My opinion of Purina Horse and Pony Feed now

[Marty]

I just had to try it. My horses are always on the too plump side and I had to know if feeding Strategy had anything to do with it.First let me tell you that in winter I do feed a lot of extra hay so I'm not talking about a hay belly. I'm talking about overall body fat that was on some of my horses.

I'm at 3 months now using Purina Horse and Pony Feed and these are my findings so far. LOVE IT. I have three horses with cresty type necks that had me a bit concerned and that cresty stuff is now gone. They are looking good and what I would consider super nice and well....more normal. That's the first thing I noticed. Baby Chrissy, my chunk of burning love, she's small at 30" and has always been a challenge to keep the fat off of. She has always been guilty of having fat rolls and there is a significant change in her for the better all over the place. The rest is a bit hard to tell because of their winter hair but overall, everyone is still shinny and have lost a lot of "baby fat" and have plenty of energy.

I have one mare that is taller at 34", longer, rangy type and she has lost too much weight in her topline and her butt was looking a bit deflated and her flanks began to sink in. Before it got any worse, that was an easy fix, I just increased the amount and she is looking really good.

I wasn't sure about feeding it to the babies and was actually quite hesitant, but I did. One of my babies, now yearling, Double-Wide, hence the name, was a super chunk to the point she had a really thick neck where it was actually scary. She's also been on it and is looking a lot better like she should. I'm going to say that if anyone else is dealing with horses that have too much of a neck going on and fat rolls to try this food.

That's my two cents for what its worth.

This has been a public service announcement!

Have a wonderful day.

 

[mydaddysjag]

I tried the mini feed for a few months and ended up needing to switch off of it. I had one who got sick while on it. Another forum member had identical symptoms to my horse, after switching to the mini feed. My 12 year old gelding couldnt keep weight on even feeding over twice the reccomended amount for his size, and at the level for a working horse (despite him being idle, I havent worked horses since summer). I switched to the Purina Equine Senior Active Healthy edge 4-6 weeks ago, and LOVE it. Its doing great things for both my 5 year old and 12 year old. My farrier (who also shows minis/shetlands) said he would bet I could clip my horses and go to a show the next day. None have been worked since august, just turned out, and brought into their stalls at night. I do wish it was the price of the mini feed though, its about a $4-$5 difference per bag.

 

[chandab]

I'm always amazed at how differently the same commercial feed works for different people; I know quality of hay or pasture plays a part in the difference seen, but still...

 

[mydaddysjag]

I feed second cut timothy and alfalfa, have been feeding the same hay since July. I really wish I was one of those people who it worked well for, $5 a bag savings over what im feeding now does add up, would have saved me about $550 a year for my three horses, and a bit of a headache (I have to have the feed store special order my current feed, 6 bags at a time, and hope that I call on the right day so that I dont have to wait 3 weeks for it to come in). Our local TSC carries the mini feed.

 

[Dill PIckle]

I have only had Dill since Thanksgiving, but switched him over to this feed then. He seems to be doing well on it - his coat looks great - lots of shine. he has a great attitude, playful, full of energy and loves it. Typical baby! He has lost some of the hay belly he had but he really looks and acts good. I did call Purina to make sure it was ok for him at his age (8 months) before we started it. My neice has two Mini's on it, she switched from omelene either 200 or 300 - she loves it, says her guys are doing well on it. Her mini's are 3 and 6.

As a first time mom, I was super nervous about getting the best food for him. I am releived it seems to agree with him. Very happy to hear someone with good experience on the food as well, always makes me neverous to try something 'new' to the market.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

My horse was the one that totally stopped eating it and had negative results by about 3 months or so being on it. Mine were on alfafa/timothy hay cubes. Wish I could have fed it, glad others are having good success with it, its nice to have a mini feed that works for some. Mine are on ADM feeds and doing great, mine can probably go out and show also without getting worked with, noticed one eariler this week who is a easy keeper and hasn't been shown since 2008 is looking awesome, can't wait to see them clipped this spring. Paying like $9 more then the mini feed though

 

[yellerroseintx]

I have been feeding it for about 3 months now and LOVE it. I was horrified to switch feeds as my Safe & Sound has been very good to my horses. But I really "looked' at the ingredients and it was a no brainer...so I took the plunge slowly switched them over and crossed my fingers. I felt THEY deserved a better quality of feed and I am quite pleased. My butterball fat as a pig coming 2 year old looks amazing..she looks like a horse now instead of a balloon on sticks...the mares are trimmer yet still have a nice covering over their ribs....really noticed the difference when it rained and the hair laid flat. I will save my final judgment when they all shed off this Spring..but, for the time being I am very pleased.

