Which balancer?

[ShadyMeLady]

I’m looking to put my horse on a balancer as he lost a lot of condition and weight last winter (he’s a cob). He’s currently only a vit/min supplement so will stop that in favour of the balancer. Last year he was on high fibre complete nuggets at the end of the winter but came off them in spring.

So which one? Not TopSpec. Was looking at the Spillers Daily Balancer. Any reviews on this? It can’t be heating cause it’ll probably counteract his calmer

Thanks

Baileys number 4? Blue chip?

Thanks I’ll check them out

Why not topspec? Mine look amazing on them. Alternatively if he lost a lot of condition he needs more food generally. Alfa a oil chaff is brilliant.

Don't fall into the trap of starving him to keep him calm.

Have a look at Equinox (online). Works out cheaper than most.
Try adding Speedibeet and micronised linseed too as well as a chaff. I stay clear of Alfa A etc as it sends mine loopy. Also, they spray chemicals on it. Thunderbrooks do a good basic chaff, and Agrobs too.
I don’t feed anything with soya or grain in it either.

Speedibeet makes mine nutty, but alfa a oil is fine 🤣🤣

Our pony struggles with condition. He has baileys ease and excel over summer and ease and excel with baileys fibre-beet now its winter.

Neither make him fizzy (he's a childs pony)

None of the ones mentioned above. They're all full of cheap fillers. The only 3 worth looking at are equimins, pro earth or forage plus.

Oh yeah and Agrobs and thunderbrooks feed too. Plus pink mash!

Anything Spillers/Topspec/Bailey's/D&H etc is also full of cheap fillers and sugar.

None of the ones mentioned above. They're all full of cheap fillers

I have two extremely healthy hard working horses. Topspec is not full of cheap fillers.

Anything Spillers/Topspec/Bailey's/D&H etc is also full of cheap fillers and sugar

Rubbish.

It's not rubbish at all. I wouldn't touch any of the well known brands with a barge pole. Top spec is one of the worst. Have you actually looked at the ingredients. It's mainly cheap by-products and sugar. It's the equivalent of feeding your dog Bakers and your kids Iceland £1 ready meals.

I have two eventers that look absolutely fantastic and are calm and happy, so if they are eating the equivalent of Iceland ready meals they are doing extremely well on them! William Fox Pitt feeds his horses on Spillers and they seem to be doing OK

I'm sure Thunderbrooks is lovely feed, but just because it has herbs and is expensive, doesn't mean it suits all horses!

It's not about herbs and cost fgs.... It's about the quality of ingredients.

Wfp and the like are sponsored by the feed companies. It has no bearing on how good or not the feed is. It just means they have a marketing budget.

Some of the ingredients in the mainstream brands have absolutely no place in horse feed. It's just cheap crap that's affordable to many horse owners.

Calm down. Dd worked for William fox pitt, he feeds Spillers. They give it to him. His horses are amazing. Herbs and organic food for horses is far more about marketing!

I don't imagine many horses that event to a very high level feed thunderbrooks as it is very exoensive. I'm sure its great feed and i bet it smells amazing but honestly organic chamomile flowers are nice but not essential.

Someone mentioned speedy beet. Now it’s been a while, but is the speedy stuff not the stuff that doesn’t put the weight on, with the regular overnight stuff being the one you need to fatten them up?

That’s what I got told but I don’t know the ins and outs. If anyone knows the answer it may help someone?

Only just seen these posts, sorry.

Not TopSpec because he lost his tiny mind on it, turned him into a spooky, snorting, fire breathing dragon (and yes it was definitely that as I spent some time testing it!)

I’m the absolute opposite to starving him so he’s calm, he gets hangry if even a tiny bit hungry so I need to make sure he is full at all times! He’s much calmer with a full belly.

It was the first winter I had him last year, I kept getting told as he’s a cob he won’t need that much hard feed, he’s a good doer etc. So I didn’t up the small feed he had over the summer. Then suddenly come Feb/March he was very thin and lost his topline. I upped his feed accordingly and added linseed meal as well. Then when spring was in full flow I took him off it. He’s now a very good weight (his body score is 5.5) and I don’t want to have the same problem at the back end of winter again.

He was on Thunderbrooks chaff but I moved to a yard where feed was included so he’s just on a happy hoof one now.

Thanks all for your input

I have good doers and feed them dengie hifi molasses free and saracens shape up; no longer need to give any additional supplements and my horses all do well throughout the year

If it's condition without silly behaviour you want, then I really recommend Baileys ease and excel. I've had rescues who've done amazing on this. I've also had success with Equerry conditioning mash, puts weight on them quickly though.

I'm currently feeding ready mash (blue bag) to my youngsters and even though it's quite high in starch, it's not had a negative impact on behaviour, and they look fantastic!

Thank you both, I’ll check them out. There’s just so many options out there, it’s all bit of a minefield. And what’s right for one, won’t necessarily be right for another!

Fast fibre might be good for him.

Yes that’s an idea as well thank you.

I used to give it to my little cob through the winter. He loved it and it kept him just right weight wise.

Spillers Lite and Lean is nutritionist recommended for my lamanitic so it can't be that crap 🙈