Balancer Feeds for Horses: Benefits, Uses & How to Choose

 

Balancer Feeds for Horses: Benefits, Uses & How to Choose

Choosing the right feed for your horse can feel overwhelming. With so many different pellets, concentrates, supplements and specialised feeds available, it isn't always easy to know which option will best suit your horse's individual needs.

One type of feed that has become increasingly popular is the ration balancer, often referred to as a balancer pellet.

Balancer feeds offer a convenient and flexible way to provide essential nutrients without adding large amounts of unnecessary energy to the diet. They can be particularly useful for good doers, horses on forage based diets and those that require careful management of their calorie intake.

But what exactly is a balancer feed, and how do you know whether your horse needs one?

What Is a Balancer Feed?

A balancer is a concentrated feed formulated to supply essential vitamins, minerals and, depending on the product, quality protein and amino acids at relatively low feeding rates.

Unlike traditional concentrate feeds, which are often designed to provide substantial amounts of energy alongside essential nutrients, balancers focus primarily on meeting nutritional requirements without significantly increasing the horse's daily calorie intake.

Most balancers are designed to complement a forage based diet consisting of pasture, hay and chaff. They can also be incorporated into diets containing other energy sources, such as beet pulp, oilseeds or grains.

Because they contain concentrated nutrients, balancers are generally fed in much smaller quantities than conventional horse feeds. For example, some products require approximately 500 g to 1 kg per day for a 500 kg horse, although feeding recommendations vary considerably between brands and formulations.

An example is Hygain Balanced, a concentrated pelleted balancer containing vitamins, minerals, quality protein and essential amino acids. Its low feeding rate makes it a practical option for horses that don't require large amounts of additional energy.

Why Might Your Horse Need a Balancer?

Even when a horse is maintaining a healthy weight on pasture or hay, this doesn't necessarily mean its diet is providing every essential nutrient.

Forage is the foundation of a healthy equine diet and can provide much of a horse's daily energy and protein requirements. However, its nutritional composition varies depending on soil conditions, plant species, seasonal growth and maturity.

Some forages may contain insufficient levels of important trace minerals, such as copper, zinc and selenium, or vitamins that decline during hay storage.

This means a horse can receive adequate calories while still having nutritional deficiencies.

A balancer is designed to help address these gaps without requiring owners to feed large quantities of concentrate.

Balancers can be particularly useful for horses receiving sufficient energy from forage but requiring additional vitamins and trace minerals.

The Benefits of Feeding a Balancer

1. Ideal for Good Doers

Some horses seem to maintain their weight on little more than good quality pasture or hay.

While this can make feeding relatively straightforward, it can create a challenge when trying to ensure adequate vitamin and mineral intake.

Feeding a conventional concentrate at its full recommended rate may provide more energy than the horse needs. However, reducing the amount fed can also reduce the vitamins and minerals supplied.

A balancer allows owners to provide concentrated nutrients without adding substantial amounts of extra energy.

This can be particularly useful for ponies, easy keepers and horses that need to maintain or reduce their body condition.

2. Greater Flexibility When Designing a Diet

One of the biggest advantages of balancer feeds is the flexibility they provide.

By using a balancer to meet much of the horse's vitamin and mineral requirements, owners can adjust other components of the ration according to the horse's energy and protein needs.

For example, a horse in light work that maintains weight easily might only require pasture, hay and an appropriate balancer.

A horse in moderate work might receive the same type of balancer alongside additional fibre and energy sources, such as beet pulp or oil.

This can be useful for horses that need extra calories without large amounts of cereal grain.

For horses requiring a low starch approach, Benchmark Balancer is another option. Unlike traditional balancer pellets, it is a concentrated mash designed to provide essential nutrients and amino acids while keeping starch and sugar intake low.

Of course, choosing the right combination of feeds still requires consideration of the entire diet to ensure that energy, protein, minerals and vitamins remain appropriately balanced.

3. A Useful Source of Quality Protein and Amino Acids

One common misconception is that all balancer feeds are low in protein.

In fact, many ration balancers contain relatively high percentages of protein because they are designed to deliver concentrated nutrition in small quantities.

Protein provides amino acids that are essential for muscle maintenance, tissue repair, growth and numerous metabolic processes.

Of particular importance are essential amino acids such as lysine, methionine and threonine, which must be obtained through the diet.

For horses receiving lower quality forage, a well formulated balancer containing quality protein and essential amino acids may help address nutritional shortfalls.

However, it's important to remember that a high percentage of protein in a feed doesn't necessarily mean it supplies a large amount of protein overall.

For example, feeding 500 g of a 25% protein balancer provides approximately 125 g of crude protein. The rest of the horse's requirements must still be supplied by pasture, hay and other feeds.

This is why the total diet matters more than the protein percentage listed on an individual feed bag.

4. Helpful for Horses Requiring Low Sugar and Starch Diets

Horses with metabolic conditions, including Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS), insulin dysregulation or a history of laminitis, often require careful management of dietary energy and non structural carbohydrates (NSC).

Some balancers are specifically formulated to provide concentrated nutrients with low levels of sugar and starch.

This allows owners to address vitamin, mineral and amino acid requirements without relying on traditional grain based concentrates.

