Biotin Supplements

[hebs]

Does anyone use biotin?? Just wondering if it works, is it worth buying??

 

[madhector]

just put my tb on it as my farrier complained about his feet, he was on hoof supplement but have changed to pure biotin, will se what happens

 

[lucysnapshot]

Iv used it in the past put diddnt really notica a differance

 

[partyangel]

we put one of ours onto it because he had soft feet, it really helped him and IMO works

 

[Tia]

Honestly all of you guys who are spending a fortune on hoof supplements really should try black oil sunflower seeds. They are fantastic for feet, condition and body shine.......and they are sooooo cheap compared to all of these other rip-off supplements.

I used to use Farriers Formula and swore by it - it was really really good, but it is very expensive and with 25 horses to keep looking good, I started to look for something as good but not so expensive. I also needed a good hoof product as can't use hoof ointments here, so that was when I discovered BOSS. My guys have been on them for over a year now and all of them (most are barefoot) have the most beautiful feet now. It is hard to keep good feet out here because of the extreme temperatures so I am pleased I happened across the sunflower seeds.

Oh and all horses seem to love them!!

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Tia, are the BOSS really calorific? Only ask as I'd like to keep SWUO's feet in as good a condition as I can but she really does not need anything hugely fattening in her diet?

xx

 

[charlie900]

Ive been using biotin for my TB for 4 months . Farrier came on Friday and he noticed a reall improvment, it takes a while to get results, but IMO its worth it .He actually kept his shoes on for 6 whole weeks!

 

[Tia]

Here is the bumph on them:

High-protein food, with more protein than the grains. Rich in minerals; iron and zinc are plentiful. The high amount of oil in sunflower seeds as polyunsaturated fats, essential linoleic acid, and vitamin E. They are about 25 percent protein, have a good fibre content, and are rich in the B vitamins also, particularly in thiamine, pyridoxine, niacin, and pantothenic acid. With their high potassium and low sodium and with zinc, iron, and calcium all at good levels, sunflower seeds are a very mineral-rich food. The vitamin D that gets stored in these sun-filled seeds helps the utilisation of calcium. Copper, manganese, and phosphorus levels are also relatively high; they are lower in magnesium than in calcium, which is different from other seeds.

Personally I would choose to feed these and cut down on other things within the daily feed.....they really are that amazing!

 

[hebs]

Tia Can you use any sunflower seeds? Just wondering (being thick) I saw some at feed place today huge sack of them wondered if I could use them.

 

[Tia]

Papafrita uses regular striped ones as she can't get the black ones in Argentina and she says they work just as well. I use the black ones as I can easily get them here.

I would guess that the properties are fairly similar to be honest.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

[ QUOTE ]
Here is the bumph on them:

High-protein food, with more protein than the grains. Rich in minerals; iron and zinc are plentiful. The high amount of oil in sunflower seeds as polyunsaturated fats, essential linoleic acid, and vitamin E. They are about 25 percent protein, have a good fibre content, and are rich in the B vitamins also, particularly in thiamine, pyridoxine, niacin, and pantothenic acid. With their high potassium and low sodium and with zinc, iron, and calcium all at good levels, sunflower seeds are a very mineral-rich food. The vitamin D that gets stored in these sun-filled seeds helps the utilisation of calcium. Copper, manganese, and phosphorus levels are also relatively high; they are lower in magnesium than in calcium, which is different from other seeds.

Personally I would choose to feed these and cut down on other things within the daily feed.....they really are that amazing!

[/ QUOTE ]

Very interesting, thanks for that

Basically all she gets by way of a bucket feed is HiFi Senior(which is just grass and alfalfa) and a balancer...the rest of her daily ration made up of high fibre haylage.

 

[Pidge]

if SWO is on a balancer already then check with the manufacturer as I feed the Topspec one and there is enough in there for his feet, I had to take him off his farriers formula when I put him on the balancer.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Thanks Sue, I was just wondering if there'd be much difference between the BOSS and the balancer I feed...no need spending money just for the sake of it!

