Thinking of switching Strategy VS Safe Choice

[RhineStone]

We have always fed Purina products and have loved them, but the new mini feed, NOT impressed at all, did a test with it on 2 horses earlier this year, they went to heck on it in a hurry. I think it is for heavy, easy keepers, not sure, but it is worthless to me. Did not like it as soon as I read the tag, but did give it a try, not impressed. Junk as far as I am concerned.[/quote]

It says right on the bag that it is for "miniature horses and ponies who tend to be more metabolically efficient than large horses". I would hardly call it junk if you aren't using the proper feed for your specific horses. My "easy keepers" (who the product is designed for) are doing wonderfully on it!

It is about time that feed companies create a feed for easy keepers. Like I said before, I had one mare that lost too much weight, so we put her back on Strategy.

 

[MBhorses]

we use safe choice we love it. our vet told us safe choice safer for the minis

 

[MindyLee]

I started with Safe Choice which its a great feed if it works for your horse. And it dose for LOTS of horses pending on the particular horse. In my case, great for my fat stallion, and easy keeper mare. BUT for my more refined show horses, NO! Dulled their coats and didnt help with weight.

So went with Stratagy, LOVE IT! and have no complaints from it.

BUT now I feed the Purina Mini & Pony and love it too and the price is better. So I again switched everyone to that and will stick with it now!

 

[barbiedoll68346]

It was the Purina Mini feed we tried, really Did not work for us.

 

Barb

 

[barnbum]

You don't need grain, my friend. They're getting too many calories... skip grain, add a supplement, feed more hay.

 

[Oakbrooke Farm]

Hey Marty!

I have always used Enrich 32, but last year switched to Safe Choice. Like others have said, it gave my horses dull coats and did not help with their weight. I put them back on Enrich 32 and all is well. I think it is superior to Safe Choice, but that is just my opinion and my experience with it.

Good luck!

Luanne

 

[valshingle]

The key is to find the feed that is best for each horse. I feel I'm doing well when I only have two different feeds in the barn, occasionally I have to add a third. I do stick to all Purina products for the general consistency and availability it provides.

Right now I'm using Strategy Healthy Edge or Equine Jr depending on the horse. Occasionally I have to bring in Equine Senior, Well Solve Weight Control, etc.

And I have three different types of hay; coastal, alfalfa hay, and alfalfa cubes. I do not use coastal on any of the show horses.

So, I don't think there is any wrong or right feed. As long as the horse gets all the necessary nutrients, use whatever feed works best for the horse.

 

[Davie]

Used Safe Choice for a while but really was not pleased with the hair coat--dull and dry. I now have all the minis and shetlands either on 100% Mini Horse and Pony or a combination of it 50/50 with a complete pellet I get from the my mill. The complete pellet help stretch my hay supply as it is a 12% ration but has 20% fiber using alfalfa and beetpulp in the mixture.

I watch my horses eat it is was a surprise to watch them when I changed to adding the mini horse and pony -- all of them went straight for the mini horse and pony and left their pellets till last. I've found that my horses on 100% mini horse and pony are in excellent weight and their coats just shine--no more black oil sunflower seeds for my black gelding.

 

[Shari]

I use Safe Choice with one of the horses and have great results with it. ( Wonder if they make Safe Choice at different mills.. because I have never had a problem with the quality and the mare I have this on has a very shinny coat.)

But on the chubbies.... I use Triple Crown low starch. Like that one a lot too.

 

[Alisha514]

I used strategy and it was ok but I had to feed beet pulp and what not but switched to safe choice and LOVE it. First it has more fiber so you don't need beet pulp and I dont have any problems with dull coats. My one QH mare has a very shiny coat and she hasnt had a bath yet this yr. I really am happy with safe choice!

