my purchase going to be an investment supplying dividends, or an expense with a future price to pay".
    

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13. How do I change over to Thrive Feed?
    

14. The way you change your horse to this ultimate diet is just as different as the results you will achieve. DO NOT MIX THRIVE WITH ANY OTHER TYPE OR BRAND OF HORSE FEED. The only acceptable addition is forage grasses, legumes, and water. The reason is the digestibility, it’s over 90%, and if you mix any other feed with Thrive Feed, including other brands of extruded feed, you may induce a digestive upset that is easily avoidable. Please be aware that many vets are still unaware of the difference in Thrive Feed to normal horse feeds, and may advise you to change over slowly. If you have professional advise telling you this, please ask them to call me and discuss why the difference.  All you do to change over, is stop feeding your horse all rations except hay and water for 24 hours, then feed the appropriate ration of Thrive Feed, (2 to 3 pounds) just like you were feeding the previous ration. This amount of feed assumes you are like most people and feed twice a day, morning and night making a total of 4 to 6 pounds per day.
    

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16. What type of horses are suitable for Thrive Feed?
    

17. I have yet to find a horse of any age, gender, or breed that does not do well on Thrive Feed. The ability to feed free choice, allows optimum growth with a digestive system not compromised with oil and fat, or raw starch.  Senior horses thrive on the highly digestible nuggets so kind to the whole digestive system. Really, when you think about it, horses naturally eat grass, they never eat anything but forage grasses, bark, leaves, and weeds, their whole life, it’s only humans that dictate the hundreds of different types of feed for each type of horse, once again I disagree.
    

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19. How long before I see changes in my horse?
    

20. Dramatic changes in horses have been observed in as little as 24 hours, many owners report obvious improvement in their horses attitude within a week, and every owner notices changes within two weeks if they follow the protocol designated for their horse.  Support is only a phone call away seven day's a week!
    

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22. Do all horses love Thrive straight away?
    

23. No they do not. Two factors come into play, the first is mouth feel. Thrive Feed is light and crunchy, and some horses take longer than others to adjust to the new feel in their mouth, and also how they get it back to their premolars and molars. Thrive Feed dissolves so readily in a horses mouth, it's effortless to chew.
    

24. The next issue is that of sweetness. Thrive Feed is not a flavored or sweetened ration, it relies on naturally delicious flavors to entice horses. If a horse is in a barn where feeds containing oils and molasses, you may experience an initial resistance to Thrive Feed, your horse will want the candy, not the vegetables!
    

25. Once the initial trepidation is passed you will see a whole new urgency at or near feed time, horses really get attached to the feed bin, and enough is never enough. Fortunately Thrive Feed is a great pocket treat for them as well............. Caution guy's, make sure they are out of the pockets before washing time!!
    

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27. How much do I feed?
    

28. You can start with 4 pounds per day per 1000 pounds body weight. That's a bag every 10 day's. Thrive Feed is like the gas pedal on your vehicle, when you want more performance, you push down on the gas pedal.  If you want more performance, you add more feed, all the way up to free choice.  Extended testing with all different types of horses in different situations revealed that the average amount of Thrive consumed by a average sized horse is around 5 pounds a day. That being the case, the average horse should get at least eight days from one bag of feed. No additional supplementation is suggested.
    

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30. Why is Thrive low fat?
    

31. Contrary to popular trends I don’t advocate or endorse the feeding of fat and oil to horses. A horses digestive system was never designed to digest fat and oil, they are herbivores, grass eaters. We all know the amount of information available that supports the adoption of a low fat diet in humans, just look in the supermarket for products that say, “high fat for health”? We are more adept than horses at metabolizing fat, and we are told to eat a low fat diet for health, yet we willingly feed our horses fat laden pellets and are assured that it’s just fine, that’s just plain stupidity! Fatty feed may produce fat covered obese horses that carry around parasitic weight to limit performance. This is how it works. Fat is a cheap way to get calories at the expense of health. You don’t need to be a nutritionist to work out the concept, it’s about feed companies making money. Thrive Feed is low fat because that’s how it must be for a horse to thrive.  Many owners report Thrive Feed supports building lean muscle mass, allowing their horses to perform without layers of useless fat to drag around.
    

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33. Can I add oils to Thrive Feed for more energy.
    

34. No! Please don't try and better the formula, if it's not broke don't try and fix it. If you can get 50000 calories per day into a horse, and build over 400lbs of muscle in a month on a starving horse, why would you need to add anything to that formula!
    

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36. How often do I need to feed?
    

37. You can break the daily ration up into multiple feeds if you choose. If you need to leave your horse unattended for longer than a day, you can place the feed in a dry manger out of the weather and let your horse feed himself during your absence. Make sure that a constant supply of clean water above 45 degrees F. is available at all times for your horse to drink.. It’s easy to give your horse the best.

1. How long will Thrive Feed last in the bag?
   

2. Because Thrive Feed is a dry feed and has been processed to a temperature that kills mold and fungal spores, it will last at least a year if kept in a dry place. The processing temperature is not high enough or long enough to deteriorate the valuable nutrients contained in the feed, just make them easily digestible. There are samples over 3 years old that are still in good shape.
   

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4. Isn't Thrive Feed high in Protein?
   

