# Thunderbrook feed



## peaceandquiet1 (1 June 2016)

I am interested in using this but it seems expensive....is it worth it? Anyone got any views please.


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## BBP (1 June 2016)

I love the thunderbrooks hay cobs as they are 4% sugar and starch so I can feed them liberally in treat balls or as treats. The chaff smells lovely and went down well to start with but this sack had a mouldy patch (I can't say it wasn't damaged whilst stored at ours) whilst the patch was removed my horse now feels the whole bag is tainted and won't eat any of it. The other horses are still eating it happily but they are greedier!


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## splash30 (1 June 2016)

I feed the hay cobs and my horse loves them, I previously fed simple systems and had a battle to get him to eat now scoffs it down, plus has more energy than before. I'm converted can you tell.


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## Mrskyfall (1 June 2016)

My horses love it. They are both barefoot, one very good doer and one not so good. In winter, I feed them base mix and their chaff and every tiny bit is licked clean. Even with the not so good doer, I have never had to feed their recommended amount as he keeps his weight really well. I used to feed SS, but one has an allergy to alfalfa. They are incredibly helpful and no question to them is too silly, ( believe me, I know!) I would not feed mine anything else, it's brill stuff.

Ooh, I sound like I work for them, honestly, I don't!


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## Leo Walker (1 June 2016)

Mrskyfall said:



			They are incredibly helpful and no question to them is too silly, ( believe me, I know!) I would not feed mine anything else, it's brill stuff.
		
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Whereas I and several other people I know have found them rude in the extreme. I wouldnt feed it if it was the last food on earth, partly because of the rudeness and partly because of the ingredients.


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## M&M&G (1 June 2016)

Interested to know the issues with the ingredients.


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## peaceandquiet1 (1 June 2016)

Yes me too


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## Casey76 (2 June 2016)

I wouldn't feed it based upon the lack of information given regarding the hay cobs.


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## Follysmum (2 June 2016)

I used the herbal chaff after having problems getting hold of Agrobs.  I however now have a local ish supplier of Agrobs so will go back to them. 

 I do think Tb as a company come across very unprofessional with all the silly childish remarks on facebook.  Very quick to slag off other forums, companies etc.  I do not believe any professional  business should conduct their views etc like this. It is very off putting and not good marketing.


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## peaceandquiet1 (2 June 2016)

Follysmum I haven't seen any of this, and don't like the sound of it either.


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## Follysmum (2 June 2016)

horsemadmum1 said:



			Follysmum I haven't seen any of this, and don't like the sound of it either.
		
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If you ask about TB on the  Phoenix barefoot forum, no one seems to have a good word for this company either.


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## Mrskyfall (2 June 2016)

I was unaware of the rudeness to people. That doesn't sound good at all.


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## jodie3 (2 June 2016)

I use it for my two and am very happy with it.
My very picky pony loves the hay cubes and will eat them before anything else.
I thought all the ingredients were listed?
I have spoken to them in person and on the phone and have always found them very helpful.  Their delivery service is very quick and efficient too.
I haven't seen any childish comments on Facebook and have always found them very professional.  (No, I don't work for them either!)


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## Leo Walker (2 June 2016)

Follysmum said:



			If you ask about TB on the  Phoenix barefoot forum, no one seems to have a good word for this company either.
		
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Theres also been posts removed after TB threatened all sorts. I was PM'ed by someone who it turns out was TBs pretending to be just another forum member, fishing for information on another forum. They were shockingly rude to my friend on the phone as well. But the main issue for me at least was on a FB group. I am by far the only one to have been on the receiving end of extreme rudeness.

I am shocked that this hasnt been pulled yet as I have no doubt TB are on here monitoring this. 

As for the ingredients, if you can get them to tell you whats in it, you'll realise its not as good as they like to make out!


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## googol (2 June 2016)

FrankieCob said:



			Theres also been posts removed after TB threatened all sorts. I was PM'ed by someone who it turns out was TBs pretending to be just another forum member, fishing for information on another forum. They were shockingly rude to my friend on the phone as well. But the main issue for me at least was on a FB group. I am by far the only one to have been on the receiving end of extreme rudeness.

I am shocked that this hasnt been pulled yet as I have no doubt TB are on here monitoring this. 

As for the ingredients, if you can get them to tell you whats in it, you'll realise its not as good as they like to make out!
		
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That's really disappointing, I have just started using it and horses are enjoying it and I felt I was doing right by them. They get a fair amount of the healthy chaff as I feed it before riding each day so I'm concerned. What chaff do you feed instead?


