Lo cal balancer sent horse loopy!

[Squidge_94]

Anyone else's horse react badly and become an absolute monster when fed baileys lo cal?
Long story short, 17h tb was an absolute demon!!! Nightmare to handle, broke my hand, kicked me in my back, seriously had me questioning my life choices.
Went away for rebacking and came home a completely different horse, super chilled, easy going. Thought they had sent the wrong horse back!! He was only fed haylage whilst there.
Please no negative comments about that, horse didn't drop a spec of weight and has come home looking fab!
Put him back on usual feed a few days after he come home, turned into said demon child again. Took him off and mellow and chill again so I know it's the feed.
It's absolutely baffled me as I'd never expect a balancer to cause such a dramatic change in behaviour!
Anyone dealt with similar? Or managed to narrow down the ingredient that could be causing the sass so I can avoid using in other feeds in future?
Just to add, I don't expect perfect behaviour constantly, he is young and full of life. I just appreciate not fearing for my life every time I handle the big daft lump.

 

[ycbm]

Is he fed only the balancer?

Most common culprits are alfalfa and linseed, according to a thread I did earlier this year. Mine is a lunatic if given even small quantities of either.
.

 

[Roxylola]

I think it might have alfa in - performance definitely does. I fed Bon performance when he arrived as its fairly low sugar and I had it in for Charlie. I stopped after we spent an hour cantering round the arena two days in a row ?
To be fair there I think it was just the protein and energy rather than anything specific

 

[Squidge_94]

Is he fed only the balancer?

Most common culprits are alfalfa and linseed, according to a thread I did earlier this year. Mine is a lunatic if given even small quantities of either.
.

Lo cal and thunderbrooks chaff only. I'm lucky he's not your typical skinny tb, he holds weight well so right now he's only on the chaff whilst I work out what to avoid.
Not sure about linseed but it definitely contains alfalfa, so that could be the issue!

 

[Nari]

I used to have a RID who was downright dangerous on it, even his field mates were avoiding him because he was so aggressive. He was fine with alfalfa and linseed as well as on other balancers. It took about a fortnight after stopping it for his behaviour to return to normal and when I tried it another time I got the same reaction. He was prone to ulcers, so maybe an ingredient or combination of ingredients irritated them?

 

[Squidge_94]

I think it might have alfa in - performance definitely does. I fed Bon performance when he arrived as its fairly low sugar and I had it in for Charlie. I stopped after we spent an hour cantering round the arena two days in a row ?
To be fair there I think it was just the protein and energy rather than anything specific

Oh no ?
Having just done some googling it definitely has alfalfa in, so think I may avoid that in future.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Oh no ?
Having just done some googling it definitely has alfalfa in, so think I may avoid that in future.

Alfalfa sends my Arab's nuts so does molasses and alot of balancers have one or the other.

 

[SmartieBean09]

Yep! Just changed from Dodson and Horrell Go Lite as Lo Cal to was easier to get hold of and sent my mare through the roof! Huge bucks that I just about managed to sit to! Spillers Lite did the same. I’ve removed it to see what happened and she’s back to her usual self! I can only assume it was the equivalent to us taking a Berocca! She’s now on a basic feed with no supplements. She is in light work, has good hay and grazing and looks well. Sometimes less more I guess. Im too nervous to put her back on a balancer because in all honesty she became too much to ride.

 

[Equi]

Alfalfa is in so many things. I have a nightmare where I can’t feed alfalfa, soya or sugar. So many feeds are out.

 

[ecb89]

Yep did the same to my ID. He is much better on Topspec balancers

 

[NinjaPony]

Watch out for molasses, some horses are very sensitive to it. Mine had been fed Alfa-A molasses free for years, I switched him over to hi-fi senior (small amount of molasses) and it was like rocket fuel and turned my saintly pony into a snorting dragon!

I’m definitely a fan of keeping it simple now and prefer to feed a powder balancer in a carrier feed.