Assurance Feed

11/01/2025

It's that time of year again when we turn back time. ⏰

Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday, Nov. 2nd at 2 a.m.

So, remember to turn your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night~

11/01/2025

💚 Hay cubes~ What you need to know! 💚

Here's a question(s) we've been getting a LOT this year:🌾🌾🌾

Q: Are Hay cubes acceptable for horses? With all the rain, our hay is more mature and not of the quality we would prefer.
Should I feed cubes? Should I soak cubes?

A:
🔹Forage cubes are a great alternative forage source or added forage source when good-quality hay is limited or not available.

🔹Older horses may benefit from soaked forage cubes if dental issues limit their ability to chew hay, and horses with inflammatory airway disease are often offered forage in the form of cubes, pellets, to reduce the level of dust and mold that can be associated with hay.

🔹Forage cubes often have a higher digestible energy value than mature baled hay, as they are harvested at optimal maturity when digestible fiber (neutral detergent fiber) levels are greatest.

🔹Ideally provide high-quality forage as grass pasture, hay, cubes, or a combination of these as horses do crave long-stem fiber.

🔹Soaking the cubes can increase water consumption that may help prevent dehydration and act as a carrier for powdered supplements and medications. How long the cubes are soaked and the amount of water used depends somewhat on the horse’s preference. Generally, at least 20-30 minutes are needed with equal parts water to soften the cubes.

🐴 If you're looking to supplement your hay, Assurance Feed offers 4 types of PREMIUM, Non GMO Hay cubes:
1) Alfalfa
2) 50/50 Alfalfa Timothy Cubes
3) Timothy mini cubes
4) Timothy Balance Cubes ( very low NSC, and may be fed to horses with PSSM, RER, ESPM, Cushing’s disease, EMS, Shivers and other metabolic disorders affected by sugars and carbohydrates)

Assurance Hay Cubes are formulated for all horses as a forage replacement or supplement.
✨The hay cubes are made with premium alfalfa and timothy hay, which are processed in an ISO 9000 compliant facility to virtually eliminate dust, mold and mycotoxins.

✨The Alfalfa, Timothy, Alfalfa-timothy and Timothy Balance Cubes are certified to be free of noxious w**d seeds. All formulas are grown under irrigation, dehydrated and cubed to preserve nutrients.

Discover the ADVANTAGE of CHOOSING Assurance Hay Cubes: 🌟

🌟 SUN CURED, but ALSO DEHYDRATED
✳️ This is a VERY important point of distinction ✳️

✔️ Our hay is sun-cured to start with, like other cubes, but then it is also all dehydrated. This assures a more uniform moisture content without the need to add preservative either to the hay or to the cubes - Most other cube producers use hay that has been baled with a preservative and/ or add a preservative to the cubes. Unless you have a hay drier you will very likely need to use at least some hay that has been treated with a preservative - normally some type of propionic acid product.

- The dehydration process also has a prophylactic effect. It will kill any possible mold spores or other pathogens that may be present in the hay. This is also very important.

🌟 WESTERN CANADIAN HAY SOURCE:
Our cubes are made from Western Canadian hay. The cold climate means they are free of opossums, which can lead to Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis in horses if they ingest contaminated hay. They are common south of the Canadian border, but do not exist in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
- It also means free of blister beetles

🌟 NATURAL NON-GMO INGREDIENTS
All of our products are Non genetically modified (Non-GMO)

10/31/2025

Time for shivers, scares, and thrills,
for pumpkin grins in windowsills,
for black cats in the full moon’s sheen,
and a wish for a VERY Happy Halloween! 🎃

Here's wishing all our FB friends FUN chills and thrills and a SPOOK-tacular Halloween!

👻 🦉🎃 🧛‍♂️

10/28/2025

Bear says: Assurance Horse feed represents
un”paw”alleled excellence in Equine Nutrition.

🔒 Locked formulas : Ensure absolute consistency in your feed.

🔬 Science Driven Nutrition by Kentucky Equine Research ( World Leaders in Equine Nutrition 🌎)
Natural Vit E
Chelated Minerals
Omegas

🐴 Equine Only: Our facility prioritizes safety, adhering to stringent protocols that prohibit risky ingredients like ionophores.

💜 We provide assurance through complimentary equine nutrition consultations, addressing all your concerns and ensuring confidence in your feeding program.

We offer a full selection of the feed choices, from weanlings through seniors, breeding horses to high performance horses and special needs.

