# who feeds balancers?



## pegasus1986 (24 December 2015)

Hi do you feed a balancer if so which one do you use im looking into the top spec cool balancer has anyone used this does it keep the weight on ok. Thank you


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## gina2201 (24 December 2015)

What else are you feeding? As this will affect what balancer you need/don't need?

I have started to feed a balancer (TopSpec Comprehensive) as I moved my mare to their Ulsakind cubes and was recommended that a balancer is needed. She also has Alfa A Oil. I can't comment on the Cool balancer but the bags do give guidelines on how much should be fed.


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## Charlie007 (24 December 2015)

I feed TopSpec comprehensive balancer,  TopSpec conditioning cubes,  just grass chaff and linseed.  This is for a 6yo tb and he looks great.


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## acorn92x (24 December 2015)

I feed 1 mug of Baileys Lo Cal Balancer with 1 heaped mug of HiFi Lite with garlic, turmeric, linseed oil and black pepper twice a day and my girl has never looked better. She's a 15hh cob so keeping weight on is generally the opposite problem to what we have.


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## Follysmum (24 December 2015)

I use Progressive Earth Pro Balance.  One of the most cost effective and best on the market.   I know its best suited to my horses diet after having analysis done on their grass and hay.


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## WandaMare (24 December 2015)

I also use Baileys lo-cal, have done for years with Hifi lite and it seems to suit all my native types well.


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## Tronk (24 December 2015)

I feed Chestnut feeds Balancer.  Great stuff- he's not working at the mo so just feed that alone. It saves messing about with 3 different bags of feed- makes life simple and he looks amazing.


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## Jazmyn101 (24 December 2015)

Hi, I feed my horse topspec cool balancer. I can't really comment on how well it helps to keep weight as my horse keeps her weight well and would without the balancer. She does on it, it low sugar good for her feet (barefoot) and doesn't fizz her up, she has a great coat too. I love it!


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## TGM (24 December 2015)

I feed Spillers Lite Balancer to my hunting pony and she does very well on it, but she is a good doer anyway.  If your horse is prone to weight loss you may need to feed additional feed alongside the balancer.  Balancers can help maintain condition because they contain probiotics and/or prebiotics.  The theory is that these promote good bacteria in the gut, allowing the horse to digest fibre more efficiently, so making the most of the food they get.  However, although they provide the RDA of vit/mins, plus good quality protein, they are not hugely high in calories.  So you might need to add some extras such as micronised linseed, grass products, beet, oats etc.  Obviously alongside good quality forage.


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## {97702} (24 December 2015)

pegasus1986 said:



			Hi do you feed a balancer if so which one do you use im looking into the top spec cool balancer has anyone used this does it keep the weight on ok. Thank you
		
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I use it for my TB and it has turned him into a poor looking bag of bones when I got him in May to a gorgeous shiny hunk now   I can thoroughly recommend it







to this


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## pegasus1986 (25 December 2015)

I feed hi fibre cubes and hifi apple and adlib haylage. Thanks everyone &#128522;


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## fliffkins (25 December 2015)

I used to feed blue chip lami lite but have now moved onto a powdered formula from hack up bespoke. Has everything in it he needs and people always comment on how young he looks (he's coming up 20)


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## Cortez (26 December 2015)

A balancer will not add weight, it is designed to be an all round vitamin/mineral supplement not an actual feed. If you wish to have your horse gain weight then good quality hay or haylage fed ad lib (all-you-can-eat, all the time) and a high-oil short feed such as linseed meal added to the ration will achieve this. There are several commercial weight gain feeds on the market, Bailey's have one I think.


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## MiJodsR2BlinkinTite (26 December 2015)

I feed Benevit Advance to my two oldies. The mare has been an Endurance horse in her lifetime and her (previous) owner always used it on hers.


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## BORODIN (28 December 2015)

great transformation!


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## Luci07 (30 December 2015)

So..question..if you feed a good general supplement and decent straights, what does a balancer give that that option wouldn't? I did have mine on a balancer, which as as we know are blooming expensive and took him off it, replacing it with a normal all round supplement. He looks the same weight wise and looks well. Am I missing something?


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## ihatework (30 December 2015)

Luci07 said:



			So..question..if you feed a good general supplement and decent straights, what does a balancer give that that option wouldn't? I did have mine on a balancer, which as as we know are blooming expensive and took him off it, replacing it with a normal all round supplement. He looks the same weight wise and looks well. Am I missing something?
		
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No I don't think you are. In general I think the pelleted balances are a great marketing ploy! I reckon there are far more cost efficient ways of achiving the same result!


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## Jazzy B (31 December 2015)

ihatework said:



			No I don't think you are. In general I think the pelleted balances are a great marketing ploy! I reckon there are far more cost efficient ways of achiving the same result!
		
