THose with foals 8 months to 2 years...

Mine is 19months and has grass, never been fed anything else. If i go to the yard and catch him on the weekend (which is normally once a week) he has a couple of handfuls of chaff but thats it.
 
My rising 2yo, rising 4yo and rising 13yo are all on D&H Suregrow. It's the cheapest balancer out there - and I mean balancer, not specifically stud balancer. The 4yo is a gelding, the 13yo is the dam of the 2 youngsters and is not back in-foal, nor is she going to be bred this year. If you are concerned, then call a feed helpline - D&H, Baileys, Topspec etc for advice.
 
Both on Winergy Equilibrium Growth though only on lower end of thier guideline amount as both plenty covered - one 8 months, one 7 months
 
I have an 8 & 6 month old and I spoke to 2 nutritionists last week, I was concerned as 8 month old is huge. I have been feeding a small amount of Alfa A, stud mix and beet once a day along with ad-lib hay.

Asking friends what I should feed, all said nothing if they are looking well, just hay/haylage.

Both nutritionists suggested a stud balancer and one said I am not feeding foal enough even though she looks very well and is a big foal? She did advise taking foals off stud mix as too much energy.

So rightly or wrongly I bought a bag of stud balancer. I do appreciate that in the winter our horses will lack the minerals, trace elements, vitamins etc but I do wonder if these feed companies just push these balancers at you to make even more money?

I am probably answering my own question, if they look well on nothing, don't change anything but I wrestle withmy conscience am I doing enough.
 
All my horses young and old get non-molassed beet and Alfa-A. I use D&H products dependent on age Mare and Young stock for Broodies and babies, pasture mix for adults and 2 year old ad 16+ for 31 year old.

I am concerned at mine growing too quickly as they look big to me - but I find if you ring companies they recommend huge amounts e.g. I was told my adult horses should get 4kg of pasture mix a day they get about 1/2kg!!
 
my rising 2yo is out during day 7am- 5pm in at night with ad lib hay, he gets two small equal feeds a day of a scoop of topspecs top chop light wich has no added anything low cal and low energy, hhalf cup of top spec comprehensive feed balancer and a small handful of dodson and horol high fibre cubes. he has a no fill turnout on 24/7 he is 15.2hh at present and he looks just perfect weight wise and he has a lovely shiny coat.
 
SN - interested to see you are using Suregrow for everything. I'm using it for 2yr old, broodmare and oldie. The old boy is living out with the other two and its complicated to give him something different. He seems to have got more perky and alert. So I've started giving it to my riding horse. Everything gets adlib hay/haylage and AlfaAOil with the Suregrow. The ridden one also gets one scoop of coolmix. I had thought of ringing the feed company to find out if it is Ok for all to have Suregrow but haven't got round to it.
 
My weanlings (7-10 months) get a little Bailey's Stud Balancer (below recommended amount) with a little Graze-on and some Sure Limb to boost mins and vits (as they're getting less Stud Balancer than recommended. We have very good haylage and they scoff it at an alarming rate.

The two nearly 2 year old colts I'm running on as potential stallions get the same (just a little more) and the rest of the 2 year olds just get haylage and Sure Limb.
 
my 7 month old colt is on suregrow and stud+youngstock mix as is the mare thats in foal with us. The others-older broodmare, old pony, 3yo, 2yo and 8yo are just on top quality haylage and are looking fantastic. The 2yo will be going on suregrow , alfa and beet shortly to prep him for sale but is thriving on just haylage at present
 
17 month gelding has baileys stud balancer dengie hi fi and speedie beet with ad lib hay/hayledge mix and is looking great.
 
