Supplements - Who is the best maker/manufacturer?

[Pikachu]

Hi

In your opinion, who is the best maker of supplements?

Brief reason to my question:

My horse suffers with a low white blood cell count which dropped very low last winter, so yesterday, while i had the vet out for jabs, i said what more can i do this year to help him. I currently have him on happy hoof with Feedmark's Benevit and D&H's Echinacea. She said this was fine, but with supplements, you get what you pay for and to always go with the more expensive one. So this got me thinking about who is the best and is that statement actually true?

Benevit is a multi-vit, and to be honest, you don't see that many of those on the market, loads on joints/breathing/calming etc, so not that many to compare prices. I chose the Benevit as it seemed to contain lots, is delivered free and i can get re-fill sacks, but would another make be better for him, or would a balancer suit? He gets a higher amount than he should for his workload, as per my previous vet (retired) instructions.

Anyway, after all that rambling, any input from anyone?

Thanks
Jeni

 

[RachelB]

[ QUOTE ]
with supplements, you get what you pay for and to always go with the more expensive one

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Sorry, I don't agree with that at all. Different supplements work on different horses IME. I have always been told to start with the least expensive and work up in price until you find something that works. I know, for instance, that many people have had good success with Gold Label supplements (especially their joint ones) which are actually mostly cheaper than "big brand" ones. I mostly buy NAF supplements as I really rate the quality (I've had bad experiences with other brands in the past, particularly with foreign objects appearing in my herbal supplements...) and a lot of their products work on my horse. Their Devil's Relief liquid works wonders on my mare and stops me having to give her bute when she goes mildly lame, but I know it doesn't work for all horses. I've recently put my mare on Equus Health MSM as it was cheaper than the NAF stuff, and it has worked wonders on her already. NAF Superflex didn't really make too much of a difference. NAF biotin improved her hoof quality, but Formula 4 Feet does it 10 times better. What I'm trying to say is that it's all trial and error with each individual horse - try it and see if it makes a difference, if it doesn't then try something else.
If you want your horse on a GP supplement/balancer, go with the cheapest and work your way up until you see an improvement in whatever it is you want to see improved. If there's nothing you want to see improved, then you probably don't need to be feeding a supplement!

 

[kizzywiz]

Sorry but I completely disagree with the see whats cheapest & work your way up theory. Would suggest that you read the breakdown on the labels & see what you are getting for your money, agree that expensive is not necessarily best. Alot of the cheaper supplements are all filler & little actual nutritional content.

 

[RachelB]

[ QUOTE ]
Alot of the cheaper supplements are all filler & little actual nutritional content.

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But then I am of the school of thought that says "if it works, who cares"

If my horse comes sound on an alfalfa filler with a small amount of "ingredient X" at a low price, why would I want to be paying more money just so my horse is getting less alfalfa and more "ingredients X, Y and Z" for the same result?

I do agree though, thinking about it, that the whole point of a GP supplement would be to provide extra nutrition so the above would only work for a supplement targeting a specific problem.

 

[kizzywiz]

Also you would generally then find that you could feed less of the more expensive but less filler supplement, which could then work out cheaper than having to feed the recommended amount of the cheaper one, some of those you do have to feed an awful lot to achieve the same result.

 

[Pikachu]

See i have no idea where feedmark products come in the list of cheap to expensive as i've only really bought from them.

And i get what you are saying about seeing an improvement, but with a general multi-vit, i don't expect to see any changes really, the more specific ones, yes, but a general one, no. He only gets a handfull of happy hoof as he's a tubby beast, and i wanted to make sure he gets what he should if he was on the recommended amount. The reason it was upped in quantity was that his last blood tests showed slight changes to the liver and my vet said he needed more vitamin B, she read the feedmark label and said it had enough in it and to just up it to the hardwork amounts, rather than the lightwork he was on.

Oh, and i'm not one of these people who think that supplements are "wonder things", i hate them as once you start feeding one, you tend to end up with several for lots of different things that you don't really need!

 

[MagicMelon]

I tend to work out what ingredients I need at what levels (ie. looking at any case studies etc. on it) and then find the supplement which fits that.

I use NAF Superflex for joints as I find it has the best ingredients at the cheapest price (even though its very pricey, I pay £55!!). It works therefore I use! I dont think the priciest ones are best by any means, I tried Cortaflex once and it did ziltch. Whereas Superflex somehow cured my cold backed horse!

 

[eoe]

I tend to stick with NAF products. If I need a supplement I start with them and apart from Biotin which didn't work on my TB's feet, but NAF Hoof & Hide did I find them reasonably priced, easily available and have just used 3 months supply of their new Slimline and that worked as well on my overweight Cob, who never stops eating, even though he has a grazing muzzle on whenever he is at grass.