How many supplements is too many?

[bollybop]

Ok so currently my horse is on:

Sea buckthorn oil - does all sorts, helps with shiney cost, rubbish hooves and gut health.
Muscle builder - self explanatory, horse has been out of work a while, and wasn't building up as I'd like. The one I've chosen has made a real difference to the horse.
Coligone - has recently come off a course of gastroguard and this should help

I would also like to try:
Equishure - in case of hind gut ulcers
Mag ox - as horse is a bit of a worrier and I've seen a massive difference on a friends horse
Joint supplement - recommended by vet.

All seems like there is more supplements than feed in there, and I'm not sure mixing that lot together is all that good either!

 

[Dry Rot]

To answer your post -- one.

Pretty much everything a horse needs is in grass or it wouldn't grow. Only feed supplements when you KNOW your horse needs them. Get your soil analysed for a start.

Your feed merchant will disagree. But then it's his living to do so.

 

[texel]

I think you can get to the stage where you end up spending a lot of money on supplements your horse may not actually need and end up causing your horse more harm.

I think you should research the current supplements you are using to ensure they do not interact with each other and thus reduce their efficacy.

Muscles are usually built through exercise and it takes time; trotting and walking builds up muscle.

Start simple and work from there.

How old is your horse and is he kept in or out ? Why do you think your horse is a bit of a worrier ?

 

[Morgan123]

I think you run the risk of bankrupting yourself, but more importantly doing your horse harm by giving it too much of some elements, which can be actually dangerous.

I'd suggest speaking to an independent nutritionist about all this; a decent feed and balancer would sort out most of it - particularly now it sounds like the muscle has been built up and presumably you're happy with the coat etc so you can move to 'maintenance' feed for those problems, rather than loading and then you could supplement the things you actually NEED (e.g. coligone and joint supplement).

Re: magnesium, this only works as a calmer if the horse is already deficient in magnesium; if you had a balanced diet they wouldn't be. Speak to a nutritionist.

 

[zaminda]

I feed several different supplements depending on the horse. Yes they wouldn't get them in the wild but there they would have access to a wider range of forage and herbs and wouldn't be in work. There is wild garlic in my field which my horses eat so I no longer feed that but I routinely use biotin. One gets a joint supplement as he has gone creaky. Another gets pro feet as her feet aren't great. The other gets yea sac and calmer. I don't feed anything I don't have to and am happy with how they look. They are also all older now and would probably not be alive if they weren't domesticated

 

[Carrots&Mints]

I love supplements! ha ha!

But then again I feed mainly fibre based feeds such as Equibeet and then fibre cubes, mine also gets brewers yeast, garlic, Benivit Advanced and Sarvoid, and sometimes I will add linseed and soya through winter if pony looking abit poor. I have also fed mangesium in the past.

 

[Zipzop]

In order to determine what supplements I need, I try them and then let them run out. If I see a difference I keep them on it, if not out it goes. for example, I used a potassium/mag supplement and when I ran out the horse went back to being batshit crazy, I then literally ran to the supplier and bought more and he has stayed on it ever since. However I will occasionally run out just to test it, turns out he will be on it for life!

 

[applecart14]

My horse is on:
Magic Calmer
Pink Powder (double dose as now out at grass)
Equine America Glucosamine and Chrondroitin joint supplement.
I am also using up a tub of garlic and mint.

He was also on slippery elm for a time due to possible ulcers.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Ok so currently my horse is on:

Sea buckthorn oil - does all sorts, helps with shiney cost, rubbish hooves and gut health.
Muscle builder - self explanatory, horse has been out of work a while, and wasn't building up as I'd like. The one I've chosen has made a real difference to the horse.
Coligone - has recently come off a course of gastroguard and this should help

I would also like to try:
Equishure - in case of hind gut ulcers
Mag ox - as horse is a bit of a worrier and I've seen a massive difference on a friends horse
Joint supplement - recommended by vet.

All seems like there is more supplements than feed in there, and I'm not sure mixing that lot together is all that good either!

