Good broad spectrum vit/min supplement?

Following this as I have just been researching a vit/mineral supplement. Previous threads on here have recommended equimins. I liked the idea of a balancer like formula 4 feet or blue-chip lami light but balancers don't seem to get good reviews on the whole due to all the extra crap that goes into them?
 
I would have recommended Equimins until the company showed that it didn't know what product it was selling or what the impact of mislabeling that product was (and it was life or death crucial to some), in a debacle over vitamin E earlier this year. The treatment of customers was dreadful, too.

Now I would go for Forage Plus.
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ycbm said:
I would have recommended Equimins until the company showed that it didn't know what product it was selling or what the impact of mislabeling that product was (and it was life or death crucial to some), in a debacle over vitamin E earlier this year. The treatment of customers was dreadful, too.

Now I would go for Forage Plus.
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Definitely
I used Equimins for a few years but swapped back to pro balance after this happened. They have lost a lot of customers I would say
 
ForagePlus

have a chat with them about which of their supplements they recommend for your circumstances. I've always found them very helpful.
 
I use forageplus winter balancer all year round. Has a good combination based on local grass and feed analysis inc being lower in iron which was coming out high on my horse‘s analysis, via a nutritionist.
 
(Sorry for banging on about this again, but...) Bear in mind it’s not just about the Vits/mins you want added to the diet - it’s also about the nasties you don’t want added - like iron.
Most horses consume far more then their requirement for iron which has health implications (iron overload) and they can’t excrete iron- it just builds up in the body.
See the attached link which shows analyses of various supplements iron content.
https://forageplus.co.uk/iron-in-horse-feed-balancers/
The supplements at the high end of the scale like Progressive Earth have a factor of a 100 of the iron content that forage plus supplements include. Ok the study was commissioned by forage plus but I’ve not seen any of the other feed manufacturers disputing the results or publishing their own .

Link to an article about iron overliad
https://forageplustalk.co.uk/iron-overload-in-horses-by-dr-kellon/
The photo of a black iron overloaded liver - which apparently is very common - is particularly revolting
 
I feed Pro Earth Pro Trace which only has Cu, Z & Se in it .. I add in natural vit e powder and Mg ..

Good rates of Cu addresss the inherent Fe in diet. As I feed alfa (dengie pellets) & micronised linseed I don't need to add in amino acids.
 
I've just started using science supplements well horse. I think science supplements are the only ones that have science behind their products. Only used one tub so far , just ordered another, bit horses look and feel great!!
 
Zuzan said:
Good rates of Cu addresss the inherent Fe in diet.
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I understand that feeding good rates of Cu compensates for Fe blocking uptake of Cu.

However surely excess Fe will still accumulate in the liver?

I may be over thinking this and am happy if someone could explain / clarify for me
 
Fern007 said:
I've just started using science supplements well horse. I think science supplements are the only ones that have science behind their products. Only used one tub so far , just ordered another, bit horses look and feel great!!
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I second this option, I've been feeding wellhorse performance for over a year now and my mare looks good on it. Available from viovet for a really reasonble price which works out cheaper than some of the other options mentioned here. The inclusion of glucosamine and MSM means I can feed a joint supplement at a lower rate and save some money too.

I'd be interested to see how it compares on the naturally occurring iron levels though, wonder if this is something David Marlin would be interested in looking in to and publishing results on his page much like Forageplus have done.
 
Reacher said:
I understand that feeding good rates of Cu compensates for Fe blocking uptake of Cu.

However surely excess Fe will still accumulate in the liver?

I may be over thinking this and am happy if someone could explain / clarify for me
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I don't think so, but I'm no expert. My understanding is that the iron stops the copper being absorbed. So you flood the copper in to "out compete" the iron for the receptor mechanism, meaning less iron and more copper is absorbed.

Copper also accumulates in the liver and is toxic in high enough concentrations, though, so I would always want to know how high my grazing/ water is in iron and manganese before feeding a lot of it.

Mine is sky high, unfortunately.
 
ycbm said:
I don't think so, but I'm no expert. My understanding is that the iron stops the copper being absorbed. So you flood the copper in to "out compete" the iron for the receptor mechanism, meaning less iron and more copper is absorbed.

Copper also accumulates in the liver and is toxic in high enough concentrations, though, so I would always want to know how high my grazing/ water is in iron and manganese before feeding a lot of it.

Mine is sky high, unfortunately.
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Thankyou -- my grazing is high in Fe and Mn too, I sent the grass analysis to FP who recommended their skin/hoof balancer.

Sorry for going a bit off-topic, OP
 
I
Zuzan said:
I feed Pro Earth Pro Trace which only has Cu, Z & Se in it .. I add in natural vit e powder and Mg ..

Good rates of Cu addresss the inherent Fe in diet. As I feed alfa (dengie pellets) & micronised linseed I don't need to add in amino acids.
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I got that and he won't touch it or pro hoof or balance. I did feed equimins pellets and would like to find another pelleted one.
 
Fern007 said:
I've just started using science supplements well horse. I think science supplements are the only ones that have science behind their products. Only used one tub so far , just ordered another, bit horses look and feel great!!
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Think this one has alfalfa though, which OP wanted to avoid? (I've just ordered some to try!)
 
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