I just bought an 18 month-old QH gelding and will bring him to the barn in a couple weeks. Right now, he is on pasture 24/7 and a full serving of Horse Guard (3-4x weekly) and is in good weight. We live in a high iron, low selenium area. HG is very popular around here, but I see that it has added iron. I have access to high quality orchard grass and mid-grade alfalfa at my barn (both have been tested, but I have not yet seen the results). He is my first “baby” and I want to make sure I provide him with proper nutrition to support his growth, but not to accelerate it. Ideally, I would supplement based off the analysis, but until I see it, could you guys help me find an appropriate supplement for him? Thank you!
HG is a mediocre v/m supplement
A ration balancer would be a good place to start. Triple Crown is my choice, as its iron content is lower than most, and copper and zinc higher than many.
Anything’s going to be a best guess until you have the hay analysis in hand. You’ll need to average the numbers based on the pounds of each he’ll be getting.
Because you have alfalfa in the mix, you may be able to just use a good v/m like California Trace or Vermont Blend, but they’re different enough you’ll just need to see the numbers. One has added Vit E, the other doesn’t, so if he’s on all/mostly hay you’ll need to make sure his supplemental E is in the 2IU/lb range
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Thank you, JB. My barn owner feeds his own personal horses Triple Crown Balancer and flax and they look great. It’s readily available in my area. I am thinking I could feed him the balancer, + 1 serving of Horse Guard’s Vitamin E/flax supplement (1000 IUs) and go from there. What are your thoughts on Mad Barn’s supplements?
I would just drop the HG - there’s not much in there worth it
Mad Barn does have good supplements in general.
I’m glad this thread is here - I have a new yearling as well and am hoping I’m feeding her correctly! She came to me eating a 12% all-purpose sweet feed and a flake or two of alfalfa hay, but I have transitioned her to the weight appropriate amount of TC 30% Ration Balancer, plus a half scoop of alfalfa pellets and quarter scoop of flax that the other three adult horses are on. I thought that should be good for her (they all have 24 turnout and grazing available plus gasp coastal hay at night), so I’m glad to see, JB, that’s what you recommend. I lurk a lot more than I post and I know that you’re really good with the nutrition questions!
UPDATE: My yearling has been with me for 3 weeks now. He is quite the easy keeper, bordering on being a little overweight on 1 ounce of Horse Guard (finishing off the rest of the bag from the breeder), 1000 IU of Vit E, and 1/4 of a cup of Haystacks Special Blend to carry it. Since we are going into winter, I’m not terribly concerned with him losing a lot of weight , but I’m thinking that a ration balancer at this point might be too many calories for him. I’m thinking of going the vitamin/mineral + amino acid route. Thoughts? I do a little work with him everyday and turn him out on the dry lot to exercise as much as possible.
