NAF Pink Powder Breakdown

[skint1]

Our boy is on Pink Powder, maybe i will switch him on to brewer's yeast instead?

 

[Fahrenheit]

The only thing I will say in reply is one thing..It appears to work...!
We feed it and it's been brilliant at getting weight on horses who lose condition.
If you read all the feedsack and supplement labels it's highly likely you will find something you don't approve of. Me, I prefer to look at the condition of the horses we have, that's the true test.

I agree with this.
Having seen the difference Pink Powders made to a mare the vet diagnosed with IBS (who had to have most her tail cut off to help keep her clean her diarrhoea was so bad!) but couldn't have the necessary treatment because she was infoal, I will carry on using it! By the time she could have the treatment the vet was so impressed with her progress since she was on Pink Powders, he told us to carry on with them and he wouldn;t give her steriods unless she went down hill again. I am not a big supplement person. In my feed room you'll find electrolytes, Pink Powders and maybe some oil and thats it!

 

[horseandshoes77]

Well havent read all the replys but i have used this for few months and noticed a good diff after use but then found a good cheaper source to buy the ingredience in ur black column lol...brewers yeast msm in pure form etc and since feeding these its cheaper and same good results.

 

[Mare Stare]

Not necessary. I share your frustration with feed companies

However wish to point out that Pink Powder is the lesser of many other evils.

Don't get me started on alfalfa

There is a sticky on the UKNHCP forum where people list feed ingredients
http://uknhcp.myfastforum.org/about1218.html if anyone interested.

Thanks for the link. Verrrry interesting.

 

[TGM]

The only thing I will say in reply is one thing..It appears to work...!
We feed it and it's been brilliant at getting weight on horses who lose condition.
If you read all the feedsack and supplement labels it's highly likely you will find something you don't approve of. Me, I prefer to look at the condition of the horses we have, that's the true test.

Agree with this! Must say that I used to be a Pink Powder cynic, but having seen other's results with it, I eventually used it and was very pleased with the results. Found it particularly useful when one horse went off his feed last winter after hunting - a couple of weeks of Pink Powder soon had him eating up everything again and back to good condition.

Must say I do sense a bit of hysteria in the OP's post - things like saying that wheatfeed is 'sweepings off the floor' is just designed to panic and worry novice owners without any true justification. There is a huge difference between being a by-product of another food production process, and being any old rubbish from the factory floor!

That said, I do agree with some comments made about the marketing of many horse feeds - lots of glib, fuzzy statements being bandied about and a lack of real facts and figures. But that may be said of many of the 'alternative' feed/supplement providers as well!

 

[burtie]

If you want more shine for the coat (as well as gut muculage and joint health) then add micronised linseed - wonderful stuff. All the goodness of Dr Green without the sugar

Interestingly I swapped by plain basic cheap supermarket oil for micronised linseed as I felt it must be better being 'designed' for horses and in fact his poo's got very sloppy and he didn't have as much energy or shine. I changed back to his cheap old oil and it took about 1 week but he's now back to normal!

 

[Monkers]

Not necessary. I share your frustration with feed companies

However wish to point out that Pink Powder is the lesser of many other evils.

Don't get me started on alfalfa

There is a sticky on the UKNHCP forum where people list feed ingredients
http://uknhcp.myfastforum.org/about1218.html if anyone interested.

I would be interested to read what you think of alfalfa. I too am uncomfortable with the rise in popularity of this product over the last few years. There are lots of people who sing the praises of it on here, simple systems products come to mind, but when all's said and done it isn't what horses have evolved to eat.

 

[FairyLights]

I've been feeding horses for nearly 50 years We used to be taught to feed hay,oats and chaff. the chaff was home made ,50% hay and 50% oat straw. We used to be taught not to add molasses, molasses was used ,in the past,to disguise poor quality,even moldy food, to make the animal eat it. So, in a good yard it was a big no-no. If horses lost weight due to the work load or the cold weather they were rugged [if cold] and fed boiled barley and boiled linseed,which is very oily. both are more calorific,and being boiled,the barley more readily digestible. I still feed my horses according to these guidelines but in winter only add a vit and min supplement, in order to give the supplement something to "stick "to,so the powder doesnt get blown away, I add a small handful of damp bran. A horse needs something succulent everyday,this can be grass [turn out to pasture for a few hours] or some soaked sugar beet shreds or carrots/swede/turnip. there is no need to buy expensive "mixes" or nuts with all sorts of preservatives and goodness knows what added. Invest in a chaff cutter,make your own chaff to bulk out the straights and feed according to work load.Its not rocket science.

