Sorting Supplements

Many people feed an equine "multi" to their horse for nutritional insurance. However, there's some debate among nutritionists and veterinanrians as to whether the average horse truly needs it.

Consulting with your veterinarian before changing your horses diet or adding a particular supplement is always advisable..

Obviously dosage is important, although you wouldn't know that by comparing the levels of nutrients that different supplements contain and deliver in their recommended doses. Using the NRC (National Research Council) basic recommendations as a guide, we'd like to see a top-dressed multi vitamin/mineral deliver about 50% of the requirements as a good "insurance" level.

However, it's not that simple. The horse's basic diet often contains significant nutritional deficiencies, as well as excesses, that can further interfere with the availability of minerals that are in short supply. A horse eating only alfalfa hay has different needs than one eating only grass hay. And, there's even tremendous nutrient variation among grass hays. With all the different types of hay in mind, it's easy to understand why no single ideal vitamin/mineral formula is possible for all horses on all forages.

Still, there's no way to completely eliminate emergency situations, a good preventive health care program will minimize the chance of life threatening, costly illness. Wellness exams are the best way to detect and treat health problems before they become serious.

Who Needs One?

If you're already feeding the recommended amount of a highly fortified grain mix or complete feed, you likely don't need to add any other vitamin or mineral supplementation. There may still be imbalances in your horses diet, but adding a balanced supplement on top probably won't fix them. Horses maintained on pasture may have mineral deficiencies but do not need any vitamin supplementation, except perhaps vitamin E when being worked regularly.

Signs of dietary deficiencies or imbalances include problems with the horse's:

• Coat, including sun fading
• Hooves and skin
• Bones and joints
• Muscles

You may also see:
• Increased infections and allergies
• Anemia
• Poor healing.

We're not saying diet is the only factor here, of course. It's simply that sound nutrition can minimize many common health issues. If you're seeing any of these problems in your horse, read on. Your horse may benefit.

Minerals

Minerals are the most important ingredients in your supplement. You probably think of bones when you hear "minerals", but they do much more than form bone. Adequate mineral levels are required for virtually every body function. Your horse loses minerals every day in sweat, urine and manure. These basic losses need to be replaced.

The basic diet is your horse's major source of minerals, and that's where the problem lies. In nature, a horse would consume a wide variety of plants with different mineral profiles - just as we eat a variety of foods. The domestic horse has much less variety, usually eats the same hay all the time, and is at risk for deficiencies and imbalances.

Target Mineral Intakes
From Supplements

The following minerals are required for a 1,100 pound horse in light-to-moderate work on a grass-hay based diet:

Calcium 10-15 g
Phosphorus 5-8 g
Magnesium 4-6 g
Iron 0
Copper 75 mg
Zinc 250 mg
Iodine 2-3 mg
Selenium 0-2 mg**
Manganese 0-250 mg*

* Hays from many areas of the country are extremely high in manganese.

** Selenium is not needed in areas with sufficient selenium in the forage.

Vitamins

Vitamins also have essential roles to play in every body function. The horse can synthesize vitamin C to some extent but otherwise vitamins need to come from the diet. In the Table below are listed common nutrients in multis that aren't really needed, because diet-related deficiencies don't exist for them or aren't suspected.

Note that most of the vitamins are there. Deficiencies of vitamin D, vitamin K and the B vitamins have never been documented in horses. However, B vitamins may not be present in predominantly hay diets in optimal nutritional amount for exercised horses. Horses on pasture consume much more vitamin C than horses on hay, so moderate supplementation with vitamin C is reasonable.

Exercise also probably increases requirements. Vitamin A is one of the most well-researched vitamins so you'll find it in generous levels in all supplements. However, most horses don't need any more than what is in their diet already. Horses in work should receive 1,000 to 2,000 IU/day of vitamin E (500-1,000 when on pasture), but vitamin E has a short shelf life when mixed with minerals.

Bottom Line

Price is no guide to what you get in this category. Some of the pricier supplements provided the lowest levels of vitamins and minerals.

Companies are required by law to list amounts in their guaranteed analysis but that doesn't mean they have to use a form you can easily understand.

When comparing labels, pay attention to the small print and take the time to calculate the analysis at the same figures.

Convert the ppm to a percentage or a g/lb. or mg/oz. If you don't, you may find yourself fooled into thinking a product listing a huge ppm number contains more than one listing a small percentage number.

Don't let 6,000 ppm per oz. fool you into thinking it's more than 5% per ounce. The 6,000 pp is only 170.4mg/oz, while the percentage is telling you it contains 1,420 mg/oz.

Metric Conversions
2.2 lbs = 1 kg
35.2 ounces - 1 kg
16 ounces = 1 pound
28.4 grams = 1 ounce
1 gram = 1,000 mg

Be sure to show your veterinarian what and how you're feeding your horse, you will have an opportunity to ask questions about nutrition and review your procedures as you tour the feed shed and pasture. You may end up reducing the number of supplements you give your horse, reducing your feed costs.

A penny spent
can yield a dollar saved.
Consult with your veterinarian.

Julie's is proud to carry the full line of Adeptus Supplements.

For more information about Adeptus, please contact us at info@juliesmobiletack.com

What You Don't Need in a Multivitamin/Mineral Supplement
Vitamin A: Always present in products in more than generous amounts, but rarely needed unless diet has little hay and the hay is older than 12 months old.
Vitamin E: Important to supplement vitamin E, if its shelf life is very short when mixed into a supplement containing minerals.
Vitamin C: Like vitamin E, short shelf life in a multi supplement. Not needed by horses on pasture. Hoses can also manufacture their own vitamin C. If needed for high performance horses or horses with lung problems, add separately.
Vitamin D: Not needed by horses getting cured hay or being turned out.
Iron: Not needed. More than enough in the base diet. Dietary deficiency has never been documented.
Potassium: Not needed. More than enough from hay.
Sulfur: Required only in organic form - i.e. sulfur-containing amino acids.
Protein/Amino Acids: Protein levels in top-dressed supplements are as high as 18%, but because they are fed in such small amounts (1 to 4 oz/day), it doesn't amount to much.
Probiotics: It's difficult to find a multi supplement that doesn't contain probiotics, but live organisms will not stay alive for even remotely close to the shelf life of minerals under normal storage conditions. Dosages, if even listed, are low. If your horse needs a probiotic product, add it separately.
B Vitamins: They still don't know too much about the B-vitamin requirements of horses. In addition to diet, the organisms in their intestine are a source of B vitamins. No B-vitamin deficiency state has ever been reported in horses.
Vitamin K: Dietary vitamin K deficiency has never been documented in a horse.
Fluorine: This mineral is involved in bone and teeth health but present in abundant levels in an equine diet. Supplementation could actually lead to toxicity.
Silicon: There is one study that suggests silicon supplementation may reduce or delay injuries in immature horses in very heavy training (possibly by reducing urinary calcium losses) but equine diets are already rich in silicon and there is no evidence at al that adults require supplementation.

Sorting Supplements

Bottom Line

What You Don't Need in a Multivitamin/Mineral Supplement