Forage plus or pro balance?

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zangels

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My horses are currently on pro balance and have been for a while. My mare still gets very flaky skin and bald patches and her hooves grow very slowly and her skin in General could be better. My daughters pony has done much better coat and hooves wise since putting her on a calmer that has b vitamins and magnesium. They both also get micronised linseed and unmollased beet. I am thinking that pro balance having no b vitamins isn't suiting them and may be better to go onto forage plus summer hoof version that already has b vitamins and linseed in? It works out the same to buy pro balance an seperate linseed and brewers yeast (to get b vitamins) as it does to feed forage plus. Has any one tried them both? I'm not sure what would be the best for them.
 
what about pro hoof also made by progressive earth who make pro balance, that will have more minerals in than the balance.

I went for forage plus as it was the highest in a lot of the minerals and my horse had very sick hooves at the time.
 
I've used both. I've had better results with Forage Plus, but it probably depends on what your horses need. Probably lots of people out there who have had the opposite!

Try it and see?

ETA. I switch between them. One thing I have noticed since using this balancer, is that my old thoroughbred no longer has filled legs after standing in. Might be a coincidence, but I'm not changing now!
 
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I looked at the pro hour but it dosnt have the micronised linseed so I would still need to buy this separately so works out more expensive.
 
ok, I feed the forage plus but I still buy separate micronised linseed think its £26 ish for a 20kg sack delivered. This will last me at least 6 months.

I used to feed pro hoof and was really pleased with it but my horse had loads of abscesses etc so needed to go to forage plus which is higher in certain minerals.
 
I feed forage plus along with micronised linseed and am very pleased with the results so far. My horse has been on it for about 4 months and there is a clear event line where I started feeding it.
 
It is a minefield, they are both doing ok on the pro balance I just feel it could be better and forage plus has more biotin in for the money as well. I'm not sure if to try pro hoof or forage plus now, so confused!
 
Forage plus and pro hoof work out the same cost approx £1 a day. Forage plus has micronised linseed in and pro hoof has yee sac in but no linseed. I think I may just have to tray and see what works best.
 
Forage Plus has higher levels of zinc and copper as well which is important for skin and hoof health if deficient in grass and hays. .It is expensive but that is due to the spec. I'm another FP user who is loath to change, and next order I am going to try the Laminae-Plus Balancer for my EMS pony and one other.

ps. The linseed in FP is only as a carrier and I feed extra as well.
 
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Yes it is a small amount of linseed but was hoping would be enough to be the oil needed to help turmeric be absorbed properly. Yee sac isn't so thing I have fed before so I'm not sure if this is something my two need. The biotin and magesium levels in forage plus are higher as well.
 
I'd give it a try zangels, you will start to notice improvements in 2-3 months but six months to a year made a huge difference to most of mine but they went straight onto FP after a year-eighteen month break from TopSpec.
 
Thanks, I think I will try it. Just hope they eat it! It took ages to get them on a full dose of the pro balance.
 
zangels said:
Thanks, I think I will try it. Just hope they eat it! It took ages to get them on a full dose of the pro balance.
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Start with a small amount and build up just in case. It should be easier than if they had been on a normal pelleted one.
 
zangels said:
Thanks, I think I will try it. Just hope they eat it! It took ages to get them on a full dose of the pro balance.
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My ponies gobbled up the FP from day one - it seems to suit them very well so maybe that's why we don't have any trouble.

PS add the minerals to the rest of the feed at the last minute and use a wide shallow bowl where possible.
If they still don't want it in a feed then try mixing with a teeny tiny amount of something like soaked alfalfa pellets and micronised linseed so it's more like an appetising 'treat' rather than a big feed - it's gone in a flash then!!
 
I used to use the ProBalance (and then the ProHoof). They did make a difference, but not enough of a difference for my horse.

I switched to the Forageplus (for various reasons, I started with the Performance Balancer, then switched to the Summer Hoof Balancer). These made a huge and visible difference to the feet and to the horse's comfort levels. As a result, I got the grass tested, and then switched to making up my own balancer, but using the proportions in the Forageplus Summer or Winter balancer depending on the seasons. The only thing I change is to leave out the iodine, which is already a bit on the high side in our grazing. And as it happens, I now buy the ingredients for my home made balancer from the ProBalance lady :D

Hooves are now the best they've ever been - I invested in a pair of Renegade boots a month or so ago, and although we've been using them to get to used to them, as Sod's Law would have it now we have them, horse doesn't need them! Big long rides, all on roads, with lots of sharp gravel and potholed bits. What I notice is that he now walks much faster! Frogs look great and long standing cracks have grown out :)

ETA - after a lot of experimentation, I have discovered that firing a single handful of Speedibeet into a bucket, soaking and then adding the 2x50ml scoops of minerals is enough to get them gobbled up and bucket licked clean. I find it amazing, especially as by the time I get the bucket to the horse's field, the copper has gone green - he doesn't seem to care ;)
 
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