Renew Gold

[dani0303]

I just moved my horses home for the first time! Neither of them are skinny but I’d like to up their weight going into winter. I have a 22yo WB and a 13yo TB who are probably a 4-4.5 on the body scale.

Currently they’re getting 9lbs of TC Senior, smartpak SmartGain supplements, and free choice 10% protein brome hay. I’ve heard good things about Renew Gold and I’ve fed coconut meal (Coolstance) in the past with great results. Is it meant to be fed as a supplement to their grain or as a grain replacement? I bought a bag and I’m feeding them currently 1lb of it with their grain a day. It’s only been 3 days so obviously I haven’t seen a difference yet.

TIA!

[BellaMia]

It is a supplement. I was told though to not feed that much TC senior with the renew gold as it would provide to much of some stuff. Conversation was a few months ago so can’t tell you what it was she said. Cool stance is also in it. From my understanding (and I am still learning all this myself so let others correct me if I am wrong) but, it seems like just doing cool stance would be more cost effective and a suitable solution to your problem. Especially since you know it works well.

[dani0303]

Unfortunately there are no dealers of Coolstance within an hour and a half of me. The joys of living in the middle of nowhere :no:

[BellaMia]

Don’t feel to bad, you don’t have to live in the middle of no where to not be able to get any of the things you would really like to have. I unfortunately know that one.

[Flash44]

[QUOTE=dani0303;8309460]
I just moved my horses home for the first time! Neither of them are skinny but I’d like to up their weight going into winter. I have a 22yo WB and a 13yo TB who are probably a 4-4.5 on the body scale.

Currently they’re getting 9lbs of TC Senior, smartpak SmartGain supplements, and free choice 10% protein brome hay. I’ve heard good things about Renew Gold and I’ve fed coconut meal (Coolstance) in the past with great results. Is it meant to be fed as a supplement to their grain or as a grain replacement? I bought a bag and I’m feeding them currently 1lb of it with their grain a day. It’s only been 3 days so obviously I haven’t seen a difference yet.

TIA![/QUOTE]

How do you know your hay is 10%?

Also, you can simply feed more TC Senior. It’s probably the least expensive and best way to put more weight on them. I feed up to 12 lbs plus free choice hay/pasture to put weight on. Maybe just add some lunch.

The TC Senior is balanced and can be feed as a complete feed. Once you start adding other products, you do run the chance of overfeeding some nutrients and unbalancing the diet.

How much was your 1 lb bag of RG? I’m guessing the TC Senior runs you about 50 cents a pound.

[JB]

It would be cheaper to add just plain fortified (added calcium) rice bran

9lb of Sr and still at best a 4.5 says your hay maybe isn’t all that good. Is that your only option for hay? Can you add a flake or so (which would be probably 4-5lb) of alfalfa hay a day?

[SBrentnall]

[QUOTE=dani0303;8309460]
Is it meant to be fed as a supplement to their grain or as a grain replacement?[/QUOTE]

It’s a grain replacement. Their website calls it a supplement, but also states it’s a “Premium quality replacement for high starch, grain-based feeds”

I switched from SafeChoice to Renew Gold and the difference in my horse was huge. Calmer, more focused, and so shiny he gleams!

Everyone I know who feeds it (and there are quite a few in my area) feed it instead of grain, not as well as. I add 1/2 lb of timothy pellets just to keep my guy busy at feeding time, since the amount of Renew Gold fed is so small.

[JB]

But it’s not a grain replacement. It’s barely fortified. It’s a lightly fortified rice bran coconut fiber fat supplement.

You can feed is as “grain”, but it’s like feeding alfalfa pellets or something, instead of a commercial fortified grain product. It’s not a replacement for grain. It’s something entirely different, that you can feed with or without grain.

[dani0303]

[QUOTE=Flash44;8310012]
How do you know your hay is 10%?

Also, you can simply feed more TC Senior. It’s probably the least expensive and best way to put more weight on them. I feed up to 12 lbs plus free choice hay/pasture to put weight on. Maybe just add some lunch.

The TC Senior is balanced and can be feed as a complete feed. Once you start adding other products, you do run the chance of overfeeding some nutrients and unbalancing the diet.

