Feed balancers....

[ellie_e]

Can you tell me all there is to know about feed balancers? Can I just feed a balancer and chaff?
Horse is 7yr old KWPN, currently fed, 1mug of Fast fibre, 1mug of Allen & Page Cool collected (dry weight) 1 large scoop Hi Fi Molasses free, plus he gets Equifeast Cool Calm Collected, Micro Linseed, and a muscle supp. He has 1 large hay net at night, and is out during the day on good grass. His weight etc are fine but I'm thinking of changing as the Fast Fibre and Cool Collected need to be soaked and its abit faffy.
I change his feed in the winter also so if I were going to swap to just a balancer can I then use hard feed on top?
Also there’s lots of different balancers calming, energy etc etc. What would you recommend? I need something without magnesium.
Sorry if I'm waffling!

 

[katiey]

Hi I feed my boys on Alfa-A Balancer and Alfa-A original chaff.
They both have vegetable oil added to this and that it!
In the winter I add condidtioning cubes to one boys dinner as he needs that extra bit but the other one I just increase amounts. Been great as gives them all they need and some energy but without extra calories and loads supplements. x

 

[KatB]

I feed a low calorie balancer to my mare, as she is naturally a porker, and it means she has everything she needs without adding calories! She gets chaff, recommended amount of balancer, supplements and a small amount of hard feed a day just to help disguise the supplement taste!! She looks very very well on it, and the balancer I use is £18 for a months supply, so cost effective too

 

[ellie_e]

Thanks KatB, what one are you using?

 

[KatB]

I'll PM you cos otherwise I get accused of advertising... !!

 

[luckyhorseshoe]

My Mare does brilliantly with just a balancer. I mix mine with graze on rather than chaff - dont know why but the Spanish one isn't into chaff.
All winter she had spillers performance balancer, graze on, salt and msn. If she needed it I added a glug of oil. I did put her on a muscle/conditioning supplement but now she's a bit older I don't think she'll need it.

Now it's summer and shes looking very well, I've taken her off the balancer and put her on selenevite instead with the tiniest amount of graze on.

She's schooled, hacked, lunged every week. So not masses of work but easily does more than the others on my yard.

In my mind, I feed a balancer so that she is getting everything she needs. If I fed any hard feed (let alone the required quantities) I probably wouldn't need it.

 

[wench]

I like Topspec...

 

[ellie_e]

Wench Ive looked into the topspec, I thought about either the original, or maybe just the light version now for the summer

 

[Firewell]

I used to use Baileys lo-cal which IMO is a brilliant balancer. My TB did really well on it. I fed it with alfa a and kwick beet in the winter and just hifi in the summer.
However I swapped to pink powder as it works out cheaper and I am happy with that as well, although I do feed that with a little hard feed.

 

[Jane_Lou]

I feed Equilibira 500 all year round, along with Tiger Oats and either Alfa-A or Hi-Fi depending on work levels. I add to that Soya Oil and Brewers yeast and my mare in particular is looking amazing in her coat and has plenty of energy but is still very level headed.

 

[wench]

had my horses on the leisure time one.

 

[Mrjacks0n]

Hi i fed my horse on top spec for years then through trying to cut costs changed to the hickstead balancerloads cheaper hes been on it a year and looks no different fed with just a chaff and vetroflex.

 

[ellie_e]

Thanks mr jacks, will look at hickstead, I'm not too worried about price, although if it does the same I'd rather the cheaper version! So if I change to a balancer can I cut out his supplements?

 

[sjp1]

Why don't you feed the equifeast balancer?

 

[Alfami]

Mine just gets TopSpec (I tried a different well known one first and definitely prefer TS) and grass. He's 16 and looks amazing. I really rate it - great stuff.

In the winter I add Alfa A Oil and, if he's looking a little lean some Outshine - it's the Outshine that I 'play' with on a daily basis depending on how he's looking. If he's working really hard (hunting) he'll get a comp mix, otherwise I don't bother - energy isn't the issue!

TopSpec and grass/haylage is enough for him for 6-8 months of the year (depending on how well the grass is growing). Cheap(ish) and peace of mind because he's getting what he needs. Doesn't take him long to eat up either!

 

[porkpie]

My two live out and are fed on Top Spec Balancer and Alfa A only - the 8 year old gets their Comprehensive Balancer as we do RC level stuff - he looks fantastic on it and wintered fine too. My 19 year old mare was on this, now I've just changed her on to the Top Spec Senior as she lost a bit of topline with the changeable weather. She now looks fantastic, she looked lovely before, but now looks even better - actually probably as well as shes ever looked and shes a bit of a whippet.

I really do rate the Top Spec and its just so easy to feed - absolutely no faffing and no waiting hours for them to finish their feed as its such a small quantity.

 

[BigRed]

I just feed hi fi lite and top spec lite balancer. He is a very good doer and I need to get some weight off. He is mentally satisfied and he does not get a calorie overload. I also get a simple feed room without too many bags of food in them.

 

[ellie_e]

Why don't you feed the equifeast balancer?

I did think of this, but I belive its a powder, and ideally I want something that is 'food' to mix with his Hi fi

 

[ellie_e]

Thanks bigred think Im going to try the topspec lite, he's going to a trainers for boot camp in a few weeks, and I'm also going to a riding club camp and with all the feed he's on at the moment its quite complicated, soaking, waiting etc so think its easy and simple to change to a balancer

 

[MissMistletoe]

Ive used Spillers balancer before, it's about £18/£19 if I remember and lasts just over a month at recommended ration.

To cut costs, I would feed it at half rations (1/2 a mugfull) in the summer when there is more nutrition in the grass, then full amounts (1 mugfull), in the winter, unless feeding very good hay/haylage in which you could also feed at half rations!.