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## NOISYGIRL (3 June 2016)

My horse wont eat any chop but my friend bought a bag and it smelled lovely, he ate a handful of it from her, I luckily managed to get a sample bag from local supplier before purchasing it and he wouldn't eat it, he is VERY fussy so I wasn't surprised, he did however like the hay cobs and as he can't have any of the treats you can buy he's been having them as treats.  Would be interested in what is in it if that's the case though as I don't want to risk anything


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## Pocketr@cket (3 June 2016)

I feed their chaff and thought it wa made of better stuff than a lot of other chaffs. I've spoken to both members of staff and they have always been very helpful face to face ; however when asking if I could arrange a collection or delivery as friend lives very close I was pointed to the local stockist listing. I never replied and a few weeks later I was sent another message asking had I managed to get everything I required. Possibly different people ? 

Horse likes it and seems to smell nice and keep well.


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## galaxy (6 June 2016)

I've been feeding my mare their muesli and half rations base mix and daily essentials since March and it's made a big difference to my girl who has suffered for recurrent gassy colics and is frequently bloated.

I don't know why people have issues finding the ingredients. They are clearly listed on their website and bags for the products I have used.

When I spoke to them in the phone initially I found them a little confusing as they told me about a lot of products at once. But they weren't rude. Just need to keep things more simple!

I'm on a fb ulcer site and people rave about it on there. It's free from all chemicals, as well as alfalfa, molasses, beet, magnesium oxide etc which can upset some horses.


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## galaxy (6 June 2016)

googol said:



			That's really disappointing, I have just started using it and horses are enjoying it and I felt I was doing right by them. They get a fair amount of the healthy chaff as I feed it before riding each day so I'm concerned. What chaff do you feed instead?
		
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https://thunderbrook.co.uk/product/healthy-herbal-chaff-15-kg/

Ingredients listed and nothing to be worried about in there.


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## galaxy (6 June 2016)

Casey76 said:



			I wouldn't feed it based upon the lack of information given regarding the hay cobs.
		
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https://thunderbrook.co.uk/product/hay-cobs-5kg/

I don't feed the hay cobs but these are the listed ingredients on the hay cobs.


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## Amicus (6 June 2016)

galaxy said:



			I don't know why people have issues finding the ingredients. They are clearly listed on their website and bags for the products I have used.
s.
		
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 I think they only started listing ingredient after lots of demand and were initially quite rude to the people asking reasonable questions, there attitude may well have improved.


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## galaxy (6 June 2016)

Amicus said:



			I think they only started listing ingredient after lots of demand and were initially quite rude to the people asking reasonable questions, there attitude may well have improved.
		
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 Fair enough &#55357;&#56842; I've only been using it since March. 

I also wouldn't touch a feed that didn't publish ingredients. It's surprisingly common place. Top spec  Ulsakind cubes often come up for discussion on the Fb ulcer page, they don't publish the ingredients which I found surprising! Once investigated it's be had there are a few ingredients what you would normally really avoid in them if you have digestive issues.


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## criso (6 June 2016)

Amicus said:



			I think they only started listing ingredient after lots of demand and were initially quite rude to the people asking reasonable questions, there attitude may well have improved.
		
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That was my experience a few years back when I was trying to do food exclusion on a horse suffering from allergies, they wouldn't tell me.  It may have been on the bag but you want to know what's in it before it arrives not after you've bought it.

Were also extremely unhelpful when I enquired about the organic wheat bran ( I was already feeding bran and liked the idea of switching to an organic version.) They wanted to sell me their base mix which was completely wrong for my forage and when it was clear  I wasn't interested in this so then they weren't very interested in being helpful to me.  Last experience, one of the owners was extremely rude on a facebook group I had just joined when I didn't know who he was.  Always nice being called stupid and unable to use facebook on a public group.  


I think one of the issues with the ingredients is there are mixed feelings on feeding rice bran.  Never fed it myself so don't have an opinion either way.


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## Casey76 (6 June 2016)

galaxy said:



https://thunderbrook.co.uk/product/hay-cobs-5kg/

I don't feed the hay cobs but these are the listed ingredients on the hay cobs.
		
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I don't have an issue with the ingredients of the hay cobs, but the feeding advice is severely lacking.  There is a significant choke risk feeding unsoaked hay cobs in volume, especially to horses with compromised teeth.  CUrrently there is no advice about introducing slowly, or about recpmmended soaking volumes, or even about what volume of cobs is equivalent to how much hay, if you are using as a hay replacer. 