For example, EVM Premium Balancer Pellets are a low NSC, grain free and soy free option formulated to provide vitamins and minerals in a lucerne based pellet.

However, not every balancer is suitable for every metabolic horse. Always check the product's nutritional analysis and feeding recommendations, and consider the sugar and starch content of the entire ration.

For horses with insulin dysregulation or a history of laminitis, dietary changes should ideally be guided by a veterinarian or qualified equine nutritionist.

5. Convenient Feeding and Less Wastage

Balancer pellets can also offer a practical advantage for fussy eaters.

Some horses are reluctant to eat powdered supplements, particularly when they have a strong smell or taste. Pelleted balancers combine nutrients into a convenient feed that may be more readily accepted.

They can also make daily feeding easier, particularly when managing several horses with different nutritional requirements.

That said, feeding accuracy is still important. Rather than relying on scoops, weighing each feed ensures your horse receives the intended amount.

6. Potentially More Economical

Although balancers can sometimes appear expensive when comparing the price per bag, their relatively low feeding rates may make them economical on a daily basis.

For example, a 20 kg bag fed at 500 g per day would provide 40 days of feeding.

When comparing feeds, it's worth calculating the cost per day rather than simply comparing bag prices.

Remember to include the cost of any additional feeds or supplements required to make the overall diet nutritionally complete.

Are There Any Disadvantages to Balancer Feeds?

Although balancers offer plenty of benefits, they aren't necessarily the best option for every horse.

One consideration is that a balancer alone may not provide sufficient energy or protein for horses with higher nutritional requirements.

Horses in heavy work, growing youngsters, lactating mares and horses needing to gain weight may require additional feeds to meet their nutritional needs.

This isn't necessarily a disadvantage, but it does mean that owners need to consider the contribution of pasture, hay and any other ingredients in the ration.

Another consideration is that not all balancers contain the same nutrients. Some focus primarily on vitamins and minerals, while others provide substantial amounts of quality protein and amino acids.

Similarly, certain balancers are designed for specific situations, such as breeding horses or horses grazing particular pasture types.

For example, Prydes High Calcium Balancer Pellet is formulated for horses grazing subtropical pastures containing high levels of oxalates. These compounds can bind calcium and reduce its availability to the horse, potentially contributing to nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, commonly known as Bighead Disease.

This is a specialised balancer rather than a general purpose vitamin and mineral supplement, illustrating why it's important to choose a feed suited to your horse's circumstances.

Can You Feed a Balancer Alongside a Complete Feed?

Yes, in certain situations.

Many commercial horse feeds are formulated to provide adequate vitamins and minerals when fed at their recommended daily rate.

However, owners sometimes feed less than the recommended amount, particularly when their horse is gaining too much weight or doesn't need the extra energy.

While reducing the feed quantity may help control calorie intake, it also reduces the vitamins and minerals supplied.

In these situations, adding an appropriate quantity of balancer may help make up the nutritional shortfall.

However, simply adding a full serving of balancer to an existing fortified feed isn't necessarily a good idea. Some nutrients, particularly selenium and certain other trace minerals, can be harmful when consumed in excessive amounts.

It's important to consider the combined nutrient contributions of all feeds and supplements before making changes.

It's also worth distinguishing between a complete feed, which can replace forage when fed as directed, and a fortified concentrate, which is intended to be fed alongside forage.

How to Choose the Right Balancer for Your Horse

Before selecting a balancer, consider your horse's body condition, workload, age and existing diet.

A horse maintaining a healthy weight on good pasture may have very different requirements from a performance horse receiving predominantly hay or a pony with insulin dysregulation.

The quality and type of forage available are also important. For example, lucerne is naturally higher in calcium and often provides more protein than grass hay, which may influence the type of balancer required.

Where possible, a forage analysis is one of the most useful tools for identifying potential nutritional gaps.

When comparing balancers, consider:
- Feeding rate: How much does your horse need each day to meet its requirements?
- Protein and amino acids: Does the product supply quality protein, lysine and other essential amino acids?
- Sugar and starch: Is the NSC content appropriate for your horse?
- Vitamin and mineral levels: Does the product complement the nutrients already supplied by forage and other feeds?
- Cost per day: How does the daily feeding cost compare with alternative feeds and supplements?
It's also important to remember that balancers don't replace the need for adequate forage, fresh water or appropriate salt intake.

So, Does Your Horse Need a Balancer?

Not necessarily, but for many horses, a balancer can be a convenient and economical way to meet nutritional requirements.

If your horse maintains a healthy weight on pasture or hay but requires additional vitamins, minerals or amino acids, a balancer may be an excellent option.

They can also be particularly useful when you want greater control over the energy content of your horse's diet, whether that's managing a good doer or designing a low starch ration.

However, if your horse is already receiving a properly balanced commercial feed at the recommended rate, adding a balancer may be unnecessary.

The key is understanding what your horse is already receiving from its current diet and identifying any nutritional gaps before introducing additional feeds.

At Oakford Stockfeeds, we stock a range of balancer feeds to suit different nutritional requirements, including Hygain Balanced, Benchmark Balancer and EVM Premium Balancer Pellets.

If you're unsure whether a balancer is suitable for your horse, our team is happy to help you explore the available options and find a feeding solution suited to your horse's individual needs.