 

[Poppys Nannan]

Would love to hear about alfalfa please x go on Oberon spill x

 

[Oberon]

I know my horse improved when taken off it.

It's not a natural feed for a horse. I wouldn't serve a plateful of peas - why serve up alfalfa?

Too high in calcium for my forage (which is also high in calcium but balanced to a high phosphorous).

Reports of hives and aggitation in horses from feeding it.

 

[Oberon]

I've been feeding horses for nearly 50 years We used to be taught to feed hay,oats and chaff. the chaff was home made ,50% hay and 50% oat straw. We used to be taught not to add molasses, molasses was used ,in the past,to disguise poor quality,even moldy food, to make the animal eat it. So, in a good yard it was a big no-no. If horses lost weight due to the work load or the cold weather they were rugged [if cold] and fed boiled barley and boiled linseed,which is very oily. both are more calorific,and being boiled,the barley more readily digestible. I still feed my horses according to these guidelines but in winter only add a vit and min supplement, in order to give the supplement something to "stick "to,so the powder doesnt get blown away, I add a small handful of damp bran. A horse needs something succulent everyday,this can be grass [turn out to pasture for a few hours] or some soaked sugar beet shreds or carrots/swede/turnip. there is no need to buy expensive "mixes" or nuts with all sorts of preservatives and goodness knows what added. Invest in a chaff cutter,make your own chaff to bulk out the straights and feed according to work load.Its not rocket science.

But where do I find a chaff cutter

 

[MissMistletoe]

But where do I find a chaff cutter

Check out Ebay, Ive watched a few to see how much they tend to go for. They were 'project chaff cutters' that needed a bit of TLC after being dug out of an old barn, or there were some ready to go ones.

Forgot to check how much they went for in the end, but i dont think it wouldve been a lot!.

 

[Chestnuttymare]

What an interesting read. I am a bit cynical when it comes to some of the supplements but I do use NAF Oestress. I have done for some years as she seems to be quite uncomfortable when in season and her seasons are hardly noticeable when on Oestress. I am curious to find out what you think of the make up of it. Just if you don't mind. x

Aromatic and appetising herbs, Products of tubers and roots, Calcined magnesite (Mg 75,000 mg/kg), Products of fruits, Oil seeds, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (CBS 493.94. 3.3x106cfu/g), Hydrolysed lecithins, Methionine, Vitamin B2 (114 mg/kg), Flavour (Vanilla).

unfortunately it doesn't give details of which 'smelly and tasty herbs'

 

[criso]

I'm not necessarily a fan of balancers and additives and prefer to feed the specific minerals my horse needs but in NAFs defence I think there are a couple of points that need to be taken into consideration.

1) There will be additives in there to make it tasty as most owners are not going to keep feeding something their horse won't touch or add herbs to it to get it down. The quantities you feed are unlikely to cause major problems. If it's not palatable most owners won't buy it.

2) Any commercial mix may need something to bind all the ingredients and keep them even all the way through the tub so each scoop has the same proportion of ingredients in it.

What I do find interesting is how many different mixes for different problems have similar ingredients. It looks like Oestress has Yeast and a form of magnesium and Naf magic is another that has magnesium and brewer's yeast as core ingredients.

2 things I buy in bulk and cost pennies to feed

 

[chestnut cob]

What an interesting read. I am a bit cynical when it comes to some of the supplements but I do use NAF Oestress. I have done for some years as she seems to be quite uncomfortable when in season and her seasons are hardly noticeable when on Oestress. I am curious to find out what you think of the make up of it. Just if you don't mind. x

Aromatic and appetising herbs, Products of tubers and roots, Calcined magnesite (Mg 75,000 mg/kg), Products of fruits, Oil seeds, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (CBS 493.94. 3.3x106cfu/g), Hydrolysed lecithins, Methionine, Vitamin B2 (114 mg/kg), Flavour (Vanilla).

unfortunately it doesn't give details of which 'smelly and tasty herbs'

Aromatic and appetising herbs - I think it is mainly Agnus Castus, which you can buy straight and feed more of for less money (there isn't much of it in Oestress)
CalMag (you can buy that cheap and straight from a farm shop - I think it's designed for cows... better off feeding straight, pure magnesium oxide)
Oil seeds - maybe rape oil, veg oil, something like that. I'd rather feed straight linseed.
Sac. Cerv... Brewer's yeast (edited!)
Not sure what the next two are without googling
Vit B12... you can get that from feeding Brewer's Yeast

Why on earth it contains vanilla flavouring I don't know!

