Balancer

[bananaboots10]

Hi, i have two good doer cobs, one is worked 4-5 times a week and just started competing with my daughter at local shows doing a mixture of pony club, dressage and jumping. The other is 5 and needs some muscle conditioning, he was in light work but is back to basics as the moment to build him up. Is there a balancer that anyone would suggest that could help build him up but also that i could feed to my other cob to make sure he gets all the correct vitamins and minerals or would they have to be seperate kinds? I have been recommended spillers lite and lean or daily balancer for the working cob. The physio recommended equimin advance for the other.

 

[Barton Bounty]

The one I am breaking is on this balancer! Seems good

 

[Cortez]

If they are good doers, what makes you think they need anything additional?

 

[bananaboots10]

If they are good doers, what makes you think they need anything additional?

The physio suggested something for the one needing to build muscle and the other one was just because he is getting worked more. I thought it maybe would do him good too to have make sure he is getting all the xorrext vitamins and minerals

 

[Cortez]

Waste of money IMO, just making very expensive pee.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

I feed Faran baileys lo cal balancer soaked and some plain grass chaff (to stop him bolting the soaked balancer) just to make sure he’s got what he needs. It’s not expensive and he’s looking really shiny on it. A bit too well TBF but he’s been out of work because of my spinal injury but he’s coming back into work now on the ground and will be getting clipped shortly so the excess pounds will be lost.

I never used to feed a balancer just a general powdered vit supp but after Kia did so well on youngstock balancer when he was older for the higher protein and vit e contents I was swayed and Faran has been on one since I bought him as a 6month old.

 

[bananaboots10]

I feed Faran baileys lo cal balancer soaked and some plain grass chaff (to stop him bolting the soaked balancer) just to make sure he’s got what he needs. It’s not expensive and he’s looking really shiny on it. A bit too well TBF but he’s been out of work because of my spinal injury but he’s coming back into work now on the ground and will be getting clipped shortly so the excess pounds will be lost.

I never used to feed a balancer just a general powdered vit supp but after Kia did so well on youngstock balancer when he was older for the higher protein and vit e contents I was swayed and Faran has been on one since I bought him as a 6month old.

Thank you for the reply, that was what my physio was saying as she stays close and was saying she had her field tested to see what it was lacking and i thought a little balancer wouldnt do any harm to make sure

 

[Cortez]

Thank you for the reply, that was what my physio was saying as she stays close and was saying she had her field tested to see what it was lacking and i thought a little balancer wouldnt do any harm to make sure

Have you had your grass tested? If you haven't then you are really both flying blind and also wasting your money.

 

[bananaboots10]

Have you had your grass tested? If you haven't then you are really both flying blind and also wasting your money.

She has, I haven’t. I appreciate what you are saying but the vet and physio has agreed that it would do my young cob the world of good and so I was just wanting peoples opinions on what they use and if it would be something that i could give my working one as a little extra. Thank you for your comments though but I am happy to spend some money to see if it will belp him.

 

[Cortez]

She has, I haven’t. I appreciate what you are saying but the vet and physio has agreed that it would do my young cob the world of good and so I was just wanting peoples opinions on what they use and if it would be something that i could give my working one as a little extra. Thank you for your comments though but I am happy to spend some money to see if it will belp him.

The power of advertising.......my friend, who is an equine vet, tells me that he has never seen a horse with a vitamin/mineral deficiency in 25+ years in practice, but he has seen horses with problems - some severe, i.e. fatal - from over supplementation. I have on occasion fed a supplement, to starvation rescue cases. If your horses are overweight the very last thing they need is MORE stuff.

 

[bananaboots10]

The power of advertising.......my friend, who is an equine vet, tells me that he has never seen a horse with a vitamin/mineral deficiency in 25+ years in practice, but he has seen horses with problems - some severe, i.e. fatal - from over supplementation. I have on occasion fed a supplement, to starvation rescue cases. If your horses are overweight the very last thing they need is MORE stuff.

I appreciate your opinion but my vet who knows my pony thinks it may help and they are not over weight, they are in very good condition! Just one needs a bit more muscle.

 

[Cortez]

I appreciate your opinion but my vet who knows my pony thinks it may help and they are not over weight, they are in very good condition! Just one needs a bit more muscle.

I'm not going to keep banging on about this, you're not really interested in other opinions anyway, but may I just point out a couple of things? 1. Saying something "won't do any harm" is not the same as recommending it, and in the case of supplementation without testing to establish need isn't even accurate. 2. A vitamin/mineral will not build muscle. Good luck with your horses in any case.

