Equivite

[ann-jen]

Has anyone used this?
Basically Jenny's waistline was expanding at a rate of knots last year so she has been dieting for the last 12 months. Muzzled when grazing and restricted haylage on a nighttime. When she became injured her hard feed was also stopped. She is now near enough in full work bar jumping and needs a bit more sparkle without the risk of her gaining weight. I spoke to Spillers and they suggested equivite, as they thought Jens diet was probably lacking in certain vitamins/minerals, to be given with her Happy Hoof and once she is jumping again to possibly start her on some coolmix too.
I just wondered if anyone had been in the same boat and whether adding any vitamins helped their horses general demeanor. Jenny is laid back to the point of horizontal on the flat but sharp to jump - although we still have a few months to go before we start jumping again.

 

[Shouna]

My horses have Equimins Equivite supplement with their feed, as they only have oats and unmollassed sugar beet, this way I know they are getting the exact amount of vits and mins that they need. My horses are doing fab on this diet. My young mare was a bit of a looney and reared a lot, taking all the sugar out of her diet has been amazing, I wasn't sure about the oats bit when I heard about it, but its completely levelled her out. I would really recommend it. My other mare is off work with an injury, she is on the same diet, and it keeps her tummy trim as there is no sugar or anything else bad in it, its a bit like a detox I guess.

 

[ann-jen]

Thats interesting although sounds like your mare is more lively than Jenny. Prior to Jenny's injury my dressage instructor suggested a small quantity of naked oats to try and give her a bit more zing - if we only did dressage that would be great but Jenny's a different horse to jump - although if I'm honest I prefer a sharp ride and so I don't mind her being a bit wappy!

 

[K27]

Yes I use Equivite for one of my horses as he has to be fed less than recommended amounts of feed otherwise he gets too fat and lazy- this makes sure he gets his vits/mins and keeps him looking and feeling good. Great stuff.

 

[ann-jen]

Thanks, thats exactly why I'm going to be using it too. When your horse first went onto it - did you actually notice any change in his ridden work particularly and if so how long was it before you did see any difference? I'm hoping for just a bit more "sparkle".

 

[K27]

I started him on it about 4 years ago-it took about 3 weeks and it didn't give him more energy as such but he looked and felt in better condition and could take the work a lot easier and had a bit more sparkle.

Mind you at the same time I did put him on the Spillers Slow Release Energy Cubes and was also advised by them to feed Equivite as he is a v gd doer and would get too fat if I gave him the recommended amount of cubes so he has to have less.

 

[ann-jen]

Yes Jenny was on the slow release mix earlier this year before she had time off with an injury. She did well on it but now she is the only horse on the yard that would be on it and my YM is reluctant to get it in just for Jenny.

which is why I rang Spillers to see what they thought Jenny should be getting - the answer was a rather impractical 6 scoops of Happy Hoof! So the idea was to use the supplement instead. I'm a bit worried when we start BSJAing again in the New Year that she will need a bit more oomph!