Balancing Act: Stride 101 Diet Balancer
I was recently listening to one of my favorite podcasts, The Feed Room Chemist. In this episode (Episode 104: Protein % Doesn’t Matter) equine nutritionist Dr Jyme Nichols talks about protein in horses’ diets and the two main takeaways for me were that too much protein can be a negative and detrimental to a horse’s health and that Stride Animal Health makes a ration balancer that is low protein (a rarity, no doubt).
But let’s back up a step and talk about what is a ration/diet balancer and the types of horses that can benefit from it. Ration balancers are a nutrient-dense horse feed that come in a pelleted form and have a very low feeding rate. They provide protein, essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins that the horse might not be getting enough of in their usual diet. Think of it as a multi-vitamin that helps fill in the gaps.
They are extremely beneficial to horses that are on a forage only diet. The quality/nutrient content in forages can vary season to season and this ensures that no matter the quality of the forage they are getting what they need.
They are also beneficial to horses that are easy keepers (or in minimal work/exercise) and can’t be fed the required minimum of their horse feed because they will gain too much weight. Because they are getting less than the recommended amount, they are also getting less of the nutrients in the grain. My horses fall into this category, if I feed them 3-4lbs of grain a day they would be fat as ticks!
Horses that need a low starch and sugar diet can also benefit from a ration balancer. They will still get all the good stuff without an overload of sugar or non-structural carbohydrates found in many horse feeds. Many ration balancers have an NSC less than 10%.
Horses that are eating oats, alfalfa pellets or other non-fortified feeds are also good candidates for a ration balancer.
There are lots of ration balancers out there (pretty much every feed and supplement company makes one) but so far Stride Animal Health is the only one I have found that does not contain super high amounts of protein. Most rations balancers range from 25-35% protein which is insane considering horse feed is usually in the 12-16% range. The thinking is since you feed less of the ration balancer it all balances out. But in my personal experience it does not. When I have tried other high protein ration balancers my horses were hyper, hot, spooky and just silly. They also peed way more and their pee smelled awful. So, I just avoided them and hoped my hay, grain and supplements provided for all my horses needs.
But that all changed thanks to the 101 Diet Balancer. It perfects my horses’ diets and helps protect their digestive and immune systems while supporting bone development, hormone regulation, coat health and hoof quality. It is super easy to feed (one small scoop a day) and all my horses eat it. It doesn’t make them hyper or spooky thanks to the low protein content (11.75%).
Each serving is full of:
Organic Minerals
Vitamins
Amino Acids
Natural Vitamin E
Yeast Cultures
Kelp Seaweed
Biotin
Prebiotics
Probiotics
Digestive Enzymes
Anti-oxidants
You can purchase it online from Chewy or Stride Animal Health ($80 for a 12.5lb tub).
Back to my original point that too much protein can be harmful to horses, this article sums up how and why diets exceeding 12% protein can cause an excess of acid and the problems that can form from that. Also horses that are consuming too much protein need to pee it out and that excess of urine can cause harmful levels of ammonia in their stalls. Definitely some interesting food for thought when it comes to horse feed!
