Triple Crown 30%?

My favorite feed store has recently started carrying (well, they can order it for me) Triple Crown products and I'm wondering if I should consider making the switch to TC's ration balancer...

I had previously been feeding Purina's Enrich 32, then switched to hay pellets and Purina's loose mineral in an attempt to feed Miss L something even lower calorie (and I thought it would work out to be cheaper - which has most emphatically NOT been the case). For the winter, hay pellets and the loose minerals are fine (Lacey is a ridiculously easy keeper in the summer -ie, it's a struggle to keep her just "fat" instead of morbidly obese- but is easy to keep at a healthy weight during the winter) but for the summer, since she won't eat the loose mineral unless it has a good lb of pellets along with it, I'm looking for something I can feed less of...you know?

Then, with my whole feeding plan, since she needs to get certain medications twice a day, she ends up eating about a pound and a half+ of hay pellets per day and...you see how this could be a problem!

And before anyone says anything, I've tried just putting a pan of loose mineral out for her but she won't touch it. She might on the first day it's out, but she won't eat nearly the correct amount of it, and she certainly would not touch it the second day.


Anyhoo, since we're heading into spring, I'm starting to formulate this year's anti-obesity campaign and number one on my list is her RB.


So, TC 30% (that's their RB, right?) or Enrich 32? The Enrich is cheaper by about $7, but cheaper=/=better necessarily. And I'm shooting for "best," out of what's available to me.


She's also, for what it's worth, highly likely to be IR. I try to feed her like she is, in any case.
She has a history of extreme obesity and was fed COB her whole life, up to age 25 when I got control of her diet, then combined with being an Arab... Anyway, that's something to keep in mind.

I've had very good success with Triple Crown 30% Supplement for my horse, who's also an easy keeper.

When I was choosing my ration balancer, I found that TC30 had a higher concentration of most vitamins & minerals than either Enrich 32 or Empower Balance (the other 2 RB's that are easy for me to get). I could feed 1 lb of TC30 to get the same level of nutrition as 1.5 lbs of EB, which completely negated the fact that TC30 was ~$15 more per bag (Not to mention TC30 also comes in 50 lb bags, while EB is 40 lbs)

As a company, I definitely prefer Triple Crown over Purina. TC has a fixed formula, while Purina (and Nutrena) will swap out ingredients depending on what's cheapest at the time. TC also publishes their NSC & omega-3 information online, which I haven't seen any other feed company do. Most of their products also have very low NSCs, so I imagine it's in their favor to do so

The last bag of TC30 I got actually had quite a bit of corn mixed into it. I was annoyed, but it wasn't so much that I couldn't pick it out as I was preparing my horse's "grain" for the week. By the time I got to the end of the bag, I had had enough and sent an email to the company. The rep explained that they run whole corn through the system between batches to clean it out (this is where it likely came from), but that I shouldn't be getting corn in my bag, and told me they will replace any bag that has corn in it- all I have to do is send in the lot number and a photo of the feed. I had already thrown away the bag and dropped off the last batch of it at the barn a couple days before, so it was too late for that one, but they do stand behind their product!

Have you thought of feeding TC lite? I feed that to my fatties. If I remember correctly Lacy is retired right? The 30% supplement I believe is designed to be for horses who are active and need the protein to help build muscles. I like the lite for my easy keepers who aren't in work(or a lot of it) because I only have to feed 1-2lbs per day to get all the nutrients they need, and I believe it's the same price per bag as the senior(I think $21) Although I'm not 100% sure since I haven't personally been the one to buy it lol

That's great Verona! I have heard that they are a good company, glad to hear it sounds like they're a great company! :)

Thanks Rachel! I was looking at their product line and I saw the "Lite" but I wasn't sure about it - it looked like you were supposed to feed more or something, I can't remember off the top of my head. I'll go re-investigate!
Lacey was "retired"...but I'm hoping to get her back into some light work this spring/summer. She had partially torn her suspensory and we weren't sure whether she would make it back from that, so -to make it more bearable-, I "retired" her. Now she's 100% sound again, after nearly 6 months off, and I would like to see if she's up to some trail walking. If she's not, that's ok. But at this point, it's looking like she's good to go. I'm trying not to get my hopes up at all but she is happily galloping through her pasture with some regularity so....

