The GA between the VB Pro, VB, and the VB pellets are identical except for the prebiotics in the Pro. It does look like the serving of the pellets are more in line with the regular VB, so you are feeding a larger volume, which is a downside versus the Pro.
I’ll be sticking with the VB Pro because I’ve found a system that gets everyone to eat it happily, but if I had any real major holdouts who just wouldn’t touch it, I wouldn’t hesitate to try the pellets.
Can you share your system? Mine just wouldn’t eat it.
I can’t promise it’ll work for everyone, and it’s a bit of a pain in the rear, but it’s got my pickiest b****rd eating it consistently, so… however, I’m feeding TBs and a WB without metabolic issues, so this would require tweaking with easier keepers. Also, I have mine at home. I have no idea how I’d make this work if I had to make it boarding barn friendly. I guess it wouldn’t be too bad, but definitely not as simple as dunk in bucket > add water > feed.
For context, what everyone is currently eating:
~1lb (4 cups, but weighed before setting the size of the scoop) TC Naturals Timothy Balance Cubes - it also worked fine with regular timothy pellets I just like the consistency of the cubes
~1lb (approx 4 cups, but weighed before setting the size of the scoop) TC Sr Gold (also worked with regular Sr)
~2-3oz VB Pro (depending on weight)
1/2 tbsp Custom Equine Nutrition Cu/Zn
2-4 tbsp plain white salt (currently feeding 4 tbsp due to heat wave)
1 cup flax (1/2c for the ones on W-3)
75mL W-3 oil (only two are on this, the super picky one and another I’d like a little more bloom on)
2000IU Emcelle Vit E
Lord this sounds insane writing it all out, but here goes:
Add dry supps, then Emcelle, then top with W-3.I can feed less Senior when I’m feeding less salt (gets down to ~2cups with the less picky ones, ~3ish cups with the pickiest one) during the winter. Honestly some of them would probably eat it just in 1 straight pound of Senior, but I like the additional volume of water I can get in them with the cubes. Also, not gonna lie, it’s taken years to get the picky one to find something he really likes, and this has consistently worked for over a year now, and I’m too afraid to change anything 
Thank you! I would be more than willing to do this…except there is no way mine will eat TC Senior Gold. Nor will he touch Oil. Thank you again for going to the trouble of sharing this.
Would he eat regular TC Senior? I used it with regular TC Senior for several months before my store picked up the Gold. And I honestly don’t think it’s mandatory which one, just whatever one the horse likes to eat. It’s not like I’m really feeding enough of it to get the major benefits, except the slightly lower NSC, but it makes me feel better to spend the money. 
And the oil is optional, the picky guy just really happens to like it, the next-pickiest doesn’t, so he just gets more flax.
Other feeds I also experimented with in various quantities: LMF Senior (kept to ~2cups, worked okay, not consistent); TC Complete (~1-2 cups, worked okay, not consistent); Integrity Performance (~1-2 cups, worked pretty well, but expensive and is basically crack, I felt better about a Sr); Integrity Senior (~2 cups, didn’t work); LMF Gold (~2cups, they didn’t like it, is basically crack, gave half the bag to a friend). Never could bring myself to try Omolene.
He likes Purina Equine Senior…I use that for his Prascend. He is also IR so I have to be careful. I’m always open to suggestions. What he DOES like is Standlee Gastric Support. I would have bet money he wouldn’t touch it because of the odor, but he loves the stuff.
Yeah, IR + Cushings + picky can be really tough!
Could you mix the Standlee GS with maybe 1 or 2 cups of Purina Equine Senior, and start with a teaspoon or tablespoon at a time of the VB Pro? I also did the similar in reverse, started with 2lbs of Senior + 1lb hay cubes but a full dose of VBP on the picky bugger, then slowly dialed down the senior one cup at a time to the current amount. This was after I’d successfully gotten him to eat the VBP with previous concoctions, though, just not consistently. I’d probably start with stuff he likes plus a sprinkle of VBP for one who has previously refused to touch it.
I’ve also had okay luck with the palatability of CA Trace Plus pellets, but I prefer the nutrient profile and price of the VBPro.