We’d love to chat. Give us a call : 1-800-645-5648

10/27/2025

Good information from the UMN Equine Extension Program:

Don’t let winter catch you off guard! ❄️

Add these tasks to your fall to-do list to get your barn (and horses!) ready for the season. 🐴🍂🧹

👉 What’s something you do that’s not on our list? Let us know in the comments! ⬇️

10/26/2025

Four Autumn Feeding Facts for Horses
🍁🍂🌻
By Kentucky Equine Research, formulators of Assurance Feed

Its autumn, and new horse-keeping challenges arise. Be on the lookout for these four potential problems.

🍁1. Deteriorating pasture quality warrants a diet overhaul.

“In the spring, we are often concerned about the pasture being too good in quality or high in fructans, which sometimes mandates the use of dry lots and grazing muzzles to minimize intake. In the autumn, the quality of the pasture could decline significantly, so much so that extra energy from supplemental feeds might be necessary for balanced nutrition,” advised Peter Huntington, B.V.Sc., M.A.C.V.Sc., director of nutrition for Kentucky Equine Research.

This means that horses doing well with just a well-fortified vitamin/mineral supplement in spring and summer may need extra concentrate in the autumn.

🌻Don’t forget these basic feeding facts when overhauling your horse’s diet:

⚜️The best forage possible should always be provided (apart from horses needing lower energy forages to assist weight loss);
⚜️Changes in diet must be made slowly;
⚜️Consider all of the feeds and nutritional supplements your horse receives to avoid nutrient imbalances; and
⚜️Seek professional advice in creating a balanced diet for your horse.

🍁 2. Autumn pasture or forage can present risks.

“High levels of fructans and water-soluble carbohydrates often cause owners strife in spring, but even autumn pastures and late-cut forages can produce health issues in at-risk horses,” advised Huntington. Overconsumption of fructans and water-soluble carbohydrates can cause laminitis in certain horses.

Unsure about forage quality? Forage analysis can be done year-round, and is especially important for those horses with insulin resistance or equine metabolic syndrome.

🍁 3. Wilting maple leaves can be especially problematic, even fatal.

Several w**ds and plants are potentially dangerous to horses in autumn. One such example is moldy, wilting maple leaves. Research has shown that seeds and leaves from maples and related species contain a chemical toxin, hypoglycin A, which causes atypical myopathy, also known as pasture-associated myopathy.

🍁 4. Manure stockpiling leads to parasite woes.

Manure management is always a pressing matter and needs to be maintained to maximize the health of horses and foals. By thoroughly removing manure from a stable and nearby paddocks and lots, the likelihood of a reinfestation from one season to the next diminishes greatly. This is particularly true of bots and roundworms.

In addition to manure management, appropriate deworming based on f***l egg counts should be employed as needed.

🍁🍂 Our Nutrition advisor can offer diet advice for horse owners who wish to ensure their horses have balanced diets.
Feel free to message or call us at: 1-800-645-5648

10/23/2025

💥 Myth Busters:💥

📌Equine Myth: Hay is the only food your horse needs.

TRUTH: Well, nope. High-quality forage is a great start! But….there are many vitamins and minerals that your horse will be missing if you feed a hay only diet. This is equally true for "lawn ornaments", to leisurely trail horses to high caliber Performance horses.

For example, vitamin E is present in hay - but only for a very short time after it’s cut. Then there’s salt (not to be confused with electrolytes), which your horse needs daily.

There are also the Omega fatty acids, which may not be present in beneficial quantities in just hay alone.

🌟 Hence the HUGE benefit of feeding ASSURANCE Feed.

We include:
✨NATURAL Vit E ( 180% more utilized by the body than synthetics),
✨Omegas in perfect balance.
✨Chelated minerals for 200% better digestibility
✨ALL the essential Amino acids for PEAK Health, muscle, topline, performance and growth.

If you have an "easy keeper" this doesn't mean your horse needs to eat “grain” { commonly used term for fortified feeds}. You have the option to feed a ration balancer.

And due to the exceptionally high quality and nutrient density, the feeding rate for Assurance's Ration balancer is ONLY 1/2lb a day for a 1,000lb horse at maintenance.
✅ ONE bag would last one horse 100 days!

Your horse’s caloric needs will determine what’s best. Give us a call, our Equine nutrition specialist can help you create a diet for your horse that takes into consideration age, job, lifestyle, medical issues, current hay and supplements, living situation, pasture....

