Ration Balancers - A simple Explanation

Feb 18

2/19/20

“What is a ration balancer and what type of horse is it intended for?”

A ration balancer is a feed designed as a nutritional compliment to hay or pasture.

In short, it fills in the vitamin, mineral and protein gaps that exist in the roughage portion of the diet (hay or pasture). Interestingly, even high quality hay & pasture will still have some nutrient holes in these areas. Thus, even if your horse is an easy keeper, this is still an excellent choice as part of the diet to make sure they're meeting their nutrient requirements.

A question I often hear is, "Do I need to add a ration balancer to my horse's existing diet so I make sure he receives adequate vitamins, minerals and protein?"

Here is the easiest way to answer that:

1. Read the tag on your feed or call the feed company who makes your horse's grain to find out what the recommended feeding rate is for your horse based on age, workload, health status, etc.

2. Weigh the amount of feed your horse is getting on a daily basis to see if you are meeting that feeding rate.

3. If you have met the recommended feeding rate, all of your vitamins, minerals and protein that would be in a ration balancer are already in your horse's diet. They are just spread out over multiple pounds. You can stop here!

4. If you haven't met the recommended feeding rate, I would suggest adding a ration balancer to your ration. The amount you add will depend on which product you're using, but this usually comes out to around 1 lb. of balancer in addition to the existing diet.

Lastly, as always, make sure you are purchasing feed from a reputable feed company. This will ensure you are receiving quality, bioavailable, and adequately portioned essential nutrients for your horse! Have more questions?

I can help you take the guesswork out of this!