So this is the still youngish horse that I got last year that was about a 4- body scale and VERY poor nutrition (neglect case). Since he’s still growing (4), I feel like he still needs to be supported a bit more nutritionally, not “just hay”. Grass is virtually non-existent, is on Teff/Alfalfa 75%/25% ratio now as the breed is known to be a metabolic sort AND horse is actually a pretty easy keeper. Now about 5.5 body scale, starting to develop cresty neck. I had been feeding TC 30%/TC Omega Max/Salt, but it was always a challenge to get him to eat it. He would eat it most of the time, but it would take forever for him to finish it and sometimes he’d just flat out refuse and it would sit there for a few days until I cleaned it out and started fresh. Because of the change in his body and now wanting nutrition without added calories, I switched to AZ Copper Complete and tried to “hide it” in TC Senior. I was told he’d “love it!” LOL, not so much. The last batch has been sitting in his feeder for a week now. I’m kinda tired of trying to hide the vitamin portion in hay pellets/Senior/etc. Do I give up or…???
Do a trial with Sucralfate for a week and see if he starts eating like it’s his job. Getting guts absolutely 100% the key to turning my horse into a chow hound who will eat just about anything with just about anything hidden in it. 1/2 cup of moistened feed to hide 24 little pills? No problem, whereas is used to be that it felt like getting 1/2 cup of the most delicious feed on the planet into her was a battle.
Also, blech, try not to leave the feed in front of him. It won’t be any more tempting when it’s sat and been slobbered on and possibly been snacked on by mice and shat on by birds, etc.
Agreed. Not only is this risking all sorts of contaminants, it’s also likely to put the horse off that particular feed even further.
Beyond that, though, I’d be looking at the diet of an easy keeper with a newly cresty neck with sugars in mind rather than calories.
A growing youngster beginning training needs decent levels of protein and nutrients, and enough calories to put on muscle and grow into himself. If it was me, I’d start with testing hay, and then build the rest of the feeding program around the results.
Hay comes in small batches continuously, so testing is out of the equation. To be clear, supps are in a feeder up off the ground/under cover and not “shat on or contaminated”. I realize we need to be looking at sugars versus calories, he does NOT need more calories. I’m saying that, so far, anything that is suitable/good for him/low in sugar is not appealing. Perhaps I should just continue to syringe the Vit E, hope he gets enough salt from the Himalayan salt lick and call it a day… 
Ok, then since leaving it out for him is working so well, carry on.
Seriously, though, consider that his guts are unhappy and do a trial of meds to see whether it’s that easy to solve the problem. It can literally change a picky eater into a hoover. I wish that someone had beaten me about the ears years ago when I was fussing with my horse’s pickiness. She was on gut meds, but the wrong one for her issues. Once I got smart and changed, boom, HOOVER! “GIMME ALL THE FOODS ALL OF THEM! NOW!” It was literally like a switch had been turned.
I have read on this forum plenty of times where the horses turn their nose up suddenly at the TC 30 ration balancer. Do you have other options? My horses have been on the same one for a couple years now and inhale it at every feeding.
If your horse is getting good hay , is in good weight and will eat the required amount of a good Ration Balancer, he should be getting all he needs.
I would leave salt out free choice and drop all the other supplements out free choice. I am a firm believer that at this time of the year with the wet/ moisture levels so high you are just wasting your money leaving it out. Even loose salt will absorb the moisture in the air and I have no doubt minerals do too.
Can you not put some human vitamin E gel caps in his RB and be done with it?
How does he feel about hay pellets? Or beet pulp?
One thing about the supplements like AZ CC, CA Trace, VT Blend, etc. is that often you need to start with a very small amount - sometimes just a tiny sprinkle, mixed into something they will eat - and build up from there to a full dose.
First, my horses do not enjoy the taste of TC 30% and will only eat it if it is hidden in something tasty - and even then they may not finish it. They will eat Seminole’s Equalizer or Progressive’s balancer just fine.
As far as vitamin/mineral mixes go - those also vary in taste. The only v/m mix that my horses actually enjoy is Vermont Blend.
Our normally piggy QH gelding also refused to eat the TC30. I’m not sure what it is, but he was just not into it and apparently he’s not the only horse who turns up his nose at it.
We switched him to Tribute Essential K and he ate that much better. Similar price point, might be worth trying.
He won’t eat the RB or eats it grudgingly, that’s the problem. Since he is now a bit of an air fern, trying to just get a multivitamin type (AZ Complete Copper) into him instead of RB because it’s fewer calories but it’s not working. Just to address the “leaving food out” concern, it’s desert weather here and leaving it out overnight is not a problem. It’s not in a place where critters are getting to it and it’s certainly not wet/moist or adding to the issue of him not eating it. If he’d just gobble it up like he’s supposed to, it wouldn’t sit out, lol! Eating all his hay np, eating the “goodies” (chopped carrots) out of the RB and then leaves what he doesn’t like, stinker!!!
That’s helpful, thanks, I’ll look into it!
Ok, now we’re getting somewhere, good to know others aren’t crazy about it either. thanks!
I used to try to hide the TC 30% in soaked hay pellets in the beginning when he needed weight, he was “meh” even back then. I have not tried beet pulp, but I’m thinking it probably wouldn’t matter. I should just try to find something nutritious he likes, that what is the question. Yes, I was ok with a sprinkle of the AZ CC, once I get to any amount that might actually make a difference…it’s a big NOPE.
I haven’t tried AZ CC, personally, but maybe it has a strong zinc taste or smell. I use Vermont Blend from Custom Equine Nutrition, and my tubbo pony snarfs it down (but I did still have to slowly increase in the beginning). I make a mash out of Haystack low carb, which I’m guessing you probably don’t have access to? Mine wasn’t a big fan of hay pellets either, but the Haystack really lights his fire. 
He only gets about 1lb/day, enough to mix the 1/2C of VT blend in.
If you want to try any of the other v/m similar to AZ CC, most of them offer very cheap/or free samples so you can do a taste test. CA Trace, VT Blend, and there are a couple others I can’t think of that all have similar profiles.
I think TC 30% is a good product but it made my horse look metabolic in terms of developing gross fat pads even though he didn’t look chunky overall. And has actually been chunkier since without the fat pads. I switched him to the Gold Balancer which is whey based and lower protein%.
I am not much help on improving palatability of v/m supps but maybe try switching feeds. Tribute has a new soy free RB also which may or may not be crazy expensive depending on where you are. But it looks a bit more appetizing?
To me, they all have a strong smell…and I may or may not (yes, I did!) have tasted it. 
It tastes like dirt to me. 
I’ll have to see if I have access to Haystack pellets, I think Purina might make a similar type pellet too. Yeah…taste tests…I guess too I just haven’t found a “carrier” that he likes enough either. He loves the TC Senior, but as soon as I put anything else in…no thank you!
Yes!!! I think that’s what I’ve been seeing on some of mine with the TC 30% over the last few years. I did try the Gold with this guy because I read it was supposed to be more palatable, and better, but still the meh response. I’ll check out Tribute, thx!!
They do, it’s labeled as Albers Special 6. It’s marginally different, I think they use a different oil in the mix but otherwise it’s similar to the special blend from Haystack. I only do the low carb because they carry it at the new TSC in town and my guy is plenty fat!
We do have a TSC, so I’ll see if they carry the Haystack, thanks!
