My guy is about 2.5 years old and in very light work. He’s been on Neutrena Topline and I like the completeness of their balancer. He gets about 2 flakes of grass hay and access to a pasture at night. However, he has very dry sensitive skin to the point where he was having trouble kicking rain rot this spring and I had to treat. So, I started him on cocosoya oil (only 2oz per day) and MSM pellets. He’s supposed to be about 1100-1200 lbs but the oil in his diet is making him wide. He needs omegas and the oil has helped but all told he’s on too many calories and I’m trying to figure out how to get his weight back down since increasing work isn’t much of an option at his age. I don’t believe there’s much nutrition in the pasture as it’s more for stretching their legs and less about giving them access to quality grass (literally the only place within an hour of me that even offers night turnout) so I want to keep him on a balancer. I’ve tried pelleted skin supplements and every one I’ve tried he won’t touch (other than MSM) or else has far less omegas than cocosoya. I’ve also tried cutting back on the balancer to 1lb twice daily. Ideas or recommendations?
I feed a good Vitamin Mineral Supplement in a beet pulp and alfalfa cube mash, that doesn’t really add any calories. I like Mad Barn Omniety powder.
Copper and zinc in a VMS will help the coat. I also like a cup of whole flax. Less concentrated calories than oil.
The chubs also need hay rationed
Purina’s Omega Match ration balancer might suit your needs.
what does “completeness” mean here?
IME, this is almost always a copper and zinc issue. Since you’re using a balancer, an outright deficiency is pretty impossible, since 1lb provides 113mg Cu and 340mg Zn, and if he’s in the 1100lb range, then his bare bones requirements are 100mg and 400mg respectively, and there’s almost now way his forage isn’t providing at least another 60mg Zn
BUT, it’s also very likely the iron in the forage is high enough that there’s a “deficiency” relative to that.
so pesonally, I’d add cu/zn. Powders and some pellets are available
How much have you been feeding if you’re cutting back to 2lb?
This has double the feed rate of almost all the other balancers - 2lb is where you start, rather than 1lb
Yes but it has quite a bit of O3 so might suit OP’s needs as opposed to RB plus an omega supp.
it has about the same amount of Omega 3 as roughly 4 hours grazing fresh grass. You can add 1/2c of flax for that, and come out cheaper, and with fewer calories 
Sure. But some horses don’t care for flax, some horses might be irritated by soy, some horses won’t eat many supps (like Vit E, Biotin, gut support) on just a RB. Purina Omega Match could be a simple way to feed to meet OP’s goals, which is why I tossed it out as an option for OP to consider since she’s currently adding an omega supp to a RB and wants to try something different 
Just a thought, but check for lice. Really look for tiny, white things at the base of his tail, mane, forelock, and on his flanks and chest. They can make patchy, scaly spots that are incredibly itchy, and ca show up on even well cared for horses. I didn’t know anything about them until a pony showed up here with them. They are very easy to get rid of though, and it is shocking how fast the coat and skin will improve once the bugs are gone!
It might not be an issue for you at all, but it’s a simple thing to rule out.
My horse had dry, dandruffy skin along with the tendency for every minor scratch or scrape below knee level to go fungusy before healing. Vitamin E fixed both. 2000-3000iu daily above feed and forage content.
I second this! It has an omega 3 supplement built in and a low feeding rate. The coco soya you mentioned OP actually contains very few omega 3’s and is not really good for anything other than adding calories.
I’m betting it’s the pasture that is the issue. Both my neighbors and I have very fat animals. The pastures always look bare because the horses keep it grazed down, but they are getting enough nutrition from the pasture that they are all quite plump with very little hay. Mine are on drylot during the day. Don’t discount the amount of calories they can get from even a grazed down looking pasture.
Definitely ration hay. I try to throw 1/2 flake at a time in a slow feeder to my chubby horses. I don’t want to take turnout away but they have to be limited calorie wise.
MegaCell is also just a pretty Meh v/m supplement. It has less than 1gm lysine, only 75mg copper, for example.
Rice bran, while caloric, makes for a very shiny coat and dapples-
My easy-keeping 4 year old gelding is on Vermont Blend Pro, 1 cup flax, and 2000IU vitamin E (Emcelle). His coat is a shiny as a mirror, his hooves are rock hard, he has a great topline, and his mane/tail/hooves are growing like crazy. The serving size is 1/4 of a cup per 1000 lbs and I use a base of soaked timothy pellets (like 2-3 cups) to mix all the powders in and he eats it right up. VBP is a forage-balancer, which is a supplement designed to fill in the gaps of hay/forage, specifically for Vermont hays. I am on the other side of the country, but find that it does a fine job of balancing the hay in my area (high iron/manganese, low selenium).
This is so true. My horse shares 1 acre with another horse and it seems like they barely have any grass but my horse is huge! I feel like it can only be the grass because they have a pretty restrictive hay net on their hay.
