Supplements- what actually works?

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poiuytrewq

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I just went through my last years horse diary and see the massive amount of supplements I purchased over the year. None of which I still use!
I buy in the hope they will do something amazing and never actually notice any real difference. I think it makes me feel better popping a scoop of this or that into feeds 😜
I'm now only using Protexin gut balancer on pony who gets a dirty back end- this does seem to have helped a lot but of course there's also no grass so the test will be Spring.
Cob is on Magic calmer, he's not really much calmer but when it runs out I'll see if he gets madder before buying more!
My old horse is on no bute but mainly just to use up an old bottle as I don't think it's a big help and he's on danilon anyway.
 
I use pro hoof, definitely saw improved hoof growth. I have used joint supplements in the past and saw no difference. That is with the human eye though, possibly if I had used sophisticated gait analysis there may have been slight change.
 
I just Coligone i saw a massive change in Levi wile on it, he was a whole lot girthy!

we used it wile waiting for some one to come to the island to scope for ulcers, it turned out he did have ulcers but the gentlemen who came said the coligone would have given him digestive comfort and acted as a lining for the ulcer so preventing them getting worse, not the ulcers have gone i have him back on it just to try and prevent the return
 
I don't feed anything pre mixed because usually it's full of fillers and sugar. The best thing you can feed your horse is adlib forage and spend the savings on a regular indoor arena hire or some really good water proofs so you can keep them fit in the worst weather!

I use an unmolassed mineral lick.

Vitamin e is an important thing to feed and it should be natural. Equimins are the cheapest although still not cheap, so if you are desperate to supplement them with something, buy that.
 
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we feed a digestive supplement and a joint supplement from Hack Up, and they have made a massive difference to our two.... And they've been on them just over a year, so can definitely say it's not just seasonal difference.
 
I think the problem is already in the question. How does one expect a supplement to "work"? Supplements may not claim to treat, prevent or cure a medical condition, otherwise they fall under the same regulation as medications. A lot of manufacturers skirt around this with suggestive advertising, but you shouldn't really expect to notice drastic changes on this front.

And if you feed a supplement to provide basic vits&mins, then you shouldn't really expect to see huge changes either, unless your horse was grossly deficient ahead of time. You wouldn't expect to see massive changes from just eating healthy, unless your diet was really poor previously.

I honestly don't think supplements are worthless, but I wouldn't normally expect to see a drastic change in the horse's condition or behaviour from feeding one. If there was a nutritional deficiency before, the change is much more likely to be slow and gradual, and probably hard to tell unless you have something concrete to keep track off (such as a hoof crack or similar). And in the case of healthy nutrition, the best anyone can hope for is to suffer poor health less often, but how would you measure that?
 
good post, supsup :)

FWIW I feed a joint supplement, I started it fully believing that it's a placebo for me rather than for horse's benefit :lol:
I did take her off it for about 6 weeks when trying to cut costs. Coincidence or not, horse became more grumpy and crabby about a week after going off the supplement, so I decided to find the cheapest one I could and continue, still with the feeling that I'm being a sucker, haha. Either way, no more grumpy horse and I feed whatever has the best value offer available, currently suppleaze gold.
 
supsup said:
I think the problem is already in the question. How does one expect a supplement to "work"? Supplements may not claim to treat, prevent or cure a medical condition, otherwise they fall under the same regulation as medications. A lot of manufacturers skirt around this with suggestive advertising, but you shouldn't really expect to notice drastic changes on this front.

And if you feed a supplement to provide basic vits&mins, then you shouldn't really expect to see huge changes either, unless your horse was grossly deficient ahead of time. You wouldn't expect to see massive changes from just eating healthy, unless your diet was really poor previously.

I honestly don't think supplements are worthless, but I wouldn't normally expect to see a drastic change in the horse's condition or behaviour from feeding one. If there was a nutritional deficiency before, the change is much more likely to be slow and gradual, and probably hard to tell unless you have something concrete to keep track off (such as a hoof crack or similar). And in the case of healthy nutrition, the best anyone can hope for is to suffer poor health less often, but how would you measure that?
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The neutraceaticals industry is worth millions! There are lots of gullible people out there.
 
