Baileys Balancers and/or Outshine - Which one for a TB?

3Beasties

3Beasties

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I was lucky enough to come home tonight to a prize of 10 vouchers for bags of baileys feed that I won at YHL :D Very happy as I never usually win anything! :D :D

I have been considering putting my horse on a balancer for some time to see if it helps his condition and now I have these vouchers it would make sense to try him on a baileys one. I don't currently feed baileys (or a balancer) though so am not familiar with what they make.

My horse is a 16.2hh, 16 year old TB that is prone to weight loss.

He currently looks like this -

Charlie.jpg


Weight wise I am quite happy with him at the moment but would like more topline on him. He's also likely to drop off slightly when the cold weather hits so a bit more meat on his bones won't do him any harm. His work varies weekly depending on the hours I'm at work/College but he usually gets ridden at least 3 times a week and no more then 6, mixture of hacking, faster work and lessons.

So what would be best to feed him alongside his normal feed? One of the baileys balancers (and if so which one?) or their Outshine (which I have heard good things about?

Can't be anything that is going to make his sharp and silly (their conditioning cubes seem to send him loopy :rolleyes: ).

Thanks in advance :)
 
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I'd email baileys and ask them personally, they're very helpful.

I feed baileys performance balancer and can't fault it at all. Its worked wonders for my TB. Lucky you with the vouchers ;) :D
 
ABC said:
I'd email baileys and ask them personally, they're very helpful.

I feed baileys performance balancer and can't fault it at all. Its worked wonders for my TB. Lucky you with the vouchers ;) :D
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Snap, Reg looks amazing on the Baileys balancer. Phone and ask- they're really helpful :)
 
Sorry 3WiseBeasties, I only scanned through the thread and missed the bit where you said that conditioning cubes send him loopy. Outshine is meant to be good though I haven't used it myself so I can't really say.
 
Outshine is well known to heat some horses up, my TB went loopy and tried to climb over her stable door and basically became dangerous to be around! have heard similar stories from other people too,be careful!
 
Balancers are just vitamins, minerals and protein they do not aid condition. They are designed for horses who do not need a full ration of feed so if he is not getting a full ration then yep a balacner added in to his current feed is needed. How ever if he is getting a full ration a balancer will be a waste of money as he will already be getting his daily levels of vits. Hope that makes sense!
 
I've used Baileys lo cal balancer on my TB and I really rate it. It helped him build beautiful muscle and really got him in tip top condition but as it's low in energy and starch it didn't send him loopy.
It's a great product, if you use it you will probably find you can cut back on his other feed a bit as well :).
 
It's a great product, if you use it you will probably find you can cut back on his other feed a bit as well
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That's what I was hoping, I spoke to Topspec at YHL and was planning to put him on their senior balancer, they also said that I should be able to reduce his other feed if he was on it :)
 
3WiseBeasties said:
That's what I was hoping, I spoke to Topspec at YHL and was planning to put him on their senior balancer, they also said that I should be able to reduce his other feed if he was on it :)
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I would be weary of this as if he is prone to weight loss he needs calories. Balancers are low in calories they are for good doers not those who loose weight. If you reduce his feed and add in a balancer you are not adding calories, you are just adding vitamins and minerals which will not make him put on weight, he will prob loose more weight as will not be getting enough calories.

If he is currently loosing weight he needs more feed not less.
 
Don't worry TOD I wouldn't reduce his feed unless I felt he was getting too fat (highly unlikely :rolleyes: ) I think the reasoning behind cutting his feed back was that the balancer would help digestion therefore he would get more out of his feed so I might be able to reduced it slightly.
 
3WiseBeasties said:
Don't worry TOD I wouldn't reduce his feed unless I felt he was getting too fat (highly unlikely :rolleyes: ) I think the reasoning behind cutting his feed back was that the balancer would help digestion therefore he would get more out of his feed so I might be able to reduced it slightly.
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Veteran horses can have more difficulty digesting feeds so that makes sense. But he still may be better on a higher calorie feed as i said balancers are low calorie.

What hardfeed does he have and in what levels?
 
He gets two feeds a day which consist of -

Scoop of Alfa A oil
Scoop of Super conditioning flakes
And about a scoop and a half of soaked speedi beet

As of tonight he is also getting micronised linseed (probably wouldn't have bought this had I known about the vouchers)

Supplement wise he gets pink powder and oil

He's also on adlib haylage although I'd say he only eats a pony sized amount per night!