 

[Tia]

Yes I was thinking that too when you said he was on a balancer. Maybe use up the balancer and then try the sunflowers to see if it makes a difference? To be honest I was really impressed with all the goodness in BOSS so I wouldn't have any compulsion to keep using the more expensive supplements in favour of BOSS.

I don't know anyone on here or in real life who hasn't been totally "wowed!" by BOSS.....particularly as they are totally safe, totally natural, totally yummy and totally cheap!

 

[Pidge]

too right, as you know I like the TopSpec as it covers all his minerals and vitamins, I just add garlic to his feed and that's it. And I would imagine it doesn't cost as much per day to feed SWO as it does Pidge? My bag lasts around 35 days as he is 600kg now! So works out at about 86p/day.

 

[Tia]

So just under £30 per month on a supplement? That sounds like loads to me to be honest. Compared to about £5 per month with sunflower seeds.

 

[sleepingdragon10]

Just trying to do the maths

...she gets 200g of balancer a day( I use D&H's Suregrow as it has pretty much the same make up as the other popular brands on the market)....that costs about £9.50 a bag, so she hardly costs anything to feed at all.

 

[Pidge]

mmm I thought it wasn't bad as he gets his FB, nuts, alpha a and garlic. He also has speeditbeet cause its winter and naf d-tox for his hind leg as he has mild stringhalt in it. I didn't think his total feed bill came to much compared to what a lot of people spend on different supplements for this that and the other?

 

[Tia]

It probably isn't to be honest. I does seem like loads to me, but then I know there are others who spend an obscene amount of money (in my opinion) on feed for their horses.

The thing is, if I were to spend £30 per month per horse for just a supplement, it would cost me £750 per month solely for the supplements! No way would I ever spend that, crumbs my whole monthly bill for hard feed for all these horses only comes to $200 per month and that is for ALL their hard feed.

 

[vickers22]

ok so let me get this straight-can i feed the BOSS as a balancer?Because he was eating poo the other day wich means his supplement at the moment isnt giving him all the right vits and minerals-so i was going to start with TS balancer but could i use BOSS instead?

 

[Pidge]

good god yes me thinks it would bankrupt you feeding all your brood on TS FB. It's not too bad for just the one horse and it has done wonders for him condition wise and I don't have to feed any other supplements. His nuts cost £1/day and his alpha a costs £0.30 a day so in total probably about £14/week which I didn't think was bad for winter feeding. If you fed these sunflower seeds would you need to feed anything else as well supplement wise?

 

[Tia]

I don't use a supplement any more. I feel that the BOSS has all of the trace elements and minerals that I am looking for - bit like a broad spectrum supplement.

I think if I was looking for specific minerals at a specific % then I would possibly buy one already made. I guess it also depends on the quality of your hay and what the analysis shows. If the hay is deficient in any way then I would be looking for a supplement to balance it out; however our analysis showed good levels of everything I am looking for, so all I wanted was something to help with the feet, condition and that overall sparkle....if you know what I mean.

Feet conditioning was the most important thing for me - very extreme weather here makes it very difficult to keep their feet looking great and not chipped even with the farrier coming every 5 - 6 weeks. That was when I did the research on BOSS and I figured it was worth giving it a try. I've never looked back! All the horses feet are beautiful now and I have been able to have the farrier come every 7 - 8 weeks this winter which is unprecedented.

 

[Pidge]

thanks Tia, not sure on the hay analysis as its from a friend but the horses seem to like it - does that make me a bad mum? Plus the grass where we are is good in places but has a lot of dock leaves on parts of it, so feel happier knowing he is getting all his minerals and vits with the FB.
Don't know how you cope with the extreme conditions I think its bad enough here at times! Have to agree with you on the feet, no foot no horse!
Am hoping now Pidge is up to weight that I can have a cheap summer feed wise.

 

[Nari]

Tia can I ask some questions please? These sound very intersting, not least as I've had to stop feeding my hoof supplement as it seemed to be making Jim's cribbing worse & nearly all the other ones I've tried give him an upset stomach

.

Are these the same sunflower seeds that you buy as bird food?
Do you feed them with the hulls still on?
What sort of weight do you feed?
Have you had any stomach upsets feeding them & do your horses eat them happily?

