Feed balancers !

I use Top Spec Cool balancer. I feed it with very plain fibre plus cubes & it allows him to get all the right nutrients in not a lot of hard food. He, being a 16h ISH competing at BE90 level.
 
I actually don't . . . I used to feed Blue Chip, but now (when he's in work - which is not at the moment) he gets unmolassed chaff, ERS Pellets, Micronised Linseed and (in the winter) Copra and Speedibeet (not a good do-er) and lots and lots of good quality hay and grazing (and haylage in the winter).

The only supplements he gets are pure MSM for his joints and magnesium oxide for his feet. No balancers, no mixes, no pink powder, no garlic, no turmeric . . . his coat gleams (and he's grey so that's no mean feat), he is supple (especially for his age - the vet was very impressed when he came to do his lameness workup for a suspensory injury) and his skin is not remotely scurfy.

P
 
I use topspec lite. My mare that I evented last year is a totally different shape now she's not being worked as hard as she was to get eventing fit.

It also works for my two natives, that are a little tubby. I know they're getting all the nutrients they need with no aditional feed. They look great
 
I feed Pro hoof, linseed, turmeric and salt. I only bought my ew boy a few weeks ago and hes got sweetitch and an old leg injury. Hes like a different horse! He was very ploddy and quiet, now he feels like someone has oiled all his joints and his itching has almost stopped. He was on a joint supplement previously but I stopped it as it wasnt the right ratio of ingredients, so when it ran out I intended to get another. I wont be bothering now!

My little cob, who is currently on loan got pro hoof, and a tiny bit of linseed. You could actually see the difference in hoof quality, and he had good feet to start with!

Mine will always be fed tiny amounts of fast fibre etc with a mineral balancer now. I used to feed topspec/suregrow but the prohoof is considerably better :)
 
Top spec comprehensive, not an expert but suits my mini and arab, don't feed as much as advised by company, but touch wood, have excellent unshod feet, coats etc. Grass, (watch intake on mini) hay and chaff. Maybe in winter, top spec cool conditioning cubes for arab and when in ad lib hay. Arab hacked or schooled most days, mini walked out in hand. Arab did Newmarket ride,like a walk in the park. (I found it harder though). I've been using top spec balancer for over 16 yrs. love the stuff. But feed is a personal thing, so much depends on type of horse, work involved, environment, etc.
 
I use a forage balancer based on the average deficiencies in forages through the company. Forage plus.I have noted many improvements since using it and I only use a straight carrier, no compound feeds.
 
I've just been informed I've won a bag of Top Spec Lite - lucky me! So I'm looking forward to see how it works!
 
I'm another For ForagePlus. Just a handful of chop and same soaked speedy beet. Looking good on it and hooves growing madly!
 
I think you have to understand the theory behind balancers to make an educated decision whether one is right for your horse. The majority of commercial balancers contain a concentrated source of broad spectrum vitamins and minerals, a source of high quality protein and some kind of prebiotic and/or a probiotic yeast.

They are usually designed to be fed in small quantities daily - on average around 500g - and contain the RDA of vit/mins in that small amount of feed. Whereas normal commercial nuts and mixes are supplemented with vit/mins but to get the RDA you normally have to feed a greater quantity - for example 3kg of Spillers Horse and Pony Cubes for a 15.2. The protein level in the balancer is designed to boost the protein level of the diet if the horse is on low protein forage (poor grazing and/or low quality hay) with no additional protein feeds. The idea of the prebiotic/probiotic is to optimise the conditions in the gut, so that the horse can digest fibre with maximum efficiency.

So first you have to decide whether your horse needs the added vit/mins. Some feel that if horses are out on good natural grazing they will probably get all the vit/mins they need. If a horse is getting the recommended amount of a commercial supplement cube/nut/mix then they will be getting similar amounts of vit/mins that they would receive from a balancer, so feeding a balancer as well would be doubling up on micronutrients. Others feel that the broad spectrum vit/mins supplied in commercial balancers and compound feeds cant actually claim to cover all eventualities of vit/min requirements because the levels in individual grazing and hay vary so much.

The prebiotic/probiotic may be useful if you feel the gut bacteria may have been compromised in some way - for example, if you have a poor doer, who seems to get plenty of forage but still doesn't put on weight, especially if they have experienced stress, high cereal/low fibre diets or antibiotic treatment.
 
My horse has Stamm 30 and he does really well on it, we also have my Mums EMS sufferer on it as with his strict grazing and feed regime its important we make sure he is still getting all he needs. Im very pro balancers, like someone else posted, if you feel you're horse may not be getting everything they need from grazing etc. All horses need a diet specific to them and this diet does great for our two
 
try Horse and Pony Direct.
Got the same ingredients as many top brands but half the price

BUT even better, get a grass analysis done and a horse hair analysis and see exactly what is needed and just give those vits/mins :-)
 
My retired Connie has Top Spec anti-Lam with Unmolassed chaff, linseed & turmeric (The turmeric is a new addition, I'm giving it a try).

My 5 yea old Sec D has NAF (In The) Pink Powder along with Alfa A and ready mash extra.

I do think balancers whether they are pelleted or powder form are useful when feeds are fed at a reduced rate from what manufacturers recommend - which is how most people tend to feed.
 
None for me!
I give: Micro linseed, Grass pellets, Vit E and Lysine with some Alfa oil chaff.
In winter, I add unmollassed sugar beet and increase the linseed.

Going to get my grass tested for minerals etc in the next few weeks, and then im considering getting the horse hair tested so may tweak what i need to give based on these results.

All horses barefoot and aged from 5 to 20(one is eventing and another endurance) :)
 
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