[c5rose]

About a month ago, I switched my 19 yo from BS Vintage Senior to Triple Crown Senior due to availability. Ever since, he seems to eat slower, and sometimes he doesn't finish his complete ration. Could it be he doesn't care for the taste? Has anyone else had their horse turn their nose to TC Senior?

[Eventer55]

Yep, my 21 yr old won't eat any senior. I thought it would change when I switched to TC senior, but nope, he still pushes it around and takes his time eating it. I switched him back to performance and it's all gone in no time. Truthfully, he would love just plain oats.

[Simkie]

Well...I'd say it depends. No, it's not as palatable as any sort of sweet feed. I do think it's more palatable than some other senior feeds and most pelleted rations.

My mare seems to graze on her TC Senior, which is just fine with me, as long as she finishes before the next feeding.

[MunchkinsMom]

Well, I recently had to switch a younger horse to senior feed (he needs a complete feed because hay is no longer on his diet - long story about colic surgery).

At any rate, he would pick at Purina Senior and not finish it, he also only picked at the Nutrena Senior, and then I tried the Blue Seal Vintage Senior, and he loves that the best, eats it like there is no tomorrow.

So, since I found a "winner" in the feed lottery, I will continue to feed it.

[sid]

Triple Crown stopped milling their own product line some years ago and "subs" it out now. It was fantastic when it was totally quality controlled by the company in Minnesota when they started out. I was one of the first proponents of their feed line. Once they subbed out the manufacturing, quality became more than "iffy". PM me if you want the details.

I would highly recommend trying Pennfield Senior for your pal. I've had a slew of horses that I've bred and cared from birth to very old age. Not one ever turned up their nose to the Pennfield senior feed. The quality is unsurpassed.

Bottom line: If a horse doesn't want to eat a feed, barring a medical problem (esp. and older, wiser horse), don't feed it.

[Cindyg]

My chubby guys SCARF up TC Senior and are still licking the bucket lovingly hours later!

[Ashby]

Personally, I think TC Senior is delicious. Not as good as Ultimate Finish, of course, but still yummy. Miss Mare concurs.

[War Admiral]

HRH Avery is a picky eater who will go on hunger strikes with TC Senior. For now, I've solved the problem by changing him to TC Complete. He seems to like that a lot better. What I'll do when he loses enough teeth that he can no longer chew/digest the oats, though, is a different problem, and I confess I rather dread it.

I hear nothing but great things about Pennfields, but it's not available in my area. If it's in yours, I'd say give it a try.

[Jetiki]

I had a couple of oldies and they prefered the Complete to the Sr, even Mr Toothless the 40yr old pony seemed to eat it just fine soaked or unsoaked.


karen

[BornToRide]

Picky eating can also be a sign of ulcers, so keep that in mind too

[Capriole]

I've only had horses who adore TC Senior. I wonder if you got a questionable batch?

[deltawave]

I bought a bag last year to mix meds--the horses thought it was GREAT, even the dog loved it.

[sid]

I'd second the ulcers possibility. While I did have a problem with Triple Crown feed quality control, it wasn't an unpalatibility problem. One of their products (not the TC Senior) had a product in it that wasn't supposed to be in it (corn) and it cause a huge problem for a particular horse. It was a labeling and quality control problem. I stopped trusting the product so I stopped feeding it.

None of my horses turned up their noses to the feed though, so I'd suspect a medical problem unrelated to the TC senior feed itself.

[Iride]

We have both a young horse and an older horse on Triple Crown Senior. Both eat it fast and lick their buckets dry.

When I was consulting with the rep at TC, she informed me that there is a very minor difference between the Complete and the Senior. The main difference is the protein amount: 14% for the Senior, 12% or so for the Complete.

[SunnysideJate]

My 31 yr old, Danny loves TC Senior- he eats 5# 3x a day soaked. He is also is on a multivitamin and a fat supplement (Amplify.) He can still eat hay so he gets alfalfa and is on pasture. The only time he eats slower is if I feed him his lunch too late and it is within 4 hrs of dinner. In that case he is fed later than the others.

[stuge]

TC's senior has a whole lot less sugar than a lot of other senior feeds so I could see many horses turning their nose up at it.

My very picky 19year old TB gelding loves it though. Cleans it up even though he gets 4.5 lbs a feeding. he came from progressive's diet balancer with envision and then Tc's low starch though so, that could be why. I went from a no molasses feed to the TC senior which does have some, just not as much as others. If you are going from a higher molasses feed to TC senior, well they aren't going to be happy about that.

Complete is also a forage replacer too but it does have some grains and more molasses in it. TC Senior is 10.7% NSC and Complete is around 20%.

[katie16]

I too have a variety of horses on it (in a wide age range, work level, breed type, etc.) and everyone seems to love it and have no problems cleaning it up promptly.

[Iride]

TC Senior is 10.7% NSC and Complete is around 20%.

I didn't realize the NSC difference between TC Senior and Complete was that much. That said, do you think Complete at 20% NSC is a safe level to feed, say, a young horse in work? We have a 5 yr. old who has been on the Senior because of the extra protein, however he is lazy and I wonder if switching to Complete might help him feel more "motivated" about work! I don't mind the reduced protein at this point because he's at a barn now that feeds a lot of alfalfa (whereas before he was eating straight timothy).

[Simkie]

Complete is also a forage replacer too but it does have some grains and more molasses in it. TC Senior is 10.7% NSC and Complete is around 20%.

Close

http://www.triplecrownfeed.com/news-...ate-levels.php

Senior is 11.7% and Complete is 20.6%

Isn't it cool that TC lists this stuff on their website?

[tpup]

Just switched my guy from Complete to Senior - he loves it and licks his bucket clean.