Does anyone not feed supplements?

M

melissa1971

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 November 2008
Messages
133
Visit site
Im just sat here thinking about how many different supplements and things there are now and how back 30/40 yrs when I had my first pony you never heard of all these different supplements and feeds,
So does anyone not feed any supplements to their horses? just been nosey really :-)
 
i don't really like too much of this and am feeding none at the moment. the thing is with supplements, they are not balanced to the area you come from. Here, in Mayo Ireland, we have a huge shortage of selenium copper and cobalt in the diet - so much so that copper bullets (as a bolus) are administered. Once you start feeding hard feed, you alter the mineral and vitamin balance anyway so if you were to feed supplements, you would need every single thing that your horse eats analysed and a unique balance made for your horse. People don't realise what is in what they are feeding but shove supplements down their horses because it's considered the thing to do. A minefield methinks x
 
Mine have access to a mineral lick that is all.

They aren't fed hard feed either, just hay, straw and grass.

They are Welsh D, in good health, not old, not young. They don't need anything else at the moment. They are both in work.
 
I give my lad pink powder senior for the glucosamine and his noisy gut only because of his age and he gets stiff esp in winter (coming 18 and is a really 'busy' horse!) Do you find people try to force all sorts of weird and wonderful suppliments on you all really expensive as well! Im sure when we were younger over home in NI we didnt even feed hard feed and they lived out 24/7 it's crazy how things change x
 
She gets oil as per vet's recommendations to keep weight on, but that's it. Otherwise, she gets a mix beet pulp and chaff and 24/7 access to hay/haylage or grass. Seems to be doing well on this. I had her on a "preventative" joint supplement seven or eight years ago. Ended up going off it when we moved from the US to the UK and hey, it worked, as she is 20 and her joints as far as I can tell seem in good shape.*

She works 5 or 6 days a week. A mix of dressage schooling, hacking, and occasionally playing about over little jumps.

*(I say this a little facetiously; obviously who knows if it had any effect).
 
Last edited:
I don't feed supplements to any of mine. All fields have a mineral lick. My hay is analysed and my soil tested so I simply feed balancers to balance out any imbalances.

I don't buy any of those calmers and other such nonsense either.
 
Im glad its not just me that doesn't people start convincing you that your horse needs this that and the other, my first pony back in the day was fed full fat sugar beet molichop and coarse mix, it was the standard feed back then over the yrs we changed to speedi beet and hifi she lived to 37 with only one vet visit in the 25 yrs I owned her so it cant be that bad not supplementing.
 
Well times move on... There is no denying horses are living longer and are in better health because research has proved that horses do better on supplements. On the flip side, horses are getting more illnesses that correspond to being fed too well such as metabolic diseases. So, it's not the fault of producers who are making such things available, it's up to individuals to educate themselves to what horses or ponies in their care need or don't need. If you don't need them, don't worry. If you do, aren't you lucky that it is available and you get to choose between them all! Imagine the horses in the third world who work all day for a scrap of clover. Bare bones and covered in sores and the owners too poor to do anything about it.
 
Mine don't get anything, other than grass and hay in the winter, all healthy, never had a days sickness with any of them. Perhaps a bit too chubby at the moment but I've never needed to feed for weight gain so I don't.
 
My mare has a joint supplement ever since she had surgery on her legs. She also has a breathing supplement because she coughs.
She is overweight so I try to feed as little as possible just to put that in.

My gelding doesn't have any supplements, just a handful of feed
 
Aside from a salt lick, no. He gets hay, grass and fibre pellets.

1233412_10151613539607327_280813195_n.jpg
 
Me! Just feed grass and hay now. All of them look better on it too. I've decided all those supplements are a marketers dream and a blimmin waste of money.
 
My lass had handful happy hoof with a carrot or 2 and hay. She always had a beautiful shiny coat good skin and hooves to die for. She had good grazing though but my vet was always amazed how well she looked even in winter
The big lad though jezzzzzzz what he must have cost ex partner in supplements i dread to think.
 
