Balancers

I was recommended spillers lite and lean balancer by @Jessey and it ticks all the boxes. Both mine have cushings and so are on a restricted diet so i do worry that they could be lacking in all the minerals etc needed. It is also designed to help with weight loss and a healthy metabolism. I was also wanting one with no added iron and cereal free which this one is, it is also low in sugars and starch. They love it too which also helps:D
 
I was recommended spillers lite and lean balancer by @Jessey and it ticks all the boxes. Both mine have cushings and so are on a restricted diet so i do worry that they could be lacking in all the minerals etc needed. It is also designed to help with weight loss and a healthy metabolism. I was also wanting one with no added iron and cereal free which this one is, it is also low in sugars and starch. They love it too which also helps:D
When you say low in sugar, what percentage do you class as low? We have Saracen feeds on my yard and the balancer that everyone uses is 9% sugar. That seems very high in sugar to me but I don’t know what is considered high or low?
 
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I use thunderbrooks daily essentials and pop it in their healthy herbal chaff. I like it as I know exactly what is in It, no pelleting agents etc and it keeps sugar and starch below 10% but I must admit the spillers Jessey recommended looks very good and is used widely by people with metabolic horses and seems to do very well.
 
Looking at the ingredients, the spillers is definitely better than the Saracen. The spillers has much more nutrition and is 5% sugar compared to 9%.I will look at the thunderbrook now,I feel a spreadsheet coming on...
 
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I fed Albi Spillers Lite balancer one winter and it was like he was on pony crack when ridden! He didn't stay on it long!!!
 
If you are on FB MP have a look on the Equine Cushings disease horses group. They have a good file on different feeds and sugar/starch contents etc. Ideally you want to stay 10% and below combined
 
I use pro earth equine balancer in a tiny handful of fast fibre. Pro earth because it gives her everything in terms of vitamins and minerals and the fast fibre just to mix it with.
 
Ziggy and Mattie were on Simple Systems Total Eclipse (less than 3% sugar) which really helped them get through the winter well, but Ziggy is now getting the Forage Plus Anti Lam balancer because two friends with laminitic horses have recommended it for recovery.

They also get a herbal balancer from Naturally Animals but I like to put the vits and mins in as well.
 
I don't feed a balancer. Ours just get Dodson and Horrell classic pony nuts with their supplements in for their various ailments. Apart from Zi lol and he just gets nuts or Healthy Hooves. My vet years ago suggested I get Baileys Lo Cal for Storm, we thought at one point she was missing out on some vits because she developed a few odd facial patches near her eyes.
 
Looking at the ingredients, the spillers is definitely better than the Saracen. The spillers has much more nutrition and is 5% sugar compared to 9%.I will look at the thunderbrook now,I feel a spreadsheet coming on...
A girl after my own heart, got to love a good spread sheet for comparison :p
 
Are we talking now or winter?
I considered looking into this for winter because she is on grass and hay only. Might be on magnesium 5g a day plus a carrot from October.
 
I use Top Spec Lite balancer all year round. He looks good on it, has bags of energy (despite being ridden by a rider who, according to latest percentage fads is too big) & he doesn't go footy on it like he has on some. I've also found the Top Spec balancers I've used are excellent at supporting hoof growth & quality, in fact I've had better results with them than highly rated hoof supplements. It's sufficiently palatable to be fed on it's own& quickly soaks to a mush in water if you want to hide meds.
 
I use pro earth equine balancer in a tiny handful of fast fibre. Pro earth because it gives her everything in terms of vitamins and minerals and the fast fibre just to mix it with.

Is this the Pro Balance from Progressive Earth? This is what I am leaning towards. Do you add salt and magnesium to it as well?
 
I fed pro earth balancer for over a year, but every day was a battle to get Jess to eat it and she's not normally fussy, even hank had to be convinced :rolleyes: I've heard others say the same tho many are fine with it, so I'd recommend starting with a small bag at first.
 
I fed pro earth balancer for over a year, but every day was a battle to get Jess to eat it and she's not normally fussy, even hank had to be convinced :rolleyes: I've heard others say the same tho many are fine with it, so I'd recommend starting with a small bag at first.
Yes I have heard horses can be fussy with it. What did you mix it with?
 
Is this the Pro Balance from Progressive Earth? This is what I am leaning towards. Do you add salt and magnesium to it as well?
https://progressive-earth.com/produ...formula-of-our-acclaimed-pro-hoof-supplement/
This is what I use, Belle only has one scoop though and it took a good few weeks of gradually upping the amount, now she happily wolfs it down.
No extra salt or magnesium added.
She has free acces to a salt block and this balancer has a good amount of magnesium already in it.
May I just say the customer service is great and you always get a little surprise in your order too.
 
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https://progressive-earth.com/produ...formula-of-our-acclaimed-pro-hoof-supplement/
This is what I use, Belle only has one scoop though and it took a good few weeks of gradually upping the amount, now she happily wolfs it down.
No extra salt or magnesium added.
She has free acces to a salt block and this balancer has a good amount of magnesium already in it.
May I just say the customer service is great and you always get a little surprise in your order too.
Did you have any problems getting Belle to eat it?
 
Did you have any problems getting Belle to eat it?
At first yes, had to start with a small amount and gradually increase it, she is a Horse who will eat anything as a rule, I started with about an 1/8 of a scoop, gave her that for about five days, than added a bit more for another handful of days and so on until we were up to a full scoop.
 
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