RATION BALANCERS…WHAT’S ALL THE HYPE?

RATION BALANCERS…WHAT’S ALL THE HYPE?   I’ve been mentioning ration balancers for months now, as you’ve probably noticed. What’s so great about them? What can they do for you and your horse? How do you use them? We’ll have a conversation and show you how they can be a valuable addition to your feeding program. What is a ration balancer? Ration balancers are technically supplements, not feed. I know it can be hard to wrap your head around that because they come in a large bag, they look like pelleted feed, and you get them at the feed store. Change your thinking, though, and view them as supplements. Specifically, they are high-protein supplements that contain vitamins and minerals too. They are typically low-fat, low carb, and have a low to mid-range fiber content. Ration balancers are fed at a different weight than commercial feeds and grains. Please note that I wrote “weight” and not “amount.” This is because the weight really does matter here. You don’t feed ration balancers by the can or scoop, you feed them by the pound, which is usually closer to a couple measuring cups per meal. Since you only need to feed between a half-pound and two pounds per day in most cases, it is important that you know how much you are feeding. Otherwise, you might as well grind up twenty-dollar bills and feed them to your horse. (Kidding…not really.) How do you do that? Take the amount that you usually feed (and your measuring container) to your feed store and ask them to weight the balancer on their scale. Determine the weight that you should be feeding based on the bag information and mark your container with a line to help you see what it looks like when you scoop. Better yet, ask your feed store if they have a specific measuring container for that product. Make sure it is the right one for your balancer though, meaning that it comes from the same company. Balancers differ in density from one manufacturer to another. That means that a half-pound from Company A may take up more room in a bucket than that from Company B. If you are using a measuring container from another company, you are either overfeeding or underfeeding. Ok, got it. But why use balancers? There are three main reasons to use ration balancers. The first is in place of commercial feeds. Let’s say Pudgy Pony gets fat just by watching you open the door to the feed room. He probably doesn’t need any calories from commercial feed, and obesity-related health issues are a great concern. He would do best on a diet of forage, which should be the primary part of a horse’s diet anyway. But it’s possible that the hay or grass won’t provide enough protein, vitamins, and minerals to keep him healthy. You won’t know what it contains unless you have your hay analyzed. Grass is even trickier to assess because its nutrients change throughout the day. Adding a ration balancer (in the appropriate weight) will supply those nutritional needs and fill in the gaps. A good way to understand ration balancers is think of them this way: use them when forages aren’t enough, but commercial feeds are too much. As far as Pudgy Pony cares, it rattles just like feed in his bucket so he thinks he’s getting what everyone else is! Second, ration balancers can be used in addition to commercial feeds. Pudgy Pony’s cousin, Easy Keeper, needs a bit more than just forage to keep up his weight, but if you fed him to the specification on the feed bag, he would resemble Pudgy Pony. He is a great candidate for a “lite” feed or, as an alternative, he can have less of the commercial feed and some of the ration balancer. The ration balancer will help fill in the nutritional gaps caused by not feeding the recommended weight of commercial feed. Third, let’s say you are really committed to feeding your horse grains instead of commercial feeds. Grains are the seeds of grasses, such as oats, corn, and barley. No matter how much you feed, you will be depriving your horse of nutrients because no grain contains all that a horse needs. (Forget what your grandfather said about oats being the perfect feed for horses- we know much more about nutrition now.) Ration balancers can be used to provide the necessary protein, vitamins, and minerals. They allow you to customize your horse’s diet. Perhaps you have a horse who actually is eating the recommended weight of a commercial feed, and he is performing at a high level in his job. Ration balancers can help him too. Think of the athlete who eats a balanced diet but drinks protein shakes. The additional amino acids in the shake help to support his muscles during intense use. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and protein is a key component in balancers. A ration balancer can do the same for your performance horse, because protein is important for muscle building, maintenance, and support. Ration balancers are appropriate for overweight horses, those with metabolic concerns, easy keepers, all life stages, and those that need help building a topline. Whoa…what? Topline? Where does that come into play? Here is the real power of ration balancers: they have a high protein content that ranges from 24%-30%, depending on the manufacturer. What most people don’t realize is that exercise alone won’t build muscle. Protein builds muscle. Exercise just conditions it. If your horse isn’t getting enough protein through his forage and commercial feeds, you can’t expect decent muscle development. It gets even more complicated: the quality and quantity of protein matters. These attributes can vary widely in forage. Protein in ration balancers is much more consistent. If your horse has a poor topline, adding a high protein balancer could be the fix you need. Of course, it can’t change genetics or age, but given time, you will likely