Alisha

 

[Matt73]

Why don't you think of switching to a ration balancer, Marty? I've had my horses on Buckeye Gro 'n Win for years and it really is awesome stuff. So simple. It's perfect for minis and ponies. It's very low in starches and sugars and high in protein. You feed so little of it, too. It's just complimenting their hay/grass, giving added vitamins and minerals etc. For lactating mares you just double it, along with increased hay. My horses are healthy and I've never had a problem keeping weight on them; Lex stays full-figured and shiny throughout lactation

 

[Margot]

We switched from Strategy to the Purina mini feed and we love it. Horses are all shiny and the three mares with foals are in excellent shape. Horses that were too heavy are slowly losing weight. I can't understand why Tractor Supply can't get it for you if they sell other Purina feed.

 

[~Dan]

I use Safechoice. I like it for the minis, when our feed store and TSC ran out of Platfrom Mini Pony feed I used a bag of Safechoice and my vet too told me it was better for the minis. I give mine mainly as a treat and for a switch up in their diet. I have never heard of Safechoice causing dull coats, but then again mine never shimmer becasuse the horses are constantly dirty and hate to be groomed.

Dan.

 

[rubyviewminis]

Your eyes are probably crossing about now Marty. Safechoice is not a *grain*, it is a feed. My vets both recommended it and my horse, rescues, bad health and hooves, pregnant mare, and the foals got it. It is wonderful. But, I found Progressive Pro Add Ultimate, a concentrated ration balancer if you can believe that! Always a fan of Enrich 32 two of our large horses did not look good on it, and then I couldn't get a steady supply. I agree, different feed mills maybe? Anyway, I have tried many feeds and supplements. This is the first time the miniatures (had only for three years now) have actually glowed and shined, hooves grow fast, they have a lot more spunk and energy. I only feed the adults I have now 2 0z twice daily so a 25lb bag lasts about a month or so. I get it shipped in from Idaho for free shipping since we are remote. I love it. The baby still get Safechoice and all of them loved that too.

 

[Marty]

Ok here's the deal. I trucked it down to TSC today and again asked them if they would consider carrying this and that for me and the answer again is a big fat nope. They do not carry a complete line of anyone's feed, just a few of the top best sellers and Strategy happens to be one of them. They feel I am the only one that would probably purchase any "lite" feed and miniature horse and pony feed out of their customers. Its not like there are an abundance of miniature farms around there. This place is ruled by the Tn Walking Horse who would not be buying any of that. They also do not carry Enrich 32 which I used to feed when it was Born to Win. Actually Matt you are dead on, the ration balancer was perfect for us but when it hit a whopping $24.95 a bag, the Hus who only speaks 2 words per year spoke plenty that day!

Anyhow, since its not really broke I won't fix it and will stick with Strategy. No one is obese or in danger of foundering, just a couple in the barn are pleasingly plump like me!

 

[chandab]

Ok here's the deal. I trucked it down to TSC today and again asked them if they would consider carrying this and that for me and the answer again is a big fat nope. They do not carry a complete line of anyone's feed, just a few of the top best sellers and Strategy happens to be one of them. They feel I am the only one that would probably purchase any "lite" feed and miniature horse and pony feed out of their customers. Its not like there are an abundance of miniature farms around there. This place is ruled by the Tn Walking Horse who would not be buying any of that. They also do not carry Enrich 32 which I used to feed when it was Born to Win. Actually Matt you are dead on, the ration balancer was perfect for us but when it hit a whopping $24.95 a bag, the Hus who only speaks 2 words per year spoke plenty that day!

Anyhow, since its not really broke I won't fix it and will stick with Strategy. No one is obese or in danger of foundering, just a couple in the barn are pleasingly plump like me!

Yes, the price tag on a ration balancer is significant, but you feed so little of it, that one bag of ration balancer goes so much farther than one bag of other feeds, when fed at the proper amounts. If you feed something like strategy at levels less than recommended, the horses aren't getting all they could out of the feed.