At home all ours - weanlings, ridden horses & stallions - get D+H Suregrow, or Baileys Stud Balancer with Readigrass or Graze-on & unmolassed beet, plus ad lib hay or haylage.
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SN - interested to see you are using Suregrow for everything. I'm using it for 2yr old, broodmare and oldie. The old boy is living out with the other two and its complicated to give him something different. He seems to have got more perky and alert. So I've started giving it to my riding horse. Everything gets adlib hay/haylage and AlfaAOil with the Suregrow. The ridden one also gets one scoop of coolmix. I had thought of ringing the feed company to find out if it is Ok for all to have Suregrow but haven't got round to it.

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I did speak to a nutritionist about this, which is why I do it
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I also found that it perked up my old boy - not that he needed much perking up lol!
 
Mine is 9 months and has been on Baileys Stud Balancer however like you I may change it- when I phoned a lot of the feed co's I was told to feed him 6 cups of balancer a day which is just far too much, so I've been giving him much less, 3/4 of a cup per feed along with happy hoof chaff and extra vits/mins, he looks great on it -not too fat not to thin, but I don't think he needs it so am thinking of what other things he can have instead!
 
Our two rising twos (19 and 20 months) are out all day, with extra hay, and in at night. They have two small meals of Alfa A, a small squirt of oil, a handful of sugar beet and half a mug of TopSpec comprehensive balancer. They switch to comprehensive vits and mins in the summer as the grass comes through very rich and they certainly don't need any more calories. They are both doing very well on this, with excellent coats and hooves and growing as expected. We kept with TopSpec comprehensive as we use it anyway for the big boys and girls, I find the TopSpec advice line very helpful and they have never pushed us to feed more or pushed their products when we use others.
 
Having suffered the disasterous concequences of feeding my first filly the recomended levels of Topspec feed balancer as I wanted to ensure she got the 'best start' in life I will NEVER feed a balancer to a youngster again. in her case it resulted in the worst case of OCD my vets have ever seen.

Since then I aquired a gelding who was feed basically add lib hay with access to a broad spec vitamin and mineral tub and even If I do say so myself, looks perfect on it! He's gained weight and muscle condition steadily since the day I got him and looks happy and well.

I will never succumb to the pressures of a feed company again. we know our horses well. if he looks good why change what we do?
 
A friend of mine in France had the same problem with his first TB cross born in Scotland - he fed what was recommended, as you say - disaster.

I argued this out recently with a nutritionist - she said my horses needed pounds per day for vit/mins but mine have a super lick, which they love, in every field.
 
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Having suffered the disasterous concequences of feeding my first filly the recomended levels of Topspec feed balancer as I wanted to ensure she got the 'best start' in life I will NEVER feed a balancer to a youngster again. in her case it resulted in the worst case of OCD my vets have ever seen.

Since then I aquired a gelding who was feed basically add lib hay with access to a broad spec vitamin and mineral tub and even If I do say so myself, looks perfect on it! He's gained weight and muscle condition steadily since the day I got him and looks happy and well.

I will never succumb to the pressures of a feed company again. we know our horses well. if he looks good why change what we do?

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Stud Balancer or Feed Balancer?
 
My seven month old colt is getting ad lib hay, and Baileys stud balancer at the recommended amount for (what I think is) his weight, bulked out with A & P Fast Fibre.

He was poor when I got him at the end of November, and he's still too thin for my liking, but he's bright and happy and runs around, I would rather give him a small feed and lots of hay, than too big a feed.
 
Hi, i have a 10 month old filly who is on D&H Suregrow, just Grass and Ad Lib Haylage. I did use baileys stud balancer for my pregnant shetlands but when i phoned for the recommended amount for my weanling in the Autumn it was a crazy amount of feed! The suregrow is also alot cheaper, then Baileys and i have now moved my shetlands on to it!!
 
All my weanlings are fed spillers stud pellets with a little kwik beet and dodson and horrell fibergy added, My last boy looked fab and was in excellent condition at the bnfoy show, even after weaning and castration just weeks before.
 
Simple Systems Feed. I never feed any sugars or cereals. Years ago we just used to feed youngsters adlib hay and they always looked good without any problems.
 
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