[Trevelyan96]

Has anyone ever had TC Lite make their horse go bonkers? I switched my 7 year old TB from 5 lb TC Low Starch daily (split between AM & PM) to 4 lbs TC Lite (2lb AM & PM) because he was getting chubby, but he seems to be getting bonkers on it. He's 15.3 and weights around 1150 lbs. I'll try to post a pic of tonight when I get home. In the past few weeks I've seen a lot more fence pacing, and a lot more 'tude under saddle. Things like kicking out when asked for a canter depart and a little buck here and there. Saddle fit has been checked, teeth just done. The only changes have been the extra grass turnout and the switch to the TC Lite.

Other than the TC, he gets 1 scoop Bioflax 20, SmartFlex I, 8 hours turnout on good grass pasture, and free choice O/A hay the rest of the time in a 120 x 50' dirt sacrifice area. He's ridden 3-4 times weekly, W/T/C and very light jumping, maybe 4-5 2' jumps twice weekly.

Truly, I'm at wits end on what I can feed this horse. He's a hay hoover, but I can't cut his hay as I need to put enough out for his pasture mate, who is NOT an easy keeper. I've considered just giving him a handful of alf pellets with a vit/min supplement and Tri Amino. Any thoughts on this from the nutrition gurus?

[Melissa.Hare.Jones]

TC Lite *and* TC Low Starch both contain more non-structural carbs (sugar!) than TC Senior. For some horses, even a little is a lot.

[Trevelyan96]

TC Sr. is out of the question for this horse as he'll blow up like a balloon on the additional fat.

I'm thinking the best course of action may be to just give him the TC 30 ration balancer. If he starts dropping weight on that I'll put him back on the the Low Starch or add some BP. I haven't seen him this hot since the first spring he came off the track.

[fine*and*dandy]

TC Lite *and* TC Low Starch both contain more non-structural carbs (sugar!) than TC Senior. For some horses, even a little is a lot.

The NSC value for TC Lite is lower than TC Senior.

TC Lite - 9.3%
TC Senior - 11.7%

[LauraKY]

I had one flip out on the 30% ration balancer. I just give a handful of TC senior to Mr. Chub and a vitamin/mineral supplement.

[Janet]

I have hd several horses on TC Lite in the summer and TC Low Starch in the winter, for a few years.

I've never hada nay of them change their behavior with the feed.

[whbar158]

TC Sr. is out of the question for this horse as he'll blow up like a balloon on the additional fat.

I'm thinking the best course of action may be to just give him the TC 30 ration balancer. If he starts dropping weight on that I'll put him back on the the Low Starch or add some BP. I haven't seen him this hot since the first spring he came off the track.

Fat doesn't always equal extra calories, but in this case the Lite is less calories per pound than the TC sr.

The only thing that pops out to me is that it could be possible that your horse is sensitive to the alfalfa in the Lite (which the LS doesn't have), but you say he eats hay that has alfalfa in it, but that is all I see.

[Personal Champ]

Sounds like my OLD mare, right down to the hard keeping TB pasturemate.

Had great success with Blue Seal's RB at 1.75 lbs/day.

[twhs]

No problem with TC Lite -- Have 1 horse and 2 ponies on it, however, when I added TC Senior to the Lite on one pony, I did have serious 'tude. One of my mares was horribly flirtatious when in heat when on it (best way to describe it) so I took her off and put her on just a tad of alfafa pellets. She's an extremely easy keeper and has been much better since. Hope this helps.

[chicamux]

TC Lite has aprox twice the vitamins/minerals of per lb as TC Low Starch. The idea of a their Lite formula is to be able to feed fewer calories while not reducing the vitamin/mineral intake. At 4 lbs of Lite you are feeding the maximum suggested for the Lite formula. At 5 lbs of Low Starch you were under the suggested minimum of 6 lb. You really bumped up the vit/min doasge when you changed feeds. Extra vitamins and minerals make lots of horses "bonkers" as they just plain old feel awful darn good all of a sudden. Just cut your horse back to 1 lb twice a day and soak with a little water to plump the pellets into a bigger volume. Hot water works fast.

chicamux

[ILuvmyButtercups]

Yup, happened to my Paint. He isn't obese, just stout (he's paddocked with all he can eat hay), but I'd given him some TC Lite just to make him think he was getting something in a bucket since the other two boys were getting their special rations. Huh! Night and day difference - he'd spook and gallop off bucking like the dickens when a car came up the driveway. He'd blow and dip and flip around at any provocation. That all went away when I stopped giving it to him.

But he's too frisky with any alfalfa at all, in any form. I can't even give him alfalfa mixed hay. Now he gets a handful of Stanlees Timothy pellets soaked, with a dash of TC Senior for flavor, twice a day with his Timothy only hay all day. He's not missing much, isn't working at all hard. I have to keep him calm - he will jump the four foot fence if especially provoked or anxious. Grrrr. I hate that!!!!!!!

[Trevelyan96]

Hmmm.... Maybe I can just switch him to soaked BP and hay stretcher with some SmartVite.

[eventingismylife]

TC Lite has aprox twice the vitamins/minerals of per lb as TC Low Starch. The idea of a their Lite formula is to be able to feed fewer calories while not reducing the vitamin/mineral intake. At 4 lbs of Lite you are feeding the maximum suggested for the Lite formula. At 5 lbs of Low Starch you were under the suggested minimum of 6 lb. You really bumped up the vit/min doasge when you changed feeds. Extra vitamins and minerals make lots of horses "bonkers" as they just plain old feel awful darn good all of a sudden. Just cut your horse back to 1 lb twice a day and soak with a little water to plump the pellets into a bigger volume. Hot water works fast.

chicamux

This is what I was thinking. When going from the minimum suggested intake of the Low Starch and going to twice the minimum of the Lite formula, he is going to have a much hight vit/min load that he had before. So he is going bonkers because of that.
I would do what chicamux suggested above or start giving him beet bulp with a ration balancer like Triple Crown 30%.

[mjmvet]

You also mentioned extra grass turnout. That would be the most obvious culprit in my experience. I have a mare that can be...silly...and no amount of TC lite (or alfalfa for that matter) does anything to her attitude. Extra grass, however...