Triple Crown Safe Starch Forage

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Cayuse

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Has anyone used Triple Crown Safe Starch Forage or Triple Crown Grass Forage? If you did, how did it work out for you?

I have been thinking of switching one of my minis onto it as they hay I am able to get is last years second cut and very green. I am going to make the assumption it is pretty rich. He is portly and I have cut his portions back but he is not loosing enough. I soak it too, to lower the NSC's. He is getting 1.5 pounds of hay per 100 pounds of body weight and I don't want to go lower

than that. He gets no pasture, just a small bit of grass in the paddock but its almost a dry lot so he needs his hay.

My thought is with the Safe Starch or Grass Forage he could still get the same amount and loose weight as its low NSC's.

Thanks.
 
The Safe Starch Forage is complete diet in a bag, only thing to add to the diet is salt.

The grass forage would probably need at least a vitamin mineral supplement added to make up for what is probably lacking in straight grass forage.
 
I used it when we lived in Virginia and loved it! I didn't have a good place to store large quantities of hay at the time and the feed store where I could purchase bales of hay in small quantities was very inconsistent and often had poor quality. The Triple Crown was always consistent and excellent quality. It was expensive though. No way I could afford to feed that to a full size horse, but I could justify it with just my 2 minis. I used both kinds, but Safe Starch was my favorite. It was great for traveling or when I had someone else feeding them because it was chopped and I could easily fit it in a couple gallon sized bags for each feeding. If I used it again, I would probably use a slow feed hay bag like the Hay Pillow with it though just to slow them down a bit.
 
Horselover161, one thing I am afraid of is him wolfing it down and having nothing left to occupy himself with.

Do you know if the hay pillows holes are small enough to the chopped hay?

I can feed small amounts over the course of the day as I am home. That would at least give him something to chew on for a shot while. I give my hay four times a day.
 
Not sure how well the chopped hay would work in hay pillows, but I think the mesh holes are as small as 1/2". I think she has 1/2", two different 3/4" (different thickness of twine), then 1" and a couple bigger. For our grass hay, I found the 3/4" thick twine to work pretty good, when I was using the hay pillows.
 
From what I have seen of the hay pillows, I would think the smallest size would work well. For my fast eater, I did put some large rocks in his hay tub so he had to at least move them around to reach all of the pieces of his hay.
 
I'm not sure what I am going to do, lol. I did get a bag of the Grass Forage and he likes it. I might put him on it and give him his usual evening portion of regular hay at night as it lasts longer.

My vet saw him yesterday and said he is still needs to loose a little.

I have three, two minis and a pony and none of the can eat the same stuff. The pony has allergies and has his "special vittles" the other mini can't eat fine second cut hay (diarrhea) and Peanut can't eat first cut (gas!)

I feel like a short order cook at feeding time.
 
I feel your pain. Luckily, mine eat mostly the same hay (9 eat our homegrown mixed hay we put up for the cows, I pick the best, grassiest bales for the horses); and then 3 eat small square grass hay I purchase (the small squares are easier to use in their barn/paddock, and come in straight grass, as the donkey lives in that paddock).

My feed room looks like a buffet: 3-4 different bagged feeds, 2 types of hay pellets, and sometimes beet pulp, plus assorted supplements.
 
One of my little minis also gets diarrhea from second cut hay. I was at a loss what to do as she also has laminitic episodes. What ive done recently is add the smallest amount of alfalfa/lucerne into her plain grass hay and the diarrhea has eased.
 
How much alfalfa do you add Ryan? About a small handful or so? I have heard it is very good for digestive issues, but was leary of trying it as I thought it might be too much, too rich for them.

I had my old mare on timothy/Alfalfa and it did seem to help her sensitive stomach. But she was a big pony, almost horse size.

Chandab, I have a kitchen counter that is covered in horse supplements. I remember, years ago, my horses just got good hay and a bit of grain and they looked great. Now everyone has an issue of some sort.

Oh, Ryan, I forgot to say I have used to product Bio Sponge for diarrhea with good results. I don't know if you can get it there, but a couple of doses usually solidifies everything back to where it should be.
 
Yes I just add a small handful in with her grass hay and mix it in well. My minis live mostly on plain grass hay due to the high sugar in our grass here. During winter I do add a grass and clover blend hay and ill increase the alfalfa a little if needed.

The alfalfa is good for digestion and also helps with stomach issues as a soother.

Your very right about the "Good hay and a little grain" comment - It really applies to humans too when you think about it , as the years go on it seems more and more people suffer from allergies and all sorts of things. Im kinda glad I was brought up playing in the mud ect instead of playing on an Ipad or tablet as the kids of today do
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Thanks Ryan, I may try the alfalfa.

