My horse's diet

Hey! I'm just curious about my horse's feed and if it's the best for her. The BO is very knowledgeable but I just want to make sure :)

My horse is a 3 year old draft cross mare. She's still growing but has stopped for the last year (she's just been getting thicker). She's only just starting under saddle so she does a lot of walking in the ring and trotting for about 5+ minutes. I asked the BO last night what my horse gets fed and this is what she said in the text:

Horsemen's Edge
Low Fat (I think? The text looked like l0fat so I'm guessing that's what it means. I'm not familiar with feeds) 2lbs twice a day
And 1/2c flax seed once a day

Hay?

Horsemans edge is a 14% sweet feed made by Purina. I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Purina has low cost formulas and sweet feed is super high in NSC (starch/sugar) with limited nutrition. It's full of grain by-products and molasses.

If your horse is a draft cross, then she probably weighs at least 1,000lbs. She is not getting NEAR enough of the feed to even be worth feeding it nutrition wise. It calls for 6lbs for a 1,000lb horse in no work to meet nutrition needs.

Change feeds. If she is an easy keeper and doesn't need all the extra calories, then you're best bet would be to feed a ration balancer such as Buckeye Gro N Win, Triple Crown 30% or even a feed such as Triple Crown Lite.

The feeding directions are on the bag for a reason. If you don't follow them then you are over feeding nutrition or under feeding it.

Feed brands I will use are Triple Crown, Buckeye, ADM.

Yes sweet feed is crap especially for a draft or draft cross. I second the ration balancer. Purina makes one if that is all you can get in your area. Otherwise Nutrena has a ration balancer and the triple crown mentioned above.

Is the flax ground? Whole flax cannot be digested properly.

I looked it up last night, there are several types, formulated for your area. If it's the 10:10, it has 10% protein, 10% fat, which is very high in fat, protein could be a tad higher for her. It's not top-of-the-line feed. There are better ones, as mentioned above. You're in a boarding situation, don't know if you can do anything about it, apart from buying your own, out of your pocket. The flax is a good idea, some people say, whole seed is just fine, others say it has to be ground. I personally would grind it fresh for every feeding.

I have been asking the same question...want to get my horse off sweet feed..he was on that plus strategy and he was going nuts....as of this past Monday I am giving him 1 lb of 10% sweet feed with NO strategy and he is slowly getting back to normal...still a little spooky and normally he is a dead head..

I have researched the balances and have come up with either purina enrich 32 OR triple crown lite....have to find out which is carried in my area BUT the difference I noticed was that enrich 32 has 32% protein, 5% fat and 5.5% fiber....triple crown lite has 12% protein, 3% fat, and 20% fiber....seems to be a big difference in the two...does anyone have any input on either of these....my horse is not a heavy worker, he is an easy keeper pony about 800lbs....I am concerned in the big difference in protein in the two feeds......I know the strategy had something to do with him hyper ness because he has calmed down, even though that has happened I would prefer to have him off sweet feed...the name alone does not sound good.....the NSC and starch in triple crown seems to be pretty low...not sure of the starch in enrich.....

Yeah, Callie gets plenty of hay which also varies on the weather/if she's cooped up in the stall or in the field. The BO has admitted in the past, which I just remembered now, that she isn't fully knowledgeable/experienced with draft crosses. She's extremely experienced with paints/appys/QH's. A long time ago she said she was talking to a nutritionist but I'm not sure if she still is considering when she originally said that Callie was growing like a weed and now she has stopped for over a year. I know draft crosses grow slowly but it's just strange. As far as her weight, she is only about... 900lbs? I keep using the measuring tape I have that gives a weight approximation but I always forget to record what it says. I can't remember if she had reach 845 or if it was 935lbs :/ I know, it's a big gap. Maybe if I make it out to the barn tomorrow I can try again. If not tomorrow, then definitely Monday.

I feel so useless haha. I haven't kept track at all about her feeding. I'm not sure about the percentages in it or the flax seed. The BO is nice but she has her moments and I'm afraid of questioning her. I've just always trusted her decision but I've been taking a stand the last couple months. For example, she likes everyone to use her two farriers so she gave me a hard time when I changed (she kept doubting and disagreeing with everything the farrier was saying) but I'm keeping the new farrier. I'll disagree with her sometimes because I'm so determined to bring Callie up the best way I can.

She looks good - not skinny or super fat. I might be able to ask for a change in her feed though.

How do you know what to feed a growing horse? I've always wondered that but was always too afraid to ask.

So what would you guys recommend in terms of how many lbs/times a day and best type of feed for a draft cross? What makes the brands such as Triple Crown good? (Sorry to ask so many questions. I'm genuinely interested).
I might even ask her vet so then maybe he can talk to the barn owner so she doesn't start interrogating me or getting mad at me for questioning her.

I included pictures just to show her weight/size... Ignore my mom and Blaze in the last picture. My mom wasn't very photogenic last week for those pictures. The other two are from the summer but nothing has changed except for her thick winter coat.

Enrich is a ration balancer, high in protein because it's meant to balance a grass hay diet. It _s fed a lb to max 2 a day. No other feed necessary.
Triple crown lite is a pelleted feed, given in larger amounts.
Strategy is a pretty powerful feed, high energy. If fed by the scoop or coffeecan, it can supply too much energy.

right now she's looking great. I really wouldn't change anything unless she's changing, like gaining too much. She will widen with age, that's for sure.

You could ask the BO when she talks to a nutritionist, to specifically ask for your horse, just to make sure everything is alright. Praise her for her choice of feed, and how happy you are with how Callie looks......cheese points you could mention that, once she's done growing, you would consider a ration balancer for her, since draft crosses are generally easy keepers.
Read about ration balancers before, so you know what you're talking about

I like the idea of asking the nutritions opion. Ask the BO if she is still having someone out and maybe you can make the arrangements. If the nutritions suggests something different then the BO can't get mad at you for wanting to change. I agree that sweet feeds are crap

Just bc the protein content on the bag says a certain number doesn't mean you are actually feeding that % in each feeding. RB's are more concentrated and meant to be fed in much smaller amounts than a normal feed. TC Lite is a feed, not a RB, but still meant to be fed at smaller amounts than a typical feed.

I'll have to look up the actual formula to calculate how much protein is n each feeding. I can't remember how to do it off hand.

Strategy is SUPER high in NSC. I'm not surprised that your horse was a nut case on it.