Assurance Feed, EXCELLENCE in Equine Nutrition, formulated by the WORLD Leader in Equine Nutrition, Kentucky Equine Research!!

1-800-645-5648

10/22/2025

✨ RE•LEVE® ✨
Veterinarian-recommended feed formulated for horses requiring a low-starch diet.

RE•LEVE® is appropriate for any health condition in which a low-starch diet is recommended.

Specifically, a low-starch diet may be beneficial for horses prone to the following muscular disorders and metabolic syndromes.
🔹Polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM)
🔹Recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis (RER)
🔹Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), also known as equine Cushing's disease
🔹Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS)
These metabolic problems may be triggered or exacerbated by the consumption of soluble carbohydrates found in diets that contain typical concentrates.

100% free from typical grains like oats, corn and barley.

The energy source profile in this feed helps your horses stay focused and fuel top performance.

RE•LEVE® is fully fortified to provide the appropriate levels of the vitamins and minerals necessary for optimal performance.

RE•LEVE® utilizes natural-source vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant more bioavailable than synthetic sources, to ensure horses receive the maximum benefit.

The First Research-Proven Feed for Horses with Low-Starch Needs

🔷 Limited Ingredient Diet, Low Glycemic, Low NSC, High Fat, Low Starch

✳️ Available at or through your Assurance Feed Dealers. ( See Albums for current list)
If for some reason they don’t have it in stock, they can order it in.

10/21/2025

🌟🌟FEATURED PRODUCT: Ration Balancers🌟🌟

Ration Balancers for Horses: Just the Basics
By Kentucky Equine Research, formulators of Assurance Feed

Yes, horse diets should be based on forages. But often forages provide inadequate amounts of the protein, vitamins, and minerals required for the horse’s stage of life or workload. Horse owners can use balancer pellets to meet the horse's requirements and control the amount of energy supplied to the horse.

A balancer pellet can be used three ways:
(1) alone as a low-calorie source of protein, vitamins, and minerals; (2) combined with straight grains for a no-molasses feed; or
(3) as a top-dress for a concentrate fed at less than the recommended feeding rate.

🔹So what are balancer pellets?
In a typical textured feed, the protein and vitamin/mineral ingredients are combined into a pellet and then mixed with the energy sources (usually cereal grains). Feed manufacturers often use the same fortification pellet in all of the feeds in a product line but use it in varying amounts depending on what type of horse the feed will be fed to. This fortification pellet is commonly referred to as a “balancer pellet” or “ration balancer.”

Balancer pellets pack a punch, with protein content between 25 and 35%, as well as concentrated minerals and vitamins. Due to the density of the nutrients in a balancer pellet, the recommended feeding rate is lower.

Most typical grain-feeds have recommended feeding rates of 4.4 to 13 lb, so it is easy to see that a balancer pellet delivers exceptional nutritional value in a small package.

🐴***Assurance Ration Balancer Grass and Ration Balancer Alfalfa are protein, vitamin and mineral products for all ages and lifestyles of horses. Both are fortified with ALL of the essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals. The Ration Balancers are stand-alone products; or may be fed with oats or grain rations to provide nutrients missing in hay or pasture.

This nutritional duo is more economical than most supplements because of the high nutrient density (more vitamins and minerals and less carrier). Ration Balancer Grass is the product of choice when hay or pasture is predominately grass, and Ration Balancer Alfalfa when predominately alfalfa.

For example: A 1000 pound mature horse on maintenance would only need 1/2lb a day of Assurance Ration Balancer.

✨A 50 # bag will last 100 days

10/15/2025

Autumnal Horse Care: Six Considerations 🍂
By Kentucky Equine Research, formulators of Assurance Feed

As temperatures cool and competition season winds down for many, autumn is a good time to plan for potential changes to a horse’s routine. Nutrition, water consumption, body condition, and exercise are always important, but these factors are intertwined all year long, no matter the season. A horse’s needs are not static, thus a quick checkup can help ensure horses stay happy and healthy through autumn.

🍁 Plan seasonal activities. Is your horse continuing to compete locally, taking the winter off, or prepping for a long haul for warm-weather competition? If the workload is staying relatively constant, it is possible that few dietary changes are necessary. Lightening up training could mean lower calorie needs, depending on the horse.

On the other hand, if you are traveling to a winter circuit, training may intensify or even peak, and dietary needs may need to be adjusted accordingly. When traveling, bring along at least some hay from home to help ease the transition to whatever forage is available at your destination. Trailer travel can also affect a horse’s gastrointestinal tract, so it may be useful to add support from nutritional supplements specifically designed for gastric and hindgut health.

