Does my horse need a feed supplement?

[Laura2408]

In short he is a very good doer and is slightly overweight ( working in this)
He is in good condition bar the odd hoof crack, and maybe could do with growing his mane a bit more!!

Current feeding plan is spillers lite balancer and I will add a lo calorie chaff in through winter.

Is this enough or should I add a supplement too, or does he get everything he needs from the balancer?
If so what sort of general condition supplement is best?

 

[thatsmygirl]

Balancers are designed to give your horse a alround low level vit,min and protein intake. Their name is a bit misleading as they don't balance anything!
Personally I use a powdered balancer as most of the pelleted balancers are full of cheap byproducts at high prices and very very low level vits etc but they work well for a lot of horses.
The only supplements u should need to add if any are if u need joint or breathing etc but no vits/mins

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I found that a diet including non molassed sugar beet pulp, 50gms of micronised linseed and a good mineral supplement like pro hoof [pro earth] or forageplus, were essentials for all year round health, skin and hooves.
Buying branded lo-cal type balancers are a good idea if you don't want to get too involved in the diet, but I think the micronised linseed is amazing stuff, you add more in winter for condition.
You did not give any detail, because horses in medium work often need to be fed more, but most leisure horses don't get enough work and they put on weight if they are eating too much. It is important to control weight, obviously.
Supplements are often sold in nice packages and promise to solve your all problems, but best to start with a look at diet and exercise.

 

[Tnavas]

I have a very good doer who has just a multi mineral block. Many people over supplement their horses.

 

[chestnut cob]

I wouldn't generally feed an overweight horse anything at all, not even a balancer. That said, if yours has hoof cracks (other than the little ones you sometimes get from old nail holes) then I'd be inclined to look at what he's getting and maybe just give him something for his feet. Have seen plenty on here rave about Pro Hoof, but otherwise maybe Farrier's Formula or similar. I'd focus first on getting the weight off then go from there.

FWIW, mine is in probably medium work (schooling 45min - 1 hour 3x per week plus a hack before or after at least one of those, 1 x jump, 2 x decent hacks with lots of steep hill work and fast work if I can get somewhere to do it plus ODE every 3 weeks ish, lessons once a fortnight usually instead of a schooling session and the odd additional DR test, SJ round or XC schooling). He is fit, he finishes a 90cm XC full of running (inside the time!), yet could still be a bit leaner, and he eats... a small handful of Dengie Healthy Tummy with a scoop of MagOx and a sprinkle of salt plus grass. In general I think people over feed their horses for the work they are doing. Before adding in extra feed or balancers, I'd up the work and get the weight off. Then think about balancers.