This review is a Cloudy based one. The reason I chose the respiratory lick is because Cloudy has been known to suffer with choke and will cough throughout the winter when in the stable depending on how dusty it is. So the reason behind choosing this is because it's designed to provide a unique approach to supporting the respiratory system. The ingredients such as menthol, eucalyptus and aniseed supports the airways and helps keep them clear of mucus which helps the horse breathe more easily. The minerals such as Vitamins C & E, selenium, chelated copper and zinc in the balancer package help maintain immunity which then helps support and aid a healthy lung function. 

The high oil content helps for healthy skin and coat while the Biotin, zinc and methionine helps with healthy hooves. 
The 2 main reasons to why I chose this one for Cloudy are:

• If your horse is prone to coughing or any respiratory compromise, Respiratory Horslyx Balancer can support the body’s natural defense mechanism.
• For horses that are stabled for long periods of time, Respiratory Horslyx Balancer can help maintain healthy breathing and lessen the chance of ill-health affecting performance levels.

After the first night of giving Cloudy the lick this is how I found his stable the next morning. Safe to say he'd had some fun fighting with the lick to get it out. Please excuse the mass amount of poo in this picture, this was on a bad night haha. After retrieving and trying to clean the lick the best I could, I paired up the licked with it's container again for him. The next night he'd managed to get it out of the pot again and hide it in a pile of hay, thankfully the third night he had it, it stayed in the pot. 
After all the fighting with it to get at it I'm sure he loved the lick. I was also told that he had brown patches on his nose from where he was getting in there to get at the lick.  

Now although Cloudy loves these licks, Legacy isn't that keen on them. I bought her one after the Nettex one's she used to have stopped being sold in my place of work so I thought I'd try her out with the original one. She has licks in her stable to try keep her occupied while she's in there for a long period of time. This is mainly because she gets stressy and starts to box walk and crib bites. When I first put down the Original tub she went over for a little smell, but wasn't majorly bothered with it. I thought she'd take a few days to try it out, but it ended up just staying in her stable gathering dust. In the end I had to throw it as it had gone to bad to give to Cloudy.  

These licks are great if you have a horse that's not needing any food and is on a good forage diet. These can supply all the vitamins & minerals needed for a balanced diet for them. They are weather-proof which is great for being used in the field as well as the stable. 
They come in 3 different sizes
- 650g which lasts 3-4 days
- 5Kg which lasts 20-25 days
& 15Kg which lasts 60-75 days 
The length of time they last depends on the size of your horse and how much they use it for. 
They also come in 4 different flavours Original, Respiratory, Garlic & Mint.

The average prices for them are:
 650g one is £3.50 - £4.50
5kg one is £14.00 - £16.00
& 15kg one is £28.99 - £34.00

The original is the cheapest one and then the flavoured or specialised ones are more expensive. 
You can also get a stable holder for the 5kg tub, and a ground holder for the 15kg tub.

Here are 2 sites I've found which sell a range of the Horslyx.
Naylors Equestrian & Countrywide Farmers

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Balancers, Why Feed Them?

Balancers are a great way to give your horse all the recommended vitamins & minerals without having to feed multiple times a day or giving them a bucket full of feed. Depending on the choice of balancer you will be giving them no more than 2 cups of feed and that's for a 16hh+ horse.

It has always been a big no no to give your horses bigger feeds as it can increase the chance of colic among other things but giving your horse 2-4 feeds a day isn't always readily available for some people. The more times a day a feed is split up into the better as it keeps the digestive system working correctly as fit's with the way the horse has always eaten, little and often. Splitting the feed up is also a good way to help put weight onto your horse as it will give the system plenty of time to take up all the nutrients needed from each meal.  

Some of the benefits from feeding a feed balancer with ad-lib forage are:

• Better digestive efficiency
• Reduced risk of loose droppings 
• Reduced risk of colic 
• Reduced risk of laminitis
• Reduced risk of stereotypical behaviour (once called ‘vices’) 
• Reduced risk of ‘tying-up’ 
• Reduced severity of gastric ulcers
• Reduced risk of DOD (an umbrella term covering abnormal limb development) 
• More relaxed behaviour with improved focus 

Feed balancers can be fed alone like the Naf Optimum or can be added to a chaff to add a little bulk and more of the horse to eat.

