what to feed with balancer?

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serena2005

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I'm undecided about what to feed with a balancer.
I have a good doer and I want to give him more energy (very lazy!)
I was thinking a low cal balanced with straight oats and Alfa oil.
Or would you go low cal balanced, conditioning mix and Alfa oil?

What do you feed with your balancers?

Horse in question is a 16.3 Irish draught 5 years. Good condition but still needs to fill out and develop top line. Ridden 5/6 times a week for at least 40 mins schooling, an hours hack and out competing once a fortnight.

Thanks x
 
i've a very mixed herd and decided to go with a blue grass oat balancer, oats and beetpulp. It works out really cheap and i can change about the ratio of oats etc. if i need more energy/condition etc.

if you are feeding oats you need an oat balancer as an oat heavy diet can deplete some vitamins and minerals, so the oat balancer makes up for that. The bluegrass one i s fab as it contains biotins and oils too, so it meant i could knock supplements on the head.

I wouldn't bother with the low cal balancer and the conditioning mix together as the conditioning mix should have the right vitamins etc already, so theres no point to the balancer. If he's a good doer conditioning mix mightnt be the way to go as well.
 
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Why would you give a good doer additional oil / conditioning mix?

The best thing you can do for a good doer for energy is to get them slim and extra fit. Sometimes there is an element of responses to aids as well. Once at ideal weight and fitness then Id just feed oats and oat balanced vit/min alongside lower calorie value forage.

Given the age of your horse it is possibly partly a work variety/training issue plus potentially just growing! This might not be a food issue at all
 
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did you ever get bloods run on him. at that age some draughts can be low in iron etc and it makes them sluggish and a bit rough looking. might be worth looking into. At 5 draughts are still growing so he might need a break as well, as thats a heavy enough workload for a horse thats still growing. has he been turned away at all in the last while?
 
Well I was feeding the conditioning mix as I was advised the oils and barley would be a better slow energy release option for him. Rather than straight oats.
I'm really still in the trial and error stage of working out what feed works for him.
I do think it's part of him just growing too but it is his nature to be lazy, he's just that kind of horse.
He isn't worked constantly, I will give the odd week off here and there. He hasn't had a substantial amount of time off, should he? And how long?
He's not rough looking he looks really well at the moment. And he has plenty of energy in the field with his mates :)
We have qualified for a few big shows later in the year so I was going to give him some time off after them
 
CrazyMare said:
My ponies have their balancer ration alone at the moment, it can be fed like that just fine.
Click to expand...

That's interesting, I was of the understanding that if I feed a balancer and straight oats (for example) the balancer would help him get the best out of the oats giving us the energy I want him to have (hopefully)
He's not fed much at the moment as he's doing so well on the grass, but the nutritionist said he should be getting 1-2 bowl scoops a day for the nutrients he needs to get the energy from the condition mix.
He's worked, but it's not intense enough to use that much I'm sure he will just get fatter!
 
May I ask... what nutritionist you spoke to? Feeds can be a minefield these days with all the various permutations but that advice does sound extremely odd to me. Balancers are usually intended to be a complete feed in and of themselves rather than a supplement to another complete feed like a conditioning mix. No amount of vits / mins / nutrients etc can impact digestion and feed values. The only thing that could possibly help with that would be a pre biotic of some form - although that might be what is in your balancer? But it just doesn't seem logical to me to suggest that feeding a balancer would mean the horse would get greater feed value from another separate complete feed. Unless the balancer is also to correct an imbalance arising from feeding a straight rather than a mix?
 
Barley is NOT a slow form of energy release... No cereals are. It's also about 50% starch, which is really high.
 
If he doesn't need extra condition - I'd just feed balancer and chaff. Maybe put some HiFi in if he's struggling with top line and needs some more 'oomf'.

Honestly, he's he's a good doer and got good condition I wouldn't add anything extra. If he's lazy, I would be inclined to increase fitness and make sure it's not a schooling or boredom issue.

I'm really not a fan of feeding up unless they're lacking condition - when they start harder work or they start looking a bit under, then I'd re-assess and maybe add some unmolassed sugar beet, or similar. I also pretty much always use a balanced as a base and then add extras accordingly, I find it too difficult to faff with all the various cubes and mixes that feed companies have.
 
Oh I'm so confused haha!

Ok so yes he is a good doer, condition for his age is good. He's lacking top line purely because he's only really been working properly since December. So has improved highly but obviously buts a long road.

I spoke to haygates nutritionist
I like the idea of just feeding the balancer with hi-fi. I really would rather get him off the conditioning mix.

But would balancer and hi fi give him a boost? I am trying to get his fitness levels up but it's really hard when he burns outs very quickly
 
he shouldn't be burning out quickly though, If he's lacking topline and energy then the best thing would be long, long slow hacks up as many hills as you can find. I've a similar one and it was only 3+ hour walk hacks up and down hills that really got his base fitness up to a good level.
 
Couple of extra things to add in. If he is pure ID he wont stop growing till well into his 7th or even 8th year. If this is his first year of work, then he won't have the fitness and ID's are much harder to get fit than say a TB or TB X. You need to balance fittening with keeping an eye on his growth and time out as well. A friend has a stunning 3/4 ID and that made needed a year out at 5. At 8 she is now affectionately known as the warhorse and is eventing at BE90 on a balancer plus small amount of alfa a and nuts when in (she is living out for the summer).
 
Good advice there. If you have only had him in "proper" work since December and riding as you describe in your original thread he is probably long over due for a good long break. I know you have qualified for some big shows later in the year - but do you have space to give him a couple of months now? That might depend on what discipline you have qualified for!

Feed doesn't boost fitness. Only fitness boosts fitness. He is very young yet and with a body type and frame that will certainly not have stopped growing yet and may well not for 2 or 3 more years. It might be better for him to give up on the idea of the big shows just yet, let him have a 4 - 6 week break now and a longer break in the winter aiming to bring him back next spring with a proper fitness programme. I know it is rough - but overworking him now will lead to serious problems as he gets older. (Unless you are showing in youngstock classes I suppose...)
 
I Also feed balancer alone, that's the reason I buy it so i don't need to bulk it out with chaff. One mug am and pm job done.
 
We are showing in ridden hunter, so not jumping or anything too strenuous like that.

He is full ID, I understand he won't stop growing for a few years yet.
I'm not looking for the feed to boost his fitness just to give him a bit more oomph! And to help with the nutrients etc that he needs for his growing bones.

The shows are in September and he's currently having a few weeks off now.

I will make a plan for the winter to let him have a nice long holiday.
 
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