I believe it’s the latter. On their website it says that some of their stores are gold product dealers.
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I had good luck pestering my feed store about the gold line. At first they acted like they couldn’t even special order it, then I had to special order it every other week and now they are stocking all three Gold products regularly.
There are other big r stores closers then that but this is what I meant. It is off the triple crown site so I assume it it correct.
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I used to have to special order the Gold Balancer from one of my local TC dealers, but then there got to be enough people wanting special orders of the Gold line that a few stores now stock it regularly.
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Same here! The TCS Gold is one of the best sellers at the feed store I go to, and for good reason- It has worked wonders on my elderly gelding. His weight and topline are the best they’ve been in years. And I only have to feed 3.5 lbs/daily (he also get’s a v/m supplement). I recently bought a few bags of the original TCS that were on sale, thinking they were relatively interchangeable, He lost weight and topline on it, even being fed 5 lbs daily. I still think it’s a nice feed, but the Gold has been a godsend!
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I really like it too! It’s been a game changer for my oldie.
I have my other horse on the Gold Balancer and think it’s excellent as well. He likes it better than the TC 30 taste wise (a bonus since he has to have a lot of supplements) and I like that it’s soy free.
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You guys are making me want to try the Gold feeds again! I was a little put off initially by the Gold Balancer having less protein than the 30%, but realistically if that’s all the hard feed they’re eating and the grass/hay are good, it probably doesn’t matter much…
I did try Senior Gold when I had a hard keeper in fall of 2020 and didn’t find that it kept weight on him any better than regular Senior, but maybe I will try it for my TB next winter. He’s currently on 6 lb of Senior but when the grass starts coming in I should be able to switch him back to Balancer with just 1 lb of Senior to carry his supplements.
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The difference in protein between the 2 is 81gm/lb, so not all that significant. That said, if this was a fast-growing young horse with high protein needs, I’d want a forage analysis before assuming the lower protein was ok.
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So I messaged big r and they said they can order in perform gold for me. I just need to ask them! I like the combination of the whey protein because he has difficulty keeping a topline and the higher calories so I won’t have to feed as much and already have TC 30 for my chunky Arabian paint cross pony.
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With this feed would I need to feed as much it could I start with a couple of lbs and adjust accordingly? Obviously I would be feeding TC30 along with it to make up the difference but I’m trying to feed as little grain as possible to this horse.
I’d start adding the Perform gradually and once you get close to full ration, back off the 30%.
My horse doesn’t do well with soybean meal, so the Gold Balancer has been great for him. He gets a little alfalfa hay also, so I haven’t been worried about the protein. I do supplement some things with DHA and omegas. He also did well with Perform Gold for times when he needed more calories, but since he’s often got some powdered medicine to eat (Robaxin), it’s not a great add-on because it’s also pelleted, and a textured feed works better for that (for which I’m spending a fortune on Tribute Wholesome Blends Senior, but thankfully he doesn’t need much).
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YMMV of course, but my riding horse really likes the taste of the Gold Balancer over the TC30. He has a lot of supplements (relatively speaking) and he’ll clean his pan with no extras to hide the supps on the Gold. He is a larger horse so I do give him 2 lbs daily of the balancer and I soak it in hot water as he choked several years back and I’m keen to avoid a repeat.
I was having to put about 2 lbs of Alf pellets with the TC 30 to get him to eat up with the supps. And he still wasn’t licking the bowl clean like he is now.
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what’s the difference between feeding Perform Gold at 6lb, vs 3lb + TC30 + some extra calories (hay pellets, rice bran, etc)?
Perform Gold is pretty high calorie at 1800cal/lb
What is “grain” to you?
Commercial feed such as the senior active that I am feeding currently
What I really mean is, what do you feel commercial grain is doing that you want to stay away from?
Do you mean you want to avoid cereal grains?
I guess I’m not sure. I know that more forage is better so I figured the least grain possible would be best.
Ok, I see, thanks!
You’re not wrong - always feed as much of good quality hay as you can, as the first step for weight gain/maintenance. Don’t add concentrates if you’re barely feeding enough hay (and especially if you’re not even feeding enough), UNLESS, you are that limited by a boarding situation.
once the horse is eating all the hay he’ll eat, and the quality is what the quality is (and with recent drought conditions in the mid-west, a lot of hay is crap, and scarce) THEN you start adding concentrates for calories
How you do that depends on what the horse needs in terms of calories. If he needs another 10,000 calories, that’s 10lb of alfalfa pellets. Or, it’s 5.5lb of TC Perform Gold.
Or it’s 1.5lb of TC Balancer (for example) and 8lb of alf pellets. None of those are wrong, it just gives you perspective.
You can also reduce the amount of alf pellets by adding some fat supplement - 1lb rice bran is around 1200cal IIRC<, so it’s not a huge reduction. Oil makes for the biggest reduction - 1c is about 2000 calories.
We ran out of hay and kicked him out to pasture with a MLS tub for supplemental vitamin and minerals and he has never looked better. When the grass runs out I will reevaluate his body condition but I think I will keep the mineral tub and maybe give him alfalfa pellets or a high calorie feed at a lower lb since he isn’t as hard a keeper as I thought.
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He is definitely getting bigger but not developed as much muscle as I thought he would. Might be a genetic thing.
I would definitely suggest checking Vitamin E/Selenium levels if you haven’t already. They can play a big part in proper muscle health and development.
Also, don’t be afraid to try a different feed if what he’s currently on isn’t yielding the results you want. I love TC Senior/SG for most horses, but my young TB seems to do much better on Purina Ultium. A feed can be ideal on paper in terms of calories, NSC, what have you, and just not suit a particular horse for some reason.
Folks on this forum may tell you X feed is their be all and end all. It may or may not be yours/your horse’s, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
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