FOr the other products, although they boast about not using wheat feed as a filler, they do use rice bran as a filler, which is just as crap as wheat feed -  I.e. A byproduct and significantly processed.


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## galaxy (7 June 2016)

Casey76 said:



			I don't have an issue with the ingredients of the hay cobs, but the feeding advice is severely lacking.  There is a significant choke risk feeding unsoaked hay cobs in volume, especially to horses with compromised teeth.  CUrrently there is no advice about introducing slowly, or about recpmmended soaking volumes, or even about what volume of cobs is equivalent to how much hay, if you are using as a hay replacer. 

FOr the other products, although they boast about not using wheat feed as a filler, they do use rice bran as a filler, which is just as crap as wheat feed -  I.e. A byproduct and significantly processed.
		
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Yes rice bran is a by product but it is a feed I rate, there are benefits of feeding it, it's not just a pointless cheap filler. I have known people to feed equijewel and it has transformed horses as its a very digestible conditioning feed. 

http://www.understanding-horse-nutrition.com/rice-bran.html

Each to their own.


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## D66 (7 June 2016)

Ive been using it for a year now, the ingredients were listed on the internet then.  The horses condition has improved greatly and their feet are better too, so I'm very happy with it.  One wouldn't touch it the first day, but cleaned up the second. One of the horses is less girthy, the other, an elderly TB keeps condition better.  
I dont do much on Facebook, so won't have seen any of that. When I've phoned they have been helpful.


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## Fransurrey (12 June 2016)

FrankieCob said:



			Whereas I and several other people I know have found them rude in the extreme. I wouldnt feed it if it was the last food on earth, partly because of the rudeness and partly because of the ingredients.
		
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Same. Their dodgy marketing ethic put me off too.


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## ellie_e (15 June 2016)

I use the herbal museli, its great, fussy ulcer mare loves it


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## ester (15 June 2016)

Their legal threats to others who dare suggest that their products, in particular their base mix which some really don't get on with, might not be the perfect solution for EVERY horse on every grazing kind of puts me off ever dealing with them.


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## DJ (15 June 2016)

I feed the herbal chaff and wouldn`t use anything else now. I also like the hay cobs. I have found them very helpful any time I have needed to speak with them, particularly when I had a poorly youngster.


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## Neversaydie (15 June 2016)

Having seen the barefoot Facebook page that's run by them I would t ever touch the feed. Woman on my yard used the chaff and found her horse went off its head on it, put it back on another chaff (agrobs I think) and she had her horse back. Again was recommended on the barefoot page.


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## galaxy (15 June 2016)

ester said:



			Their legal threats to others who dare suggest that their products, in particular their base mix which some really don't get on with, might not be the perfect solution for EVERY horse on every grazing kind of puts me off ever dealing with them.
		
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Is this in the past as its not my experience? They recommended I didn't feed just the base mix to my girl as they didn't feel a full ration would suit her and when my friends mare totally refused to eat her base mix they were very helpful trying to find any other solution for her. 

This feed has totally changed the shape of my mare's stomach, she's now not at all gassy. She was already on a high fibre feed before (Allen and page), but the combination of ingredients in tb really helps some horses. It's easy to say that you may not like the company personally but their feeds are genuinely helping some horses and there aren't many options if you are trying to find feeds without a massive list of ingredients that are known aggravate guts (and some mainstream feed company's sell their feeds as "ulcer friendly" etc and yet contain a load of ingredients that are unsuitable)


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## ester (15 June 2016)

This is mostly regarding their conduct on facebook. If people comment on some facebook groups that people might want to change their vit/min supplementation because through experience they know that TB doesn't always suit all horse all hell breaks loose or comments get deleted like some sort of TB mafia when people are just trying to help owners and their horses. And we are talking about people who really know their stuff about barefoot and whom most people would give their right arm to send their problem footed horse too. The base mix is considered too low in copper and magnesium by such people for some grazing/some horses. 
So much so that on one barefoot group we aren't allowed to mention them at all because it isn't worth the hassle of the lawsuit threats etc that then goes on. 
There are enough better/equally good alternatives for me not to use them given the conduct on social media. These things should be open for debate and discussion and plenty of other companies are secure enough in their product to not feel the need to police the internet for anyone saying there might be something better.


