Baileys Lo-cal Balancer driving horse bonkers!

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snopuma

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Has anyone experienced a change in their horse from using this balancer, Clint has been on a small handful for two days only and is acting like a crazy pants in his stable, weaving, box walking, grumpy and biting he has also been on a Rosehip herbs for about 10 days as a detox for liver and kidneys only a low dose though, all his normal feed (very tiny amount of cool mix, with dengie hi-fi and a dash of bran and sugar beet all exactly the same) I wanted to wean him onto the lo-cal and hi-fi as he is a very good doer but if it has this effect and it's the culprit it's going in the bin!

Any replies gratefully received! :)
 
Any balancer sends my cob nutty- allows him to get way too much goodness out of his feed and he is just vile on it- have tried all sorts of brands and they all do the same. I'd be inclined to give chaff with a broad spectrum supplement instead as there is nothing in that to send him loopy! Most balancers have fairly decent levels of protein and sugars and all sorts- they are not just vitamins and minerals!
 
Would he have this reaction so soon though having had 4 meals with well below reccomended dose for his size?
 
my boy is on lo-cal. he is a good-doer and puts weight on at the drop of a hat.
hes also warmblood and can be VERY sharp so i had to be so careful what i fed him. changed around alot and he is now simply on Dengie Hi-Fi lite and 3 tiny cups of baileys lo-cal a day (so 1.5 cups per feed). he is doing really well on it and its the only thing thats kept him calm and level-headed (he is extrememly sharp and stressy) and also looking superb. :D
most horses that are good-doers dont need any additional concentrate feed, the lo-cal is designed to be an all in one, anything added will just be additional calories and hence excess energy. x
 
u can try a dengie diet. our horses at work are trialling it, its all fibre, so just a chaff and alphabeet (like sugar beet but alphalfa) then just add a powdered vitamin mineral supplement. it'd be good for horses needing slow release engergy or those in not much work but i dont personally like it as you need about 2-3 sccops chaff per feed and most of the horses just can eat this much bulk in one sitting.
what about the allen and page fast fibre? u could try that? x
 
Lo Cal sent Jim absolutely insane, he wasn't safe to be around because the slightest thing would cause an explosion. The other horses in the field also kept right out of his way whenever possible because his normal assertiveness started to border on aggression :eek:. I took him off it & within a week he was behaving normally, tried it again a couple of weeks later & got exactly the same response. Gave it away to a friend & made a big mental note never to feed it to him again!

He's now on Top Spec balancer & that suits him really well. He looks fantastic, has plenty of energy (ok, lack of energy isn't normally a problem with him anyway) & is actually calmer than usual. The improvement in his feet, after years of good hoof supplements having minimal effect, has been stunning :D. ETA they've just brought out a "Lite" ersion of the balancer that's cheaper than the original & is meant to be lower calorie than Lo Cal.
 
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I tried Lo-Cal the other year with my pony, and it just seemed to give her far to much energy, more jumpy and spooky, which isn't her normally, resulting in her releasing the excess energy in bucking!:eek:

Now I feed her Dengie Hi-Fi lite and Dodson & Horrell vit/min supplement, which so far hasn't had any adverse effects on her.

Think it is like most things, some work for some horses and they thrive, others seems to send them loopy for some reason!:rolleyes:
 
Mimi's been on Lo-Cal for about 18 months now and she's fine on it, it's not changed her behaviour at all. She's being very lively at the moment but I put that down to the cold weather, strong winds and the fact that we've just changed yards :)

I'm quite surprised I've never heard of it having this affect, but then I don't know anyone else who feeds it to their horse!
 
My pony is on Lo-Cal and has been for nearly 6 months and he looks great on it and has had no changes in personality??
Like some of the others have suggested, I suppose what works for some horses doesn't work for others??
It's all abit (albeit expensive) trial and error with neddies ain't it?:D
 
I have fed mine baileys lo-cal for at least a year and he's been fine. He puts weight on really easily but it dusn't seem to be a problem on his current feed. He goes from 1 extreme to the other of being really lazy n really hyped up but as his feed stays the same I can't put it down to that.

Im really surprised people are finding it sends their horses loopy:confused:
 
haha! i had this problem too! my boy is a young wb with a temperment like a hormonal teenager. i fed him lo cal with pony nuts chaff and sugarbeet. he went mad... all after perhaps 2 days. he just exploded! he was always on nuts chaff and beet so it was def th lo cal that sent him loopy! however now i feed him top line cond cubes local and hifi. and guess what!! no problems what so ever! it was obv th combination of feed that upset him not th local itself..
 
i put honey on top spec and it sent her loopy! spoke to their nutrition advise line and they said she prob does not need a balancer and she does so well normally - and just to feed her a multi vits and mins suppliment in a bit of hi-fi!
 
I'm another one who cant feed a balancer (well I can, but not if I want to actually ride as well;)).

I've tried them all and they all send him off his trolley.

Pink powder is good though and that didnt send him nuts. You can feed it at balancer levels.
 
oh heck. i've just ordered my first bag of this for my fussy old boy. He's a bit loopy udnder saddle anyway so this could be interesting. i'm not planning on giving him anything else with it though, just a bit of chop and sugar beet.
Anyone got any experience of using it for a veteran who doesn't eat enough hard feed to get all his vits & mins (thats why I'm going to try it)
 
My boy was on lo cal and he piled on the weight with it and he went a little manic!! Needless to say i gave up with it! Now he gets a small feed with a vit and min supplement and he is back to his fairly sane self

kirt's mam said:
Anyone got any experience of using it for a veteran who doesn't eat enough hard feed to get all his vits & mins (thats why I'm going to try it)
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I would suggest just feeding a little chaff (or whatever other feed he has) with a vitamin and mineral supplement - the best and easiest and most economical way IMO
 
kirt's mam said:
oh heck. i've just ordered my first bag of this for my fussy old boy. He's a bit loopy udnder saddle anyway so this could be interesting. i'm not planning on giving him anything else with it though, just a bit of chop and sugar beet.
Anyone got any experience of using it for a veteran who doesn't eat enough hard feed to get all his vits & mins (thats why I'm going to try it)
Click to expand...

maybe try allan and page fast fibre? has all vits and mins in it and v palatable for the veteran horse :)
or if you can't feed it in the recommeneded quantities because of weight gain you could just add a scoop of pink powder a day to a smaller quantity.
 
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