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Feeding a Senior in Winter on a Ration Balancer

Horse Care
#1

I switched my three boys over to ProElite Grass Advantage ration balancer this past spring. As we head into winter (though its still a ways off - it was 98° here today!), I’m wondering what to add for calories for my senior big guy (17.2, draft cross, 1,750 pounds) who goes from fairly easy keeper on grass pasture + two small meals (1lb balancer, 1lb alfalfa pellets) in summer to moderately hard keeper in winter.

Those that feed ration balancers in winter, do you add a senior feed to make up calorie deficits? What about them getting too much vitamins/minerals (since senior feeds are “complete” feeds)? Is that a worry?

Yes, i’ve had my hay tested - local Bermuda (protein:16% nsc: 12%) and feed that pretty much free choice to him - as much as he will eat (about 25 pounds a day). He also gets 5 pounds of chopped alfalfa mixed in with his hay. But hay alone won’t give him enough calories - he can only eat so much hay.

This is what he got at the peek of winter last year, per day (split into two meals):

1 measuring cup canola oil
6 pounds alfalfa pellets
7 pounds ProElite Senior
2/3 measuring cup Omega Horseshine

approx 18.000 calories

With his ration balancer (2 pounds) inserted where he used to get the senior, it drops down to 9,200 calories. Do I just add enough senior to bring it back up? Or something else? Or ditch the balancer and go back to senior for winter? Ration Balancers are new to me - but the boys all look great on the PE Grass Advantage. Just don’t want my old man to start dropping weight.

Thanks in advance.

#2

I would ditch the ration balancer and replace with senior for the winter. I have a senior who I had on ration balancer last winter. To be sure that he kept weight, I got a nice horse quality round bale and continued with his regular AM and PM flakes. Temperatures dipped a bit one week and the weight literally melted off of him in a matter of days it felt like. I was horrified. Switched him over to senior again and he gained the weight back. This particular boy has lived off of just grass in the summer. I wouldn’t chance it. And feeding both is redundant.

#3

Also, if you aren’t already blanketing him on the frigid/bone chilling days, that might be something to think about so he doesn’t have to burn calories to stay warm.

hopefully he has a stall or a shed at night, during the cold months?

#4

Yes, he is blanketed and yes, he has a run-shed. Working on building a run-in stall in the next few months… if it ever gets below 90°!!! :frowning:

#5

If he stays on the ration balancer, your mission would just be to increase the calories, since all nutritional needs are already met. I do it with Legends Show & Pleasure, just about an extra pound per feeding for my senior (who so far is a fairly easy keeper), plus a lot more hay in the winter.

#6

For my horse, the fat content of the feed seems to make a real difference, not just calories. Was using Purina Equine Senior (5.5% fat) for several years before switching to the ProElite Senior (10% fat). Much easier to keep his weight up with the ProElite Senior.

#7

I think “help is on the way” ---- finally ---- maybe. Temps have dropped to the top 80’s and the humidity & dewpoints have dropped way down, which is a crucial piece of the feels good (or not) puzzle.

i am wore out from having to shower my horses down every single night. They have a good start on winter coats, so they sweat a lot. . They’ve been spending a lot of the day in front of the barrel fans — eating hay — a lot of hay — they have 25 acres of pasture but it’s too hot to wander around:(

Hopefully summer takes a hike, and we can have a Fall to get outdoor projects done, before winter gets here ----

#8

In order to feed a senior feed as a complete feed you need to feed a lot of it. I don’t feed ProElite, but if it’s similar to TC Sr, you are feeding at the low end. I’ve fed up to 12 lbs a day of senior feed plus hay/pasture. Since I feed TC, I call them for advice on how to use their products correctly, and to answer any lingering questions. They have fantastic customer service. Maybe ProElite has a number you can call. You’d save some money replacing the Omega Horseshine with ground flax. TC has a stabilized ground flax that comes in 20 lb bags. I was given a bag of the OH by a sales rep and used it all up, did not see any difference whatsoever despite him promising I would.

#9

Senior feeds are a complete feed if you feed at the optimized quantities. Before you reach that threshold they are not complete and can use a RB to complement. For Triple Crown Senior I think it’s optimized at 6 lbs. My horse summers on a RB and 2.5 lbs of TCS but as we come into winter I will use up the RB and he’ll work up to getting 6-8lbs of TCS. So you could do the same — introduce a senior feed and then switch to it entirely. You should have all your bases covered and in the spring switch back to the RB.

#10

OK - so the consensus is to go back to senior in the winter. Works for me!

It’s the exact same reason I switched to the ration balancer this past spring - none of the horses were getting the min daily required pounds of their respective feed in summer (on my grass, they’d get way too fat eating the recommended daily amount of feed). They are all pasture ornaments, not in work, and not much to burn off extra calories.