I feed Progressive Nutrition's grass formula ration balancer, its like $30/bag (wish it were only $25/bag); but its fed at only .4#/head/day (so 6.4oz) for my B-size minis, so costs much less per head than any other feed I can get around here. The other feeds are fed at levels over 1#/head/day (closer to 1.5 or 2# daily) and cost $15-17/bag; so I would need to feed much more to get all the nutrition out of the product (calories that most of mine definitely don't need). Perhaps if you did the cost breakdown difference per day between Enrich 32 and Strategy, your husband would understand that in the longrun Enrich is cheaper. [Looking on the Purina feed chart, if your feeding the recommended amounts, Enrich feeding level is 1/3 of what Strategy is, so unless your Strategy is only $8.33/bag you are paying more total to feed the Strategy than you would be to feed the Enrich 32. Although, the chart does only show feeding the Enrich to maintenance animals, not to breeding or performance minis; my Purina booklet recommends it for any class of animal that maintains weight on basically just forage diet.]

 

[rubyviewminis]

So eloquently and accurately put Chanda. The Progressive balancer, grass formula is another very good feed. I was going to switch to it but they have a chart that suggested feeds formulated for horses or foals prone to laminitus or insulin resistant. At that time I had two little mares the vet was convinced had had laminitus. I didn't think so, but I felt feeds formulated in that direction would be safe and give them all they needed on a grass forage. For $30 a bag, and 4 oz per mini per day it was a bargain anyway. Safechioice is now over $20 a bag here but currently I only feed that to Jewel so it goes a long way also. I have to tell anyone who wants to listen, the Ultimate gives my minis a shine I can see through the dirt and dust, and an activity level in this heat and dry I haven't seen before. Another reason I wanted to try it was because I have a really picky eater. Feeding so little of it, I could mix it in soaked beet pulp, or soaked hay pellets. No waste. We have no TSC, and I had to use what I could find here, it has been very hard, and I was thrilled I could get the Progressive feeds my daughter in Montana used.

 

[Jetiki]

I use manna pro Show glo for a vitamin pellet, with beet plup or alfalfa cubes, etc if the need more calories. My horses look awesome and I can get the 5lb bag at Tractor supply or my feed store will order it for me. They get half an ounce to an ounce of it a day so it lasts a Long time. My horses are shiny, in great weight and have plenty of energy for driving or whatever else I ask them to do. We just got a reserve sr mare championship, reserve Driving championship, first in liberty and high point over performance horse, reserver champ sr stallion and the list goes on at the Fletcher, Nc show. I believe in keeping it simple, once their nutritional requirements are met their other needs are calories and chew time. I know I am not shorting them in that regard with this feeding program. If you are only feeding 1 or 2 cups you may not be giving them all they "need" from that feed.

Karen

 

[chandab]

So eloquently and accurately put Chanda. The Progressive balancer, grass formula is another very good feed. I was going to switch to it but they have a chart that suggested feeds formulated for horses or foals prone to laminitus or insulin resistant. At that time I had two little mares the vet was convinced had had laminitus. I didn't think so, but I felt feeds formulated in that direction would be safe and give them all they needed on a grass forage. For $30 a bag, and 4 oz per mini per day it was a bargain anyway. Safechioice is now over $20 a bag here but currently I only feed that to Jewel so it goes a long way also. I have to tell anyone who wants to listen, the Ultimate gives my minis a shine I can see through the dirt and dust, and an activity level in this heat and dry I haven't seen before. Another reason I wanted to try it was because I have a really picky eater. Feeding so little of it, I could mix it in soaked beet pulp, or soaked hay pellets. No waste. We have no TSC, and I had to use what I could find here, it has been very hard, and I was thrilled I could get the Progressive feeds my daughter in Montana used.

I love the Progressive grass formula, my girls were off it a month while I got my screwed up feed program back on-track, but now everyone is back on it. So far, no one refuses it, but I do have one or two that have picky days, then I just mix it with a little soaked beet pulp and they gobble it up.

Hey, I'm in MT too, what part does your daughter live?