Pink powder with a balancer or something else for a new horse?

L

Laura2013

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 September 2013
Messages
56
Visit site
I'm looking for the best thing to settle the tummy of a newish horse- I have tweaked his diet a bit since he came, not massive changes, but obviously his hay has changed since he moved, and he was previously on hard feed and is now just on chaff and a balancer. He is currently on lo cal as I had a bag to use up but once finished I will be moving over to Pro Balance. He also has a bit of extra magnesium. I have made changes gradually.

He is a very good doer and although he doesn't have a very upset stomach, he does have slightly sloppy poos and a little bit of a grass belly. He has had a worm count which came back fine.

So just looking for something to give his tum a little extra help whilst he settles in and I get his diet right. I've looked at pink powder, which might do the job, but I'm not sure how it would work to feed this with a balancer as I seem to think it is almost a balancer in itself.

Would brewers yeast and/ or yea sacc do the job or is there something better?
 
I'm afraid I can't comment on any of the alternatives, but I have been amazed by how good PP is for my very old TB mare. I don't usually believe I see much difference with supplements, until this one! She's one of those horses that's always had quite a runny tummy, I've spoken to vets about it and they've said it's no big deal, but her tail is always disgusting and fillet strings etc need washing all the time. Started feeding PP in September, and it has made SUCH a difference, and given that it's January she's looking fantastic weight wise as well. For the first time, her tail is orange (she's chestnut - I mean that is the colour it's meant to be, not that something's gone horribly wrong ;-)) without me having to wash it every week or two. She's full of beans, and looking brilliant - I'm delighted with it.

I have vaguely considered swapping to Brewer's yeast alone because PP is on the expensive side, but my understanding is PP acts like a balancer as well, so I think I'm sticking with that for her as she's old and delicate! However, I'll be interested to see other's responses on this.
 
Pink Powder shouldn't be fed alongside a balancer as it is a balancer in itself and you risk over supplementing. Yea sacc would be my choice, although this is already in your lo cal balancer. I'd probably try reducing/stopping the magnesium as this can make some horses loose.
 
You may find that the sloppy poos may be down to the paddocks being so soaked & they are taking in alot of water whilst feeding, It will probably subside when the paddocks dry out a bit.

I'm not a great believer in too many additives in a horses feed. If you keep it simple then your horse will normally be alright. From your post it appears that he will have more additives in his feed bucket than actual feed. If you're feeding a balancer then don't put in other things as wellas they will be unnecessary. You won't need pink powder in addition to a balancer.
 
touchstone said:
Pink Powder shouldn't be fed alongside a balancer as it is a balancer in itself and you risk over supplementing. Yea sacc would be my choice, although this is already in your lo cal balancer. I'd probably try reducing/stopping the magnesium as this can make some horses loose.
Click to expand...

Hi touchstone- yes, had already thought that about the magnesium, I have started cutting down the amount I was feeding and will keep doing so to see if I can cut it out, but it does seem to have a good effect on his behaviour and keen to have it in there for when the spring grass starts coming through!
 
Laura2013 said:
Hi touchstone- yes, had already thought that about the magnesium, I have started cutting down the amount I was feeding and will keep doing so to see if I can cut it out, but it does seem to have a good effect on his behaviour and keen to have it in there for when the spring grass starts coming through!
Click to expand...

In that case I'd make sure it was a high purity mag ox and not cal mag as it should be less irritating to the gut. :)
 
I've fed pink powder to a number of horses and they have all looked great on it. It has vit/mins in it.
I have bought a tub of 'think pink' to see if there's much difference, apart from the much reduced price tag!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top