Im not to worried about his weight to be honest as he's doing ok for now, once the cold hits I can add a 3rd feed, as long as he doesn't lose any I'll be happy.
 
Ok, i would say he isnt actually getting that much at the mo.

Dengie alfa oil is high in calories this is good. Stick with that

Are the conditioning flakes just barley or actually nutritonally balanced by a feed company? If they are just barley flakes than yes continue with supplement to balance out the poor ratio of barley. if they are feed company balanced ditch the supplement as you dont need it.

Sugarbeet is basicly just water so the calories in this is very minimal. Your not supplying calories with that scoop and a half just adding bulk. It would be better to swop for more feed (if needed). Horses cant have more than 2kg in one feed so you may be over loading the sugarbeet which may be why he is having problems digesting it all (if he is at all, you def dont now this is the case)

If you are already feeding a vit supplement you dont need a balancer, you will just be wasting your money. So just choose one or the other if using barley. if not using barley you can ditch both and save even more money!
 
These are the conditioning flakes -

http://www.topspec.com/products/topspec-super-conditioning-flakes/

I do feed the beet just to bulk it out really and also as I like giving them warm feeds when its really cold so this allows me too. When dry it's just a small square scoop but I'm not sure of the actual weight.

I was planning to give him a 3rd feed when the wheather hits or when he looks like he might be starting to drop off and for that I was thinking about giving him ready mash extra or fast fibre (depending on how he reacts to the ready mash).
 
Why don't you get 5 bags of balancer and 5 of outshine so you're covered for both for the year?

I've used Outshine and it was great and didn't send Red loopy whereas other conditioning feed has. I agree it is also worth trying a balancer too (not at the same time) esp if you are going to continue with the linseed as it sort of does the same thing as the outshine (if that makes sense?). I'd up the alpha a oil a bit, at one point I was giving red 2 scoops twice a day and he was putting on weight nicely :)

I woudl ring baileys too, they are great and always happy to work with what you currently feed which not all companies are. Congrats on your win too :D
 
I'm using baileys outshine on my 6 year old warmblood x welsh cob. Absolute stress head, complete nightmare! Would stress any weight he had on him off. Pleased to say the outshine is doing it's job AND he isn't getting wound up on it :)
 
3WiseBeasties said:
I will give them a ring tomorrow if I'm home before they close!

No. 4 sends him loopy Yuki!
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Bailey's Topline Conditioning Cubes - No. 4. Contain 13% of Protein.
Bailey's Racehorse Cubes - No 9. Contain 13.5% of Protein.

EVERYTHING else in these 2 feeds are identical :D So yes, it will send some loopy and others not. :D
 
EKW said:
Also these do pretty much jack all without the balancer to go with them :D
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I wouldn't say these do jack all at all!

They are extremely conditioning so will be providing calories - what they AREN'T providing is vits/mins as they are designed to be fed alongside a GP supplement/balancer. Anyway you already know that because you're already feeding a supplement if I read things right :D

Baileys Outshine is great, I have one who can't tolerate it but other than that it's always given great results. I've used their Performance Balancer too but have had more success with TopSpec
 
What I mean is that they work so, so much better with the balancer than without. THey will still do the job they were intended for but no where near as effectivey as they would with the balancer.
 
EKW said:
What I mean is that they work so, so much better with the balancer than without. THey will still do the job they were intended for but no where near as effectivey as they would with the balancer.
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Why not EKW? Surely they add condition regardless of whether you feed a balancer or pink powder as the OP is already?
 
sonjafoers said:
Why not EKW? Surely they add condition regardless of whether you feed a balancer or pink powder as the OP is already?
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The balancer and the flakes are designed to compliment each other. What the Flakes lack the balancer provides to help maximise digestion of the most important parts and for it to then be used in the correct ways because the body has the right amount of vits and mins to make the most of the feeds as a whole.
 
Mmmmm.....not quite sure I agree about them doing jack all without the balancer. Even TopSpec say they can be fed with a powdered supplement.

I agree a horse with a healthy digestion will get more out of them, they same as they will get more out of any feed, but they are simply a conditioning flake without any added vits/mins.
 
EKW - Is that there balancer in particular or just a balancer in general?

Shame it wasn't topspec vouchers really but beggars can't be choosers :p :D :D
 
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