Ration Balancer

I'm looking into seeing if we can get a ration balancer for the horses. I feel that its a waste to keep giving them sweet feed as they aren't doing anything right now, and unless we find someone to lease Vega, they won't be doing anything for a while.

I believe Vega might be harder to find a ration balancer for because she's hypp NH.

Gem's only problem is having arthritis, but I don't think that should matter with what balancer he gets.

How long, on average, would a ration balancer last for? (Is this something we'll have to get every month? Every other month?)

Also, if there's another type of feed that would be good for a horse out of work, I'd be open to looking into it.

Why do they need anything more than good hay/pasture and some available mineral?

Absolutely agree and anything the horse does not need goes in one end and out the other for the most part..........HOWEVER putting high protein feed (like RB's have) in the horse strains the kidneys in the horse and could have detrimental effect.

Good quality hay/grass with minimal oats for a horse not being worked is more than adequate.

A 50lbs bag of ration balancer will last ONE horse doing minimal work 50 days if fed properly

Research has shown that our pastrues and hays are lacking in vital vitamins and minerals ...


There is NOTHING HIGH protien about RB's

Oats on average are 12% protien ... so at 3lbs a day (which is lower then most people feed ) that is .36lbs of protien

Ration balancer is normally 32% at 1lb a day .32lbs of protein

Now sugars/starches

Oats average 52% at 3lbs a day is 1.56lbs of sugars and starches

Rb's average is 18% at 1lb a day .18lb of sugars/starches

Reaserch may have shown YOUR pasture lacking in vital vitamins or minerals but mine are just fine thank you.

Before you attempt to load your horse with something it may not need test the pasture. Just because a research result showed one thing under certain cercumstances does not mean it applies in areas with differend peramiters.


Suuuuuuuuure 32 % is reallly low. 32% is 32% just because you feed less of it does not alter the content. By your reasoning you are saying "lets not spread what I plan to have today in lets say in sugur in candies and other food and lets put it all in ONE cup and down it all at once so my poor kidneys get a hugh shock".

Once again less quantity does NOT reduce the quality.

You do realize that you can get vitamin and minerals for horses without any added protein right?

Most hays & pasture have more than adequate protein for horses. Spring & summer pastures tend to have enough nutrients for even pregnant & lactating mares - as long as you have big enough pastures to support horses, some people don't. Hay does lose fat-soluable vitamins when it is dried so supplements containing those are good if a horse is on an a hay diet. Most of this info can be found in NRC's updated 2007 publication.

There is no way for the horses to maintain proper weight on the current pasture. There's just not enough grass for that. If they could maintain their weight, I'd just drop the feed.

They are currently, I believe, getting 1-2 flakes twice a day (when they are fed grain)
I don't have all that much control over the amount of hay as they are boarded at the moment and we like the place and do not want to move.

Thanks for the replies.

I feed ADM Stay Strong. It comes in 40 lb bags and lasts 2 big 1200 lb horses 2 weeks....feeding at the rate of 3/4 lb twice a day. I feed grass hay 3 times a day and sometimes a midnight snack of 1 flake if they sucker me into it.

Thanks Hotreddun! I'm just concerned that it didn't say anything about potassium (for Vega)

Apy ADM is great when you call them on the phone about getting or giving you the numbers you need/want if you arethinking of an ADM Product call them