I feed mycosorb and yea-sacc, and I have one on boswellia serrata.

For me, these work, so not a waste of money imo - I wouldn't generally buy a ready mix supplement.
 
I have fed a joint supplement containing boswellia serrata to a horse with pastern arthritis. He came sound on it - to get the same level of soundness, I would have had to give him 2 sachets of bute, so I was very impressed with the supplement. Sadly it is no longer on the market.

We gave NAF Pink Powders to a horse with digestive trouble - it was very clear that when he was on the pink stuff, his droppings were normal, when he wasn't, they looked like cow pats.
 
spacefaer said:
We gave NAF Pink Powders to a horse with digestive trouble - it was very clear that when he was on the pink stuff, his droppings were normal, when he wasn't, they looked like cow pats.
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I've had the same experience with Pink Powder - I know it gets slated on here for being 'full of fillers' and such like, but it has made a noticeable difference to our horse who tends to a runny bottom, particularly when excited or stressed. It also seems to keep his appetite up in the winter months. I tried using Yea-Sacc instead but didn't seem to work as well for him.
 
spacefaer said:
I have fed a joint supplement containing boswellia serrata to a horse with pastern arthritis. He came sound on it - to get the same level of soundness, I would have had to give him 2 sachets of bute, so I was very impressed with the supplement. Sadly it is no longer on the market.
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the one i get from Hack Up has Boswellia in it :)
 
I use a balancer from Forage Plus based on grazing analysis, I believe it helps them both but the most noticeable difference was to the rescue ponies coat. I feed linseed in winter and it does seem to help with general health and particularly lack of mud fever.

I feed milk thistle for a month after worming, no idea if it does anything but it makes me feel better! I also have some bentonite clay (human feed grade, no heavy metals) which I feed as a one-off if needed, e.g. if they get through the strip-grazing fence and stuff themselves on spring grass, it definately helps immediately and stops the cob from going footy which he used to. I really rate Global Herbs Restore for anything which has been ill or is just a bit rundown, I have seen almost immediate results from that.

Boswelia serrata made a huge difference to our old dog, he was able to jump in and out of the car again when on it, sceptical OH even put himself on it after seeing the difference.
 
I feed turmeric, oli and pepper - no idea if it works but worth a try! I am firmly in they camp that they are for our benefit not the horse!!
 
I feed Equimins as an all rounder, turmeric to help his immune system as he had a sarcoid and this seemed to get rid of it so I have kept him on it, milk thistle to support his liver and linseed oil for coat. He also has Horse First relax me but this is more as a calmer.

The only things I have seen a noticeable difference with is the turmeric (amazing), oil (lovely coat) and Relax Me. However I wouldn't perhaps realise and improvment of liver function etc as he wasn't off colour before. He has adlib hay and a scoop of chaff as a carrier and has done well all winter on this. Previously would have lost condition at this time of year, however, they are on good varied grazing and this season has been mild.
 
Yes the industry is worth millions, and I am very sceptical about efficacy, but I do know that Ritetrac and Succeed have turned my horse around when drugs made no difference.
 
The biggest difference to my horses came about when i put them on Thunderbrooks base mix. The TB is the fattest he's ever been (kept out most of the time) and their feet are much improved. It contains all the extras I might want to add except salt which i buy from costco. I add it to fast fibre.
 
I feed Limestone Flour (£6.10 for 4KG which lasts the winter, around 6 months, maybe slightly less but it hardly costs anything) because I feed Oats and Alfa A to balance her feed.

I feed Vits & Mins (11.49 for 1.5KG which lasts 25 days) because she has pretty much no grazing and is on poor hay so is probably getting no nutrition from anything other than her feed. I noticed that she stopped licking the metal on the top of the door when I fed her these and she is much calmer and relaxed in herself.

