Thunderbrook feed

[Neversaydie]

Having seen the barefoot Facebook page that's run by them I would t ever touch the feed. Woman on my yard used the chaff and found her horse went off its head on it, put it back on another chaff (agrobs I think) and she had her horse back. Again was recommended on the barefoot page.

 

[galaxy]

Their legal threats to others who dare suggest that their products, in particular their base mix which some really don't get on with, might not be the perfect solution for EVERY horse on every grazing kind of puts me off ever dealing with them.

Is this in the past as its not my experience? They recommended I didn't feed just the base mix to my girl as they didn't feel a full ration would suit her and when my friends mare totally refused to eat her base mix they were very helpful trying to find any other solution for her.

This feed has totally changed the shape of my mare's stomach, she's now not at all gassy. She was already on a high fibre feed before (Allen and page), but the combination of ingredients in tb really helps some horses. It's easy to say that you may not like the company personally but their feeds are genuinely helping some horses and there aren't many options if you are trying to find feeds without a massive list of ingredients that are known aggravate guts (and some mainstream feed company's sell their feeds as "ulcer friendly" etc and yet contain a load of ingredients that are unsuitable)

 

[ester]

This is mostly regarding their conduct on facebook. If people comment on some facebook groups that people might want to change their vit/min supplementation because through experience they know that TB doesn't always suit all horse all hell breaks loose or comments get deleted like some sort of TB mafia when people are just trying to help owners and their horses. And we are talking about people who really know their stuff about barefoot and whom most people would give their right arm to send their problem footed horse too. The base mix is considered too low in copper and magnesium by such people for some grazing/some horses.
So much so that on one barefoot group we aren't allowed to mention them at all because it isn't worth the hassle of the lawsuit threats etc that then goes on.
There are enough better/equally good alternatives for me not to use them given the conduct on social media. These things should be open for debate and discussion and plenty of other companies are secure enough in their product to not feel the need to police the internet for anyone saying there might be something better.

 

[galaxy]

This is mostly regarding their conduct on facebook. If people comment on some facebook groups that people might want to change their vit/min supplementation because through experience they know that TB doesn't always suit all horse all hell breaks loose or comments get deleted like some sort of TB mafia when people are just trying to help owners and their horses. And we are talking about people who really know their stuff about barefoot and whom most people would give their right arm to send their problem footed horse too. The base mix is considered too low in copper and magnesium by such people for some grazing/some horses.
So much so that on one barefoot group we aren't allowed to mention them at all because it isn't worth the hassle of the lawsuit threats etc that then goes on.
There are enough better/equally good alternatives for me not to use them given the conduct on social media. These things should be open for debate and discussion and plenty of other companies are secure enough in their product to not feel the need to police the internet for anyone saying there might be something better.

With gut issues the only alternative is agrobs. Not a lot of choice. For gut issues tb is very highly thought of. People rave about it on the ulcer websites. im not on barefoot sites which is why I've not seen what you have.

 

[criso]

I think they are helpful until you dare question them or report a bad experience or suggest it may not be best for all horses, then there is a quite scary change of approach. My initial experience was pre facebook and via email, facebook showed me was this was part of a pattern not an isolated case.

I know several trimmers who don't rate it and have seen problem after problem when owners try it which then vanish when it's removed from the diet. However you wouldn't really see this on the facebook pages as if anyone does post anything negative, the post is quickly removed and the person removed/blocked from the group so unless you spot that a post has gone - and you might not question it as you might just think that it's you that can't find it - so you see lots of positive reports. A lot of people don't bother posting though as they know it'll just get them kicked out.

As for alternatives, with my allergic horse in the end I went back to straights, no worrying about what's in it if there is only one ingredient but I'm not feeding for diagnosed ulcers, just fussy barefoot tbs who can't cope with even a sniff of sugar or high calcium. I am now trying Agrobs and the musli seems OK but I am nervous of anything that has more than one ingredient listed on the bag.

I'm sure it's perfect for some horses in some situations but the behaviour I've seen has put me off.

 

[galaxy]

I don't know what you'd look for in a barefoot diet to comment what's good or not.


Currently with my mares gut issues, it's no alfalfa, wheat, grains, molasses, soya, beet and basically any other cheap processed filler that companies shove in! Look for L-gluts, yeasacc 1026 (not just classified 'yeast'), B vits and biomoss. Micronised linseed and rice bran seem to be good ingredients for this problems a long with natural herbs such as fennel, marshmallow route and salt. But all ingredients have to be unprocessed. This year has been a steep learning curve but ghis feeding regime seems to be working (touch wood)

 

[criso]

There is some overlap but slightly different needs.

One of the things I don't do is pre supplemented as it's difficult to control dosage where you would vary the quantity of bucket feed from horse to horse and at different times of the year. So to take one example, yeasacc 1026 is one of the things I feed but I don't want added included in a feed as I want to keep the dosage the same regardless of what I feed.

 

[ester]

With gut issues the only alternative is agrobs. Not a lot of choice. For gut issues tb is very highly thought of. People rave about it on the ulcer websites. im not on barefoot sites which is why I've not seen what you have.

Of course, I am just reporting what the situation is and why some of us wouldn't ever give them our custom.
I'm only actually on one barefoot group, I can't bear the others and that is the one we aren't allowed to mention them at all- a rather farcical situation given every other product that gets discussed.
In my line of work everything is open to criticism and that met with counter argument if possible with a wide understanding that nothing is likely to provide the complete solution and everything can likely be improved.

