FeedXL

[Hayforhorses87]

Has anybody had any experience with the FeedXL program? I signed up for a month membership just to try, and the recommendations they are making don’t make a lot of sense. My easy-keeper slightly overweight draft cross currently gets plenty of forage, about a pound of alfalfa, hay, rice bran, beet pulp blend pellets, and HorseGuard, but no pasture. According to the Horseguard website, their product is formulated for a horse in the Pacific Northwest and should provide all the critical nutrients missing for a horse kept on a grass hay diet. According to FeedXl, he’s not getting enough of various nutrients from Horseguard fed at the correct rate for a horse of his size. I’m only able to balance his diet if I add in a pound of a ration balancer, like Triple Crown 30%. It just doesn’t make sense to me to feed my well-nourished horse HorseGuard as well as Triple Crown 30%. I’ll add that I have no concerns with my horse’s appearance, but he has had slightly lower energy than usual for the cold winter season. Has anyone else had this experience with Feed XL? Does anyone have any experience with feeding HorseGuard and ending up with nutrient deficiencies? Would anyone recommend feeding Horseguard along with a Ration Balancer? Just searching for opinions, stories, advice…

Also, has anyone heard whether geldings are more prone to developing anemia?

[BlueDrifter]

I used it long ago, but I don’t recall it giving recommendations. Instead I used it to figure out the nutrition content of what I was feeding… and then compared that to Kellon or other’s recommendations and decide for myself if I was over/under

[Simkie]

Did you have your hay tested and input the hay test? Or are you using the “generic” hay values available in FeedXL?

Are you feeding the recommended amount of the Horseguard for your horse given his size?

Anyone can market anything, really…so the fact Horseguard says it’s everything you need may or may not be true. IIRC, FeedXL is backed by the NRC guidelines, so at the very least it’s worth investigating why you are showing holes in the diet (as you are doing! :yes:)

[Bem55]

I find that it is helpful to provide a general overview of your feeding programme and it is interesting when you compare the different nutrient levels of feeds. Even though you are feeding the correct amount, there is often significant shortfalls.

However, the caveat to that is that unless you have hay analysis and know exactly what they are getting from the hay and pasture etc. it is really a guesstimate. I would take it as a guide, but not as gospel.

[OneTwoMany]

@Hayforhorses87

Has anybody had any experience with the FeedXL program? I signed up for a month membership just to try, and the recommendations they are making don’t make a lot of sense. My easy-keeper slightly overweight draft cross currently gets plenty of forage, about a pound of alfalfa, hay, rice bran, beet pulp blend pellets, and HorseGuard, but no pasture. According to the Horseguard website, their product is formulated for a horse in the Pacific Northwest and should provide all the critical nutrients missing for a horse kept on a grass hay diet. According to FeedXl, he’s not getting enough of various nutrients from Horseguard fed at the correct rate for a horse of his size. I’m only able to balance his diet if I add in a pound of a ration balancer, like Triple Crown 30%. It just doesn’t make sense to me to feed my well-nourished horse HorseGuard as well as Triple Crown 30%. I’ll add that I have no concerns with my horse’s appearance, but he has had slightly lower energy than usual for the cold winter season. Has anyone else had this experience with Feed XL? Does anyone have any experience with feeding HorseGuard and ending up with nutrient deficiencies? Would anyone recommend feeding Horseguard along with a Ration Balancer? Just searching for opinions, stories, advice…?

I’ve used FeedXL and we use Horseguard. I agree with earlier posters, FeedXL is most the useful if you have your hay analyzed and use the results in the program.

While Horseguard ticks a lot of boxes and we’ve used it for years, from time to time we have to supplement certain horses with Vitamin E and depending on the hay, we might be low in other nutrients.

I like the FeedXL program. The independent science-based approach appeals to me as does the ability to reach out to the company and ask questions specific to a certain horse’s needs.