Feed Balancers

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Havinalaugh

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Can anyone recommen a good feed balancer or supplement to help get weight on a poor horse?
He is being fed on chaff, sugar beet and spillers slow release energy nuts. He has ad lib haylage but is lacking weight/topline.

Any Recommendations

Thanks
 
If you are feeding the recommended amount of the slow release nuts then he shouldn't need a balancer, because all the vit/mins are provided by the nuts, and you would just be doubling up on nutrients.

What type of chaff are you feeding? I would recommend Alfa A Oil for a horse that needs condition. Have you had the horse's teeth checked?

Are you feeding three times a day?

Adding oil to the feed in some form is usually helpful as oil is very dense in calories. You can use an oil-rich chaff such as Alfa A Oil as suggested above, and/or straight vegetable oil, or a oil-rich feed such as Outshine or CoolStance.
 
As ever TGM spot on.

However, I wonder why you are feeding the slow release cubes?? My preference would be Hi Fibre cubes, or perhaps a conditioning feed if the horse really needs condition put on.

With regards feed balancers - I feed Redmills (grow and win I think). I feed my horse this daily, and he really looks wonderful on it. It is also cheaper than Top Spec which many favour.
 
I have just recently bought him home after being on livery where they feed all horses slow release nuts so i haven't been able to change them yet i am wanting to change to something like condition cubes but obviously it has to be done slowly!

I am feeding him twice a day and he has garlic ossi (sp?) chaff.

He had his teeth checked only the other week so i know there isn't a problem there!

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I do like Topspec feed balancer - although I found Baileys No 4 was better for building my horse's topline.

I would recommend switching to Alfa A Oil and possibly adding Baileys Outshine to the feed as that worked wonders for me
 
Ok, if he is out of work at the moment, I would get him on Topspec Balancer, whatever chaff you are feeding and Alfa beet. Alfa A Oil is fantastic stuff, but is high in sugar and can send a horse not being worked a bit wappy
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Alfa Beet is a fantastic conditioning feed, and you can give them a bucket to eat overnight. I would cut out any hard feed if not in work, and then slowly build up if you find he needs it when you get him back in work. But would stick to a high fibre feed unless he is working, as this is the safest and easiest way of getting weight on them whilst feeding them like horses!! Alfa is high in protein aswell, so that combined with the balancer should mean you see an improvement in coat condition adn weight gain
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We have bought him home and he is having a months break.)

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Are you confusing 'poor' for 'fit'?? Has he been on a competition yard, hunting yard etc.??
 
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Alfa A Oil is fantastic stuff, but is high in sugar

[/ QUOTE ] Alfa A Oil is not high in sugar! Perhaps you are confusing it with Alfa A Original which IS molassed. Alfa A Oil is coated with oil instead of molasses. But agree that Alfa Beet is a great feed as well.
 
Outshine is great - But I wouldnt see the point in feeding Alfa oil with Outshine as they are both oil based so they get the oil from the outshine - if you did want more oil a glug of it from a bottle would be cheaper then alfa oil.

Oil based diets are the best though I think
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I don't find Alfa A sends my WB mad. He is terrible for dropping weight in winter and he is on Alfa A Oil, Baileys Outshine, Baileys no 4 and Alfa Beet - probably overloading him with oil but he is doing very well on it and his keeping his weight nicely - The Alfa A oil and Outshine worked really well on helping put weight on hin the first place
 
re AmyMay's comment about the slow release cubes.

SR cubes are hi oil low starch - same a conditioning cube.
the difference is that the energy level is in fact lightly lower than in a conditing cube - hence a lot of eventers use conditioning cubes rather than SR cubes.
 
My mare has dropped quite a bit of weight this winter.She get's ridden 6 days a week and jog's everywhere!So i put her on mollichaff showshine and baileys no4 with oil in each feed.In just a few weeks she is looking so much better.
Could.nt feed her alfa a oil cause she hated the stuff just knocked her feed bucket over and kicked it in her bed!
 
Sorry that is what I was advised by a feed merchant near me, he said it seems to be naturally high in sugar
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Alfa A is because of the mollasses content, (I refuse to feed highly mollased feeds) But it does seem to send some horses slightly wild!!
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It is a sad fact that many feed merchants don't actually have a good understanding of the products they sell and are responsible for confusing horse-owners about feeding issues! (Apologies to those feed merchants who ARE knowledgeable on feed issues). Some horses may get excitable on Alfa A Oil (although I have not had that problem myself) but it is definitely not because it is high in sugar!
 
Ring Baileys, Spillers or the feed manufacturer of your choice and ask them - they are experts. And they won't necessarily just recommend their own products if they don't make them, eg chaffs.

I spoke to Baileys and they recommended Baileys No 2
(Working horse and Pony cubes) for Star and she hasn't looked back. (She lost condition due to chemotherapy, radiotherapy and then surgery on her eyeball - not a good Autumn last year)
 
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