Before agrobs I was feeding D+H just grass, which is only grass so there are alternatives .

 

[galaxy]

There is some overlap but slightly different needs.

One of the things I don't do is pre supplemented as it's difficult to control dosage where you would vary the quantity of bucket feed from horse to horse and at different times of the year. So to take one example, yeasacc 1026 is one of the things I feed but I don't want added included in a feed as I want to keep the dosage the same regardless of what I feed.

Totally understand, especially yeasacc as its on the top of my list of ingredients. I do feed her the recemended amount of base mix as its not a lot and I found out from them exactly how much yea sac that was. This time of year when the grass is being troublesome I am now adding a small scoop of pure yea sacc 1026 more to bring it up to max dose. But before the grass came through she was doing great without it.

 

[galaxy]

There is some overlap but slightly different needs.

One of the things I don't do is pre supplemented as it's difficult to control dosage where you would vary the quantity of bucket feed from horse to horse and at different times of the year. So to take one example, yeasacc 1026 is one of the things I feed but I don't want added included in a feed as I want to keep the dosage the same regardless of what I feed.

Of course, I am just reporting what the situation is and why some of us wouldn't ever give them our custom.
I'm only actually on one barefoot group, I can't bear the others and that is the one we aren't allowed to mention them at all- a rather farcical situation given every other product that gets discussed.
In my line of work everything is open to criticism and that met with counter argument if possible with a wide understanding that nothing is likely to provide the complete solution and everything can likely be improved.

Before agrobs I was feeding D+H just grass, which is only grass so there are alternatives .

Oh what I didn't add to the list of my mares issues was she can't eat short chop chaff as she can get severe choke even if wet. She was the tb muesli made into a mash.

There are other feeds that would make into a mash that don't contain beet, but not many. Only one I'd consider from the ingredients and suitable for her needs would be agrobs muesli.

 

[criso]

There are other feeds that would make into a mash that don't contain beet, but not many. Only one I'd consider from the ingredients and suitable for her needs would be agrobs muesli.

Not sure the Musli would really go down to a mash rather than soggy chop. Agrobs do do a mash and i think the senior goes to a mash but I'm not sure the Musli would. It retains its texture when mixed with wet copra.

I was feeding bran, copra and linseed but have swapped the bran out for Musli as one of my horses is very fussy and in his case prefers something with texture.

TBH I don't really regard the base mix as a feed so much as a supplement and one that for me contains ingredients I am trying to avoid (calcium iron, selenium is higher than i need) while being far to low in copper, zinc and magnesium for my forage so I just make up my own blend and use bucket feed to carry supplements, add protein, add calories some of the time.

Re the ingredients, tbs still don't list all on line as they talk about herbs and botanicals without listing what they are, maybe they list them on the bag.

 

[galaxy]

Of course, I am just reporting what the situation is and why some of us wouldn't ever give them our custom.
I'm only actually on one barefoot group, I can't bear the others and that is the one we aren't allowed to mention them at all- a rather farcical situation given every other product that gets discussed.
In my line of work everything is open to criticism and that met with counter argument if possible with a wide understanding that nothing is likely to provide the complete solution and everything can likely be improved.

Before agrobs I was feeding D+H just grass, which is only grass so there are alternatives .

Not sure the Musli would really go down to a mash rather than soggy chop. Agrobs do do a mash and i think the senior goes to a mash but I'm not sure the Musli would. It retains its texture when mixed with wet copra.

I was feeding bran, copra and linseed but have swapped the bran out for Musli as one of my horses is very fussy and in his case prefers something with texture.

TBH I don't really regard the base mix as a feed so much as a supplement and one that for me contains ingredients I am trying to avoid (calcium iron, selenium is higher than i need) while being far to low in copper, zinc and magnesium for my forage so I just make up my own blend and use bucket feed to carry supplements, add protein, add calories some of the time.

Re the ingredients, tbs still don't list all on line as they talk about herbs and botanicals without listing what they are, maybe they list them on the bag.

The tb muesli soaks down into a really nice mash. My mare loves it. They list out all the different ingredients in it on the bag and I'm sure online too.

I would consider the basemix and conditioning supplement. Their daily essentials is their low calorie balancer

 

[Lego]

I spent a bit of time looking at feeds recently and liked the look of thunderbrooks... got some samples and really didn't like it! Neither did the greedy cob who normally eats anything and everything... wouldn't eat the base mix - although from the ingredients list I could get hold of it seemed similar to stuff he's had before. The chaff was spiky and smelt odd, and the cobs were like concrete!

I then managed to find somewhere relatively local that stocked agrobs - got the muesli and the cobs. Horse loved them but just didn't pick up like I was hoping and if anything coat was a bit duller. Such a shame as really liked the company, it's ethos and it's ingredients. Was talking to the supplier and she said she'd spoken to both companies before deciding which to stock, and the thunderbrooks is basically made from the fields that agrobs wouldn't touch, and they can't sell it where it's produced, so sell here...

So put off thunderbrooks by potential lack of quality fields, and lack of easily obtainable complete ingredients etc.

Really liked everything about agrobs but didn't seem to suit the horse - but then he has alfalfa intolerance so might have been something along those lines since it's produced using a variety of grasses/herbs etc