Feed balancers and vitamin and mineral supplements are often discussed as if they were the same thing. Both are designed to fill the gaps that forage leaves, both are fed in small amounts and both can be the right choice for a good-doer on a forage-based diet. The difference lies mainly in protein and serving size, and that difference decides which horses each product suits. Getting it wrong usually means either paying for nutrients your horse already has or leaving a real gap unfilled. For a broader introduction to micronutrients, read our guide to vitamins and minerals for horses.
What a feed balancer is
A feed balancer is a concentrated feed, usually pelleted, that supplies protein, vitamins and minerals in a small daily serving without supplying much energy. It is designed for horses whose energy needs are already met by forage but whose diet still needs topping up with quality protein and micronutrients. Balancers usually include named essential amino acids such as lysine, which the horse cannot make for itself and must obtain from its diet.
Welfare charities frequently recommend balancers for horses on restricted diets. World Horse Welfare notes that overweight horses fed only forage may lack protein, vitamins and minerals and advises feeding a balancer to correct this. Redwings Horse Sanctuary's weight-loss ration calculator pencils in an optional balancer at roughly 100g per 100kg of bodyweight to replace nutrients lost through restricted grazing, although the right amount for any product is the one on its label.
What a vitamin and mineral supplement is
A vitamin and mineral supplement supplies vitamins and trace minerals, and sometimes macrominerals, in an even smaller serving. It typically carries little or no meaningful protein, although some products include small amounts of individual amino acids such as lysine. Supplements come as powders or small pellets and add very few calories, which makes them attractive for easy keepers whose forage already covers their protein needs.
An article in The Horse comparing the two product types makes the point that both often carry similar levels of trace minerals and vitamin E per serving. The bigger serving of a balancer is what allows it to deliver protein and gram-level quantities of macrominerals such as calcium.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | Feed balancer | Vitamin and mineral supplement |
|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | Balance a forage-based diet for protein, vitamins and minerals | Fill vitamin and trace mineral gaps |
| Protein | Yes, usually with named amino acids such as lysine | Little or none; sometimes small amounts of individual amino acids |
| Typical serving | Hundreds of grams a day, scaled to bodyweight | A smaller scoop, often well under 200g a day |
| Energy | Low, but not zero | Negligible |
| Macrominerals | Can supply more total calcium per day because of the larger serving | Varies by product |
| Best fit | Forage-fed horses that need protein topping up | Forage-fed horses whose protein is already covered and calories are tight |
| Common pitfall | Fed on top of a full ration of compound feed | Used where the real shortfall is protein |
For context on serving sizes, The Horse gives typical servings of 1 to 2lb a day for ration balancers (roughly 0.45 to 0.9kg) and 3 to 6oz for supplements (roughly 85 to 170g). These are US figures; always follow the feeding rate on the product you use.
Protein: the main difference
Protein is the deciding factor. A mature horse in light work on reasonable forage often has its protein needs covered by forage alone, and for that horse a vitamin and mineral supplement can complete the diet. Horses with higher requirements, such as youngstock, broodmares and horses in harder work, or horses eating poor quality forage, are more likely to benefit from the extra protein and amino acids in a balancer.
Guesswork is the weak point here. Hay varies a great deal from field to field and year to year, and the only way to know what yours contains is a forage analysis. Redwings recommends getting hay analysed and notes that an analysis can help you find the right balancer to complement it. Once you know the protein and energy content of your forage, the choice between the two products usually becomes obvious.
Which diets suit which product
Forage-only good-doers
This is the classic case for one or the other. A balancer is the usual recommendation from welfare charities because restricted rations can leave protein short as well as micronutrients. If a forage analysis shows protein is adequate and every calorie counts, a vitamin and mineral supplement is a reasonable alternative. Our article on how much forage a horse needs explains how to set a safe forage ration first.
Horses on soaked hay
Soaking is used to reduce the sugar content of hay, but it also changes what else the hay provides. World Horse Welfare advises that a balancer or broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement may be needed when calories are restricted, particularly when hay is soaked. Research on UK hays by Longland and colleagues (2011) found that soaking reduced sugars while crude protein did not change significantly.
Horses fed a compound feed at the full recommended rate
Most compound feeds, such as mixes, cubes and conditioning feeds, are already fortified with vitamins and minerals at a level that assumes you feed the manufacturer's recommended amount. A horse eating that amount usually needs neither a balancer nor a general supplement, and adding one simply supplies the same nutrients twice.
Horses fed a compound feed below the recommended rate
This is the most common hidden gap. If your horse gets one scoop of a feed designed to be fed at three, it receives only a fraction of the vitamins and minerals the formulation intended. Topping up with a vitamin and mineral supplement, or switching to a balancer, fills that gap without adding the extra calories of a full ration.
Horses that need more condition or energy
Neither product provides much energy. World Horse Welfare advises meeting extra energy needs with more good-quality forage first and adding concentrates only if body condition and energy levels show a need.
How to avoid doubling up
Doubling up happens when products are added one at a time over months and nobody looks at the whole ration. A simple audit prevents it.
- Write down everything your horse eats in a day, with weights: forage, hard feed, balancer, supplements and treats.
- Compare the amount of each compound feed with the manufacturer's recommended rate for your horse's bodyweight and workload.
- Choose one base product to balance the diet: a balancer, a supplement or a full ration of fortified feed. Not all three.
- Check single-nutrient supplements, such as vitamin E, biotin or magnesium products, against what the base product already supplies.
- Re-check whenever your forage source, workload or body condition changes.
- Ask a qualified nutritionist or your vet to review the ration, ideally with a forage analysis in hand.
Products are formulated to be fed alone at their stated rate alongside a typical diet. Stacking two of them means some nutrients are supplied twice, which at best wastes money and at worst pushes intakes well above what was intended. Our guide on how to choose a horse supplement walks through label reading in more detail.
Which should you choose?
- Choose a feed balancer if your horse lives mainly on forage, has little or no hard feed and may be short of protein, for example a good-doer on a restricted ration or a horse on poor quality hay.
- Choose a vitamin and mineral supplement if a forage analysis shows protein is covered and you need to keep calories to a minimum, or to top up a compound feed fed below its recommended rate.
- Choose neither if your horse already eats a fortified compound feed at the full recommended rate, unless a nutritionist identifies a specific gap.
If you compete, check that the brand is a member of the BETA NOPS scheme and confirm your governing body's rules before adding anything new to the diet.