Buckeye Ultimate Finish?

[Amy3996]

I’ve had my 19 year old WB on a couple of ounces of oil once a day for the last several months and I like what it’s done for his coat and body condition, but the oil can be messy and hard to store in the summer heat. I’m wondering if a dry fat supplement like Ultimate Finish could serve the same purpose. It would be nice to be able to put it right in his supplement containers to help simplify his feeding routine for the barn staff too.

I’m leaning toward the UF 100, because it doesn’t make much sense to me to pay for a fat supplement that’s only 25 or 40% fat like the other UF products. Am I off base in thinking that?

Current diet:
2lbs TC Senior
1lb Purina Enrich Plus
Elevate SE (vet recommended)
2 oz AniMed CoMega oil
Free choice hay when stalled during the day, grass pasture on night turnout.

Body condition-wise he’s between a 4 and a 5… ribs not quite visible but easily felt.

I’ve tried ground flax (so-so results) and Empower Boost (turned my horse into a fire breathing dragon for some reason) in the past.

Thoughts on the UF products? Is there another similar product that would be worth a look?

Thanks!

[Texarkana]

I’ve never used the Ultimate Finish 100%. I used to use Ultimate Finish 25%… loved it! The only reason I stopped was because I used to have to buy it from this middle man of the dealer situation and his prices would fluctuate wildly. The 25% is really palatable; it’s an extruded pellet, and while it’s less fat, it has a lot of digestible energy (similar to Empower Boost). I believe the 100% is prilled fat and some horses get weird about eating that. Similar to Cool Calories.

With that said, 2lbs TC Sr. and 1lb Enrich is not much feed at all for a 19 year old WB. You’d probably have the same results with his condition just upping his feed by a 1lb, which would be more calories than a couple ounces of oil (provided that doesn’t make him too hot for you).

[Palm_Beach]

Agree. TC Sr is meant to be fed at a minimum of 5ish pounds per day, and costs about 50 cents per pound. It’s way cheaper to use the feed as directed instead of feeding less than the directed amount and adding expensive supplements on top of it.

[Amy3996]

Cost isn’t the issue. He’s kind of a tricky horse to feed - 5lbs of the Senior would be way too much for him in terms of maintaining his body condition. He can’t have TC Lite because he choked repeatedly on it (no such issues since switching to the TC Senior). TC 30% + oil wasn’t enough to maintain his weight/energy in work. The smaller quantity of Senior + Enrich + oil seems to be working well. I was just looking for more shelf-stable/less messy alternative to the oil since ground flax hasn’t worked out for him in the past.

[Palm_Beach]

@Amy3996

Cost isn’t the issue. He’s kind of a tricky horse to feed - 5lbs of the Senior would be way too much for him in terms of maintaining his body condition. He can’t have TC Lite because he choked repeatedly on it (no such issues since switching to the TC Senior). TC 30% + oil wasn’t enough to maintain his weight/energy in work. The smaller quantity of Senior + Enrich + oil seems to be working well. I was just looking for more shelf-stable/less messy alternative to the oil since ground flax hasn’t worked out for him in the past.

That doesn’t make sense. If you are feeding 2 lbs of Senior and he too light, and 5 lbs is “way too much,” then why not something in between? You know, something just right?

[JB]

It’s PERFECTLY acceptable to feed only 2lb of the TC Sr and add 1lb of a ration balancer on top of that. Perfectly fine. It’s like adding some extra calories from the TC Sr to the nutrition of the balancer.

There aren’t many brands that have a “lite” feed, TC is one, with their Lite, but since clearly that’s not an option, I don’t know any other “in between” product

Since this perfectly acceptable combination - which any good TC Rep would tell you is perfectly fine - is keeping his weight in good condition, and clearly the nutrition is there, then don’t worry about changing that. Once you find something that works for a choker, keep doing it :yes:

If you’re just looking for coat shine, then toss in a cup of flax - whole if you want, ground if it makes you feel better.

[JB]

Oh dang, just saw that ground flax hasn’t worked for him Was that a commercial flax? Just curious.

Any fat supplement may or may not work, since flax didn’t. Rice bran, Renew Gold, Coolstance Copra, UF 100, no reason not to just pick one and see how it works for him.

[GraceLikeRain]

I really like UF 100 but haven’t fed it in a few years. My mare was a bit of a vacuum cleaner but expressed no concerns about palatability. It’s actually been over 6 years (where does the time go) so my memory is foggy but I think she got 1/2 lb twice a day. It definitely put a lovely glow in her coat and helped bring her from a 4 to 4.5 (my goal).

[Amy3996]

@JB - Thanks for your insight! He was on the TC ground flax, 2 cups per day for several months. He just didn’t seem to “bloom” on it the way I had hoped he would, so I dropped it and switched to the oil. My local feed store has the UF, so I think I’ll give that a shot and see how he does.

[SonnysMom]

My trainer uses the Buckeye Ultimate Finish 25 for all of the horses in her program. My horse has been on it 2 years. He came to me a few hundred pounds underweight. He is an OTTB. He was 5 when I got him. He grew 3.5 inches the first 9 months I had him. Twice recently at a show he has been mistaken for a QH. Everyone comments on his beautiful shiny coppery coat even in winter. I love Ultimate Finish.
My trainer gets it shipped 2 bags at a time from Chewy. Free shipping and cheaper than locally available.