How much was your 1 lb bag of RG? I’m guessing the TC Senior runs you about 50 cents a pound.[/QUOTE]

The hay was tested by the producer

[dani0303]

[QUOTE=JB;8310056]
It would be cheaper to add just plain fortified (added calcium) rice bran

9lb of Sr and still at best a 4.5 says your hay maybe isn’t all that good. Is that your only option for hay? Can you add a flake or so (which would be probably 4-5lb) of alfalfa hay a day?[/QUOTE]

I’ve only had them in my care for 3 days. I was boarding previously but bought a large farm and just moved them home on Monday. My boarding barn was great but forage was far from free choice there. I’ll give it at least 2-3 weeks before I expect to see any results.

[Flash44]

[QUOTE=dani0303;8310451]
The hay was tested by the producer[/QUOTE]

That’s great. I know that the recommended protein amount for horses is 10% of the diet, but I think that is an average, and maybe your horses are a little above average. I have 2 easy keepers and can get away with moderate quality hay. My tbs need really good hay, lots of it, plus the senior feed. Usually the recommendations are a starting point, and you adjust up or down according to how the horse does.

Hope whatever you decide, you get good results.

[JB]

Protein needs are really in terms of grams of protein. That is a higher, or lower % of the diet based on how many calories the horse is eating

700gm of protein required still applies to a 1000lb horse in moderate work whether you’re stuffing 30,000 calories into him (making it 9.3% protein) or restricting him to 16,000 calories (making it 17.5% protein).

If the easy keeper were limited to 10% protein he’d only be getting 400gm protein

[fernwolf]

My vet recommended that I try Renew Gold. She spoke with the company also. It is a grain replacement. The ingredients are supposed to supply all the necessary nutrition although I do use the ABC products too. It has been 6 weeks and my horse is doing very well regarding more energy and better movement. One of the benefits is improving the muscles. For a horse that does not do much work or is an easy keeper, you only feed 1 pound/day. I feed mine a little less. I also feeds soaked Alfalfa cubes too.

[JB]

In what way is RG “supposed to supply all the necessary nutrition”, when its ingredients are “Heat Stabilized Rice Bran, Coconut Meal, Flax Seed Meal, Yeast Culture,Calcium Carbonate”?

It doesn’t matter what the company says, it is not a grain replacement.

it’s not even a ration balancer replacement. It’s got a feeding rate of 1.5lb/day for an adult horse in moderate to high work.

It isn’t a replacement for something you feed in the 4-6lb range, regardless of high sugar. The calories alone make that impossible.

.25% lysine and .14% methionine is 1gm lysine and .63gm methione. Most ration balancers have 9-10gm lysine and 2-2.5gm methionine. That’s comparable to the minimum-ish feeding rates of most regular fortified grains.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a place. Rice bran has gamma oryzanol which benefits some horses in the muscle development area. Some horses might do better on this than a few pounds of a grain, or a ration balancer. But it’s no more a replacement for grain, than alfalfa pellets are.

[fernwolf]

[QUOTE=JB;8313393]
In what way is RG “supposed to supply all the necessary nutrition”, when its ingredients are “Heat Stabilized Rice Bran, Coconut Meal, Flax Seed Meal, Yeast Culture,Calcium Carbonate”?

It doesn’t matter what the company says, it is not a grain replacement.

it’s not even a ration balancer replacement. It’s got a feeding rate of 1.5lb/day for an adult horse in moderate to high work.

It isn’t a replacement for something you feed in the 4-6lb range, regardless of high sugar. The calories alone make that impossible.

.25% lysine and .14% methionine is 1gm lysine and .63gm methione. Most ration balancers have 9-10gm lysine and 2-2.5gm methionine. That’s comparable to the minimum-ish feeding rates of most regular fortified grains.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a place. Rice bran has gamma oryzanol which benefits some horses in the muscle development area. Some horses might do better on this than a few pounds of a grain, or a ration balancer. But it’s no more a replacement for grain, than alfalfa pellets are.[/QUOTE]

The basis of Renew Gold is to replace grain and provide nutrients from other sources that provide digestion in a more beneficial and efficient manner than what occurs with grain. My vet spoke with the creator of the feed, not just someone from the company. So if you have questions, maybe do the same if you are interested. I don’t have the same expertise.

And I agree it is not a “replacement” for grain or ration balancer. It is used instead of both and is not similar in any way. That is the point of the feed. So you are trying to compare apples to oranges.

