WINTER Supplemental feeding for older Draft horse

[EE]

My search for something for winter feeding has begun.

Typically, she eats from the pasture, with some foraging walks added in. Every year for winter we add hay, and I start giving her just a cup or two of something for added vitamins.

She never needs to gain weight.

I have been going to Southern States and buying what they don’t sell anymore - it was the one with the lady in the pink shirt! -LOL. That’s how I remembered the bag. LEGENDS CARBCARE BALANCER PELLET. 28-4-12

What can I get now?

I’m interested in organic, because why not. That’s how I eat so why should I put unnecessary pesticides in my girl?

I have easy access to Tractor’s Supply. And Chewy now sells horse feed.

I’m not so sure I trust Purina. I feel like they just throw together a bunch of junk and cite the percentages of isolated particles and call it food.

Suggestions???

TIA,

EE

[Wyndwolfe]

Check Seminole options. Seminole makes a couple of rice bran products which may work for you.

[Scribbler]

@EE

My search for something for winter feeding has begun.

Typically, she eats from the pasture, with some foraging walks added in. Every year for winter we add hay, and I start giving her just a cup or two of something for added vitamins.

She never needs to gain weight.

I have been going to Southern States and buying what they don’t sell anymore - it was the one with the lady in the pink shirt! -LOL. That’s how I remembered the bag. LEGENDS CARBCARE BALANCER PELLET. 28-4-12

What can I get now?

I’m interested in organic, because why not. That’s how I eat so why should I put unnecessary pesticides in my girl?

I have easy access to Tractor’s Supply. And Chewy now sells horse feed.

I’m not so sure I trust Purina. I feel like they just throw together a bunch of junk and cite the percentages of isolated particles and call it food.

Suggestions???

TIA,

EE

What do you want the supplemental feeding to do? You apparently don’t need calories, so what are you after?

A good basic ration balancer to cover all the vitamins and minerals would work, but honestly should be fed year round. Or use a vitamin mineral supplement in a beet pulp mash.

[EE]

Something like the Legends Balancer - which I was told was basically a ‘multi-vitamin’.

So - a multi-vitamin that would enhance what she’s eating during winter when the grasses are less nutritious (but she is getting hay). LOW sugar. Organic, if possible. Unless that is a gimmick in horse feed.

There are a zillion choices and it is very difficult sorting through them.

[Scribbler]

@EE

Something like the Legends Balancer - which I was told was basically a ‘multi-vitamin’.

So - a multi-vitamin that would enhance what she’s eating during winter when the grasses are less nutritious (but she is getting hay). LOW sugar. Organic, if possible. Unless that is a gimmick in horse feed.

There are a zillion choices and it is very difficult sorting through them.

When looking at balances or VMS you need to download the guaranteed nutrtion sheet and price and get out your calculator. Which one gives the most nutrition for the lowest cost? They vary so much!

It also helps to know what vitamins and minerals you want to target, and what’s in your soil and hay.

For me, I want the right balance of zinc and copper for hooves, as much as possible. Biotin. We need selenium. Vitamin E. No added iron. So I look for those. I’ve ended up with the Canadian brand MadBarn Omniety, which is the best bang for the buck. There is no excellent ration balancer in my region, we don’t get most American brands in Canada.

So I did my cost/benefit anysis on my different options and went with MadBarn. I’m sure there’s similar in the US, maybe California Trace?

Anyhow the various products vary a lot. Some have hardly anything of key ingredients.

[lenapesadie]

I’ve had good luck with both of Triple Crown’s ration balancer pellets. The TC 30 and the TC Balancer Gold. While neither are organic, the Balancer Gold is soy free. Both are relatively low sugar, when considering their low feeding rates, and low calorie. The TC 30 I think is sometimes found in Tractor Supply stores. The Gold line adds gastric buffering and electrolytes to the excellent mineral and pro biotics packages found in TC products. If I recall correctly neither supplies significant biotin if that’s important to you.

While not normally keen on Purina products personally, I recently switched mine to the Purina Omega Match ration balancer. Also relatively low sugar / calorie when considering the feed rate and is Timothy based, I believe no soy and no alfalfa but I’d have to check the bag. For me the biggest draw was the Omega 3s in it. One of my horses refuses other supplemental Omega 3. I also like that it includes gastric buffering, all natural Vit E and a decent amount of biotin. My horses both say it tastes better than either TC product.

My mom has two drafts, one of which is a senior, and has them on the Tribute Wholesome Blend Ration Balancer from Chewy. She likes it so far and reports her horses love it.

[EE]

What about Hallway® Feeds Pure & Simple™ Balancer?

[JB]

Organic feeds are few and far between, and quite pricey. Modesto Milling makes some, not sure offhand if they have a ration balancer

Simple is to just use Triple Crown Balancer or ProElite Grass Advantage from Southern States.

Purina doesn’t throw a bunch of junk together and call it food.

If you want more organic than a commercial brand, but less $$ than an organic ration balancer, any forage balancer will do, and mix it with some soaked hay pellets.

California Trace/Plus, Vermont Blend/Pro, KIS Trace. Arizona Copper Complete, are a few of the forage balancers. The powders are as “organic” as you can get without actually being certified organic.

Unless your hay and grass are organic, there’s no value in going the organic feed route.

[SonnysMom]

I have used Buckeye Grow N Win, Purina Enrich Plus and ProElite Grass Advantage. The horses all did about the same on them. I felt like the Buckeye was the most palatable of the three with ProElite 2nd. Buckeye was convenient as we had enough horses at the barn on it to buy 2 bags at a time and get the free shipping from Chewy. It was cheaper there than locally.

[RhythmNCruise]

I feed the same forage balancer year round (KIS Trace). I feed it in a tiny amount of either timothy pellets or Triple Crown Sr. (because if I was a horse I’d want to eat that instead of hay pellets). The carrier isn’t important, it’s the KIS Trace that gives him everything he needs to complement his pasture and/or hay.

When the pasture goes bye-bye, I just increase hay (a lot) and maybe increase the carrier for the KIS Trace a bit. He never needs more KIS Trace. He gets everything he needs from it at its recommended feeding rate year round.

Feeding “a cup or two of something for added vitamins” doesn’t really work if it’s a feed that’s meant to be fed at a higher rate to meet those daily requirements of vitamins and minerals. If your horse doesn’t need the extra calories of a fortified commercial feed, definitely just feed her a forage balancer at the recommended rate (it’s fed like a supplement…a small scoop twice a day). You can give “a cup or two of something” to put this forage balancer in, and that plus adequate hay should be all you need.

[EE]

You all have given me lots to research.
Thanks everyone!