NAF Oestress is OK (I had reasonable results with it) but it's basically the seeds of a plant known to help regulate periods in women (look up chaste berry) plus magnesium (calming effect), a live yeast to aid digestion, and some vitamins.

 

[Oberon]

What an interesting read. I am a bit cynical when it comes to some of the supplements but I do use NAF Oestress. I have done for some years as she seems to be quite uncomfortable when in season and her seasons are hardly noticeable when on Oestress. I am curious to find out what you think of the make up of it. Just if you don't mind. x

Aromatic and appetising herbs, Products of tubers and roots, Calcined magnesite (Mg 75,000 mg/kg), Products of fruits, Oil seeds, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (CBS 493.94. 3.3x106cfu/g), Hydrolysed lecithins, Methionine, Vitamin B2 (114 mg/kg), Flavour (Vanilla).

unfortunately it doesn't give details of which 'smelly and tasty herbs'

Your active ingredients are Saccharmyces cerevisae (brewer's yeast) and calcined magnesite (the cheapest and least pure form of magnesium)....so basically the same as PP...you do have methionine (an amino acid) but I'm not excited by it.
Horses have no requirement to supplement vit b

Ingredients much cheaper elsewhere.

 

[whisp&willow]

interesting read... ive never used pp, never had to, but a friend has, and it made a huge difference to her mare.

while i understand that feed companies "bend" the truth, and are not very saintly, and i understand that diet and nutrition is a vital part of overall health, i find it so strange that one of my horses has made it to 40 yrs old (and still going...), worked very hard, and never had a day lame in her life (well the 10 + years we've had her). ive never had a horse with lami or any digestive or other problems?

my horses have always had molassed sugarbeet, been out at grass 24/7, been fed alfalfa/any old chaff and a variety of differing mixes/feeds? (shoot me down...! )

perhaps the only reason they havn't succumb to the perils of my feeding is that they are good doers so get little feed my comparisson to many, and are living by and large on grass and hay?

(not a jibe at anyone- just my thoughts and musings. )

 

[jhoward]

I dont thing tigertail was telling people not to use such a product, more that if you fed straights that are redyily avalible you would be a lot better off and your horse would also be better for it,

I dont think it is in question about the product working the point was if you took out all of the crap that makes up a pot you would see that the prime ingrediants that actully make a difference to a conditon are minimal compared to the amount of crap added in to bulk it out.

A horse recently came onto my yard, he is a vetran with known health issues, the old owner was feeding a hoof supplement, a vetran supplement and a joint supplement, all 3 were a HIGH price. when a friend and i sat and went through ingrediants, to ratios it was appaling, the vetran supplement its self was a shocker.. 54 quid for a tub.. ment to boost immune system.. yet it contained all the things the horse would eat in a field!

then when you looked into for example the hoof supplemt the main ingrediant was calcium.. well not main, but the ingrediant that had the highest GRAM/kg of horse. and it wasnt actully that high! (horse still has appaling feet )

as the op said , most supplements are bulked out nothing to do with the horse, but to make us as a buyer feel better!

 

[Chestnuttymare]

that's brilliant, thanks. The only other sup that i feed is magnesium and i used to feed brewers yeast. I think i will try it in the spring rather than the oestress. that is brilliant, I did wonder but wasn't sure what i would have to feed instead. great help thanks again x

 

[Natch]

Would just like to add that I'm bitching about feed companies.....while drinking a bottle of Chocolate Shop red wine (that's red wine with EXTRA sugar and made to taste like chocolate

WHILE eating a kebab and chips

And where the FUG is my invite?!

Devils Advocate ( your name was too long to remember!) on your point about evolved to eat Vs can eat - since introducing man made products et al into the horses diet we've seen a huge rise in metabolic syndrome and the like. I for one cannot afford the vets bills and trauma that goes with that so keep things as natural as I can manage in the hopes of not perpetuating a well known issue.

Its the same as humans who eat mcdonalds all the time then end up with diabetes etc.

For me, im my horses voice and I want perfection - I realise that isnt always possible so I do my damndest to make sure I strive for it everyday!

