Ration Balancer-which has worked best for you?

[WildLittleWren]

For those that feed ration balancers to their easy keepers, which have you had the best results on? I have a mustang who is an easy keeper. The grass is very good in her pasture (20 acres) and she is out 24/7. Currently she is getting 1/2 scoop of whole oats 2x a day, ShoGlo Vit/Min supplement, and a flake of alfalfa. Now that the grass is really coming in I really think I might pull her off the alfalfa. She absolutely refuses to eat any type of grass hay and would rather prefer to graze.

Opinions?

[drawstraws]

Mine get Tribute’s Essential K and I’m happy with it

[JB]

Why is an easy keeper on alfalfa and oats at all? As a mustang, she is predisposed to being an easy keeper, and being/becoming IR.

How is her weight currently? If it’s already on the heavy side, she should be muzzled at least half her time out on grass, if not all of it.

Personally, I wouldn’t even use a ration balancer. You don’t want the soy setting her off. It may very well not, but you don’t want to start anything in her system to send her down the path of IR issues.

I’d use a handful of alfalfa pellets or beet pulp, and the v/m of choice. I like Horsetech’s High Point Grass because of on added iron.

[candyappy]

Mine eat ShoGlo alone at this time of year as they don’t need more than the grass and what little bit of hay they get at dry lot time overnight.

[costco_muffins]

I live in the PNW and use Northwest Supplement. It is soy free, which is one of the reasons I use it (among other things like quality of ingredients and cost/value).

[cutter99]

Triple Crown 30%. Have used it for years with excellent results. Low NSC (9.7%) works well for my easy keeping quarter horses.

[JB]

Almost every company has a RB now. There’s a spectrum of quality, but it’s much narrower than the spectrum of regular feeds. MUCH narrower. What that means is - all are at least good enough.

What ends up mattering is whether one has more soy hulls or soy meal, or has a particular smell/flavor additive, or a horse just does better on one than another.

And all that means, you just have to try one.

Tons of people love Seminole Equalizer, but that won’t do you any good in Seattle. LMF Super Supplement is fantastic - won’t find it here in NC. Poulin is specific to the NE.

Almost everyone can get Nutrena or Purina, and there’s nothing wrong with Empower Balance or Enrich Plus. TC 30 is great. So is Tribute Essential K, Progressive Grass or Alfalfa Advantage, and more.

If you’re in Canada, you have Purina Equilizer, and I know there are a couple more whose names/brands I’ve forgotten

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

Seminole Equalizer.

[luvmyhackney]

I use the Legends ration balancer but have used Enrich as well. My pony is not a big fan of Triple Crown products except for the bagged forage. On paper, Triple Crown looks great though.

[Palm_Beach]

If the horse is an easy keeper and on 20 acres of good pasture 24/7, I don’t think it needs a ration balancer or much of anything else. I’d go with just a vit/min supp like Triple Crown Lite. No alfalfa.

[JB]

TC Lite is a lot more than just a v/m supplement. On an as-fed basis it’s got more calories than a RB.

[GoodTimes]

If it’s good quality grass that she probably won’t lose weight on then you might just need a vit/min supplement and cut everything else. Then add in a RB for the winter.

I was in a similar situation the last couple years with my hunter, however I opted to go with Tribute Essential K. I really liked how you don’t need to feed as much compared to some of the other RB since it’s packed with protein. I also liked that it had some Vit E and selenium since our area can be deficient.

[JB]

Actually, Essential K is 28% protein, which is among the very few that are less than 30%. I’ve also never run into a RB that didn’t have E and Se. The differences then become about how much.

TC 30 is 3.4ppm Se, and EK is less than half that at 1.5ppm

Vit E is 1000IU/lb and 500IU/lb respectively

As far as RBs go, Essential K is one of the lower nutrient ones. It’s price tends to mean you can feed more to get similar results from a nutrient perspective, but that does mean increasing calories too

[cutter99]

As per the Triple Crown website, feeding rate of 30% Ration Balancer is 1 to 1.5 lbs per 1000 lbs. of horse and Triple Crown Lite’s feeding rate is 1-2 lbs. per 500 lbs. of horse. 30% does not contain alfalfa; Lite does. Lite has slightly less calories per lb. at 1150 than 30% does at 1266, but you need to feed twice as much to get the same vitamin and mineral supplementation as 30% provides.

30% is the obvious choice for easy keeping, well pastured horses.

[WildLittleWren]

Thank you everyone for your advice! After reading everyones responses I am going to pull her from the alfalfa and the oats and just give her a vit/min supplement. IF she starts to lose weight then I will re-evaluate. Thank you!

[rideon2]

Love how well my pony does on a pound a day of Tribute Essential K GC

[Canterwell]

I use Barn Bag made by Life Data Labs (same company that makes Farrier’s Formula) for my easy keeper who only gets hay and water (no grass). Life Data Labs is an ISO 9001 certified company (International Organization for Standardization) so the ingredients, manufacture etc. is tightly controlled. Barn Bag is not cheap but the results are excellent.

[asterix]

Another TC 30% fan. My perch/tb cross is on good grass (he is muzzled half the time) and is FIT, shiny, healthy and happy with just the minimum of 30%. He’d be fat if he wasn’t muzzled. Def no extra needed for an easy keeper this time of year…

[Palm_Beach]

@cutter99

As per the Triple Crown website, feeding rate of 30% Ration Balancer is 1 to 1.5 lbs per 1000 lbs. of horse and Triple Crown Lite’s feeding rate is 1-2 lbs. per 500 lbs. of horse. 30% does not contain alfalfa; Lite does. Lite has slightly less calories per lb. at 1150 than 30% does at 1266, but you need to feed twice as much to get the same vitamin and mineral supplementation as 30% provides.

30% is the oblivious choice for easy keeping, well pastured horses.

An easy keeping, well pastured horse by definition is getting just about everything it needs from forage. “More” does not mean “better.” You do not want to overfeed an easy keeper. I would absolutely go with the TC Lite, which is specifically formulated for easy keepers. If your forage is of lesser quality, you may need the higher protein content and vit/min content of TC 30, but that does not seem to be the case in this specific situation.

I feed TC 30 to my race horses, and love the product. My easy keepers are a much better weight on TC Lite, although I am feeding about the same number of calories.

[cutter99]

I would try tell you to read for comprehension Palm Beach, but I remembered you already know everything, so why bother. Basically I said less is better, in the post above, if you are feeding the correct product for the situation.

If you are feeding Lite below the recommended feeding rate, you might as well quit wasting your money and feed nothing at all. Lite is not just a vitamin and mineral supplement, thus the higher feeding rate.