I’m grateful that I don’t have a super picky gelding, but I did get a bag of VB earlier this year that smelled a bit stale - I reached out to Nicole at CEN and she said that likely my bag contained the bottom/fines of the Diamond V Yeast and that likely accounted for the stale smell. It was still safe to feed, though she sent me a free bag in case my horse didn’t want to eat it (kudos to CEN!). He indeed turned his nose to it at first. I’ve always fed VB w/ a base of soaked timothy pellets. I would soak the pellets, then add his VB, salt, flax, and Emcelle. With this bag, I found that he would more readily eat it if I added the VB/Salt/Emcelle, and then mixed in the ground flax at the very end.
When I started my gelding on a forage balancer as a 2 year-old, I did have to feed about 1 cup of TC Senior to get him to eat it. As he ate it more consistently, I eased off on the amount of the senior until the bag was gone. And he doesn’t even miss it now. It may take some trial and error. I know others have started with a small as a tablespoon of the VB and worked their way up.
When I was trying to get my mare to eat the VB, I started with a really, really tiny amount. Like a teaspoon. She’d eat it at that small amount but once I started getting close to the serving size, she would start refusing. And this is a hoover of a mare. That’s why I’m hoping the pellets will work! Just need to get through my current stock of a different VMS first.
This is exactly what mine did. He ate a tiny bit…but when we got close to the correct amount - nope.
The combo that works for mine with VB Pro is : 1 cup Timothy. Balance Cubes/ 1/4 cup Triple crown Naturals Golden Ground Flax/1 cup Hygain Zero …for the fussier eaters I’ll add either a handful of Cavalor FiberForce or Tribute Seniority Low NSC along with Swanson Natural Vitamin E capsules
Does anyone just feed the VB, a squirt of omega fat and Vit E successfully?
That is really the only way it will work for me. I have some super fatties and lots of grass, so I am trying to get them to a bare minimum carrier. I like to reduce forage last, though of course I will if I have to.
Do you mean in some sort of hay pellet/cube? I can’t imagine any horse agreeing to eat just the powder + omega + Vit E on its own, that would likely be vile. But I do know of folks who successfully have their horses just eating in soaked hay pellets or cubes.
When I introduced Charlie to forage balancers we started with CalTrace and he wouldn’t touch it. What helped us was mixing up a spray bottle of a couple cups or water and a couple TBSP of molasses and spray. I slowing reduced the amount of molasses and we’ve had no issues since. We did switch over to VBPro after he tested lows for Vit E on the CT, and no issues with the switch either.
I soak his in beet pulp shreds, flax/vit E, a couple supplements and his thyro-l.
Will your guy eat alfalfa pellets? This is going to sound crazy but what I do is mix my guy’s VBP and his other supplements and oil in powdered alfalfa pellets. I use my coffee grinder to do a kind of course grind and then mix everything into that. I also put in a slug of the Equisweet peppermint as well. I feed this along with soaked beet pulp
Beet pulp shreds soak pretty quickly, especially with warm water, and since they are about 9c/lb, 1-2c is insignificant calories, but a decent carrier for powdered things.
This might work! He dislikes powder and he dislikes pellets. Some sort of an alfalfa crumble is worth a try. Thank you for the idea!
I highly suggest not buying a sample if you actually want to know if your horses will eat it.
I paid $15 for this. I have paid less for coffee I use for a month. Sigh.!
I won’t be buying this because there is not enough for me to see how palatable it is.
Maybe this was an adequate size for a scoop a day, but I am not buying a $100 bag based on this.
The samples are designed to be per horse, unfortunately. They’re not really designed to be an adequate size to try for multiple horses for multiple days, unfortunately. 
You might try reaching out to Nicole to see if she’d be willing to sell you a larger sample size. She’s super helpful IME.
For one horse I think they should send you a sample for free. I have several I was considering moving onto it from a ration balancer. The amount sent is absurd for $15. I paid a decent amount for a sample I think. I was expecting to be able to try it.
I am not buying a $100 bag that is supposed to last for 3 months when I pay $15 for a sample that won’t last 3 days for one horse.
I was excited to try this for my easy keepers. I’ll stay on a RB.
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