🍁 Watch temperatures and haircoat status. No matter the training schedule, low temperatures mean that a horse will need more energy to keep warm. A horse with a clipped coat needs some special attention in this regard. Blankets or rugs are essential for horses with clipped coats, but shorter coats mean a horse’s critical temperature (the temperature at which a horse needs more energy to stay warm) will be higher compared to a horse with a full coat. A horse with a full coat may remain comfortable at 32° F (0° C), whereas a clipped horse may need help staying warm below 59° F (15° C).

🌾 The best way to help a horse stay warm from a dietary standpoint is to increase the amount of forage in the diet through the provision of extra hay, soaked beet pulp, or hay cubes. Horses ferment fiber in the cecum, and a byproduct of fermentation is heat. The cecum is the “fermentation vat” that also serves as a horse’s internal heater, thus feeding forage is a good strategy for helping a horse stay warm in colder months.

📌 Catherine Whitehouse, M.S., a nutritionist at Kentucky Equine Research, advises, “No matter your plans for the fall and winter season, it is of key importance to keep an eye on your horse’s weight to make sure no major gains or losses occur.” This is especially true for horses that are off for the winter or that wear blankets. It is necessary to remove blankets regularly to keep an eye on body condition and monitor proper blanket fit as well.

💦 Assess water consumption. With increased forage intake comes an increased need for water, so be sure horses are drinking enough and that water sources are accessible and free of solid ice. One study reported that in cold weather ponies drank more water when it was either continually warmed or had warm water added to the source compared to water that was at the near-freezing mark.* Horses will drink cold water, but bucket heaters or the addition of warm water once or twice daily may help encourage more intake.

🐴 Contemplate hoof care. Work with your farrier to determine if any shoeing changes should be made for colder weather. Some opt to remove shoes while others may add snowball pads to prevent the buildup of snow and ice.

🏥 Schedule a veterinary exam. Autumn vaccinations, dental checkups, and general health evaluations will help prepare a horse for changing seasons and potentially catch problems before they start. Your veterinarian can advise of any health concerns that may need special care in cold weather. “A dental evaluation can help ensure a horse has the proper dentition to chew the forage needed for warmth as temperatures chill,” recommended Whitehouse.

🍁Survey turnout areas. Turning out horses has numerous benefits, foremost of which are free-choice exercise and social interaction with peers. Despite these benefits, danger lurks in some fields. “As pasture grasses become dormant, horses may be more inclined to taste-test w**ds they would ignore at the height of growing season,” said Whitehouse.

Because of this, it is important that w**d control measures are well established, and it is just as crucial that horses are provided an alternative forage source when on pasture during autumn and winter. Further, any dead branches that have fallen from trees should be picked up immediately. The dried leaves of certain species, particularly some maple trees, are toxic to horses and definitively linked to an atypical muscle disorder.

✅ In summary, a horse’s dietary needs are not constant and should be evaluated seasonally to ensure all calorie and nutrient needs are being met appropriately.

For dietary help, reach out to our Assurance Feed nutrition advisor. Consultations are always complimentary.
1 (800) 645-5648

🌟 Assurance Feed, formulated by the WORLD Leader in Equine Nutrition and Exercise physiology, Kentucky Equine Research.

🌟Locally owned and Family run for 80+ years.

🌟Assurance feed bring Top-Tier ingredients paired with KER's research to make a complete line of feeds, known for being the FINEST in the industry.

🌟Contact us with any of your nutritional needs or questions to see what we can do for you.

10/14/2025

Best quote of the Day:❣️
From Donna Anderson

What made you choose Assurance Feed?

Donna: “I did my homework on all the feed companies, including the BIG names and Assurance is formulated by THE WORLD LEADER in equine nutrition research, the ingredients are tested and retested & of the highest quality. It includes chelated minerals, Natural Vit E and Omegas!
I wouldn't choose anything less..

I don't fall for marketing "smoke and mirrors".
I LOVE my horse! I want to keep my feeding program simple and effective and feed him the Best!”

🌟 Thank you Donna, for being a part of the Assurance Feed Family!
You hit the "nail on the head"!!

Assurance Feed, Excellence in Equine Nutrition~ 💜
When ONLY the Best will do~

10/12/2025

Happy National Farmers Day! 🚜 🌾

“If you ate today thank a farmer"

Thank you for your endless hard work. 🥰