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Good morning everyone, I have 3 horses ranging in age. My oldest 24 has been diagnosed with Cushing's. So I am trying to simplify my feeding program to fit everyone. Obviously different amounts for each individual.
24, 21, and 1 1/2 years old.
Here it is:
Beet pulp, alfalfa, dr. reeds vitamins, and linseed oil (all soaked) along with 20lbs of hay or so. Do you think i would be missing anything nutritionally for them?
Thank you for any suggestions you may have

I can't seem to find the nutritional info for dr. reed's vitamins. Since that seems to be acting as your ration balancer, that's where you need to look to make sure horses are getting what they need.

Are any of your horses in serious work? If so, this may not meet their kcal needs.

I don't know if you have budget for this, but I have been working with a wonderful equine nutritionist. She's independent (doesn't work for a specific company) and worked with me to balance my horse's needs and particulars within my need to keep things simple and easy at a boarding facility. I had a really good experience with her. She's not necessarily cheap, but she does not charge by the hour, so i've definitely gotten my money's work as she stayed on weekly calls with me for months to solve a problem one of mine has.

In addition to Blob's excellent advice, I would suggest you test your hay. Worth doing with each major shipment if you buy your own. Many ag extension services will do it for free; otherwise, it is a nominal fee.

Thank you,
Dr.Reeds#3-, vitamins and minerals seem to be chocker blocked full of ingredients with no stabilizers, added grain, milling by-products or molasses. it's expensive though. it's roughly $60 per horse a month.
The hay I bought is clean but from last year I was hoping to keep sugars out. testing hay seems like a lot of work for something that could be variable depending on what part of the field it came from. as well as i have different hay suppliers so not sure about that.

TTFN wrote:Thank you,
Dr.Reeds#3-, vitamins and minerals seem to be chocker blocked full of ingredients with no stabilizers, added grain, milling by-products or molasses. it's expensive though. it's roughly $60 per horse a month.
The hay I bought is clean but from last year I was hoping to keep sugars out. testing hay seems like a lot of work for something that could be variable depending on what part of the field it came from. as well as i have different hay suppliers so not sure about that.

You might want to look into something like California Trace or Vermont Blend. Neither are cheap per se. but both have a lot of information on their websites in terms of the actual nutritional requirements their products are providing. What worries me about Dr Reed is that the website says what is NOT included but it doesn't say what is included. Neither CT or VB have additives, grain, or molasses. They are slightly different, so that's where testing the hay will help determine levels will come in handy. Se values in hay differ quite a bit depending on what part of the country you're in so even just finding that out can help you balance correctly.

For $60/horse per month, you should know what you are feeding!!

There are other good options out there that will reveal their ingredients. And some are cheaper (and fine).

I would be careful. Not knowing what is in the Dr. Reed product and depending on the amounts of each you feed, you may have a challenge with the Ca:P ratio, particularly for your youngster. I think Blob has the absolute best idea.

As far as "missing anything," I think your youngster and your oldies would likely benefit from more protein and amino acids, first of all.

Secondly, without testing your hay, you have no idea if you're really meeting their nutritional requirements with any sort of vitamin/mineral supplement or balancer. The problem is that "nutritional requirements" aren't just about minimums, but also about ratios. So, a small horse in light to no work might require a MINIMUM of, say, 82mg Copper, 327mg of Zinc, and 957 mg of Iron. But the ratios between them should be 4-10:1 Iron:Copper and 1:3-5 Copper:Zinc. Without knowing what's in your hay, you have no way of knowing the 658mg of copper, 652mg of zinc, and 350mg of iron in Dr. Reed's #3 are good, bad, or needing further supplementation to balance it out. 20 pounds of grass hay in my area (I know you're feeding alfalfa) could have anywhere from 900-2300 mg of iron - that's a wide range when trying to balance it against copper. Calcium to Magnesium is another important ratio, and Calcium to Phosphorus is a critical one for your youngster.

you could do a consult here https://www.legacyequinenutrition.com/
Independent PhD who is really good. She is now based out of FL.

Ryeissa wrote:you could do a consult here https://www.legacyequinenutrition.com/
Independent PhD who is really good. She is now based out of FL.

This is who I've been working with! She's wonderful and does a free consultation so you can assess fit.

I a m a KISS advocate wrt feed. I do not analyze hay. It is simply not feasible. when I had a severely pssm horse and sent hay off, the analysis from bale to bale differed. so I cored a sample from the same bale, I divided it in 3. I sent two samples to the same lab and the third sample to a different lab. this all 3 from exactly the same area of exactly the same bale. were there results even similar? heck. no!
I do feed a balancer. I do make sure I feed more calcium than phosphates so the horse can eliminate excesses without impairing calcium levels. I make sure that everyone is getting too much vitamin E. and not overfeeding selenium.

beyond that the body is. smarter than any nutritionist, and will use what it needs and eliminate excess.

I have good clean water and salt available 24/7. I feed hay 24/7 where possible. some if my guys are on steamed or soaked hay, some have decent pasture, but not everyone is on a balanced feed, so I give everyone a balancer.


I truly believe in science and am by education a micro biologist / biochemist, and I have actually done enough experiments side by side to try and fins statistically significant trends to know that the number of samples and analysis you would have to run to be statistically accurate is beyond the means of any hay buyer or nutritionist. and if your nutritionist tells you differently, do not trust them.

this particular opinion influenced by experience, research,, lab results and personally conducted experiments (not on hay, but to calculate varaibility)

TTFN wrote:Thank you,
Dr.Reeds#3-, vitamins and minerals seem to be chocker blocked full of ingredients with no stabilizers, added grain, milling by-products or molasses. it's expensive though. it's roughly $60 per horse a month.
The hay I bought is clean but from last year I was hoping to keep sugars out. testing hay seems like a lot of work for something that could be variable depending on what part of the field it came from. as well as i have different hay suppliers so not sure about that.

why is that so expensive? $60 a month for one horse? or for all the horses?

Ration balancers are usually pretty low cost (relative to other feeds).
If you have any metabolic issues I would definitely consider the NSCs in all feeds and supplements.
I have worked with both Purina and Triple Crown senior reps as well as my vet.

Unless your horse has some major issues I would start with a good RB and go from there. I also like senior feeds for all ages as they are beet pulp based.


a lot of my friends with ulcer prone horses like this feed https://www.purinamills.com/horse-feed/ ... horse-feed

For flax this is my go-to product. https://outlaw-feed.com/

more links
https://www.triplecrownfeed.com/product ... ow-starch/
https://www.triplecrownfeed.com/product ... -balancer/
https://www.purinamills.com/horse-feed/ ... horse-feed