fatty-balancer of powder supp best?

P

Prince33Sp4rkle

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 November 2009
Messages
6,880
Location
Leicestershire
Visit site
for Bruce :)

he originally had the Topspec balancer but it sent him whappy, then Baileys lo-cal which made him very dull and scurfy.

He's since been having a tiny fistful of spiller senior cubes or mix (whichever is in stock) to carry his joint supp and some powdered seaweed and looks a lot better.

however he's now finished the seaweed and some recent reading has lead me to understand its not such a good all round egg for vits and mins as its promoted as! So on the hunt for something different.

He gets either soaked hay (spring/summer/autumn) or double netted hay (winter). Muzzled for turnout.

He has his Pm feed in a snack ball to keep him entertained longer, so if he has a powder supp it will all have to go in his AM feed.

Im sort of swinging towards spillers lite balancer as its a cube, and can go in the snack ball and makes him think he's getting proper food? (which might sound daft but the longer is is eating for the less time he spends booting the partition,jealous of Figs huge meals!)

views?

any miracle products ive not thought of?
 
Balancers are full of protein, which for a fatty isn't always ideal. When I've had good doers I've tended to stick to a powder supp, something simple like codlivine, and chaff and that's all.

However my old yo fed spillers lite and chaff twice daily to her chubby cob and it worked well for him.
 
My fatties get forageplus balancers mixed with a small amount of micronised linseed for the omega oils and literally a handful of speedibeet for pallatability
 
Have two fatty natives on forageplus balancer which is a powder and micronised linseed - for our ponies with our grazing and forage it's the very best one that we've found - their coats are silky and gleaming, the black pony is really really black, feet are great. They 'lick the plate clean' too.
However, the feeds are tiny (think in terms of small handfuls rather than scoops!) which is fine for us as everyone's on the same but may frustrate your chap if the others are chowing down on huge bucketfuls.
 
I've switched to a powder (codlivine) so that I can cut feed right back if need be -mine was just a touch over all last summer and it drove me mad adding the extra calories in a balancer when they weren't needed.

I love the idea of a balancer but I prefer being on a system where I can tinker more easily if need be, and tbh I think he's looking better on the codlivine than he did on the top spec!
 
Alltech Lifeforce for me, my horse has never looked (or acted) so well. I ran out of it over Christmas time, and noticed a change (for the worse) in him. On it, his coat gleams, his feet are strong, his attitude to work is better, and he's less spooky. Can't recommend it highly enough.
 
Whatever you decide on, do check the levels of iron, copper and zinc. UK grazing is generally far too high in iron and far too low in Cu and Zn (often selenium too), so ideally you need a supplement to help correct this.
Some balancers have surprising low levels of Cu and Zn and added iron too, which inhibits the uptake of the other minerals, making the problem worse.
Forageplus, pro balance or equimins advance would be my choice for a fatty.
 
hollybear said:
Whatever you decide on, do check the levels of iron, copper and zinc. UK grazing is generally far too high in iron and far too low in Cu and Zn (often selenium too), so ideally you need a supplement to help correct this.
Some balancers have surprising low levels of Cu and Zn and added iron too, which inhibits the uptake of the other minerals, making the problem worse.
Forageplus, pro balance or equimins advance would be my choice for a fatty.
Click to expand...

Thanks but can you give us rough/average some figures as what's considered high, low, sufficient


I fed spillers lite balancer for my fatty.
If I were looking for a powder it would be alltech life force

Both cost less than most but seem as good if not better than average (I think anyway)
 
This is interesting reading. My fat Fell has just finished 6 weeks on his first balancer, Horse and Pony Direct low cal. He looks awful on it, his coat is very dull, full of scurvy i got my vet to check him over he looks awful!!! I was thinking about the Pro Forage or Equimins Diamond Omega for his coat. Awful results on the balancer put me off buying any more.
 
Thank you all, loads of info :) I was talking to my feed man yesterday and he's got me some spillers lite to try, if that's no good then I'm going to try the pro balance as can see what you mean ref being able to tinker more easily.
 
I use Slim Aid from Feedmark, it's a pelleted balancer and they only need a small amount at a time.
 
Not being funny but.... why are you all feeding your fatties?

They will get everything they need just from hay and if you feel it's not enough, get a mineral lick so they can have free choice plus a helping of salt to make them drink more and stop eating so much therefore staying slim.

I get that some may need to have joint supplements but you can soak that in a cupful of low calorie beet/alfalfa. Soaking vit n min pellets to add joint/bute/cough stuff to.

It just doesn't make sense to feed fatties any form of balancer.
 
tallyho! said:
Not being funny but.... why are you all feeding your fatties?

They will get everything they need just from hay and if you feel it's not enough, get a mineral lick so they can have free choice plus a helping of salt to make them drink more and stop eating so much therefore staying slim.

I get that some may need to have joint supplements but you can soak that in a cupful of low calorie beet/alfalfa. Soaking vit n min pellets to add joint/bute/cough stuff to.

It just doesn't make sense to feed fatties any form of balancer.
Click to expand...

My (no longer) fatty has spent all winter on soaked hay, which is why I supplement her diet with a balancer.
 
tallyho! said:
Not being funny but.... why are you all feeding your fatties?

They will get everything they need just from hay and if you feel it's not enough, get a mineral lick so they can have free choice plus a helping of salt to make them drink more and stop eating so much therefore staying slim.

I get that some may need to have joint supplements but you can soak that in a cupful of low calorie beet/alfalfa. Soaking vit n min pellets to add joint/bute/cough stuff to.

It just doesn't make sense to feed fatties any form of balancer.
Click to expand...

