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Tribute Kalm n EZ Textured

Horse Care
#1

Hey all! I’ve had my mare on Kalm n EZ pellet since she arrived up from Florida in November.

She’s a smaller mare (15.1h and estimated about 1000 lbs) and pretty much done growing, just turned 5yo. We had her on 9 lbs a day of grain + she’s outside in good pasture overnight (so about 17 hours) + free choice hay while stalled during the day. I also give her flax seed for some extra Omega-3s (I read Kalm n EZ is a bit lacking there).

She certainly is in good weight now, so we cut her back to 7.5 lbs a day lest she get too heavy.

She’s in what I would call appropriate work for a young horse. Ridden 5 times a week for about 30 minutes - for the most part I try to get in, accomplish something, and get off. One day we also go for a longer walkabout.

She has a very laid back personality, but I would like to put just a teeny bit of extra sparkle into her.

I was thinking the Kalm n EZ Textured with it’s small amount of whole oats would be the best option to try first, but I can’t find anyone who is currently using the textured choice.

Thoughts on this? It basically just reduces the fat from 8% to 6% and ups the NSC from 13.5% to 15.5%. Is this enough to make any sort of difference?

#2

99.9999% of commercial feeds have more Omega 6 than O3. 17 hours of good pasture provides a lot of Vit E and Omega 3. The flax isn’t hurting, just not likely necessary.

personally I would never us a higher NSC feed to put energy into a horse, especially a 5yo who may be in another little growth spurt even if it’s just widening and putting on muscle mass. That said, that bit of increase, even over 7lb, isn’t a whole lot. I still wouldn’t do it :slight_smile:

I would address the training first. Are you SURE you are teaching her to be quietly reactive to your aids? Many think they are, I certainly was guilty of it, but in reality, they have taught a bare minimum response which ends up being whatever the innate personality says. For my WB I had to work a LOT harder on getting energetic responses, and to keep the energy up without constantly asking him. But for my TB mare, it was about a more suitable, thinking/purposeful energy, not simply a reactive energy.

#3

9 pounds is a lot of feed!

#4

Not really. For a horse her size in moderate work, the recommendation is 6-12 lbs, so she’s right in the middle. She used to get 3 qts (one scoop) AM/PM, which according to Tribute is about 1.5 lbs per quart. so 4.5lbs AM and 4.5lbs PM.

Now at 2.5 Qts AM/PM, that takes away 1.5 lbs. So she’s still in the range, albeit on the lower side.

1 Like
#5

I don’t think you can really feed a horse to act different than his or her nature. There are plenty of starvation cases that are quiet until they are fed adequately, because starvation hid their true nature, but a quiet horse won’t so much be fed hotter unless there’s some kind of major intolerance or allergy issue. If you can’t build muscle or stamina despite adequate feed and age appropriate work, then you might be looking at a medical issue. (For example my horse with asthma).

That said, I don’t mind feeds with oats in it because I think they can be more digestible and more palatable. But I don’t think that increase in NSC will make a huge difference on pep. Increasing NSC could potentially exacerbate tummy issues or other metabolic issues, although oats have components that can be good for hind gut.

Overall, you are looking to reduce calories because you don’t want her to keep gaining weight. I think it’s unlikely to make her more energetic to reduce calories in, even with higher octane feed.

Horses are better at utilizing calories from fat in comparison to protein so if you are adding starch but reducing fat and then reducing overall calorie totals, the increase in starch is unlikely to do much IMO.

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#6

As others have said, given her age, I would be careful trying to feed too much for energy.

Having said that, I worked with a nutritionist last year and we actually discovered that my mare was not getting the starch (easy access energy) she needed to do the work. She is 12 and was working hard, so not something I would have done with a 5 year old and honestly not something I would have done without making sure everything else was balanced. But the way we did was not by replacing her grain with a higher startch grain overall, but rather replacing 1 lb of her low NCS grain with 1 lb of a high NCS grain. That also meant that if she was out of work for any reason (like she is now), i could just easily cut what is basically her workout boost. With my mare it did make a difference. But I wouldn’t have done it if she was doing 5 year old appropriate work.

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#7

Thanks all!

After doing some research, talking to my vet/trainer, and taking all of this into account, I’m going to do a blood test to see if she’s PSSM positive. It’s something relatively new to me, but seems easy and inexpensive enough to make sure that’s not an issue.

I’m also going to add more field work and long trot/walk sessions into her work to try to build more muscle and stamina. With the chilly temps and her young age I stuck to the ring over the winter, but I think she needs a more varied scenery and outside work will help her get fitter faster.

I also am going to give the textured formula a try IF she comes back negative for PSSM (if she comes back positive, you’ll see another post from me, lol). I talked to the vet/trainer, and they both seem to agree that it’s most likely just her personality, but that the textured is still a very low NSC feed and won’t do any harm to try.

#8

Send in hair yourself, it will be cheaper. Animal Genetics, UC Davis, both do that.

#9

Good call, thank you!

1 Like

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