If her Colitis flares I feed Charcoal and it works. (£16 for 1kg which I buy maybe once a year, only fed a day or two at a time to clear her colitis, not long term fed.)

All of the above over winter for 6 months costs me £91.04. So £15.17 per month. I can't say I am going to cry over £15 a month for 6 months :) She doesn't get fed in summer.

I have had her on Magic Calmer (no effect), Pink Powder (no effect), Valrian Cordial (no effect), Biotin (no effect), Stroppy Mare (no effect), Oestress (no effect), Hayledge Balancer (no effect).
 
I only feed a splash cider vinegar and a dollop of veggie oil in a handful of chaff if I think the orange job is looking abit light.

I thought I'd give a balancer 'just incase' but he went loopy-lou on it so I stopped that assuming he wasn;t lacking anything.

I spent squillions on supplements for the old boy for his feet. Once I got diet and a decent farrier I never needed them again.
 
I use pink powder as my horse was prone to digestive upsets and got repeated bouts of colic. Touch wood he is not so prone since using pink powder. He is on a joint supplement for his arthritis and also on Magic which has always worked really well until recently.

I've taken my horse off Magic twice and each time he changed within days and reverted back to how he used to be (as he is being now) so he is back on it. I thought the first time may have been a coinicidence which is why I repeated the experiment a few weeks later.

I wouldn't dare to take him off pink powder now although I have reduced it so much that I probably could as I doubt such a small quantity would make much difference. The joint supplement I wouldn't risk taking him off it.

He is also on a garlic and mint combination and gets about a teaspoon just to taste in his feeds for a bit of variation and for no other reason.
 
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I'm currently using biotin on my black mare on recommendation of my farrier. He said we will try it for a year and see if there is any improvement in her hooves. We are about half way through the experiment so the summer is when we are expecting to either see a difference or not.

She also has flyfree in the summer months when she is turned out overnight. Without it she is covered in fly bites and lumps, when she is on it they go so it must do something. It makes zero difference to my chestnut one but she rarely gets bitten.
 
When I got my mare she had terrible feet. We put her on biotin and for a year she continued to have terrible feet.

I took her off the biotin, moved yards to one with better stable & turnout conditions and diet, did her feet every 6 weeks religiously. My farrier recently commented she has the best feet he's ever seen, and she's a grey!

Currently have her on Cortaflex HA for arthritis but she's only on it about 3 weeks so time will tell whether that works or not. She's been on Linseed Oil for a while now and I do notice an improvement in her condition.
 
my horses feet went very cracked when we had a hot summer(quite a few years ago) and I put her on formula4feet and her feet really improved after about 4 months..my farrier didn't know I had put her on this and he commented on how good her feet were....I stopped feeding it and her feet again started cracking and splitting....put her back on it and have kept her on it and her feet are in really good condition... I think the start of her bad feet coincided with her getting cushings ...
 
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Think it probably depends on the horse.

Myoplast has def helped to muscle up one of my horses. Tried all sorts of calmers on the same horse, nothing appears to work with her. Just bought some magesium oxide to see if that makes any difference to her, if it doesn't work Won't have lost too much money.

Other horse has previously been on an ulcer supplement called aquacid. That def worked. Currently on powerstance, has def helped with a nice shiney coat. Also on limestone flour to see if it will help with ulcers. Doesn't appear to be making any difference as yet
 
SuperH said:
I'm currently using biotin on my black mare on recommendation of my farrier. He said we will try it for a year and see if there is any improvement in her hooves. We are about half way through the experiment so the summer is when we are expecting to either see a difference or not.

She also has flyfree in the summer months when she is turned out overnight. Without it she is covered in fly bites and lumps, when she is on it they go so it must do something. It makes zero difference to my chestnut one but she rarely gets bitten.
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SuperH who makes the Flyfree, I have a pony who suffers terribly from fly bites in summer and also one who has sarcoids.
 
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