I never used to feed supplements, its only been since my gelding got arthritis that he went on new market joint supplement, then my mare was diagnosed with bone spavins this year so she also went on new market joint supplement.

My sec A was diagnosed with Allergic Respiratory Disease so he has Equistro Secreta Pro Max to help keep his lungs healthy and stop the mucus from building up.

Unless my vet recommends them I dont bother with the supplements.
 
No I don't feed em either, and my old tb is 27. He gets nothing but grass and hedgerows to feed off in summer, and hay and 16 plus in winter. And he is as fit as a filldle and still going strong
 
My mare gets an appropriate balancer (she gets no hard feed) and a joint supplement as I've seen how effective they can be in my collie and would like to protect her joints. Otherwise she has free access salt lick
 
Mine just get hay/haylage, low cal balancer and low sugar chaff. They both look fat and shiny on it. If either of them did have an issue that I felt a supplement may help I wouldn't hesitate to feed one though.
 
My boy doesn't get any supplements. He gets 2 feeds of coarse mix and a big hay net of hayledge and is turned out everyday but there is nothing left to graze. He is looking fantastic and is in great form.
 
I do try and keep supplements to a minimum, but at the same time I can be a sucker for them!
I try to think about what I'm trying to achieve for the horse, I like broad spectrum ones like TopSpec, Blue Chip, 365 complete. I think certainly for my ISH mare the breathing, hoof and joint supplements I've chosen for her have worked incredibly well, but I do understand that you can go too far with them, I could add a different one every week, so I have to slap myself occasionally!
 
Spring Feather said:
I don't feed supplements to any of mine. All fields have a mineral lick. My hay is analysed and my soil tested so I simply feed balancers to balance out any imbalances.

I don't buy any of those calmers and other such nonsense either.
Click to expand...

Ditto this. I feed a decent balancer and Hifi. No need for a bit of this and a bit of that. My horse has PSD (treated with an N and F) and the early stages of arthritis in his hocks. He competes in mainly dressage but jumps too. The vets said that a supplement for his joints would be of little help for him.
 
Used to feed tonnes of supplements but now swear by pink powder. He gets a decent feed 2x a day anyway and pink powder has given him a brilliant coat and his droppings are completly regular now.
Also elctro salts when sweating a lot

Calmers do more for the owner than the horse often I think ;)

However magnesium does seem to actually help balance out some horses...

Who knows, if it makes us feel better why not feed, I am sure they do no harm most of the time.
 
Mine has tons of supplements unfortunately :-( garlic as his breathing's rubbish (copd) and it helps him endlessly, he gets a really horrible mucus if he's off it for just 2 days. Glucosamine for his arthritis in his stifle and biotin why his feet are growing out. I hate supplementing unless they need it, I just feed fast fibre and ad lib hay. If I could get away with just that again I would. :-(
 
I used to feed quite a few supplements, now I use a feed that incorporates the things I wanted, so I'm still feeding them but you know :-) I have a salt lick and will probably feed linseed in winter.

Horses can live without these things just like we could probably live on beans on toast, we just want them to have optimum nutrition, nothing wrong with that I guess.
 
I've farmed the same land for over thirty years I think I know what it can grow. I had the soil tested years ago and it is deficient in copper and cobalt. When I had sheep, I dosed with copper boluses and supplied salt licks. The boluses were necessary because sometimes lambs won't use the licks.

Now I have Highland ponies and they get the salt blocks -- Red Rockies -- and they have no hesitation in using them as they need them. Other than that, they get decent grass and hay and each has a fully functional pair of kidneys with which to excrete any surpluses in their urine!

Unless your horse already has a problem or is a bit delicate, I really don't see why all these supplements are necessary. Certainly, the rabbits and deer seem to thrive alright and look healthy enough without them.

If a pony needs a bit extra, I feed straight whole oats and soaked sugar beet, nothing else apart from good grass, hay, or haylage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top