Glad to know that switching off the balancer for winter (or reducing it) is a fairly standard practice for horses that go from air fern in summer to hard keeper in winter.

Yes, @palmbeach, you are correct. 7 pounds (aprox 6.5 quarts) of ProElite Senior a day is below the feeding rate they recommend for his size/age/use. But vet agrees that since we aren’t replacing his entire daily consumption of forage/feed with the senior (he has pasture and free-choice hay), that the 2X daily meals he gets are fine. At his age (28+), its his body condition that is closely watched. As long as he looks good, is in good spirits, and isn’t loosing weight, I’m a happy camper.

#11

Oh, and the closest place that has Triple Crown from me is over 1.25 hours away (one way). That is why I use ProElite - its available at a local family owned feed store and is the closest in quality to TC. I wish we had Triple Crown locally. That would be nice. :slight_smile:

#12

So you’re getting PE from a non-Southern States store? Interesting.

The calorie needs are so different that yes, I’d just switch to the Sr for the Winter.

7lb of the Sr is under-feeding from a nutritional perspective, not calories. I’d either keep 1lb of the balancer in the mix, or increase the Sr and decrease the alf pellets which, on a pound for pound basis, will increase the calories a bit too.

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#13

The local family owned feed store carries an interesting selection of horse feeds - Nutrena, Nutrena ProForce, ProElite, Edwards (a local mill in Lebanon, TN), and Total Equine. They don’t carry Purina but they will order whatever Purina feed you want. They dropped the TC in favor of the ProElite when the ProElite came out.

Our TSC has Purina, Nutrena and DuMor in stock. Anything else they have on their website you have to special order. Our Co-Op basically has their Co-Op brand feeds only, though they used to carry a larger selection.

I’ve been using ProElite for over a year now. I’m a fan. :slight_smile:

I like the suggestion of cutting the balancer in half (1 pound a day) once we get up to 7 pounds of senior (which is done slowly). That will ensure he is getting all of his vitamins and minerals, biotin, etc. I was just concerned about him getting too much of certain things like selenium, iron, etc. by keeping the full measure of RB and so much senior.

#14

FWIW, my 18hh gelding, lean and leggy, so not a tank by any means, needed 4 cups of oil/day to keep weight on with just hay, vit/min, and soybean meal. My 16hh current horse who is also the lean and leggy type is on a ration balancer + free choice hay (giant net that doesn’t go empty) gets 1 cup of oil in summer and 2 cups fall through til full day turnout in mid-late spring. When she needed to gain she went up to 3 cups for one winter. I am now more careful to start the increase sooner in mid-late August rather than in late September.

#15

I’ve fed as much as 12 lbs of senior along with rb and free choice hay and pasture - the 12 lbs did not replace all the forage. TC told me to just increase the senior to increase weight gain, and the rb can also be used even with this amount of senior. I usually only give them the rb when they are about 30 days from returning to the track to put that last bit of topline on them. They looked fantastic.

#16

So maybe I was just worrying about doubling-up on all the vitamins/minerals/etc. for nothing. I think a pound of RB + his 6 or so pounds of senior splits the difference. And I’ll probably cut back a bit on the alfalfa pellets or senior to account for the 1,350 calories in the 1 pound of balancer thats being added.

So his new meal plan might be something like (2X a day):

1/2 pound PE balancer
3 pounds PE senior
3 pounds Alfalfa pellets
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup Omega Horseshine

approx 9.000 calories

The vet comes on the 30th for my horses annual physical, shots and such. I’ll run the proposed winter diet by her as well.

I will look into flax again. The last time I researched prices, if was more expensive than the Omega Horeshine… but that was a few years ago. The price of Omega Horseshine has gone up and is now nearly $60 for a 20 pound bag. So if ground flax is cheaper, I’m all for that! Plus, with using ProElite now, the other ingredients (other than the flax) in the Horseshine are sort of redundant now.

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#17

Sounds like a good plan.

#18

Think in terms of “whole servings”, from a nutritional perspective.

Complete feeds - fortified, and able to be fed as the sole source of food but not required to be fed that way - have a few different “whole serving” sizes.

The first is as an addition to forage, and based on weight, something like “.5-1lb per 100lb” or whatever.

The second is as the sole or major source of food, and that can be upwards of 2% of their bodyweight, somewhere in that range.

So if you’re feeding the first way, which you are, then your “whole serving” weight will be, let’s say, 10lb (whatever it really is for your guy).

A “whole serving” of a balancer is, in your case, 2lb.

If you’re feeding (roughly) a half serving of one, you can feed a half serving of the other, to make a “whole serving” all around.

That’s why in your case, even 6-8lb of a Sr feed + 1lb of a balancer isn’t overkill

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