speedi beet or calm and condition?

[Poppy25]

Hi, just wanting a little advice for my slightly fizzy mare who loses a lot of condition over winter. I've tried feeding her more hay but she just wastes it.

I was thinking about putting her on calm and condition but read somewhere that it's a more expensive version of sugar beet? I've looked at the nutrition and there isn't a huge amount of difference between the 2 except some added vitamins and the oil content is higher in the calm and condition. Since she's on Alfa oil chaff I was wondering whether she could be ok with just sugar beet? What are people's thoughts on the 2?

Her feeds are slightly heap dipper alpha a oil and scoop of cool mix. She also has some calmer and turmeric/coconut oil paste added. I read that cool mix can cause fizziness and was going to switched to horse and pony nuts.

She's currently on a bit of haylage in the field (haven't got a lot of grazing over winter) she has hay when she comes in at night.
Thanks in advance 😄

 

[Hoof_Prints]

I have a super fizzy boy who loses quite a lot of condition over the winter. I feed Speedibeet, micronized linseed, brewers yeast, safe and sound chaff as it is low in starch/sugar and staypower cubes for when he is in heavier work.

I have heard Calm and Condition can send them a bit loopy so I have avoided it! I would highly recommend micronized linseed and the brewers yeast to help keep them calm with condition Alpha A Oil sent mine crazy so I ditched that too !

 

[TuscanBunnyGirl]

just to throw another into the mix...have you thought about releve by saracen?

 

[VikingSong]

I'd go for the Speedibeet, tbh.

Aside from ad-lib hay, mine are all on Speedibeet, TopChop lite chaff, micronised linseed and a Vit & Min supplement. All low sugar/low starch/non heating and they all do well on it.

 

[splashgirl45]

mine did well on calm and condition but it sent her loopy so i changed to speedibeet. haylage also sent her loopy so i mostly fed soaked hay.

 

[Micky]

Speedibeet....and ditch the cool mix and put her on a balanced instead...

 

[tristar]

used both, speedibeet definately put on more weight, feed it to a laminitic also with excellent results.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Another who feeds micronized linseed, it really is the best thing I've found for adding weight and no fizz.

Never found calm and condition or speedibeet did anything much for keeping weight on, and we actually used speedibeet to bulk out feeds to the good-do'ers.

Currently I feed mine, Alpha A molasses free, grass nuts and micronised linseed. The oldie who is the worst do'er, gets rolled oats if she drops weight.

 

[Micky]

You can do linseed as said above but alternatively I know quite a lot of people use thirds to help maintain weight over the colder months, then drop it come grass season...

 

[cinderella-star]

My tb always loses so much weight over winter, but last winter wasnt so bad she only dropped a small amount of weight & i fed her 1/2 scoop fast fibre, 1 scoop calm & condition, brewers yeast, magnesium, garlic & splash of oil twice a day. The things i find that help keep her weight on are really rugging her up, layering 2 or 3 rugs at a time, she's a wimp in the cold and really feels it & giving her ad lib hay or haylage sometimes a mix of both. She's very feed sensitive can't have mixes, or molasses but this seems to keep her sane. Just!

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I have a super fizzy boy who loses quite a lot of condition over the winter. I feed Speedibeet, micronized linseed, brewers yeast, safe and sound chaff as it is low in starch/sugar and staypower cubes for when he is in heavier work.

I have heard Calm and Condition can send them a bit loopy so I have avoided it! I would highly recommend micronized linseed and the brewers yeast to help keep them calm with condition Alpha A Oil sent mine crazy so I ditched that too !

This is my thinking, C and C has cereals, and is not the best food for many horses, its OK for ploddy cobby types but I think best to avoid cereals and alpha.
Keep it simple, so if you run out of one feed you can substitute with the others for a few days if necessary.
I am a bit of a vitamin and mineral fan if horse is growing or in work and / or, if not on good old meadow pasture.
My native pony used to spit out the nuts in Safe and Sound, so he got Fast Fibre instead with non mol chaff.

 

[cinderella-star]

This is my thinking, C and C has cereals, and is not the best food for many horses, its OK for ploddy cobby types but I think best to avoid cereals and alpha.

Calm and condition doesnt contain cereals its an unmollassed sugar beet mash.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Calm and condition doesnt contain cereals its an unmollassed sugar beet mash.

I have checked the ingredients:
Unmolassed Beet Pulp, Wheat Feed, Nutritionally Improved Straw, Linseed Expeller, Grass Meal, Expelled Soya Oil, Di-calcium Phosphate, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Herbs, Yeast
As far as I am concerned wheat feed must be a cereal.

CandC has no barley, and there are barley intolerant horses, so it might be OK for them, but I am not keen on soya oil either, when linseed meal would do the job better, and probably no price difference.

I am not sure exactly what expeller means: I know that oil is extracted from the natural seed, and the residue is often a good animal feed, however there may be heat and or chemicals used in the extraction process, so personally I would prefer the least processed option, ie micronised linseed.

So, to answer OP, one is not a sub for the other, as non mol beet needs to be supplemented to provide a complete, balanced feed.

 

[kal40]

Reading this with interest. Do you need to feed a balancer if you are feeding C & C?

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Reading this with interest. Do you need to feed a balancer if you are feeding C & C?

A balancer is just mins and vits and protein, in a palatable form, designed to boost a shortfall in forage, either hay/haylage, or grazing..
Most feeds bought in bagged form are "complete", ie contain some fibre, some source of energy and vits and minerals,.
However as the vits and minerals are expensive, you may find the recommended daily feed is higher than you would normally feed.
What happens is that people either overfeed their horse with the feed, leading to overweight/ fizzy behaviours, or they cut back, [for reasons of economy] thus the amount of mineral and vitamin is lower than the amount recommended by the manufacturer.
Most feed firms have an advice line.