Too many supplements?

[jenbleep]

Hello all

Charisma is quite high maintenance in that she had bad feet and can lose weight easily. Unfortuntely she is on some rather lousy grass and hay Not much I can do about that because she's kept at her owners house (although her owner did say she was going to get some haylage)

My instructor said to feed seaweed for poor hooves, so she has been on that for about 5 months. Farrier came Wednesday and he said to have her on Biotin, so today I bought some NAF. She also has 8g per day Pink Powder (I got it ias a sample and didn't think it would do her any harm seeing it's for general health).

I'm planning on using up what we've got of the seaweed and just keep her on Biotin and PP, but do you think there is no benefit whatsoever to having all these supplements? I've seen people feed everything under the sun for joints, hooves, etc etc and have always thought it is really necessary.

Do you think it's all too much?

 

[Supertrooper]

I know you can go way over the top with supplements, I have in the past and now don't give any!

I'd stick with a good hoof supplement (on the advice of your farrier), the pink powder and a good feeding regime and leave it at that. Feed wise I'd go for lots of fibre as at the end of the that's what horses are designed to eat xx

 

[soloequestrian]

I didn't used to feed any supplements at all. Over the last year I've read a lot of the new barefoot information, and now I feed a home-made mix of magnesium oxide, linseed, brewers yeast and biotin, with speedibeet and alpha-A as a carrier, and in the winter oats for extra energy. They also get haylage almost ad-lib. I've noticed a big improvement in their feet over the year - much tighter hoof capsules with virtually no flare. I stopped feeding seaweed after having a grass and forage analysis done - came back high in iron, which seaweed also is.
One of mine is a tall, skinny TB and his feet have come on the most with the extra supplementation. I also don't have to fight to keep weight on him now over the winter, even though he lives out 24/7 in the north of Scotland.
I'm sure similar supplementation would help your horses hoof quality. It would be worth having a look at all the barefoot stuff that's out there too - Pete Ramey is a good place to start as his website is packed with information (mine are all barefoot).