Taste Tests! Some of them are legendary: Coke vs Pepsi! Miller Lite vs Bud Lite! Letterman vs Leno!
But in horse feed? Who cares WHICH tastes better? Isn’t the nutritional value more important? Let’s see, have you ever had any luck getting a kid to eat spinach just because it is good for him? Right…
And why do we so often choose a sweet feed? Because the horses like it – they eat it up. But what about all that extra sugar?
What if there was a feed that horses liked as much as sweet feed, but without all the sugar and starch? Is it possible?
The Purina Animal Nutrition Center has proven that it is possible, with what is known as “palatability” tests. If horses don’t want to eat something, then it does not matter how nutritious it is.
In order for humans or animals to perceive that something tastes good, the food or feed to be consumed has to stimulate a critical sense that is a precursor to taste: the sense of smell. 
The Purina Animal Nutrition Center has set up rigorous “taste test” research lab for horses. (If you ever get the opportunity to tour the Purina Research Farm, you’ll get to see it; ask Dale Bowman how you could get such an opportunity.)
Attached is a “white paper” (see below) on the Taste Test results of the new formula for Purina Strategy GX as compared to other brands with similar nutritional content. You can read the scientific process used, if you wish. But to cut to the chase, the Purina-Nutrena Taste Test Challenge showed that the majority of horses preferred Purina Strategy GX over Nutrena® SafeChoice Original®, Tribute® Kalm N EZ®!
The only competitive feed that came close to Purina Strategy GX in terms of palatability was Tribute® Solutions 14®. However, Tribute® Solutions 14® contains more ingredients higher in sugar and starch (and sugar is a proven driver in palatability for both humans and horses), for a total sugar and starch content of 28.9%, whereas the sugar and starch content of Purina® Strategy GX® averages 22.4%.
If it tastes just as good, but contains less sugar and starch, why wouldn’t you feed Purina Strategy GX to your horses?
Purina® Strategy GX®: a pelleted concentrate diet that is formulated to meet the nutritional needs of all classes of horses in all of their different life stages.
To learn more, Research-Review-Strategy-vs-competition-Palatability or or contact Bowman’s today!