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No I don't think you are either - I fed my lad Top Spec and he went loopy!  Now on a diet of straights and ad lib hay and looking just as good.   To be honest I could never quite fathom what I was balancing it with because surely hay and grass analysis would be different across the board.


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## TGM (31 December 2015)

Luci07 said:



			So..question..if you feed a good general supplement and decent straights, what does a balancer give that that option wouldn't? I did have mine on a balancer, which as as we know are blooming expensive and took him off it, replacing it with a normal all round supplement. He looks the same weight wise and looks well. Am I missing something?
		
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Generally, a pelleted balancer will give some additional high quality protein and usually a probiotic yeast, which are not in most powdered vit/min supplements.  But these additions may not be necessary for some horses, in which case a powdered vit/min supplement should be just fine.

Another advantage for some is that a pelleted balancer can be fed on its own, without having to be mixed in to chaff or such like.  Also less likely to be wasted by sticking to the sides of the bowl if not properly mixed in, which may be be a consideration if you rely on others to feed your horse.

So they suit some purposes and situations, but are not the magical product that should be used on all horses as some would have you believe!


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## Luci07 (1 January 2016)

A



TGM said:



			Generally, a pelleted balancer will give some additional high quality protein and usually a probiotic yeast, which are not in most powdered vit/min supplements.  But these additions may not be necessary for some horses, in which case a powdered vit/min supplement should be just fine.

Another advantage for some is that a pelleted balancer can be fed on its own, without having to be mixed in to chaff or such like.  Also less likely to be wasted by sticking to the sides of the bowl if not properly mixed in, which may be be a consideration if you rely on others to feed your horse.

So they suit some purposes and situations, but are not the magical product that should be used on all horses as some would have you believe!
		
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Additional protein...well he gets that in his condition and soak...probiotic..I will look into that but not sure he needs it. Thank you for the replies. At anything between £27 and £45 for 3 weeks for my horse, it is an expensive addition when I don't need it.


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## TGM (1 January 2016)

Luci07 said:



			A
Additional protein...well he gets that in his condition and soak...probiotic..I will look into that but not sure he needs it. Thank you for the replies. At anything between £27 and £45 for 3 weeks for my horse, it is an expensive addition when I don't need it.
		
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Quite agree that it sounds that your horse doesn't need one at all! 

If, on the other hand, you had a horse that was on soaked/poor nutritional quality hay, limited grazing and/or no additional hard feed, then a balancer might be an option to be considered.


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## little_critter (1 January 2016)

TGM said:



			Generally, a pelleted balancer will give some additional high quality protein and usually a probiotic yeast, which are not in most powdered vit/min supplements.  But these additions may not be necessary for some horses, in which case a powdered vit/min supplement should be just fine.

Another advantage for some is that a pelleted balancer can be fed on its own, without having to be mixed in to chaff or such like.  Also less likely to be wasted by sticking to the sides of the bowl if not properly mixed in, which may be be a consideration if you rely on others to feed your horse.

So they suit some purposes and situations, but are not the magical product that should be used on all horses as some would have you believe!
		
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Yup, I feed a balancer because I want to get vits & minerals into my pony without too many calories. Why spend money on chaff AND a supplement when you could feed just a balancer? And also my pony loves balancers but won't touch chaff with a supplement in it.


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## ILuvCowparsely (1 January 2016)

pegasus1986 said:



			Hi do you feed a balancer if so which one do you use im looking into the top spec cool balancer has anyone used this does it keep the weight on ok. Thank you
		
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Dodson and Horrell  Ultimate balancer


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## thatsmygirl (3 January 2016)

Follysmum said:



			I use Progressive Earth Pro Balance.  One of the most cost effective and best on the market.   I know its best suited to my horses diet after having analysis done on their grass and hay.
		
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I use equimins advance complete, reason being " iv had my grazing analysis" with doing this iv found my grazing iv dangerously high in iron but very low in copper ( backed up by blood tests for the copper) topspec is high in iron and has such low amounts of copper there's no way I could feed it without making things worst. 
Equimins has no iron along with a few other balancers who are noticing that iron is in quite high amounts in forage,grazing and after the analysis being carried out via companies like forage plus and the company I work with ( only local area) but all high iron. Copper is also higher levels in the equimins so fits in nicely.
How many people actually know what their horses need? If I hadn't of looked into it I would be seriously over loading iron and paying silly money from a balancer to do that. 
And once working it out, a 40g scoop of equimins gives far more than 500 g of topspec. I don't like paying balancer prices when its wheatfeed,oatfeed, molasses and other CHEAP byproducts. Equimins is linseed based and no crap fillers.


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## autumn7 (3 January 2016)

Interesting re. iron and copper amounts. Roughly which area of GB (presumably) are you?


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## thatsmygirl (3 January 2016)

I'm from Devon. Its very interesting when u get your grazing tested plus can do hay etc as well.


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## autumn7 (4 January 2016)

Thanks. May just get grass analysed this Spring and see what's what. I'm in the East of England.


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