Question
I own a 10-year-old Welsh mare that stands 13.2 hands and weighs about 750 lb (340 kg). She is very fit because she trains for advanced driving competitions. Because of her training schedule, she tends to be a little underweight. I used to feed her a balancer pellet and an extruded high-fat supplement. I was told that the balancer pellet had too much protein, so I tried one cup of 10% grain mix and two cups of a low-starch feed per day. I felt she was a little hot on the grain. She gets primarily coastal Bermuda hay and a little orchard grass and alfalfa (lucerne). Now I am lost. Can you suggest a better feeding program and supplements? She deserves it!
Answer
I am sorry somebody misled you about the balancer pellet. In my opinion, it is the right feed program for this pony.
The idea behind a balancer pellet is that it will supply the protein, minerals, and vitamins found in the minimum recommended feeding rate of a classic feed but in a small amount of feed (1-2 lb) and without the extra calories.
What is often confused is the fact that the amount of protein in a feed is relative to the amount fed. Even if a product is 25% protein, a few ounces of the product won’t add significantly more protein to the diet.
Your horse’s current feeding program is about as low in starch and sugar as you can get but not quite balanced for all nutrients, as you are feeding well below the recommended feeding rates.
Your pony is working hard and needs a good balance of protein, minerals, and vitamins. If the feeding program with the balancer and the extruded fat supplement worked for you previously, you might consider going back to that. Rest assured that ration balancers do not have too much protein; they are formulated that way for a reason.
Another option would be to balance out the diet with a vitamin-mineral supplement. KERx has two excellent supplements, Micro-Max (available in the U.S.) and Gold Pellet(available in Australia) which would work well in this feeding program to bring it back to nutritional balance for your mare.