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## galaxy (15 June 2016)

ester said:



			This is mostly regarding their conduct on facebook. If people comment on some facebook groups that people might want to change their vit/min supplementation because through experience they know that TB doesn't always suit all horse all hell breaks loose or comments get deleted like some sort of TB mafia when people are just trying to help owners and their horses. And we are talking about people who really know their stuff about barefoot and whom most people would give their right arm to send their problem footed horse too. The base mix is considered too low in copper and magnesium by such people for some grazing/some horses. 
So much so that on one barefoot group we aren't allowed to mention them at all because it isn't worth the hassle of the lawsuit threats etc that then goes on. 
There are enough better/equally good alternatives for me not to use them given the conduct on social media. These things should be open for debate and discussion and plenty of other companies are secure enough in their product to not feel the need to police the internet for anyone saying there might be something better.
		
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With gut issues the only alternative is agrobs. Not a lot of choice. For gut issues tb is very highly thought of. People rave about it on the ulcer websites. im not on barefoot sites which is why I've not seen what you have.


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## criso (15 June 2016)

I think they are helpful until you dare question them or report a bad experience or suggest it may not be best for all horses, then there is a quite scary change of approach.  My initial experience was pre facebook and via email, facebook showed me was this was part of a pattern not an isolated case.

I know several trimmers who don't rate it and have seen problem after problem when owners try it which then vanish when it's removed from the diet.  However you wouldn't really see this on the facebook pages as if anyone does post anything negative, the post is quickly removed and the person removed/blocked from the group so unless you spot that a post has gone - and you might not question it as you might just think that it's you that can't find it - so you see lots of positive reports.  A lot of people don't bother posting though as they know it'll just get them kicked out.  

As for alternatives, with my allergic horse in the end I went back to straights, no worrying about what's in it if there is only one ingredient but I'm not feeding for diagnosed ulcers, just fussy barefoot tbs who can't cope with even a sniff of sugar or high calcium.  I am now trying Agrobs and the musli seems OK but I am nervous of anything that has more than one ingredient listed on the bag.

I'm sure it's perfect for some horses in some situations but the behaviour I've seen has put me off.


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## galaxy (15 June 2016)

I don't know what you'd look for in a barefoot diet to comment what's good or not.


Currently with my mares gut issues, it's no alfalfa, wheat, grains, molasses, soya, beet and basically any other cheap processed filler that companies shove in! Look for L-gluts, yeasacc 1026 (not just classified 'yeast'), B vits and biomoss. Micronised linseed and rice bran seem to be good ingredients for this problems a long with natural herbs such as fennel, marshmallow route and salt. But all ingredients have to be unprocessed. This year has been a steep learning curve but ghis feeding regime seems to be working (touch wood)


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## criso (15 June 2016)

There is some overlap but slightly different needs.  

One of the things I don't do is pre supplemented as it's difficult to control dosage where you would vary the quantity of bucket feed from horse to horse and at different times of the year.  So to take one example, yeasacc 1026 is one of the things I feed but I don't want added included in a feed as I want to keep the dosage the same regardless of what I feed.


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## ester (16 June 2016)

galaxy said:



			With gut issues the only alternative is agrobs. Not a lot of choice. For gut issues tb is very highly thought of. People rave about it on the ulcer websites. im not on barefoot sites which is why I've not seen what you have.
		
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Of course, I am just reporting what the situation is and why some of us wouldn't ever give them our custom. 
I'm only actually on one barefoot group, I can't bear the others and that is the one we aren't allowed to mention them at all- a rather farcical situation given every other product that gets discussed. 
In my line of work everything is open to criticism and that met with counter argument if possible with a wide understanding that nothing is likely to provide the complete solution and everything can likely be improved.

Before agrobs I was feeding D+H just grass, which is only grass so there are alternatives .


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## galaxy (16 June 2016)

criso said:



			There is some overlap but slightly different needs.  

One of the things I don't do is pre supplemented as it's difficult to control dosage where you would vary the quantity of bucket feed from horse to horse and at different times of the year.  So to take one example, yeasacc 1026 is one of the things I feed but I don't want added included in a feed as I want to keep the dosage the same regardless of what I feed.
		
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Totally understand, especially yeasacc as its on the top of my list of ingredients. I do feed her the recemended amount of base mix as its not a lot and I found out from them exactly how much yea sac that was. This time of year when the grass is being troublesome I am now adding a small scoop of pure yea sacc 1026 more to bring it up to max dose. But before the grass came through she was doing great without it.


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## galaxy (16 June 2016)

criso said:



			There is some overlap but slightly different needs.  