 

[tristar]

Hi, i have two good doer cobs, one is worked 4-5 times a week and just started competing with my daughter at local shows doing a mixture of pony club, dressage and jumping. The other is 5 and needs some muscle conditioning, he was in light work but is back to basics as the moment to build him up. Is there a balancer that anyone would suggest that could help build him up but also that i could feed to my other cob to make sure he gets all the correct vitamins and minerals or would they have to be seperate kinds? I have been recommended spillers lite and lean or daily balancer for the working cob. The physio recommended equimin advance for the other.

our cobby one looks slimmer and yet good on selinevite e balancer

i also give it to the others,but always use the minimum dose, over a period of time, and once a month cut it out for say 5 days or so, the cob has also grown out a crack in his hoof which was there for 2 years since regular use, and i used other stuff more expensive with no particular good results

the cob looks well muscled and has come on no end, sort of slim and fit

 

[bananaboots10]

our cobby one looks slimmer and yet good on selinevite e balancer

i also give it to the others,but always use the minimum dose, over a period of time, and once a month cut it out for say 5 days or so, the cob has also grown out a crack in his hoof which was there for 2 years since regular use, and i used other stuff more expensive with no particular good results

the cob looks well muscled and has come on no end, sort of slim and fit

Thank you for your reply, i really appreciate your response. Thats great that its helped. I will have a look at that, thank you ?

 

[lannerch]

I'm not going to keep banging on about this, you're not really interested in other opinions anyway, but may I just point out a couple of things? 1. Saying something "won't do any harm" is not the same as recommending it, and in the case of supplementation without testing to establish need isn't even accurate. 2. A vitamin/mineral will not build muscle. Good luck with your horses in any case.

Can’t resist replying to this even though it’s an old thread , no vitamin or mineral will build muscle but the lysine contained in lite and lean ( in larger amounts than even ss muscle builder ) certainly with correct work will .

 

[Elno]

I saw a post by a veterinarian on fb a couple of months ago about balancers where he mused about them and what they actually were (or rather, were not) balancing. The post itself is a good read, but what particularly stuck with me was a lady in the comment section who is a retired professor in nutrition who turned out to be one of the people involved with formulating and reviewing the NRC 2007. A lot of people, including myself, and also some, if not most feeding apps rely on NRC 2007 when deciding amounts of vitamins and minerals to feed horses. The problem? Majority of the studies are based on pigs and rats. In reality we don't really know what horses need, and neither do horse feed brands, but what they DO know is how to make money of those of us who try to do the best they can for their horse and fall for their very clever marketing.

Majority of todays horses are oversupplemented and produce very expensive pee. I mean, you just have to take one look at the supplement section in a random feed store, or heck, even an online store! Mostly it is harmless and only cost the owner alot. Sometimes it is not harmless and the horse suffers.

I'm with @Cortez, the veterinarian I mentioned and that nice retired professor lady on this. If there is a verified deficiency, obviously yes- it needs correcting. But feeding things blindy just in case? Too much of a good thing is sometimes not a good thing at all.

(I will step down from my soap box now, sorry...)

 

[Goldenstar]

I do feed a balancer and add extra vit E in the dead of winter .
I feed my horses protein from different sources .
I have had horses here a long time and it’s my observation they look better with the supplement on this land .
For several years I fed an extremely expensive supplement and then stopped to a cheaper pelleted one . I did this initially because I needed to move away from a powdered supplement because it required me to feed my horses things that they did not need to get them to eat the supplement .
I don’t think trading down has made any difference tbh .

 

[Pinkvboots]

I do feed a balancer and add extra vit E in the dead of winter .
I feed my horses protein from different sources .
I have had horses here a long time and it’s my observation they look better with the supplement on this land .
For several years I fed an extremely expensive supplement and then stopped to a cheaper pelleted one . I did this initially because I needed to move away from a powdered supplement because it required me to feed my horses things that they did not need to get them to eat the supplement .
I don’t think trading down has made any difference tbh .

Out of interest what balancer do you feed I normally feed progressive earth but struggle to get mine to eat the full amount, so like you I was considering a pellet form but there are so many I'm a bit lost with it all.

 

[Green Bean]

I know this is a zombie thread, but couldn't resist!!
All this is very subjective, and specialists we are not. Quoting what vets have said is also cheeky. You have a horse in front of you, you treat the horse that is in front of you. Do we throw all feeds away and turn our horses out to grass and say that is good enough? Should we not make enquiries on nutritional breakdowns of the feed we feed? I did this once, looking into the various vitamins, minerals, etc of all the feed, I feed. Some suppliers were more reserved than others in handing out this information. After completing my spreadsheet, I realised that my horse was receiving more than the recommended daily dosage of some and less than the daily dosage for other vitamins and minerals. I gave up in the end as I could not factor in the nutrient content of hay and grass without further expenditure. The exercise was good in identifying the vitamins and minerals though. I feed the horse in front of me with best feed for her needs that I can afford