No supplements

[PapaverFollis]

I wouldn't add a balancer alongside another "complete" feed, no. Unless they are getting literally just a handful. I wouldn't feed more than one supplement at more than half the recommended amount that contains selenium. So if you are feeding the full amount of balancer on top of more than a handful of a balanced feed then there's a risk of too much selenium, especially if you don't know how much is in the grass and hay.

Worth noting that all horse feeds are complimentary rather than complete (because forage) but I also don't know how to describe mixes and cubes compared to balancers without reaching for "complete". Long balancers?

 

[Fluffypiglet]

I wouldn't add a balancer alongside another "complete" feed, no. Unless they are getting literally just a handful. I wouldn't feed more than one supplement at more than half the recommended amount that contains selenium. So if you are feeding the full amount of balancer on top of more than a handful of a balanced feed then there's a risk of too much selenium, especially if you don't know how much is in the grass and hay.

Worth noting that all horse feeds are complimentary rather than complete (because forage) but I also don't know how to describe mixes and cubes compared to balancers without reaching for "complete". Long balancers?

Thank you, that's really helpful. I had him just on chaff and a balancer (which makes sense) but it didn't seem to be enough so added the c&c and lost my way a bit. I've asked the yard to stop new balancer immediately to get the wild spooky issue sorted so fingers crossed will sort itself and I won't look to add anything else in. Didn't have balancers in my day! But we also didn't have helpful HHO either!

 

[Elno]

I've read all of this thread and I'm a little confused about feed these days! if my horse is on say calm and condition which is a 'complete feed' is it sensible to also add a balancer or could he do without? We didn't have balancers back when I last owned a horse and things have changed so much. I recently had to change balancer as couldn't get hold of the usual one and I'm pretty convinced he's not getting on well with it as he's gone super spooky (like he's playing that spot the Pokémon game in his field and only he can see them). Last time I saw him like this was when we tried alfalfa. So could we cut balancer out entirely and just have his c&c? Ideas/opinions please? (We're at livery with quite overgrazed fields as we have limited land) Thanks ?

Do you feed the recommended amount of C&C? Does C&C fit with your forage analysis? Could you be overfeeding and the horse is spooky because of that?

My horse doesn't actually "need" any feed apart from forage (shes only in very light work) so for me it's impossible to provide her with enough nutrients without complementing. The haylage is very low in some minerals and very high in others( we get it from the same farmer every year and the analysis is pretty consistent through the years) and even if I would feed her ad lib I still wouldn't be able to provide her with enough copper for example since our forage has 3.25 mg copper/kg haylage. Since I reaaaaaally dont want to feed her 3 kgs of bagged feed every day just to met the nutrient requirements, it's more logical and economical to feed a good high spec balancer with a tiny bit of a carrier (for instance beet, alfalfa pellets, or whatever she likes). So now she can get 10-12 kgs haylage, 100 g alfalfa and 100 g Forageplus balancer and end up with around 70 MJ, instead of 10-12 kg haylage and 3 kg random pellets/mix and end up on over 100 MJ and a laminitic fatty.

Edit: May I ask what balancer you were feeding? ? I also suspect one balancer made mine a spooky mess

 

[Fluffypiglet]

Do you feed the recommended amount of C&C? Does C&C fit with your forage analysis? Could you be overfeeding and the horse is spooky because of that?

My horse doesn't actually "need" any feed apart from forage (shes only in very light work) so for me it's impossible to provide her with enough nutrients without complementing. The haylage is very low in some minerals and very high in others( we get it from the same farmer every year and the analysis is pretty consistent through the years) and even if I would feed her ad lib I still wouldn't be able to provide her with enough copper for example since our forage has 3.25 mg copper/kg haylage. Since I reaaaaaally dont want to feed her 3 kgs of bagged feed every day just to met the nutrient requirements, it's more logical and economical to feed a good high spec balancer with a tiny bit of a carrier (for instance beet, alfalfa pellets, or whatever she likes). So now she can get 10-12 kgs haylage, 100 g alfalfa and 100 g Forageplus balancer and end up with around 70 MJ, instead of 10-12 kg haylage and 3 kg random pellets/mix and end up on over 100 MJ and a laminitic fatty.

Edit: May I ask what balancer you were feeding? ? I also suspect one balancer made mine a spooky mess

I'm at full livery and not sure how forage analysis would be viewed? We get through tons of hay due to limited grazing so would I have to have each batch tested? Is that how it works or would grass analysis be helpful. And how do you go about it?! He was on Spillers original multi balancer and YM couldn't find any in stock so we are on Top Spec cool balancer. If you search that it appears that several have reported less than favourable response to Top Spec. Although many I'm sure use it without issue.

Eta he definitely needed more feed than just chaff and balancer. He was starting to be flat so c&c was added.

 

[Elno]

I'm at full livery and not sure how forage analysis would be viewed? We get through tons of hay due to limited grazing so would I have to have each batch tested? Is that how it works or would grass analysis be helpful. And how do you go about it?! He was on Spillers original multi balancer and YM couldn't find any in stock so we are on Top Spec cool balancer. If you search that it appears that several have reported less than favourable response to Top Spec. Although many I'm sure use it without issue.

I live in Sweden and we have several companies that you can send your forage to for analysis. Some people here also send it abroad to the States. If you live in the UK I've seen that Forageplus offer help with analysis. The place I have my horse at at the moment (moved her back to a small riding school from being stabled at a private yard for a short time) buy large quantaties of forage (albeit from one and the same local farmer) and sometimes the forage is tested prior by the farmer himself (and we get the analysis report) or the riding school sends it in themselves. Usually you collect a small amount of haylage from several bales (to get a reasonable mean value).

 

[Lexi 123]

My horse is only on joint supplement because my vet told me he would benefit from one . I actually think supplements should be vet only I don’t think you should be able to buy them whenever you want because I feel like people give supplements that should really contact a vet for example pssm type 2 people won’t get there horse tested for it they just treat with vitamin e supplements. I can understand you being angry because that not nice .

 

[SEL]

I always thought this was pretty helpful https://forageplus.co.uk/vitamins-for-horses-what-do-horses-need/