Mine are on several and I measure out the quantities into one huge tub and call it ready mix. Depends on what your feeding, the only time I feel hmmm no is when someone feeds several supplements for the same ailment.
Some supplements are a waste of time and don't work or cause behavioural problems, others can be life saving.

In total mine are on milk thistle and airways+ - flexijoint and equivite all measured out and mixed, so only one measure according to the amount needed so i don't have to dip into too many pots and saves time.

also
licorice-legaphyton

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Our horses are on a balanced feed that has all the nutrition in it the horses need. The only supplement we use is a joint supplement. They are show jumpers, there is nothing wrong with their joints but we feed anyway to look after them in the future. Oh yes. if they're good boys they get mints as well.

 

[nikkimariet]

I think once you get to the point of not knowing what works and what doesn't, then you are feeding too many.

Sucralfate (ulcers)
Mega build (condition)
Suppleaze gold (joints)
Lubrisyn (joints)

I'm in the stage of bringing him off Protexin acid ease as I don't think he needs it anymore.

 

[Yardbird]

If you feed many supplements be careful that they do not all contain things like selenium that can be harmful if fed in excess.

 

[Clodagh]

You can tell most of you don't work in a yard with lots of horses! Making up feeds was never a problem, but one horse had 6 supplements, really life is too short.

 

[Mrs B]

To answer your post -- one.

Pretty much everything a horse needs is in grass or it wouldn't grow. Only feed supplements when you KNOW your horse needs them. Get your soil analysed for a start.

Your feed merchant will disagree. But then it's his living to do so.

With my 'sensible' head on, I agree with this. However, we become attached to horses that, in the past, would have been turned into dog meat when they became unsound enough to do their work. As an modern analogy, you don't keep an ancient Ford Fiesta that can't start, let alone get you to Tesco ...

We can now keep our horses going longer and more sound if we choose (hands up, I've had several!) and we try, try and try again until we get something we feel makes a difference.

But we're treating a multitude of natural, age related degeneration processes and some interventions/supplements will work for some animals, while others do not. It's a highly unscientific, emotionally charged experiment/

So I guess my answer to your question is this:

There are too many supplements if a) your horse's life is not enhanced by any or all of them to a stage where good days outweigh the bad, or b) you are trying to throw supplements at an inevitably (and swiftly terminal) situation and bankrupting yourself in the process.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

Jake has mints when he's good, when I want a kiss, when he does his puppy dog eyes, and before a ride as bribery.

Other than that alfa and calm and condition.

 

[Leo Walker]

To answer your post -- one.

Pretty much everything a horse needs is in grass or it wouldn't grow. Only feed supplements when you KNOW your horse needs them. Get your soil analysed for a start.

Your feed merchant will disagree. But then it's his living to do so.

Thats true, so long as your grass is horse friendly which is a very rare! And then theres horses like mine who get fat on fresh air so have limited access to proper grass and almost zero hard feed. He gets a mineral balancer, a decent spec one, and salt.

 

[AmberThePony]

I'm really sorry to butt in, but I was just wondering what everyone uses for joints as I am currently looking for a supplement to help my mares stiffness and keep her joints healthy.

 

[Kaylum]

I wish owners would spend more money sorting out the grazing you need meadow plants in there as grass doesn't provide the correct balance. So when your reseeding consider what seed your using. It will help keep your horse healthier in the long run.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I think you run the risk of bankrupting yourself, but more importantly doing your horse harm by giving it too much of some elements, which can be actually dangerous.

I'd suggest speaking to an independent nutritionist about all this; a decent feed and balancer would sort out most of it - particularly now it sounds like the muscle has been built up and presumably you're happy with the coat etc so you can move to 'maintenance' feed for those problems, rather than loading and then you could supplement the things you actually NEED (e.g. coligone and joint supplement).

Re: magnesium, this only works as a calmer if the horse is already deficient in magnesium; if you had a balanced diet they wouldn't be. Speak to a nutritionist.

One could argue that supplements are making up for dietary deficiences, and what is needed for one is different for another even if in the same field.
Re MgO, it is often supplemented at 25gms/day for barefooters, no bagged feed would supply this at recommended rate.
Many UK soils are deficient in Mg, which is why a magnesium calmer often works.
Soil analysis is not going to tell you what to supplement, it is complex subject.
The Bechtolseimers have individual supplements for each horse, yet they all get same forage.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

To answer your post -- one.

