There was just an article in this months "Horse Journal" about NSC levels in feed. Safe Choice was the highest NSC out of all the products tested. It is an okay feed, but I would look for one that has a lower NSC if NSC is important to you, and is fixed formulation as opposed to variable formulation.

I was mistaken. The article is in the April issue of Equus. Here are the NSCs for the six products they reviewed.

Triple Crown Low Starch      NSC 15%

Nutrena Safe Choice           NSC 21%

Buckeye Safe 'N Easy          NSC 11.9%

ADM Seniorglo                    NSC 12%

Seminole Wellness Perform Safe     NSC 9% 

Purina WellSolve L/S            NSC 11%

If you are looking for low non-structural carbohydrate, yes... BUT not every horse requires a low NSC diet. Feeding recommendations should be made to the individual horse. Many people think they have IR or Cushings horses, but do not know for sure. Most feed companies have reps who are willing to talk to owners about their individual horses needs, which is something horse owners should take advantage of. A good rep will not just recommend thier own product, but will look at the horse's total ration, including forage. A good rep will also tell you if it ain't broke, don't fix it! 

Not necessarily. I would look into a ration balancer or a low feeding rate vitamin and mineral supplement for a horse like yours. The problem with most feeds, even pelleted, low NSC products, is these easy keeping horses need so little grain they may not be getting enough grain to meet the vitamin and mineral requirements they have. In many areas of the country, hay can be difficient of certain vitamins and minerals. Your feed or vitamin and mineral supplement should make up for what your forage is lacking. I use a product called Kauffman's Ka-HI, which I feed 1 lb per head per day with the best quality hay I can find. Horses are designed to be forage first animals and feeding good hay and less grain products works better for their digestive systems than loading them full of grain. Each horse is an individual and all aspects about them need to be taken into consideration when deciding on a feeding program- breed, sex, age, turnout, amount of work, living conditions, etc.

You have to be careful with some of the "lite" feeds as their inclusion rates can be as high as 3 lbs per day, which is alot of grain for a horse that doesn't really need it. A good ration balancer or vitamin and mineral supplement can get the same results for 1 lb per day, which saves the horse's digestive system and the owner's money!

I have been feeding Nutrena SafeChoice to 4 horses for 2 years now. No problems.

They are on pasture 24-7 with round bales in the winter, and get the feed as a supplment every other day during the Summer and every day during Winter.  Amount varies with each horse depending on condition and weight.

Thanks for the info on the article though.....can always learn new stuff.

I feed the Nutrena safechoice, havent had any problems with it. I did notice the horses calmed down a bit when I switched to it from Purina Strategy. I liked the strategy, but they changed something because before you needed very little of it and horses would all be shiny and big like a Halter horse.....then it seemed I needed to feed more and more of it to get the same results. I talked to other people who were having the same issues and, like me, they were thinking its just them because its supposed to be a real good quality and expensive feed !

I heard a lot of good things about other feeds, but unfortunatly, in my area, you have 3 choices....Purina, Nutrena and Blue Seal. Oh, and the Agway does sell thier own stuff plus they have feed called "Legend". but I know nothing about legend.