That’s pretty much it. He’s eating most of it, but is leaving some and walking through the rest. <rolling eyes here> Flings it OUT of a bucket/feeder, so that’s not a possibility. Guess he’s not starving anymore, which is good, but I’d like to at least get the recommended amount into him. I’ve reduced the amount, thinking ok…he doesn’t really need 2lbs I guess, but still leaving a fair bit. Is there a more palatable ration balancer? Of course, since we’ve all been encouraged to be prepared during this Covid outbreak, I just started a bag and I have a backup, lol! I’m assuming my feed store would be amenable to exchanging the unopened bag, but who knows? IDEAS?
If you can get Hallway, I like their Stamm 30.
My guy gets bored with the ration balancer, I assume it’s not very delicious, so I throw a small coffee can of something yummy (fibrenergy in his case) in there to jazz it up and provide a little fat.
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Most feed stores will not take bags back because of bio security issues.
Why not start him off on a pound per day, which is usually an adequate amount for most horses, and bump him up after he is steadily consuming the pound?
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My feed store will take both open and unopened bags back. It’s worth a shot.
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I feed All Phase and have the same problem. My guys like it slightly better than they liked the Triple Crown balancer but I think it’s pretty much like us eating rice cakes. Yuck.
I do the same thing as soloudinhere. I add just a handful of something yummier like Protenza, Fibrenergy or Releve. They clean it up much better with a tasty addition.
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My horses have been on at least a half dozen different ration balancers. Triple Crown 30 is their least favorite and the only one I’ve had palatability problems with.
Although despite the fact they hate it, I’ve been using it for 3 years now mainly because it’s the best option at the feed store where I buy my other Triple Crown products.
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All my horses are on TC30. My small pony decided quickly that he hated it and wouldn’t eat it. He would pick around it to get his supplements and salt but avoid all traces of the TC30. Once mixed with some TC Senior (4oz daily just for the flavoring and a small bump in calories) he started cleaning up again. I did soak the senior and 30 together, with some molasses added stick, for the first week so that it made a sticky mash. Since then we’ve backed off the molasses and soaking and he’s been cleaning it up nicely.
Another option that I’ve done is soaking it with some alfalfa (or your choice of hay) cubes/pellets. All my horses seem more excited to clean their buckets of TC30 when they get it with their “hot day mash”.
As others have said depending on his size you might need only 1lb of the TC30 to get the complete nutritional value. I would reach out to TC and see what they recommend. They have been fantastic every time I’ve had questions about their feeds.
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How are your horse’s teeth?
My guy has “normal old horse teeth” (his dentist’s words) but a little less crunch power than he did as a young fellow. He found the firmness of the TC ration balancer pellet to be less appetizing than a soft pellet. Tribute’s ration balancer had a better texture for him.
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Mine wouldn’t touch it. He loves Gro N Win.
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Thank everyone! I wanted to reply to each of you, but couldn’t figure out how to do that as a group. The reason for feeding a larger quantity was to add calories and nutrition since he was malnourished in the beginning. Weight is good now, but I’m sure he still needs the nutrition and of course, build muscle. I was feeding it soaked with alfalfa pellets, flax and salt. That was the bomb in the beginning, lol, but not so much anymore. So then I started experimenting with feeding each of those items, dry and separately to see what he likes/dislikes. In order, it’s: Flax/salt/alfalfa pellets/TC 30%. I have also cut back on the amount because it doesn’t make sense to waste it. It’s probably about 3/4lb that he’s eating of the balancer, although he may clean it up later in the morning, hard to tell because he makes a mess of it on the ground. Tried putting it in a feeder/bucket, but he flung it everywhere. Little ingrate, LOL!
My horses aren’t crazy about the taste of 30% either. I mix in a bit of TC Senior and flax and they eat it all. I think it is the best balancer I have found so I make it work.
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I have used Buckeye Gro N Win for years. You can get it delivered from Chewy.
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He seems to love the flax, so maybe the solution is to add a bit of Senior (more food to buy, yay!), but I think I’d have to go back to soaking the TC 30% so he couldn’t pick out what he likes and leaving the rest. Picky little bugger, lol!
I use Chewy for the at home pets, so I’ll check it out to see how it compares to TC 30%, thx!
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I have been feeding the Purina Enrich Plus RB for well over a year now. All 3 of mine eat every morsel. I add whole flax to that as well.
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Try the Triple Crown Lite - “almost” same as the TC 30 but a bit more palatable
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I would not double the recommended amount of a ration balancer unless a vet told you to (even then, I would have some serious questions) – there are things like selenium that can quickly become toxic if you exceed recommended amounts, there really are legit reasons for amounts on the bags, just be careful there.
For taste, mine didn’t like it initially either, I put a handful of my “tastier” feed in there for flavour along with a splash of water (didn’t need to soak, just stick some things together) & it solved that problem.
If you just need to add extra calories to things, you are better off adding something like alfalfa pellets or flax to the ration balancer, both are very easy to feed.
I also agree with asking Triple Crown directly about any questions, their reps are extremely helpful, I have emailed them random questions multiple times through their website & have met several reps in person. They have excellent nutritionists & aren’t afraid to dive into hard core science either if you want details. If you ultimately decide you don’t want to use the bag & your feed store won’t take it back, I suspect Triple Crown would be willing to give you a coupon for a different one of their products if you spoke to them & said the TC30 didn’t work out for your horse. I’d take the extra bag if you were my neighbour!
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Just wanted to clarify, I was not doubling the recommended amount of the TC 30%. Instead of feeding the least amount recommended, I was at the higher end of the recommended amount on the label. This horse was basically a rescue that we were trying to put some weight on (with forage first), but more importantly “catch up” on some lacking nutrition. I hope that makes more sense. Said horse is now good in weight 3 months later, so now we’re starting to work on muscle development with a bit of “work”. As I stated above, I do also add in alfalfa pellets and flax, although I’m starting to back off the amount of alfalfa pellets because his weight is good now. He’s just stopped eating the whole mix when soaked, or picking through it with mad skills if not, LOL! You’re right, Triple Crown is amazing and I did phone them, but I was hoping to see what the masses on COTH had to say as well. Their suggestion was to either switch over to the TC Lite, which is supposedly a bit more palatable or add the Senior. I’m on the fence because this horse does have an amazing ability to pick out the parts he doesn’t like. 
Anyway, thanks to EVERYONE for their helpful advice! I’m just happy to see this little guy start to flourish in his new program. 
Gotcha. I also have an expert picker (the one who gets the TC30), so I definitely understand that. Great to hear that your boy is flourishing, that’s always so rewarding!
