I’ve been feeding KER ReLieve and AllPhase for years. New horse just doesn’t like it. He also doesn’t like his minimal supplements and leaves them and feed in his bowl.
So I need a suggestion for a good tasty feed. Doesn’t need anything special sugar-wise. He’s a hard working upper level dressage horse in good condition now. I’d love something with some stick to pick up those supplements.
I am in a trainers barn and they feed him so nothing too complicated. I realize there is a transition period to new feeds.
I do wish feeds came in “sample sizes” for situations like this.
I swear by Vermont Blend and they now offer their supplement in pelleted form (https://customequinenutrition.com/products/vermont-blend-pellets-1?variant=48573908517152). I have the Vermont Blend Pro in powder form.
You can order a sample size to try out before committing to a huge bag.
I’ve heard good things about Triple Crown Senior in terms of palatability, but I don’t feed it myself. Mine don’t work hard enough to justify more than soaked beet pulp and rice bran pellets.
1 Like
What brands are available in your area? Does the trainer already purchase anything in particular for other horses different from what you’ve been feeding? What supplements are you feeding?
Textured feeds in general are more likely to have the stick factor to help with supplements, but maybe you don’t need those supplements or there’s a pelleted or other alternative to those supplements?
1 Like
I feed my 6 yr old TB Nutrena ProForce Senior which is textured and seems very palatable. If you are on FB, the group called “Jim the feed guy” can be helpful and informative for commercial feed type questions without the aggressive forage only people.
1 Like
What brands are available to you?
If you can get ProElite, the Senior and Performance are nice and sticky without being heavy in molasses and the Grass Advantage balancer is good quality.
Nutrena ProForce Fuel XF and Empower Topline are another good combination with enough stick from the Fuel XF (and not quite as rocket fuel-y as the regular Fuel).
TC Senior and Balancer would work, the Senior again being palatable and sticky enough for supplements compared to a dry pellet.
Most Purina feeds that aren’t grain based sweet feeds are fairly dry, so while good options, may not fill the ticket for holding supplements. Tribute may have some textured options to pair with a balancer, too.
1 Like
How many pounds were you feeding/trying to feed? What brands can you get? Without that there’s no way to know whether you need a regular feed or a ration balancer
Be wary of any group that vilifies a particular brand, especially for personal bias and incorrect “facts”
3 Likes
I love tc complete.
1 Like
Find out if you have a rep that works in your area, several companies offer feeding trials through reps or a trial coupon program (Nutrena and Purina come to mind).
I live in Ocala. I already have the supplements toned down to just two pelleted ones. (Consequences and smart gut).
We have just about anything available.
I’m leaning towards Seminole Wellness with all the herbs.
1 Like
He gets one pound of ReLieve and one pound of All Phase both am and pm. That’s the rec amount of All Phase, the balancer. Easy keeping PRE.
We feed Hallway in Ocala and have been thrilled. Our horses look fabulous - most get the Fiber Energy, plus or minus the Encompass ration balancer if needed.
ok, so you need a ration balancer at most, or a forage balancer. That removes all the suggestions of regular feeds
Honestly, without a forage analysis to run up against a variety of ration/forage balancers, you just pick one and see how he likes it and does on it. I do like TC Balancer for the GA over many others. ProElite is similar, and they do smell different enough that you could try the other if he doesn’t like one.
Seminole Wellness is too many calories. Equalizer is their ration balancer
Triple Crown Senior has always been my go-to feed for a horse that needs some “yum” in his bucket. A very safe feed too, which is nice.
TC Sr would be a minimum of 6lb of food, and with its calories, that’s too much for the OP’s situation
is that a minimum of 6lbs because of the minerals? If it were fed with a mineral supplement, could you do less than 6lbs?
The ration balancer from TC makes more sense. When you don’t need calories. But you need nutrition / VM. Added benefit of amino acids/ protein.
1 Like
yes. All feeds have a minimum feeding amount based on age, weight, and work. Feeds are designed to provide at least “good enough” nutrition for the average type of forage they’re aimed at. This might be a generic grass hay for the entire area (like the US, or Canada), or some companies aim more specifically for a region - LMF, Poulin, Seminole, etc
If you feed significantly less than that, then you’re most likely short-changing some nutrients - maybe not enough to really matter, at least not for several years, maybe enough to matter much sooner. So, you add (ldeally, the easiest) a partial serving of a ration balancer
Regular feeds are for horses who need the calories. Ration balancers are for those who need few calories above their forage. All are aimed at providing a reasonable level of nutrition based on the above forage situation.
Tribute Wholesome Blends is a more texturized RB which might help with the supplement issue as compared to straight pellets like TC. I don’t know if there are any others like that…likely there are, I just have personal experience with the Tribute. It isn’t as tasty as their senior, but mine likes it a lot better than TC Gold Balancer.
1 Like
