I know there have been dicoveries on both sides of this in recent years, but we recently switched our horses from Safechoice (which we loved and they looked fantastic) to Strategy (the company has a whole spiel they do where they weigh the horses and tell you how much you can save and how their feed is more "complete" nutritionally).  I believe Safechoice is 12% protein and Strategy is 15%.  Well, since we've switched, at least one of the horses has been majorly keyed up all the time.  This could be something else, obviously, but we put her on Regumate and while we have noticed a difference, she is still acting very anxious/uptight all the time.  From a horse who I couldn't get to go forward at all to taking over an hour to work down.  Does anyone think it might be the feed? 

Yes -- and it's not just the protein, but the source and quality of the protein.  I had my boy on SafeChoice originally, switched to a plain Purina feed because it was what the farm fed, then tried Strategy to help hold his weight (he's a medium-hard keeper), it made him act ridiculous and he looked like crap, I HATED it, finally switched back to SafeChoice (why don't I listen to myself -- if it ain't broke don't fix it!) and will never switch again for this horse.  I am not a Strategy fan and quickly gave away the 3/4 of the bag I hadn't used and won't touch it again.

If you do need an energy boost without making a horse crazy hot, I have used Nutrena's Empower with Solo on top of the SafeChoice when I first bought him and he had ZERO condition, it was fantastic and he remained level headed and workable.

Yeah- we did have two of our horses on Empower on top of their SafeChoice but the strategy ppl were like, "with strategy, you wont need to buy any supplements!"  I dont know if I buy it though.  I think we may try just switching this one mare back to safechoice.  If I can convince the boss lady its a good idea, but she's the one who brought this issue up, so I know shes concerned (shes also the one spending the hours working this mare down, and dealing with the sudden rearing and stiffness and general freaking out).

I'm not a huge fan of Nutrena or Purina, but if your horses were doing well with the SC and the Empower, I wouldn't change anything.  My TB did TERRIBLE on SafeChoice.  He lost tons of weight, even when adding a fat supplement.  Some horses do not do well with all the soy in it and he was one of them.  I switched him over to Triple Crown Complete and he picked up weight really fast.  I was able to back him off of the Ultimate Finish (fat supplement), from 2lbs a day to a half a pound.  That stuff is awesome. 

The reason I'm not a fan of Nutrena or Purina feeds is that they don't keep the ingredients consistent.  As long as they keep the nutritional analysis the same, they will change the ingredients to whatever is cheaper at that time or what region that particular facility is in.  Call me anal...but I like to know what my horse is getting ALL the time and not have it changed on me without my knowledge. 

I also am a big fan of the Triple Crown Complete. My 23 year old OTTB has been on it for a few years now and he looks great!! He was a hard keeper and I tried several things before finding this one....and I am sticking with it! I also have a mare on it and a yearling on the Triple Crown Growth.

 

My 5 year old gelding is on safe choice, and I am happy with his weight, and his coat is smooth and shiny. I thought of switching to purina well solve L/S, because a dealer(purina of course, bragged it up) I found the price is alot higher for the purina, and also found that purina in the past had some recalls on some of their horse feed. Sounded like mislabeling issues. I did not see anything for nutrena, although if there was any, it was missed in the review list. So, from looking at it from that point of view, and that my horse looks good, I shouldn't fix what is not broken. He is not a worker, so he dosen't need the extra energy.(I don't need any extra energy from him either!) That is why he is on that brand.

FCP, I am with BoyleHeightsKid on the not liking Purina or Nutrena issue, for the exact reason she stated - they do not have a set, consistent "recipe" and can change the mixture around as long as the nutritional analysis stays the same. I do think Triple Crown is a good feed because they have a consistent mix - however, it can be a bit more pricey. Another alternative is Seminole feed, which is available down here in Miami (I'm not quite sure where you are in Florida or if Seminole is available by you). I switched my 23 year old TB from the Nutrena Senior to the Seminole Senior and it really helped him to pick up weight.

I am up in Tallahassee, recently in from Gainesville, so I dont know what's around.  The filly has been so excitable that she has strained her ankle, running and spinning on her hind end like she thinks she's a rodeo horse, so we are probably switching her and her half brother back to safechoice, the Strategy people said their excitable activity was due to the "freshly cut hay having a high sugar content.." Whatever.  Now she's confined to a stall until we can get an ultrasound.

Bummer on the injury -- I would definitely take her off that feed.  Of COURSE the Strategy people would refuse to believe it caused any problems.  Would it be so terrible for them to admit that different horses respond to feeds differently???

FocusCalmPatience:

the Strategy people said their excitable activity was due to the "freshly cut hay having a high sugar content.." Whatever. 

Did they say it "was" due to the hay or that it "could be" due to the hay?  Have you ever had your hay analyzed by your extension agent?  You might be surprised.

I wasn't present for the convo, but I was told they said it was "probably" caused by the hay and also advised we take the horses entirely off grass, as spring grass can also make them excitable.  It does seem pretty convenient though, that they want them on dirt paddocks with less hay.. Leaving them eating mostly grain.  Since we now have an injury, the filly is off grass on stall rest, with mostly rye hay and a couple handfulls of grain.  She is acting very subdued, but I think it is more due to pain than anything else (pure speculation).

But if they have been on the grass throughout the whole spring (well, spring is already over here, it is SO summer), then it should not cause extreme problems.  We've got about 50 horses at the boarding farm -- not a one goes nutty just because spring grass comes in.  All of our hay does get tested (it's mostly oat hay) before it is fed, but it's homegrown stuff.

FocusCalmPatience:

I wasn't present for the convo, but I was told they said it was "probably" caused by the hay and also advised we take the horses entirely off grass, as spring grass can also make them excitable.  It does seem pretty convenient though, that they want them on dirt paddocks with less hay..

Well I was merely suggesting that it is possible, some horses have problems with spring grass and have to be muzzled or kept off of it.  Yours may not have this problem at all, but Purina has been making animal feed a lot longer than most, with 50 feed patents and a multi-million dollar research facility with it's own test herd just for their equine feed alone, and they usually do know what they're talking about.

But I realize that it may not be the best feed for every single horse, or it may not seem to you to be, so by all means feed what you feel is best, but don't attempt to discredit every other feed company in the process just because one single formula of feed another company sells may not have worked the best for you at one time.

 I don't think the OP is attempting any discredit, or at least I didn't get that vibe.  Even though I don't love Purina feed just because they have not been the best for my horse, I know there are plenty of other horses that do great on it.  I just wish that feeding didn't have to be such an experimental process sometimes -- wouldn't it be handy if all horses reacted the same?  

Safechoice and other "safe" feeds (Triple Crown Low Starch or Lite) are formulated either without grain or with safe sources of energy with low or no starch (oats, alfalfa, beet pulp).  Other feeds use corn as one of the first five ingredients.  Check the bag or the tag, it's in there.  Corn is used because it is energy (read calorie) dense.  It is also very high in starch.  Many horses cannot handle the starch.  Their system does not digest it properly, and you get a whole host of funky behaviors.