I think I might just change my name to Devil's advocate, like the sound of that

You can't justify singling out man-made products as the cause of metabolic syndrome etc. Over the same time period many changes have been made to the way we manage horses. I personally feel that the change in the species seen in our pastures and the obsession with fertilising and having "condition" on a horse is more to blame than man made products.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big believer myself in feeding the way nature intended, but I think its misleading to spread worry about the presence of cereals in a feed supplement which is fed in such small quantities. The RDA of pink powder is most certainly NOT the equivalent of a human eating McDonalds all the time. Horses on seedy grass will take in more starch in an hour than from a scoop of that. As TGM says, the product is not literally "floor sweepings" and I think the language you are using is misleading and panicking people unnecessarily.

Interestingly I swapped by plain basic cheap supermarket oil for micronised linseed as I felt it must be better being 'designed' for horses and in fact his poo's got very sloppy and he didn't have as much energy or shine. I changed back to his cheap old oil and it took about 1 week but he's now back to normal!

Just out of interest, did you change it over gradually?

 

[EquestrianFairy]

Would/does blue chip give the horse a better balance than pink powder then?

 

[Ranyhyn]

I have to judge by results and my horse is blooming - my horses have always done well on it, no adverse effects so I'll keep feeding it.

 

[Ranyhyn]

If you read all the feedsack and supplement labels it's highly likely you will find something you don't approve of. Me, I prefer to look at the condition of the horses we have, that's the true test.

Someone who put it so much better than me... baaa

 

[MrsMozart]

Oh blast.

I have a laminitic/mild Cushings veteran pony and a 'easily pile on the weight' semi-retired eight year old cob - just moved them both onto Bailey's Lo-Cal Balancer... Going to have to review that one!

And I have a stress head thirteen year old mare, who is extremely sensitive to sugars, and a dingbat DWB seven year old mare - just moved them onto Top Spec Balancer...

They're on a yard, so not able to alter the grazing at all. How do I get a forage analysis?

My brain is not at all scientific (understatement!), so I'll have to rope in D1 to help guide and explain it all I think

Having seen Grey Mare's reaction to sugars, I'm now very wary of what goes into my horses, but obviously I haven't been wary enough!

Thank you for the thread OP, and all the information everyone has put forward

 

[Natch]

Oh blast.

I have a laminitic/mild Cushings veteran pony and a 'easily pile on the weight' semi-retired eight year old cob - just moved them both onto Bailey's Lo-Cal Balancer... Going to have to review that one!

And I have a stress head thirteen year old mare, who is extremely sensitive to sugars, and a dingbat DWB seven year old mare - just moved them onto Top Spec Balancer...

They're on a yard, so not able to alter the grazing at all. How do I get a forage analysis?

My brain is not at all scientific (understatement!), so I'll have to rope in D1 to help guide and explain it all I think

Having seen Grey Mare's reaction to sugars, I'm now very wary of what goes into my horses, but obviously I haven't been wary enough!

Thank you for the thread OP, and all the information everyone has put forward

A forage analysis, interpretation and feed plans are available from a few different companies, although I prefer to use the ones who I feel both know what they are talking about and don't represent a particular brand. http://www.forageplus.com/ is the one I use and would recommend, Sarah Braithwaite is really helpful and explains things for mere mortals

 

[eatmoremincepies]

Got fed up with paying for vits and mins we don't need (let alone the rest of the ingredients).

So had a hay analysis done and a nutritionist (independent) work out what we actually needed to supplement our hay. We have plenty of iron, not enough copper, zinc, magensium or manganese. Ordered copper sulphate, zinc sulphate etc separately and made up a mix using recipe given by nutritionist - costs £6 per horse per month. Feeds make up the protein carbs etc that hay doesn't give (straights). Already made a big difference to energy levels and topline - after feeding Baileys No4, TopSpec etc for ages! Would not go back to marketed feeds/supps.

Did anyone see Food Hospital, the woman who had bene living on chocolate and pancakes because anything else made her sick? To look at her you'd think she was maybe a bit thin, but you wouldn't look twice at her in the street - turned out she was seriously malnourished.

Starting to think that just the "look" of a horse does not necessarily tell us that much - for months people have been telling me how good my oldie looks on the Baileys etc - they can't believe how much better he looks now.

 

[burtie]

Just out of interest, did you change it over gradually?

Yes very, mixed with the oil for a couple of weeks, gradually reducing the oil and increasing the linseed. It took we while to realise as he tends to be a bit sloppy on occaisions anyway (shows and excitement etc!)and it only got really bad when he was on the full linseed ration so I swapped him back with a couple of days using both and although it took about a week, he was then back to normal. I thought it mighty just be coincidence at first but now he's back and fine I'll stick with it!

 

[Firewell]

I just looked at one of human vitamin supplements I take and one of the ingredients is Talc! At least the horse isn't eating talcum powder..