This is why I recommend just a powder supplement, no calories, just a balance of minerals and vits which are known to be deficient in much of the UK grazing and forage. My used-to-be fatty gets this in a handful or 2 of low calorie chaff, plus forage.
He's now slim, barefoot, sound and happy :)
 
Fjord said:
My (no longer) fatty has spent all winter on soaked hay, which is why I supplement her diet with a balancer.
Click to expand...

Riiiiight.... So you soak the hay to leach out all the vits n mins any horse could possibly need, then put it all back in with an expensive supplement.

This is exactly why supplements exist... feed companies saw them coming.
 
hollybear said:
This is why I recommend just a powder supplement, no calories, just a balance of minerals and vits which are known to be deficient in much of the UK grazing and forage. My used-to-be fatty gets this in a handful or 2 of low calorie chaff, plus forage.
He's now slim, barefoot, sound and happy :)
Click to expand...

It makes sense to. Of course many areas can be deficient in one thing or another and it is wise to make sure we include enough selenium, iron, copper and magnesium for things to function but the teeny stuff is all there or else grass wouldn't grow. Grass needs this stuff too. So if its in grass, its in the hay.

The only time I would use specific minerals is if our farmer had just fertilised (beef pasture) in which case our horses need extra salt and magnesium to counteract the sudden peak in nitrates.

Otherwise, a mineral lick with copper and mag in is perfect.

The only way anyone would know WHAT to supp is if they did an analysis which costs around £40-60 and when I did one it was just copper and zinc that needed topping up.

I know what I'm saying will not resonate with many, I am a firm believer that horses do need topping up when the time is right. All ours are barefoot too and sound on any surface.

It's just a little tinkle of the bell to say, you may not need all the stuff the magazines say you need.... esp if you have a fatty like me! (Who is also a laminitic)
 
tallyho! said:
Riiiiight.... So you soak the hay to leach out all the vits n mins any horse could possibly need, then put it all back in with an expensive supplement.

This is exactly why supplements exist... feed companies saw them coming.
Click to expand...

No, they exist to correct some common deficiencies which are prevalent in the UK whether you soak you forage or not.
 
I'd just like to clarify...

Yes deficiencies exist and I'd like to point out appropriate ways in which to plug the gaps. Sme I mentioned above.

Balancers are really not for good doers. Too calorific and the lo-cal ones are just dust as far as I'm concerned. You're buying 20kgs of floor sweepings. Leave this stuff for proper hard workers..

Powders are ok but you need to feed something in order to sprinkle it on or else it tastes pretty unpalatable.

Pellets are ideal for all horses that don't need extra calories for competition but need supplementing for vits, mins and other complaints. Can be fed from the hand as treats.

All the above need a bit of salt to help the liver and kidneys absurd it all as quite a lot of stuff likes to bind itself to sodium molecules before it can enter tissue.

Mineral licks are the best for fatties. They are meant to be free choice and already have salt. The salt encourages water consumption which helps with the hay.

I understand soaked hay which I have had to do myself but if you keep on feeding them balancers, the little you soak out is replaced many times over by the balancers.
 
tallyho! said:
Not being funny but.... why are you all feeding your fatties?

They will get everything they need just from hay and if you feel it's not enough, get a mineral lick so they can have free choice plus a helping of salt to make them drink more and stop eating so much therefore staying slim.

I get that some may need to have joint supplements but you can soak that in a cupful of low calorie beet/alfalfa. Soaking vit n min pellets to add joint/bute/cough stuff to.

It just doesn't make sense to feed fatties any form of balancer.
Click to expand...

Cause the hay/grass provides plenty of calories but not all the vitamins and minerals they need (even excluding joint supplements)

tallyho! said:
I'd just like to clarify...

Yes deficiencies exist and I'd like to point out appropriate ways in which to plug the gaps. Sme I mentioned above.

Balancers are really not for good doers. Too calorific and the lo-cal ones are just dust as far as I'm concerned. You're buying 20kgs of floor sweepings. Leave this stuff for proper hard workers..

Powders are ok but you need to feed something in order to sprinkle it on or else it tastes pretty unpalatable.

Pellets are ideal for all horses that don't need extra calories for competition but need supplementing for vits, mins and other complaints. Can be fed from the hand as treats.

All the above need a bit of salt to help the liver and kidneys absurd it all as quite a lot of stuff likes to bind itself to sodium molecules before it can enter tissue.

Mineral licks are the best for fatties. They are meant to be free choice and already have salt. The salt encourages water consumption which helps with the hay.

I understand soaked hay which I have had to do myself but if you keep on feeding them balancers, the little you soak out is replaced many times over by the balancers.
Click to expand...

My girl is on a general vitamin and mineral alongside her joint/hoof things and they're just added to chaff which has a similar feed value to hay so no extra calories (hay ration can be reduced by amount of chaff fed if needed) and she gets to have a feed alongside everyone else without worrying about calories
 
Interesting Tally-ho, and I agree with a lot of what you are saying - generally people seriously over-feed their horses - at my yard even horses that are fat get a handful of nuts "Oh but it's just a handful, they need to have something" well, if they really do, how about a handful of chaff instead? My horse is a fairly good do-er. not a fatty although he gets a grass belly in the summer, or if he's not being worked. He is fed simply chaff and the Lifeforce. I tried giving him a salt lick - he didn't touch the blasted thing! As I said in my previous post, I notice a huge difference in him on the Lifeforce - both physically and mentally; so it must be giving him something he is missing.

ETS: It's not clear from my post, that the Lifeforce is a powder supplement. I would not be feeding a pellet balancer to a fatty - completely unnecessary IMO.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top