I am feeding everyone - a 6 month old colt, 2 stallions, 5 mares and a pony oh, and the 2 year old

 

[chandab]

I'm not feeding the mini/pony feed, but did recently have to switch feeds due to costs. I was using a ration balancer, but even at the low level fed, for 12 horses I go through over 3 bags a month (plus, I know this is more for me than them, but it was such a small amount to feed that I was adding hay pellets to give them a bigger meal). I switched to an extruded feed (higher volume per weight), so even though they only get a little more by weight, they get about 2x more by volume, so they get a "bigger" meal and I don't seem to feel the need to add anything. Only two horses aren't on the extruded feed; the Cushing's gelding is on a low sugar/starch pellet, and my senior stallion wasn't liking the extruded feed, so I put him back on senior (he seems happier now, it'll take a little time to see if it fills him out like he should be).

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

I've used it for over a year now and am very happy with it. I use it for everyone now, but when I had Puddin, she had different requirements. Still miss that old girl.

But the feed has made my yearlings, (now 2 year olds) look great and my older horses do well also. I do have to watch a couple who have a tendency to put on more weight than I like, but that was with other feeds as well. A few years ago I was having such a hard time finding the "right" balance. I had fatties and others that were hippy. It was a nightmare, but this seems to level the field for so many different conditions. The only downside is that it has gone from $11 per bag last summer to $15 per bag now.

 

[jyuukai]

I have tried the mini feed on advice of some of the workers at the feed store, and it is ok. I can't say that I LOVE it but I can't say that I hate it either! Fortuantely now we only have to grain feed for a few months of the year so once we get through this season the rest of it will go to the deer! She is looking nice and shiny and her weight is wonderful but we have an entirely new feeding program this year as a result of a barn move so I can't say if it's the feed or not!

Overall I think it's a pretty good feed but it's not yet my favorite

 

[RescueMini]

I just bought my first bag of the mini feed tonight and I will be starting Lulu on it in the morning.

I'm pretty excited to see how she turns out! I'll post my results once spring rolls around.

 

[eagles ring farm]

We are just in the process of slowly switching our non pregnant mares over to the miniature horse feed the new mare we got has been on it and she looks great.

We just started our mares a week ago so no opinion yet

But I sure hope it does well for them. I don't want to change diets on our mare in foal.

 

[Riverdance]

I had my horses on it for 3 months and just about every one of them lost quite a bit of weight. Not good. Some got very skinny. So I switched feeds and they are all starting to slowly gain weight again. Will not touch it again.

 

[chandab]

I had my horses on it for 3 months and just about every one of them lost quite a bit of weight. Not good. Some got very skinny. So I switched feeds and they are all starting to slowly gain weight again. Will not touch it again.

In that case, I have one that should be on it, well maybe two (a mare and her daughter).

 

[barbiedoll68346]

I have to agree with Riverdance, we tried it on 2 stallions, not during breeding season, one young, one mid age, they went to heck in a hurry. Oh Well, just didn't work for us. We feed Strategy, Omolene 300, and Junior, depend on who they are as to what they get. Would have been nice to be able to save a few bucks, but did not work at all, not a fan of Purina's Mini Feed at all. Love their other products just NOT the mini feed.

 

Barb

 

[wingnut]

I'm still wondering how this feed saves money? If I follow the bag's feedling guidelines, I have to feed about 2x as much as I did with Strategy. I'm still using it (since August) though. My girls look the same....a little on the heavy side (which I don't mind for winter) and all coats are in great condition. Whether I continue using it will depend on how they look in the spring after clipping.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

I was feeding twice the amount of the mini feed also compared to what I'm feeding on the PrimeGLO but I'm paying like $22 on PrimeGLO vs $13 on the mini feed but I guess the price may have gone up? My horse was on the hefty side and he did drop the weight but once it came off you had to feed him quite a bit to keep his weight up while he was in training. He also became sluggish especially at Nationals and his coat got dull. He stopped eating the mini feed all together and everything pointed towards ulcers but he never had any ulcers after getting scoped and just switching him to the new food he finally started eating again. Very expensive experience.

 

[Zoey3]

We fed the mini feed for a long time, had no problems with it. It is low in fat/energy so I found it is not best for growing foals or working horses. I switched back to Omelene, geting the same amount per day and my weanlings are puting on weight faster and have more energy. Once they at proper weight I will be able to decrease the amount some. It is alot more expensive but you get more out of it. I say the mini feed is good for mature mini horses that are easy keepers.

Casey