Some balancers come in a pelleted form like the Naf Optimum or they will come in a powder form. From experience I've learnt that the powdered ones will be the ones you come across in a small tub such as the Equine Answers 365 Balancer starting at 1Kg (I've done a review on this product, which you can read here), but the Naf Optimum also comes in a smaller bag starting at 3.7Kg. 

There are now many different types of balancers each suited to your horses needs:

- Performance

- Lo-Cal/Lite for laminitis prone or the fat

- Conditioning

- Weight maintenance

-  Joint

- Hoof

- Veteran/Senior

- Stud

- Donkey

What's great about balancers as well is that they will be low in starch & sugar meaning they won't heat up or fizz up for horse. 

The 2 balancers that have worked really well for Legacy are the Naf Optimum & Equine Answers 365 Complete 

Do you feed a balancer to your horse?

*Images are from this article

*Italicized list is from this article

Equine Answers 365 Balancer Review

Back in May I had another situation with Legacy where her hard feed was making slightly on the fizzier side, and as she was already having below the recommended amount and at the time I wasn't driving so riding her more to reduce the excitement wasn't an option at the time, I had to change her feed. I had a recommendation from the yard owner to put her on horse and pony cubes or a fibre mix with a balancer. 

I then had the struggle of finding a good balancer which will tick all the boxes of giving her a good coat shine, all the vitamins and minerals needed and helped her put weight on. There are a few people on the yard who use the online company Equine answers for a variety of products from calmers to joint supplements. After hearing about the company from them I decided to try out their balancer and contacted them about a sample for a review. 

The feeding guide lines are as follows:

Small Ponies: Feed 15-25g per day

Horses (14-16 hands): 20-40g per day
Horses (16+ hands): 30-50g per day.

The scoop which is provided is aprox 20g.  

I was feeding Legacy aprox 1 1/2 sccops per day meaning she was getting 30g. 

To start off with she was on one scoop to introduce her. At the time of starting she was having her mix dry with added supplements. She then started to get a little fussy and start flicking through the feed and leaving the supplements, after starting to add water with her feed she was happy to eat it all.

It took about a month for me to start seeing any difference in her, since being on it she has started to fill out, maintain a good healthy weight and be very happy in herself (the odd gallop around the arena before work she tries). Topline wise I can't say much has really changed as she's still in a very early stage of gaining any muscle there, her head carriage is still naturally high. One great thing about this balancer is that it also let her stay level headed, not once did she heat up while she's been on it, even when her daily amount had risen. 

For the review I was sent a 1KG tub which is said to last 50 days for your average horse. This is priced at £21.95, this is a great price for the size of the tub, the amount you're getting and how compact it is. No more 20KG bags for balancers please. 

Here is a balancer comparison, between a range of great quality balancers on the market.

365 Complete feed balancer includes MSM to help joints, biotin to help hoof structure, pre and pro-biotics to aid a healthy guy and all the major minerals and vitamins your horse needs to stay healthy. Many feed balancers claim to include pro-biotics but in many cases this is just yeast, 365 Complete contains two true pro-biotics in Lactobacillus Acidophilus & Bifidobacterioum PLUs a pre-biotic.

What's also great about this balancer is that it's safe for horses who have or are prone to cushings and laminitis. 

Here are now some pictures of Legacy after she's been on the 365 Balancer.

Please ignore her mouth, she enjoyed her feed and I put a little too much water in it, oopps!

Can't wait to get her working more now where she can start to build up her topline!

You can find the 365 Balancer on the equine answers page with prices ranging between £21.95 for 1kg tub (50 days supply) £36.95 for 2kg tub (100 days) to £62.95 for a 4kg tub (200 days supply).

                               

Spring grass = Excitable Legacy

I When the spring grass comes through each horse can react to it differently, some put on weight, and others can get quite excited. Legacy can be quite excitable just on a day to day basis, because of this she's on Naf Magic calmer (can review this is people would like) this stuff is what it says in its name magic, she's just so happened to run out of it as the fresh grass is coming through. 

From the way she's been while she's off it, I can't wait until she's back on it haha. 

As she's slightly still too underweight for my liking, she's been on Baileys topline conditioning mix and Dengie healthy tummy, both of these together have worked well for her but as she isn't getting worked much due to me not driving yet she hasn't been using up her energy. 

Original energy + Spring grass + Extra energy from feed = Explosion of Legacy. 

Because of all of this she has now been taken off her feed for the summer Atleast and she will now have a forage based diet, but I need to find a balancer for her to also have. 

If anyone has any recommendations on a great balancer that can be fed along with Naf Magic that would be great.