Anyway, off topic! Haha

ETA- I just looked it up, for TC30%, the feeding directions are "For balancing pasture and/or hay, feed 1 lb. To 1.5 lbs. Per 1000 lbs. Of body weight"
For TCLite, the instructions are "MATURE HORSES: Feed 1-2 pounds of Triple Crown Lite per 500 pounds of body weight per day"
Also, a quick overview of the vitamin/mineral-ness showed that the 30% had a lot more per pound than the Lite does - Vitamin A was 36,000IU/lb for the 30% and it was 11,000IU/lb for the Lite...just for instance.

So it appears that, for the purposes of feeding a chubby "bunny" the 30% is "better"? Hrmm. Haha

I love love love TC products! I've used their senior feed for Thelma and had better results that on Nutrena. (I don't care at all for purina products.)

Mana is on the 30%. It was a pain in the rear to find, but a small feed store in the area special ordered it for me. I feed 1lb a day, so the 50lb bag lasts me almost two months. I paid $43 for it, so it was pretty much $21.50 a month. I've seen the prices higher and lower on it. Hopefully you can get it less than that.

Hmmmmm....I will keep this in my head for later.

Gray, the TC30% would be $32 for me so it's actually really pretty affordable.



Ok, new kink in the "plan". I was looking for something completely different at the feed store today and found a free sample (like 2lbs! So exciting! Hahaha) of something called "Vitaquine Mineral Supplement"...

I picked the sample up since I can at least use it as treats for the goats, but my interest has been piqued.
It looks like I might need to feed even less of it than the TC30% and it was cheaper ($26 for 50lb tub) BUT the molasses in it concerns me...

I'm thinking that it's "out" due to molasses but I'm not sure...?

Help! Haha

Check and compare ingredients. If you can feed it by the ounce rather than by the pound( I'm thinking 4-6oz), then the molasses shouldn't be a problem, unless it's the first ingredient.

I was going to ask anyway, why not just a normal vit/min supplement with a handful of soaked grass pellets and her medication? She shouldn't be needing 30% protein supplemented anyway.

Lucky duck! I'm jealous. However, I have seen some places selling it for $50 a bag, so it could be worse for me.

Hopefully you can find something that works. I thought that smartpak had some supplements specifically for grass/pasture kept horses too. You may want to check them out if you haven't. I Like the TC30% because it is pellets, and his hoof supp. Is powder so it gives me something to mix it with to make sure he's getting it all.

Good luck!

DHW, on the sample I have, it says it's formulated to be fed at a rate of 8oz/average horse so maybe this is the way to go!
I have been feeding her a straight vit/mineral granular thingy (2oz/day) and she just won't eat it unless a pound or so of hay pellets is involved. And even then, it takes until her second feeding of the day for her to really clean up her pan. I make sure it's all "mush" together but she is just not a fan! Haha
My concern with my current system is that during the summer, when she's getting her entire daily forage needs (and then some! Haha) from grass - w/ grazing muzzle, having a lb+ of hay pellets everyday is going to get her REALLY fat instead of just sort of fat. This stuff I found is a pellet so maybe I'll give it a try (after examining the ingredients like you suggested) since she's a huge fan of pellets, of any kind. And, if there aren't enough pellets for all her supplements to stick to, I can add a few hay pellets but it won't be nearly as much as a lb.

I agree about the protein, she really does not need 30%! At least in the spring/summer! Haha

Gray, SmartPak does, but I'm vehemently anti-SmartPak. Soooo... haha!
This stuff I found is actually a pellet so it could really work. She gets a junk ton of supplements too so pellets are 100% necessary for us too. The wheels are turning... haha