allergy to balancer!

[curio]

has anyone else had this with their horse
my horse has been itchy for about 3 years now I thought it was sweet itch so treated him for it each year
But I doesn't resolve in the winter and he has flaky skin, bald patches but no scaling
he used to have a plain cheap mix with chaff in his young days and was fine then I changed to fast fiber and looking back that's when the itch started
took him off fast fiber in march back onto cheap mix and seemed good has had no fly rug this year and been mildly itchy, but still dry flaky skin
then moved him onto spillers leisure cubes as they were on offer, and his skin wasn't good, he started to itch more but i put it down to more flies
I got talked into trying him on their balancer on sat as he isn't on the recommended amounts of feed I wasn't sure whether to just get a vit and min powder but went with the balancer as its complete
he has had half a measure since sat night once a day and yesterday has come up in lumps and is intensely itchy
so now im thinking all his itching is feed related and not midges
any thoughts on this?
have him just on adlib haylage and plain chaff with a sprinkle of grass nuts for now
thank you

 

[keepitugly]

I'm not sure on specifics but I think they can definitely be very sensitive and intolerant of certain feeds.

 

[curio]

thats what im thinking theres something in fast fibre and the balancer hes sensitive too i need to find the balancers ingredient list

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I'm sure you're right. We used to have a mare who couldn't eat sugar or cereals - it took years for us to work out what the problem was. We have one now who can't eat alfalfa.
I am very uneasy about the latest fad for 'balancers', I don't see how one balancer can suit all horses, as they are all on different grazing. IMO horses digestive systems have evolved to get what the horse needs from grass, so if you feed hay/lage that is not from your own fields, with grassnuts and dried grass chaff from other sources, you should be giving your horse all it needs, unless the horse has a particular problem.

 

[curio]

I'm sure you're right. We used to have a mare who couldn't eat sugar or cereals - it took years for us to work out what the problem was. We have one now who can't eat alfalfa.
I am very uneasy about the latest fad for 'balancers', I don't see how one balancer can suit all horses, as they are all on different grazing. IMO horses digestive systems have evolved to get what the horse needs from grass, so if you feed hay/lage that is not from your own fields, with grassnuts and dried grass chaff from other sources, you should be giving your horse all it needs, unless the horse has a particular problem.

thank you that makes sense I added the balancer as i felt he was lacking in coat condition and sparkle,
ive had this cob 17 years ( all his young years till the past 3 yrs he was on mollichaff, or dengie hi fi, with own brand mix, or allen and paige quiet mix and never had an itch problem ) and its only since starting him on the fast fibre etc ( which he hasnt had since march took a wjile to figure out this could be why ) that hes been itchy, vet said sweet itch so was managed with no improvement then got really itchy in june so i changed his feed to stores own coase mix wich was just basic barley, maize pease etc ( no modified straw or soya) the itch started to go,
then went on spillers leisure cubes as got money off vouchers, and it was on offer and the itch has got worse, he lost a alot of weight in summer, as wasnt on good grass, and refused the hay, and he was hacking nearly every day from 2 to hrs, driving from 2 hrs + and doing weddings, he did need to lose some weight though now he needs muscle
added the balancer on sat he had three mugs in total over 3 days, fed at half rate to introduce it and he looks like he been rolling in a nettle patch and soo itchy just stroke him and hes swaying blissfully
so im thinking hes intolerant to soya, nutritionally improved straw maybe?
his work has dropped off now so doesnt need to many calories but will need more come summer for the wedding season so any ideas what ay work for him?

 

[Micky]

Maybe try to go back to basic simple feed, hi fi molasses free chop, thunderbrook base mix ( online, no soya) micronised linseed for his coat and hooves (charnwoods online).....

 

[maggiesmum]

The problem with balancers is that whilst they provide the daily requirement of vits & mins they actually don't balance the forage ration, how can a balancer know what mineral levels are in your grass & hay?
This results in unbalanced mineral levels, have a look at the forageplus website, there's an article on there about sweet itch & minerals (I'd link to it for you but I'm on my phone :-/).

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I would simply feed soaked grassnuts with dried grass chaff and soaked Speedibeet or Alfabeet if he needs more weight on.

 

[curio]

The problem with balancers is that whilst they provide the daily requirement of vits & mins they actually don't balance the forage ration, how can a balancer know what mineral levels are in your grass & hay?
This results in unbalanced mineral levels, have a look at the forageplus website, there's an article on there about sweet itch & minerals (I'd link to it for you but I'm on my phone :-/).

hmm thats interesting especially as my other horse has had to come off the balancer as started getting bumps too