Horslyx Mint Balancer – Horse & Pony Supplement Lick, 5 kg

Horslyx Mint Balancer – 5kg Tub

Five kilos of Mint Balancer is about twenty days for one 500kg horse at the intake Horslyx expect, which makes it the stable-sized tub: one horse, one tub, refilled roughly monthly. It is also the largest Mint tub in general circulation alongside the 15kg — Horslyx do not make Mint in the 40kg or 80kg field sizes.

Peppermint oil is the only thing separating it from Original Balancer. The analytical constituents are identical — 6.5% protein, 6% oil, 23% ash, 33% sugar — and flavouring compounds are declared at 1,000mg per kg. Horses that walk past an unflavoured lick will very often stop at this one.

Performance & Benefits

• Peppermint oil in the declared composition, flavouring compounds at 1,000mg per kg.
• Nutritionally identical to Original Balancer, so the flavour costs nothing in specification.
• 5kg is about twenty days for one 500kg horse at 250g a day.
• Vitamin A 25,000iu, D3 5,000iu, E 1,200mg, B12 220mcg and biotin 12mg per kg.
• Copper and zinc part-supplied as glycine chelates.
• Weatherproof, so it holds up in a field as well as a stable.
• No artificial colours or preservatives.

Suitable For

• One horse or pony, stabled or turned out, for about three weeks a tub.
• Fussy horses that have refused Original or Garlic.
• Older horses with poor teeth that cannot manage hard feed.
• Owners who want a balancer without joint, airway or gut extras.
• Too small for a field of horses to share — Horslyx Original Balancer 15kg is the field size we stock, as Mint is not made in 40kg or 80kg.

Feeding

• Horslyx give an expected intake of 250g a day for a 500kg horse, 200g for a 300kg pony and 300g for a 700kg horse.
• A 5kg tub is roughly twenty days for one 500kg horse.
• Introduce it slowly and monitor the intake rate; Horslyx note that consumption usually falls once a horse has got used to having a lick available.
• Use it in the 5kg Horslyx Holder if you have a greedy pony — the holder takes a detachable restrictor grill.
• Feed alongside forage and fresh water.

Composition & Analysis

• Composition: dehydrated cane molasses, monocalcium phosphate, pure vegetable oil, sodium chloride, prairie meal, calcium carbonate, magnesium oxide, peppermint oil.
• Analytical constituents: crude oil and fats 6%, crude protein 6.5%, crude fibre 0.25%, crude ash 23%, sugar (as sucrose) 33%, calcium 2.5%, phosphorus 1.6%, magnesium 0.4%, sodium 2.5%.
• Additives per kg: vitamin A 25,000iu, vitamin D3 5,000iu, vitamin E 1,200mg, vitamin B12 220mcg, biotin 12mg, flavouring compounds 1,000mg.
• Trace elements per kg: copper 540mg from copper (II) sulphate plus 60mg as copper chelate of glycine, zinc 1,080mg from zinc sulphate plus 120mg as zinc chelate of glycine, manganese 800mg, iodine 6mg, selenium 5mg.
• Sugar (as sucrose) is 33%, which at the 250g daily intake works out at the 82.5g of sugar per day Horslyx themselves quote — less than a kilo of hay supplies.
• Horslyx describe the whole Balancer range as extremely low in starch but publish no starch percentage, so none is stated here.

Care & Caution

• Horslyx state that their Balancers are suitable for horses and ponies susceptible to or suffering from laminitis, introduced gradually with no more than ten minutes' access at first.
• If the forage ration is being restricted, Horslyx say not to allow free access to the lick — a hungry horse is more likely to over-consume it.
• A tub left in a stable overnight is available all night — weigh or eye the rate over the first week.