I have a 3 yr old gelding needing a little bit of weight added and I have narrowed down to these two different feeds. He is a little cinchy so I would like a feed that includes alfalfa and beet pulp inside. These are the only feeds with those ingredients available for me to use. Have you had any luck with either of these?
A more equal comparison would be TC Senior Gold, to the Ultium GC. The Gold has the same seaweed-derived calcium that’s in the GC (which is Purina’s Outlast).
You could add Outlast to the TC Sr. Personally, I would not feed Ultium to an ulcery horse. The NSC isn’t terrible, but it’s on the higher side. TC Sr is much lower NSC, and it does have a good hind gut support package with ButiPearl Z. TC Sr is a very good feed.
Besides, I won’t feed corn, which is in the Ultium, so there’s that.
Ironically, I literally just switched my mare off of Ultium Gastric Care to TC Senior. I fed the gastric care from Jan 2020-Nov 2020 and really liked it a lot. She’s a sensitive hard keeper and was eating 5 lbs a day (at 800 lbs) plus gobs of hay and beet pulp. We switched to a barn that does not feed Purina so we made the transition. At a minimum, she has held condition and possibly put on a touch of weight in the past month. She looks better now than she did this time last year. However, so many other variables have changed as well so I wouldn’t say it is the grain, but at least so far she hasn’t experienced any adverse effects.
How much TC senior are you feeding? The e same amount?
For now I am still feeding the same 5 lbs. Ideally, I’d like to get her eating more hay and less grain but TC senior is so forage based that I feel more comfortable feeding the volume to a pony than I did the Ultium.
I’ve found you have to feed quite a bit more Ultium than TC to maintain condition.
You can add Outlast to your Triple Crown.
Or see if you can get Triple Crown Senior Gold. At my feed store it’s only $3 more per bag than regular TC Senior, so probably more cost-effective than adding Outlast.
I talked to triple crown and they said do a 50:50 mix of ultium competition and TC senior for this colt. Where I can get TC is from tractor supply and I only have access to lite,senior and complete.
I can’t think of a single reason why someone would do this, much less why a TC rep would recommend it. Why, exactly, did they suggest this?
They said that the ultium competition was not high in sugar and starch to make him acts the way he does so we were going to feed the TC senior to bring his NSC down a little bit more. But we need to feed a higher calorie feed and try to make his starch and sugar as low as possible.
If you can get the TC senior gold (a different product than the regular TC senior), do it. It is the same calorie content per pound as the ultium, but lower in sugar. My personal horses have seen a huge benefit from switching from the regular TC senior to the gold line. Mainly, they are calmer and more relaxed about their meals. I gave up on the outlast and switched back to legends gastrocare. I had three horses scope with ulcers despite outlast. I couldn’t justify the cost and didn’t have those problems while feeding the gastrocare.
I’ve been feeding TC Senior for years. It is a great feed. It is complete, so can be fed in high amounts if needed. I have needed to feed it at high levels to my new, younger and under weight 3 year old horse. She did fine. For my smaller, half-arab/warmblood cross, he has received TC senior, Omega Horse Shine, and (lately) CA Trace for most of his life. He is 11 now. My young mare receives similar. Both are thriving, shiny and sensible. For weight gain, a western trainer recommended Purina Super Sport. I’m trying that out with the 17H 3 year old full warmblood who needs weight gain.
Bumping to ask:
Triple Crown doesn’t guarantee sugar content - is this something I should be wary of? I’m considering switching my young OTTB from Purina Strategy Healthy Edge to either the TC Senior Gold or Purina Ultium Gastric Care. The Healthy Edge only guarantees Lysine in the amino acid profile - not the other two that I cannot spell off the top of my head. Is this a good reason to switch?
He’s a chill guy, but I don’t want to accidentally feed him jet fuel. I want the gastric buffering, which is why Pro Elite Starchwise is not on the list. He was previously on it, but I switched to Purina for the built-in Outlast.
Ultium is more “jet fuel” then TC Sr. TC Sr Gold even less so, plus the gastric buffering.
Thank you for weighing in! So even at TC’s estimated NSC range, I’m still below NSC in the Ultium GC?
Am I right to want the other two amino acids in my feed? I do like the Healthy Edge (price wise especially, but also for the lower feed rate), but I am kicking myself for not seeing the lack of amino acids. It won’t hurt to feed a young horse a senior formula with a lot of protein, right?
The estimate of 14.7 for TC Sr is less than the “guaranteed” 17% of the Ultium GC. The odds of TC going significantly above 17 in any given batch isn’t high.
They’re in the feed, just not listed in the GA, which is frustrating for sure
TC Sr is a great feed for any age/work of horse, it’s just a matter of whether a given horse does well on it
Thank you so much!
Not seeing them “guaranteed” freaks me out a little, especially when they’re guaranteed in other Purina feeds.
I would be able to feed the Ultium GC at a lower rate. But I have a senior horse who would probably do well on TC Senior Gold, which would make feed store shopping easier and make one less feed container in the feed room for my barn owner. Decisions decisions.
FWIW, all of mine have done remarkably well on the TC products, and I’ve run the gamut of other products.
I think if considering how much to feed, that the Senior Gold and the Ultium feeds are pretty comparable in calories per pound.
Sr Gold is 1800.
Ultium Competition is 1900 but I don’t know if Gastric Care is the same, but it’s probably at least pretty close
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