Sorry if I sound like the Spanish Inquisition but he isn't exactly the easiest horse to feed - he's a picky eater plus some things seem to upset his stomach &/or blow his mind

Thanks in advance for any answers you can give me

 

[Tia]

No probs. I'm by no means an expert on these sunflower seeds. I can only pass on the information I happened across when I was researching them. They sounded amazing, so I tried them. Well the thing is, they are more amazing than I could have hoped for.

The seeds I buy are the little black ones - although PF uses the regular big stripey ones. Over here they sell them as horse feed nowadays but when I first started using them, they were in the wild birds section. I buy them in 20kg sacks.

You feed them complete with the shells on.

I feed about a cup ful to each of my horses, although others on here feed more and less. I don't measure as I premix all my feed in huge bins so it is an approximation.

Never had any horses ill (had no colics or intestinal issues with any of the horses here) ever due to this feed. Every single horse I have heard of who has these seeds absolutely adores them! All of mine love them, but if you ask on here, I have to say I haven't heard of anyone who said their horses didn't like them.

If you speak to hoo_ya, she also has a picky feeder and she has been trying BOSS with her horse, who apparently loves them.

All of my horses are totally calm on them - they are also fed soaked oats when the temperatures aren't too scary-silly. Can't soak them at the moment though as way too cold!

What I have said to people who are worried that their horses may not like them, is to go into a health shop and buy a small bag of them and just try feeding them and see what the horse thinks of them - then you aren't lumbered with a big sack if he doesn't; but as I say, I haven't heard of a horse not liking them.

Good luck - there is a lot of info on the web for you to check them out further.

 

[Tia]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't know how you cope with the extreme conditions

[/ QUOTE ]
The first year I was almost at my wits end to be perfectly honest.

There aren't the feeds over here like you have there - I had to go right back to basics and start feeding naturals that I hadn't fed for 30 years! So I had to set about doing loads of research again, you know how things can dramatically change over the years (ie. bran and garlic issues for example). Anyway after a load of time spend surfing, I finally came up with a half-decent feed plan. The problem with the feed plan was that I was having to feed Farriers Formula and it is very expensive over here and it really didn't seem to work nearly so well in these conditions - ice, snow and the very low temperatures wreaked havoc on the horses feet, even with the FF. That was when I started to look around for something else. Well I couldn't use hoof ointments as they froze solid in the winter and melted in the summer......so I started looking around to feed from the inside out. That's when I happened on BOSS. As I say, I've never looked back.

Bet you wish you hadn't asked now, LOL!!

 

[fizz-tally]

i totally agree with tia 110%

jay is the worse horse on the planet to feed,he knows if anything different has popped up in the bucket & flat out refuses to touch it

hes been on BOSS for almost 2 weeks & he loves them

he is getting a lovely shine on his coat & putting condition on

my bowen lady said she could see a huge difference in jay, she saw him just before he started & again a week later & she said the was more rounded & looks great

i feed him 1 standard mug per feed[3 feeds per day], hes 17 hh tb x id, i also feed my little welsh sec a 1/2 a mug per feed & her coat looks fab too.

can't thank tia enough for putting me onto these

been telling everyone i know about them & a few of them have just started using them too

 

[Nari]

Thanks Tia & Hoo_ya, I think I'll get some to try. If they help his feet they'll be a godsend, I daren't risk going back on the hoof supplement if it makes his cribbing worse but my general vit & min supplement isn't enough. Will I be ok still feeding the vit & min supplement? I've got a big sack of it I've just opened, it would be a real waste to throw it out!

 

[Tia]

You'd have to check out the levels. The biggest problem with feeding a natural is that because of the inconsistencies, you are never really too sure what % everything is coming through at. Mind you, considering most people don't know what levels are in their hay, it seems unlikely that using the supplement alongside would cause a problem. It doesn't bother me as my guys are not doing mega stuff at the moment; they are just ticking over for the winter. I love using them for the pregnant mares and foals though.

I have to admit, when I first started using BOSS, I did have a huge bucket full of FF and I continued to use it alongside because I didn't want to waste it

.

 

[xxcharlottexx]

tia-how much of the sunflower seeds do you feed per horse?