Switching to straights

[little_critter]

I’m mulling over switching to feeding straights.
I currently feed a balancer, grass chaff and linseed.
One of the reasons I give hard feed is to include a balancer so I’m confident my horses are getting their vits & mins.
Of course I couldn’t do this if I fed straights. I know you can feed powdered vit & min supplements but I can’t get my retired pony to eat these unless I hide it in a ton of food. And given she’s a good doer on a permanent diet I dont want to do that.

So, I know many think that balancers etc are pointless, convince me that I can cut the balancer out of my retired pony’s diet (with no replacement, it would be balancer or nothing)
Also, for my TB what straights would be good to feed? She’s the one that gets grass chaff, balancer and linseed. In winter she also gets unmolassed sugar beet. She doesn’t drop weight much so doesn’t need much feeding up.
Would you just drop the balancer? Would you replace it with something else (what?, I’m trying to keep low starch)

Any thought appreciated.

 

[JillA]

So, er, what exactly are you balancing? I am always suspicious of them - I only feed minerals balanced to any deficiencies in my forage or soil. Does he present with any symptoms of a deficiency - lack of energy, poor quality feet, or have you had bloods to identify any deficiencies? If not, you are wasting your money thanks mainly to the marketing. Most vitamins and minerals are freely available in grass or forage. If he isn't working he only needs a resting diet anyway and that is pretty much grass and/or forage. If he is lacking energy or condition, I would be testing for Cushings rather than buying expensive "balancers"
If you are sure he needs a balancer, try feeding in a little damp bran - the damp means no powder will fall through and the bran is very palatable, it's how I got my lot to eat their minerals.

 

[ycbm]

I'm not sure why you are looking to change away from grass chop and linseed, with added sugar beet in winter. They are 'straights',, and a good diet. If you have good forage and grazing, you should not need the balancer. I'm assuming that your balancer is one which has rda levels of copper and zinc. If it has high levels of copper and zinc in it to counteract the high levels of iron in most British grazing, then you might need to supplement chipper and zinc.

 

[little_critter]

Not looking to move away from chaff, beet and linseed. Just looking to lose the balancer, and wondering if I should replace it with something else.

JillA, I realise balancers don’t really ‘balance’. I view them more like the multi vitamin pill some people take daily. They can’t be ‘balanced’ either.

 

[Leo Walker]

If you cant get your grass and forage analysed and feed a mineral balancer to match then a good balancer is the next best thing. They also contain protein which is useful for an older horse.

What straights are you thinking of and what do you want them to acheive?

 

[Leo Walker]

Just seen your post. Lots of people dont feed balancers. All I know is anytime I stop I notice a massive difference in my horses. I'm currently using the last of a pelleted balancer as I had it left over from my previous horse, but will move back to the powdered mineral balancer once its gone.

I cant think of anything that would replace a balancer thant isnt powder or isnt a balancer. You could cut it out and see if you are happy but otherwise its al or nothing really.

 

[little_critter]

What do you want them to achieve?...now that’s actually a good question!
TB doesn’t really drop much weight, so I don’t need masses of calories, but a am and pm top up is useful. She gets ad lib hay, the linseed should be a good protein source.
I suppose all the feed need to do is supply a few extra calories and some protein, which it’s already doing.
Unless you can spot any glaring problems with the current feed (don’t i need to consider calcium / phosphorus when feeding beet or am I misremembering?)

 

[Follysmum]

I stopped using a balancer after my horses wouldn’t eat it over the summer ( I had an analysis done and made it up appropriately ) I switched over to linseed , brewers yeast and salt added to soaked grass nuts and grass chaff. I have found there coats and hooves have improved more since the change, 1 particular horse used to lose his shoes constantly but hasn’t in over a year

 

[SEL]

Forage Plus have just launched a pellet balancer that seems to be based on grass pellets. Equimins also do a good quality one if you don't want a powder.

 

[Pinkvboots]

What do you want them to achieve?...now that’s actually a good question!
TB doesn’t really drop much weight, so I don’t need masses of calories, but a am and pm top up is useful. She gets ad lib hay, the linseed should be a good protein source.
I suppose all the feed need to do is supply a few extra calories and some protein, which it’s already doing.
Unless you can spot any glaring problems with the current feed (don’t i need to consider calcium / phosphorus when feeding beet or am I misremembering?)

What do you want them to achieve?...now that’s actually a good question!
TB doesn’t really drop much weight, so I don’t need masses of calories, but a am and pm top up is useful. She gets ad lib hay, the linseed should be a good protein source.
I suppose all the feed need to do is supply a few extra calories and some protein, which it’s already doing.
Unless you can spot any glaring problems with the current feed (don’t i need to consider calcium / phosphorus when feeding beet or am I misremembering?)

I feed my horses the same as you but without the balancer so without it it is a straight diet anyway, so just drop the balancer if the TB drops weight up the linseed fed in large quantities it's a conditioning feed.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

As others have said, you are already feeding straights! We don't feed a balancer as we want to know exactly what our horses are eating, with no hidden ingredients and have had problems in the past with supplements with weird and unnecessary ingredients. Perhaps you should just stop the balancer and monitor the horses' condition. Obviously if you see a deterioration, it would be worth giving the balaner again.