[headsortails]

I freaking love Renew Gold! I’ve fed and taken care of my own horses for 20+ years now and was very nervous to switch (especially to switch my entire barn of 15 horses) but I found it in the feed store while looking for a new feed for an old horse of mine and was so intrigued I did tons of research. I even called and talked to the guy that runs the company. Renew Gold is only a supplement in certain situations – like for my 26 yr old tb that is missing teeth, is a cribber, and has been a hard keeper his entire life. For my other horses, ranging in age from 4 to 22 it is grain. And they only eat a freaking cup of it … and several of them started getting so fat I had to cut them back – I do still feed beet pulp, my horses eat soup. I was feeding triple crown senior to the show horses that could eat it and stay quiet and all the hotter ones, ponies, easy keepers and school horses were eating select 12 pellets with beet pulp and I’d fed that for years – and was very happy plus it was like $9 a bag – it was cheap feed – and I did the math and the research and at $37 a bag I save money…only a few bucks but I was feeding cheap crap feed – Currently I have 7 horses on it and through the summer and currently I go through a freaking 30 lb bag a week – and it smells sooooo good !!! I freaking love the stuff! Cannot say enough good things about it! The horses that were tough or hot or spooky are def quieter, everything has dapples and the softest coat – the older ones are fat-- and I feed most of them a handful 2 or 3 times a day(plus beet pulp and tons of fescue) it has freaking changed my life! and I never thought I’d change the way I fed, I’ve spent 20+ years perfecting it!!! The company’s formula is 1/2 lb per job – 1 job being horse, 1 job being to gain weight, 1 job being in hard training – and a lb is about an inch from the top of a large fast food drink cup – but you can always call and talk to the guy!!

[jennycash]

I looooove Renew Gold. I am on the anti-grain bandwagon. Grass mix, RG and alfalfa pellets have my boys looking like a million bucks!

[JB]

[QUOTE=fernwolf;8313594]
The basis of Renew Gold is to replace grain and provide nutrients from other sources that provide digestion in a more beneficial and efficient manner than what occurs with grain. My vet spoke with the creator of the feed, not just someone from the company. So if you have questions, maybe do the same if you are interested. I don’t have the same expertise.

And I agree it is not a “replacement” for grain or ration balancer. It is used instead of both and is not similar in any way. That is the point of the feed. So you are trying to compare apples to oranges.[/QUOTE]
yes, apples and oranges. I just dislike them saying “it replaces”, because that implies it does the same thing, in a different way.

Ration balancers replace grain in terms of nutrition, but not calories. You can replace grain with many things for a calorie replacement. But neither are 1:1 replacements for grain, and RG is not a replacement.

It’s a bad choice of words and strongly implies things it doesn’t do, even if they didn’t intend to do that.

I COULD replace TC Sr with alfalfa pellets, either pound for pound, or calorie for calorie, but it will never be a 1:1 replacement, it’s just something different, which is fine.

[4Martini]

Interesting thread. My horse shares a paddock at night with another horse and his owner just called to ask me my thoughts on adding a half pound of this a day to the 1 pound of ultium they currently get ( plus free choice hay). My 26yo Ottb lost a little weight last winter but got it back over the summer on grass. His buddy is 23 and has been losing a little weight. When he evented he did great with rice bran supplementing complete advantage. Is there anything I should look into before trying this? My horse is healthy with no known issues. These two are best buddies so we try to work together on feed since it works best when they have the same feed. We had talked about upping grain this winter to keep weight earlier- so we were both thinking about adding calories before winter.

[Flash44]

[QUOTE=4Martini;8324053]
Interesting thread. My horse shares a paddock at night with another horse and his owner just called to ask me my thoughts on adding a half pound of this a day to the 1 pound of ultium they currently get ( plus free choice hay). My 26yo Ottb lost a little weight last winter but got it back over the summer on grass. His buddy is 23 and has been losing a little weight. When he evented he did great with rice bran supplementing complete advantage. Is there anything I should look into before trying this? My horse is healthy with no known issues. These two are best buddies so we try to work together on feed since it works best when they have the same feed. We had talked about upping grain this winter to keep weight earlier- so we were both thinking about adding calories before winter.[/QUOTE]

Ultium is meant to be fed at a minimum of 5-6 lbs a day. I’d increase the Ultium before adding an expensive supplement.