Do I need a feed balancer?

[RJ W]

My horse is a really poor do-er and had a tough winter. Luckily I've managed to get him back into good condition with Heygates conditioning cubes! He looks really good now in his weight and coat.

I have always used blue chip feed balancers for my horses and had him on blue chip original but now he's getting two stubbs scoops of feed a day a feed rep from spillers told me that I shouldn't need a feed balancer now he's on so much hard feed (when I was enquiring about the spillers balancer). It makes sense that now he's getting so much hard feed his requirements should be met but;

1) Is heygates a good enough brand to be providing all the necessary vits and mins etc in their feeds?

2) someone told me I should feed a feed balancer anyway because its always good for horses no matter what... is this true?

If you do think a feed balancer is needed what do you recommend for a young warmblood who doesn't keep weight on easily and can be hot headed at times?

Thanks

 

[eggs]

My understanding is that balancers are recommended for when a horse is not getting the full ration of hard feed - usually due to not wanting to put too much weight on.

If you are worried you could maybe add a vits & mins powder but to be honest it sounds as though your horse is getting enough hard feed.

 

[RJ W]

Thanks thats what I thought balancers were for too! Ive always used them when I haven't been able to give my horses much hard feed so now I've increased it so much for my current horse I thought that may be the case!