SPILLERS Supple & Senior Balancer 15kg – Joint Support & Complete Nutrition

Spillers Supple & Senior Balancer – 15kg

The name undersells it. This is a full multi-vitamin and mineral balancer for any horse that holds weight easily on forage alone, with joint support built in rather than bought separately — 7.5g of glucosamine and 10g of MSM in each 500g serving, from glucosamine hydrochloride and MSM listed directly in the composition.

For an owner currently buying a balancer and a joint supplement as two products, that arithmetic usually favours this bag. Underneath the joint ingredients is a proper balancer: 25% protein, 30 mg/kg biotin, 2,500 iu/kg vitamin E and an unusual 2,000 mg/kg of vitamin C, on 9% starch and 5% sugar with no whole cereal grain.

Performance & Benefits

• 7.5g glucosamine and 10g MSM in every 500g daily serving for a 500kg horse.
• 25% protein at 10.5 MJ/kg — full balancer nutrition for a forage-only diet.
• Biotin at 30 mg/kg, with zinc 600 mg/kg and copper 200 mg/kg, for hoof horn.
• Vitamin E 2,500 iu/kg and vitamin C 2,000 mg/kg — a high antioxidant loading for an older horse.
• Whole cereal grain free, at 9% starch and 5% sugar.
• Algae included in the composition as a source of omega-3.
• Highly palatable pellet, taken readily by fussy older horses.

Suitable For

• Older horses and ponies that would benefit from joint support.
• Any good doer that maintains weight on forage alone.
• Horses in regular work whose joints take a pounding.
• Owners currently buying a balancer and a joint supplement separately.
• Not a conditioning feed — a veteran that has lost weight needs calories too, and Spillers Speedy-Mash Fibre or Baileys No.21 Ease & Excel supply them.

Feeding

• 500kg horse: 500g a day. 250kg pony: 250g a day.
• At 500g a day the 15kg bag lasts a 500kg horse 30 days; at 250g a day it lasts a pony 60 days.
• Feed consistently — joint support builds over weeks, not days.
• Introduce gradually, as with any new feed.
• Ad-lib forage and clean, fresh water alongside.

Composition & Analysis

• Composition: wheatfeed, soya meal, rice bran, sunflower seed meal, molasses blend, calcium carbonate, MSM, dicalcium phosphate, glucosamine hydrochloride, salt, rapeseed oil, yeast products, magnesium oxide, algae.
• Typical analysis: digestible energy 10.5 MJ/kg, protein 25%, oil 6%, fibre 8%, starch 9%, sugar 5%.
• Vitamins and minerals: A 40,000 iu/kg, D3 4,000 iu/kg, E 2,500 iu/kg, C 2,000 mg/kg, biotin 30 mg/kg, selenium 2 mg/kg, copper 200 mg/kg, zinc 600 mg/kg, manganese 200 mg/kg, calcium 3%, phosphorus 1.2%, magnesium 0.6%.
• 15kg bag.
• Spillers describe it as suitable for laminitis-prone horses on the basis that it is whole cereal grain free and low in starch and sugar; the only certification mark shown on the product page is BETA NOPS, and Spillers claim no BETA laminitis approval for it.
• Omega-3 figures of 750mg per serving appear on some retail listings. Spillers publish no omega-3 level, so none is stated here.