What do you use to carry your youngster’s balancer?

[Lina2023]

Hi,

We are soon to take delivery of our beautiful yearling. So far she has only been given ad-lib forage, which I intend to continue via floor feeding.

I would like to give her a balancer to cover any macronutrient deficiencies - would I be better giving this in a small handful of chaff like with our older horse, or a mash type feed? I don’t want anything too calorific that’s going to make her grow too fast.

Thanks

 

[ihatework]

Well you can if you want, but ours just get is without chaff/mash

One less sack of feed to store/faff with

 

[Apercrumbie]

My philosophy is to keep extras to a minimum. Assuming the balancer is in pellet form, I'd just feed it straight if you can, you could always add a little water if you like. If it's different (are some balancers powders now?), then whatever the easiest thing is for you - so could be the same chaff as your older horse.

 

[Horseysheepy]

My youngsters Balancers are mixed in with a double handful of HiFi Lite, dampened a little.

 

[MarvelVillis]

I was feeding Thunderbrooks chaff with a balancer, but I changed to a powder balancer which was less palatable (Progressive Earth Pro Balance), so I added Thunderbrooks meadow nuts (soaked) with a bit of chaff and now he licks the bowl clean.

 

[Lina2023]

I was feeding Thunderbrooks chaff with a balancer, but I changed to a powder balancer which was less palatable (Progressive Earth Pro Balance), so I added Thunderbrooks meadow nuts (soaked) with a bit of chaff and now he licks the bowl clean.

Thanks, I’ve got some of those in too as they’re my dieting mare’s occasional treat

 

[lizziebell]

A handful or two of chaff really isn’t going to give any significant calories to worry about.

 

[lucy_108]

My baby one (who admittedly is now rising four - where does time go !) has lived on fresh air and a broad spectrum vit and min supplement up until now. He's been on TopSpec TopChop Lite over the winters and TopChop Zero over the summer with a handful of pony nuts for some crunch. I use Selenavite E from Equine Products UK as his supplement as I find it gives you the most bang for your buck and they've always thrived on it - I know our ground is Selenium deficient so it seemed like a good choice.

Now he's backed and using a bit more energy for his work, I've put him onto Baileys Stud Balancer - it's got high levels of protein, low sugar and low starch. It's purposefully very low in calories, but still gives them all the protein they need to muscular and skeletal development - you can start feeding it from 3 months I think.

As many have said above, try and keep it super simple - nothing replaces good grass and forage!

 

[sport horse]

What breed is your yearling? With spring grass coming through fast does it need anything extra? I have bred sport horses for many years and they live on grass and hay/haylage.