My point is the other stuff is very minimal.
I feed ProElite Grass Advantage, and am perfectly happy with it. But I he no reason to believe it is significantly better or worse that others from reputable companies.
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I’ve been happy with the ProElite Grass advantage or the Purina Erich Plus ration balancers.
For sure, it’s minimal (which also means it’s really only for show), but it still makes it textured 
There’s at least one Nutrena product that’s pelleted with some Empower Boost nuggets in it, which then makes it also a textured feed. It just means - it’s not all uniform in the texture.
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Where were you the last time I tried to explain this to a different poster? Lol.
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Triple Crown Balancer has worked beautifully for mine. They’ve never turned up their noses at it.
Can I tag in with a question? If you’re feeding an easy keeper that has pasture / hay year round (pasture board in the PNW) would you go with the TC Balancer? Or would you go with a small amount of something like Haystack Special Blend and a vit/min supplement? The latter is what he gets now (2x daily 1/4# haystack plus Equerry’s Economy Equine Supplement) but I’d like to simplify now that I’m moving him somewhere I will have to bag every meal (and store the extra). I want to keep it minimal calories.
I’ve done both over the years. But the reason I go back to a ration balancer time and time again is because it’s significantly cheaper.
A quality vitamin & mineral supplement + the carrier almost always costs more.
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Agree with Tex. It’s not that a good v/m (and IIRC Equerry is pretty decent) + carrier isn’t bad or wrong, but GOOD v/m products are almost always more $ than a serving of a ration balancer. There are exceptions.
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Thank you @Texarkana and @JB. My rough math says going with just the TC Balancer is about 1/2 the cost, but potentially more calories since he’d need a full pound. Probably worth the tradeoff to me tho because it’s also easier to store and bag and I am lazy and frugal.
I’ve been thinking about this after reading; is going the v/m + carrier worth the extra cost? I’m reluctant to change things up, but just kicking the thought around.
My air fern gets a skimpy pound a day of RB. She wasn’t any less fluffy when she ate a v/m supp in a cup of hay pellets. Only one example, but it’s not enough calorie difference to be dramatic.
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1lb TC Balancer is roughly 1266 calories.
the 1/2lb of the Haystack is probably in the range of half that, so the difference isn’t huge, it’s less than 1lb of hay difference.
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Totally true that the calories are probably inconsequential. Just thinking out loud.
Hallway Feeds //www.chewy.com/hallway-feeds-pure-simple-balancer/dp/227460
Soy free, gmo free, horses love it. I still have to supplement vitamin e, which I would do with any ration balancer, but my horses look WONDERFUL
The money issue aside, when my easy keeper mare has been extra easy keeping, I’ve used 1/2 cup Horse Tech High Point Grass pellets once a day and a scoop of TriAmino or similar to get the amino acid content up. She’s on Buckeye Grow N Win now, 1/2 pound twice a day, but if my budget can handle it, I think she actually does better on the first option.
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FAQs | HAYSTACK FARM AND FEEDS (haystackfeeds.com)
The HSB is 1300-1500 cal/lb range for reference
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Tribute wholesome blends. Soy-free, high in protein and amino acids, high in copper,
Zinc, vitamin E, and the horses love it.
Now that I’m coming to the end of the peak season where my red horse tends to get vitiligo/Birdcatcher spots on his face, after feeding Wholesome Blends balancer this year and no extra Cu/Zn supplements, there have been no white spots at all! Last spring, he was on TC Gold and supplemented copper and zinc and still got new spots (since gone with winter change in coat).
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I know I’m late to the party, but I’m going to transition my horses to Purina Omega Match RB, from Integrity Senior. I can’t feed the daily amount of Integrity without my horses getting fat. And the young one gets hot, too. In Southern California, we have high selenium in the soil and high iron in the water, so I need a feed that doesn’t over supplement those. Also, there’s limited access to fresh grass, so I need a supplement that adds fatty acids and vitamin E in sufficient quantities, so I don’t have to add more supplements to my feed bill. The Purina product seems to check most of those boxes. The E might be slightly low, but if E is the only addition I need to make, that’s not too bad. I’ll update after they’ve been on it a month.
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