5. Major misunderstandings are evident with regard to protein in horse feed. The high quality proteins in Thrive are easily utilized and what is not used for muscle building or rebuilding is converted into energy just like carbohydrate. Protein is essential for all the intestinal micro organisms that break down fiber into simple sugars for energy, that’s what they live on. Protein and carbohydrate both have the same energy value so once again your horse has all the protein necessary to build and rebuild and what is not used will become fuel for useful work. If you are not convinced, check the results Thrive produces and see if I am telling the truth.
   

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7. Are supplements necessary?
   

8. Thrive is a complete ration and needs no supplementation for optimum nutrition, in fact I advise against it, adding other products to Thrive upsets the delicate balance of ingredients I work so hard to achieve. A normal equine digestive system has the capacity to manufacture all the necessary nutrients when supplied with the correct diet, Thrive achieves this with advanced technology so all you have to do is just feed your horse without worrying about mixing supplements together. Horses and humans alike don't need all the vitamins and minerals for health every day, we have tissue reserves to make up the slack in nutritional variation.
   

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10. Are there any drugs in Thrive Feed to calm them down?
    

11. No absolutely not. The calming effect effect you may notice is how the horse is naturally meant to be, it’s base temperament. It’s not that this feed drugs them to get horses calm, it’s just the feed on the market in America creates less than ideal emotional performance.
    

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13. Are there Probiotics in Thrive Feed?
    

14. There are no Probiotics in Thrive because they are unnecessary with a healthy horse on this diet. Literally speaking Probiotic means “for life”. In digestive terms they are used to replace desirable bacteria killed by digestive anomalies, or events. An event could be as simple as the consumption of Antibiotics as a treatment or precaution after an injury or sickness, or the destruction of the normal intestinal bacterial flora due to the constant ingestion of raw starch causing fermentation in the cecum and colon and producing an environment not conducive to the growth of good bacteria.
    

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16. Do I need to feed alfalfa with Thrive Feed?
    

17. No you don’t, forage hay like Coastal Bermuda, Tifton 44, Timothy, Orchard grass and other acceptable equine forage are just fine, remember, horses are grass eaters, and given the right digestive bacteria they are very good at getting energy from it. Feed Thrive at the suggested rates and you will have a horse that will become very efficient at getting the most from what you feed, doesn’t that make sense? After a short time you will notice your horse will not eat as much hay, but is in better physical condition, it’s called digestive efficiency, and that’s a saving you can measure in dollars and cents.
    

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19. Will my horse loose weight on Thrive Feed?
    

20. If your horse is obese they may shed the excess fat over time. Owners report that Thrive Feed does not fatten their horses, but it lays down lean, strong muscle mass, keeping the parasitic weight ( the weight a horse has to carry around that does not help with propulsion) to a minimum. Thrive Feed is highly digestible and energy dense, so your horse has little trouble getting the most out of it. Also, your horse may lose up to 100 lbs in water from the large intestine and cecum. This is called gut ballast, and is predominantly salty water that the body holds in the digestive system to allow the fibrous material to pass though the gut easily. Because Thrive may make your horse a much more efficient user of forage, there won’t be as much grass and fiber in the gut, so less water is necessary to keep it moist. This can make a huge difference to a performance horse, to understand the difference a horse would feel, have a really large meal and then go for a good run, not an nice feeling, and horses are no different. Without extra weight in the gut your horse may breathe easier and perform better.
    

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22. What if my horse gets into a whole bag of Thrive Feed?
    

23. Because of the ability to feed Thrive free choice your horse will just have a good time and enjoy him or herself, that’s about it. What peace of mind for you not to worry about something that is all too common and can have disastrous consequences with many bagged feeds and all grain types.
    

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25. Will Thrive Feed slow down performance horses?
    

26. Thrive does just the opposite. Just because your horse will become easier to handle and calmer doesn’t mean they will be slower. To be flighty and anxious takes energy, and that energy is taken from what horses eat. Thrive reserves the energy for more useful things like speed and power. Your horse should be warmed up before a speed event, and they will remain focused and calm until you ask for performance, then they will give 100%, then after the run is finished, back to calm and easy to handle. Does that make sense?
    

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28. Will my horse be more heat tolerant?
    

29. Three types of heat affect horses and are detrimental to their performance. Environmental heat, muscular heating due to physical work, and heat of digestion, the heat generated by the digestive process. The ease with which Thrive Feed is digested dramatically reduces the horses heat load and that effects performance, especially in hot weather. Additionally, because Thrive Feed may have a calming effect on your horse, little energy is lost in nervousness, so the energy value of the feed is saved for useful work, instead of being dissipated as dangerous attitudes and behavior not commensurate with easy handling and interaction.
    

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31. I have an old horse, with poor teeth.
    

32. Aged horses with compromised dentition do wonderfully well on Thrive Feed, as do all horses. the easily wetted kibble that Thrive Feed makes softens into an easy to swallow and digest diet that enhances an aged horses life substantially. It does not take very long for senior horses to get the prance back into their gait. Many senior rescue horses are thriving every day on this wonderful diet. I do not recommend wetting down Thrive Feed into a sloppy paste. This effectively stops the important action of saliva, (alpha amylase) which is the first step in efficient digestion.