@Maude something else to keep in mind, ration balancers also seem to be far more palatable than the forage balancers like Vermont Blend/CalTrace. You’ll likely have to feed that with something else (beet pulp/hay cubes) as a carrier.
My gelding isn’t picky. Even in a carrier, I still had to spray diluted molasses on it, decreasing over a couple weeks, until he would eat it without.
I’ve been reading about the Vermont Blend. I do supplement with Emcelle Vit E. I feed very little Triple Crown Senior to the 8 yr old, 18 yr old and 7 year old. My 31 yr old Cushings mare gets alot more. Do you know if it is very palatable?
Vermont Blend or anything like it is not very palatable. Its just loose minerals…no fillers or flavors. Ive been able to get some bags at a discount off people whose horses will not eat it. It can take some time and some tricks up your sleeve.
Nicole at Custom Equine does offer a sample size to try. I dont think its free, but I would 100% recommend trying the small size first.
Jumping on the band wagon, I was initially skeptical of ration balancers. I’m still skeptical of most supplements unless there’s some compelling data behind them. When some suggested RB for my horses, my reaction was “Special grain for my horses that don’t need grain?”
I had two fat, easy keeping QHs who were on forage/hay only; the fatter of the two wore a grazing muzzle half the year. When I added an appropriate amount of ration balancer to their diets, I saw a noticeable improvement in coat and hoof quality. They never looked bad, they just looked better on the RB.
I also live in a high iron area.
Somewhere in this process of trying out the RB, I saw or read something again about complete feeds; that they are only “complete” if fed in the recommended amounts, usually 6 - 8 pounds a days in addition to forage. My horses would have foundered in a day on that ration. So I finally understood that easy keepers may in fact need supplementation/a ration balancer.
When I got my fjord, it was after a 15 or so year hiatus from actually owning horses. I never stopped riding, but the progress in nutrition and care were something I wasn’t paying much attention to.
The first barn we were at recommended the ration balancer, but I was fortunate enough to be in the “cheap” barn with a couple that were very well versed in nutrition. They got me going on down the forage balancer route. I imagine I could probably save a few bucks with a ration balancer, but Im not willing to break what’s not broken at this point!
But…protein doesn’t make them hot?
Some horses definitely have issues with soy. Perhaps that’s what you’re seeing and not liking?
A soy free ration balancer could be a very reasonable thing to try next. Triple Crown makes one, I think? There are a few out there.
I feed Vermont Blend Pro and like it a lot, but many horses don’t find it palatable. Especially if you’re trying to feed it with something low volume or “boring” like a grass hay pellet.
Protein is not a particularly rich source of energy.
when considering the amount in the diet, one needs to consider the quality of the protein as well as the amount.
I opened this thread expecting to read about grossly overweight horses being fed gallons of calorie dense feed top dressed with umpteen high priced snake oil supplements. My expectations were not met.
A ration balancer fed per label is about the furthest thing from over supplementation I can imagine.
Some horses did survive “back in the day” of hay and sweet feed. Horses also survive unspeakable abuse and starvation. That’s not a basis for developing a proper nutrition program.
I feed a RB bc my horses reject the forage balancers like Vermont Blend. Mixing VB w enough fillers to get them to eat is annoying and not worth it for me. I like the Purina Omega Match RB. It has a higher feed rate than most other RBs, but has a limited ingredient list I appreciate and lower protein percentage. I also have fed the Triple Crown Balancer Gold which I also thought was good but not as palatable for my crew.
Ration balancers were developed for a specific reason, and their use for over supplementation was not it!
The protein in a RB won’t make a horse hot. I love tributes naturalized ration balancer. No soy, corn, wheat. I don’t really have an issue with any of those three but I’ve got allergies from hell pony so anything that may help I’ll try. Regardless, it’s a really nice product.
Alternatively, if you’re dead set on no protein I guess a vitamin/mineral option like Vermont blend with rinsed and soaked beet pulp as a carrier, although palatability might be a concern for many horses?
Triple Crown balancer Gold is soy, molasses and whole grain free. It also has lower protein.
Be careful feeding something like Vermont Blend or California Trace on untested hay, I just tested mine and in addition to the usual things those balancers target, my hay was deficient in phosphorus and manganese. I’ve been feeding Mad Barn Omneity because it’s more comprehensive and now I’m glad I did, it balances my hay nicely.
In my market Omneity is the best choice and I’m very happy with it. There is a slight sweet taste, horses don’t reject it in mash.
So… underfeed senior feed rather than use a ration balancer? Really? A ration balancer at one pound per day is still less calories than senior feed.
All complete feeds are fortified, but not all fortified feeds are complete. A “complete” feed is one that you can feed as all, or the majority of, the food a horse eats - usually a senior feed, but there are some non-sr feeds that are also complete. TC Sr is a complete feed, TC Complete is, TC Perform Gold is not, for example
A ration balancer’s nutrition is basically the “same” as a regular fortified feed when fed at the more minimal amount, without all the calories.
Need calories - use a regular feed
Don’t need calories - use a ration balancer
Yes, lower protein (and pretty much everything) but by the time you feed twice the amount of most other ration balancers, the difference in the total amount of each ingredient is pretty insignificant. 1lb of a ration balancer with a typical 30% protein is 136gm protein. 2lb of Omega Match at 13.5% is 122gm. The difference of 14gm isn’t significant
It’s quite unusual for grass forage to be too low on P but yes, it does happen. The same caveat can be said about many forage balances (like CT and VB) as a lot of grasses are low in Ca, and those don’t have either Ca or P. There are more robust forage balancers, like Arizona Copper Complete, Horsetech High Point Grass, MadBarn Omniety, which have quite a few more nutrients and in fairly significant amounts
There’s also the issue of MadBarn Omniety vs Amino Trace. Without a forage test, I’d never suggest AT for a grass-only forage, because it has more P than Ca, which doesn’t fix, and can make worse, most grass issues.
Yes, 1lb of pretty much any ration balancer is fewer calories than even the 1lb of TC Sr the OP is feeding to some, let alone the 3lb that’s fed to some.
All true. I was trying to appeal to OPs dislike of protein. For my mature, idle geldings I doubt the quantity of protein in any modern feed would make a difference one way or the other though I do prefer avoiding soy.
Undoubtably some might consider my anhidrosis horse’s summer diet to contain too many supplements but alas we have limited science in this area so I take the kitchen sink approach (along with management) in an effort to keep him alive. The high feed rate of Omega Match is right handy for feeding a dozen witch brews to a picky horse 
I don’t dislike protein, but my horse doesn’t need additional protein. My hey is good quality and my horse is not in work at this time.
I love the Triple Crown soy free RB. It’s actually lower in protein than other RBs. I have found it’s good for my reactive and sensitive easy keepers. And a great thing to add to a forage intensive diet.
Anyway… if you haven’t tried that yet… it’s worth looking into.
I just got the TC Balancer. Soy free. I chose it because of the lower protein/no soy. I wish it had more lysine though.
But, I’m comfortable that my horse is going to get the need vitamins and minerals. It’s a new horse and currently not in work yet. I’m just putting some weight on the horse with good forage, which the horse did not have in the past. Also, put the horse on Equishure, which has made a difference.
Not concerned about calories from a feed or RB. Just don’t want high protein or higher NSC. The horse is gaining weight just on the good quality hay. He just gets the Triple Crown Sr. so he has something to eat when the others get fed.
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