I am giving him one meal a day of the Safe Starch. He still seems to like it. I think I will try to go 50/50

with regular hay and the Safe Starch, that way if I can't get the S.S. I have hay to fall back on. The feed stores are notorious for running out of stuff. I always try to keep a coup!e of bags of whatever I'm feeding stored ahead.

If you look close, my pesky ! has returned. Gremlins in the computer ?
 
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I have used SS and it worked wonderfully with my mini, Goldie. Last year her seasonal heaves were horrible. After two rounds of treatments, our vet recommended moving to a complete feed and no hay or pasture. After researching (ie: internet ), I emailed Triple Crown for help and received back a wonderfully complete answer with a lot of good questions and good information. I shifted to their Safe Starch and Goldie did very well. Since I was unsure how the pocket or mesh bags would work out, I put a bit of safe starch into several feed tubs I scattered around her paddock. At least that way she had to 'graze' - at least a little.

Unfortunately, as some of you experienced it was always a special order at our nearest feed store carrier. I would order up to 10 bags and then reorder when we were down to the final two or three. This routine didn't always work as the product was sometimes backordered or unavailable for a period of a week or two. After the last shortfall, I emailed Purina and also spoke to a representative.

Goldie is now on Equine Senior, also a complete with forage feed, and one that the feed store keeps on hand in large quantities. My mini and continues to do well, and so far there is not a flicker of any heave symptoms.

Both Triple Crown and Purina have excellent products, but in our area it seems that Purina is most readily available at all times.
 
I have used SS and it worked wonderfully with my mini, Goldie. Last year her seasonal heaves were horrible. After two rounds of treatments, our vet recommended moving to a complete feed and no hay or pasture. After researching (ie: internet ), I emailed Triple Crown for help and received back a wonderfully complete answer with a lot of good questions and good information. I shifted to their Safe Starch and Goldie did very well. Since I was unsure how the pocket or mesh bags would work out, I put a bit of safe starch into several feed tubs I scattered around her paddock. At least that way she had to 'graze' - at least a little.

Unfortunately, as some of you experienced it was always a special order at our nearest feed store carrier. I would order up to 10 bags and then reorder when we were down to the final two or three. This routine didn't always work as the product was sometimes backordered or unavailable for a period of a week or two. After the last shortfall, I emailed Purina and also spoke to a representative.

Goldie is now on Equine Senior, also a complete with forage feed, and one that the feed store keeps on hand in large quantities. My mini and continues to do well, and so far there is not a flicker of any heave symptoms.

Both Triple Crown and Purina have excellent products, but in our area it seems that Purina is most readily available at all times.
I have used SS and it worked wonderfully with my mini, Goldie. Last year her seasonal heaves were horrible. After two rounds of treatments, our vet recommended moving to a complete feed and no hay or pasture. After researching (ie: internet ), I emailed Triple Crown for help and received back a wonderfully complete answer with a lot of good questions and good information. I shifted to their Safe Starch and Goldie did very well. Since I was unsure how the pocket or mesh bags would work out, I put a bit of safe starch into several feed tubs I scattered around her paddock. At least that way she had to 'graze' - at least a little.

Unfortunately, as some of you experienced it was always a special order at our nearest feed store carrier. I would order up to 10 bags and then reorder when we were down to the final two or three. This routine didn't always work as the product was sometimes backordered or unavailable for a period of a week or two. After the last shortfall, I emailed Purina and also spoke to a representative.

Goldie is now on Equine Senior, also a complete with forage feed, and one that the feed store keeps on hand in large quantities. My mini and continues to do well, and so far there is not a flicker of any heave symptoms.

Both Triple Crown and Purina have excellent products, but in our area it seems that Purina is most readily available at all times.
Nice to see you here again. Glad Goldie is doing well.
 
My minis didn't do well on Safe Starch. IIRC, there are some grain ingredients in it (rice, soy, etc) and my minis are sensitive to that (weight loss, colic, hair issues). I've used TC premium grass forage as a supplement carrier for a while, and they love it.

One of mine is has EMS and is a former fatty. I've been through pretty much everything out there in terms of diet. A relatively high protein grass hay (10-13% crude protein) in slow feeders, so she always has something to nibble worked well. I tried restricting hay quantity, and she gained weight. Platinum Metabolic Support also helped, as did chia seeds. The best thing has been Riva's Remedies approach. Supplementing with some B vitamins & different herbal blends. She's finally not fat anymore.

I tried Chaffhaye, which they liked but it had some severe problems. One bag was full of toxic mold. I got a new bag from a feed store that just started carrying it, and it too was full of mold. Also, it didn't help any of my horses in terms of weight loss.
 

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