Pretty much everything a horse needs is in grass or it wouldn't grow. Only feed supplements when you KNOW your horse needs them. Get your soil analysed for a start.

Your feed merchant will disagree. But then it's his living to do so.

Horses evolved to forage off scrub, not fertilised fields with restricted access.
I have grown cress from seed, but would not want my horse to rely on it ....
Grass will grow on contaminated soils, but will kill horses which eat it ....
Basic soil analysis is designed to suggest NPK for crop yield, we are not growing horses for meat

 

[stencilface]

Probalance
Linseed
Salt
Mag ox

All for feet in essence, but realistically just for all round health. I need to do a soil and forage analysis, but not done it yet.

 

[JustKickOn]

Double post!

 

[JustKickOn]

Benevit advance as an all round bit and mineral. They're on wild field grazing and there isn't tonnes of grass. She gets a scoop and a bit a day, so less than she needed
C Plus to help with her cushings. Since she has been in it she has been brighter and her coat hasn't gone through the awful change that it went through last year.
Salt as she swears a fair bit when ridden and her work load has now gone up. Last blood test she had the vet said she had a deficientcy so to add a bit more salt to her diet.
Prascend, 1 tablet a day for the cushings.

I think when you have two things you're feeding which contradict the effects of another, or you don't actually see a difference when feeding it, then you need to reasses what you're doing.

I'm always amazed horses eat Coligone, it smells vile! 😷

 

[tallyho!]

I thought garlic wasn't now recommended for horses?

 

[onemoretime]

Benevit advance as an all round bit and mineral. They're on wild field grazing and there isn't tonnes of grass. She gets a scoop and a bit a day, so less than she needed
C Plus to help with her cushings. Since she has been in it she has been brighter and her coat hasn't gone through the awful change that it went through last year.
Salt as she swears a fair bit when ridden and her work load has now gone up. Last blood test she had the vet said she had a deficientcy so to add a bit more salt to her diet.
Prascend, 1 tablet a day for the cushings.

I think when you have two things you're feeding which contradict the effects of another, or you don't actually see a difference when feeding it, then you need to reasses what you're doing.

I'm always amazed horses eat Coligone, it smells vile! ��

I dont like horses that swear when being ridden LOL!!

 

[glamourpuss]

Either a multivitamin or a balancer (depends which horse)
Joint supplement
Micronised linseed

That's it.

 

[buddylove]

Fed healthy tummy plus globalvite, and on steady up advance, which has really helped him with a yard move. I will let this run out though and test whether he still needs it.
Was on ulsa-soothe as well, but he went off his feed with it in and we haven't bothered trying to reintroduce it.

 

[laura_nash]

I try to stick to a "no more than three" rule for mine, partly for ease of feeding and partly because I had a bit of a supplement habit when I first returned to horse ownership many years ago

These days they get a mineral supplement based on grazing / hay analysis, linseed in winter usually (though not this winter), and the odd course of something else.

OP - Personally I would stick with the sea buckthorn oil if you like it (have heard good things and just planted some to try feeding it to mine as a treat), and the ulcer treatments for now with the hope of removing them in the future. You could try the mag ox for a bit, but not until you'd tried the equishure for a decent length of time or you won't know which is helping.

When you say the joint supplement was recommended by the vet was that a "you could try this instead of medication for his serious joint issues" or a "I think everyone should feed this as a precaution because its great", if the second then no way for me!

I would also be deeply sceptical of the "muscle builder", but then I tend to buy supplements by their ingredients first rather than their advertising, the only supplement I ever use where I would refer to it by brand / type rather than its ingredients is Global Herbs Restore.

 

[bollybop]

The muscle builder has certainly helped. Within a week of feeding, horse was noticably better with work, I am more than happy that this is working.

The seabuckthorn has def helped with a shiney coat and I want to keep on feeding it.

The horse doesn't have any "major joint issues", was just a preventative measure.