One of the things I don't do is pre supplemented as it's difficult to control dosage where you would vary the quantity of bucket feed from horse to horse and at different times of the year.  So to take one example, yeasacc 1026 is one of the things I feed but I don't want added included in a feed as I want to keep the dosage the same regardless of what I feed.
		
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ester said:



			Of course, I am just reporting what the situation is and why some of us wouldn't ever give them our custom. 
I'm only actually on one barefoot group, I can't bear the others and that is the one we aren't allowed to mention them at all- a rather farcical situation given every other product that gets discussed. 
In my line of work everything is open to criticism and that met with counter argument if possible with a wide understanding that nothing is likely to provide the complete solution and everything can likely be improved.

Before agrobs I was feeding D+H just grass, which is only grass so there are alternatives .
		
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Oh what I didn't add to the list of my mares issues was she can't eat short chop chaff as she can get severe choke even if wet. She was the tb muesli made into a mash. 

There are other feeds that would make into a mash that don't contain beet, but not many. Only one I'd consider from the ingredients and suitable for her needs would be agrobs muesli.


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## criso (16 June 2016)

galaxy said:



			There are other feeds that would make into a mash that don't contain beet, but not many. Only one I'd consider from the ingredients and suitable for her needs would be agrobs muesli.
		
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Not sure the Musli would really go down to a mash rather than soggy chop.   Agrobs do do a mash and i think the senior goes to a mash but I'm not sure the Musli would.  It retains its texture when mixed with wet copra.

I was feeding bran, copra and linseed but have swapped the bran out for Musli as one of my horses is very fussy and in his case prefers something with texture. 

TBH I don't really regard the base mix as a feed so much as a supplement and one that for me contains ingredients I am trying to avoid (calcium iron, selenium is higher than i need) while being far to low in copper, zinc and magnesium for my forage so I just make up my own blend and use bucket feed to carry supplements, add protein, add calories some of the time.   

Re the ingredients, tbs still don't list all on line  as they talk about herbs and botanicals without listing what they are, maybe they list them on the bag.


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## galaxy (16 June 2016)

ester said:



			Of course, I am just reporting what the situation is and why some of us wouldn't ever give them our custom. 
I'm only actually on one barefoot group, I can't bear the others and that is the one we aren't allowed to mention them at all- a rather farcical situation given every other product that gets discussed. 
In my line of work everything is open to criticism and that met with counter argument if possible with a wide understanding that nothing is likely to provide the complete solution and everything can likely be improved.

Before agrobs I was feeding D+H just grass, which is only grass so there are alternatives .
		
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criso said:



			Not sure the Musli would really go down to a mash rather than soggy chop.   Agrobs do do a mash and i think the senior goes to a mash but I'm not sure the Musli would.  It retains its texture when mixed with wet copra.

I was feeding bran, copra and linseed but have swapped the bran out for Musli as one of my horses is very fussy and in his case prefers something with texture. 

TBH I don't really regard the base mix as a feed so much as a supplement and one that for me contains ingredients I am trying to avoid (calcium iron, selenium is higher than i need) while being far to low in copper, zinc and magnesium for my forage so I just make up my own blend and use bucket feed to carry supplements, add protein, add calories some of the time.   

Re the ingredients, tbs still don't list all on line  as they talk about herbs and botanicals without listing what they are, maybe they list them on the bag.
		
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The tb muesli soaks down into a really nice mash. My mare loves it. They list out all the different ingredients in it on the bag and I'm sure online too. 

I would consider the basemix and conditioning supplement. Their daily essentials is their low calorie balancer


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## Lego (17 June 2016)

I spent a bit of time looking at feeds recently and liked the look of thunderbrooks... got some samples and really didn't like it! Neither did the greedy cob who normally eats anything and everything... wouldn't eat the base mix - although from the ingredients list I could get hold of it seemed similar to stuff he's had before. The chaff was spiky and smelt odd, and the cobs were like concrete! 

I then managed to find somewhere relatively local that stocked agrobs - got the muesli and the cobs. Horse loved them but just didn't pick up like I was hoping and if anything coat was a bit duller. Such a shame as really liked the company, it's ethos and it's ingredients. Was talking to the supplier and she said she'd spoken to both companies before deciding which to stock, and the thunderbrooks is basically made from the fields that agrobs wouldn't touch, and they can't sell it where it's produced, so sell here... 

So put off thunderbrooks by potential lack of quality fields, and lack of easily obtainable complete ingredients etc. 

Really liked everything about agrobs but didn't seem to suit the horse - but then he has alfalfa intolerance so might have been something along those lines since it's produced using a variety of grasses/herbs etc


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