Does your horse need a supplement?
Browse the shelves in any feed shop and you’ll be faced with an array of different supplements. Kate Hore, nutritionist at NAF, discusses whether feeding one is really necessary
SOMETIMES, EVEN WHEN your horse is on the best grass and hard feed, he may need a little extra help. If he’s not fed hard feed, has stiff joints, crumbly hooves or his behaviour is unpredictable, you’ll find a supplement to help. However, a supplement isn’t a miracle cure, and you need to be realistic about what they can do. Essentially they can be split into two different types — those that balance the diet and make up any shortfalls, and those that are fed for a specific health reason.
Balancing the diet
If you’re feeding a complete balanced diet then your horse shouldn’t need an additional supplement, but ask yourself whether his diet is truly balanced or not. We all know that the ideal diet for all horses and ponies, regardless of their type or workload, is one that’s high in fibre and forage and low in concentrated feed. Starchy concentrate feeds are not natural to your horse’s diet and are increasingly associated with health conditions such as obesity, laminitis, gastric ulcers and reactive behaviour, to name but a few. Therefore, we should all be looking to feed a natural, high-fibre, low-concentrate diet. However, fibre-based diets alone can be lacking. Modern pasture is often limited in species variation, being largely made up of one or two grass species and, maybe, a legume such as clover. By comparison, horses evolved on wide open plains where they had access to many herbs, shrubs and trees, as well as a wide variety of grasses, so modern grassland doesn’t provide the natural variety they require. Additionally you need to consider soil deficiencies, which then pass on to the grass, hay and haylage. Mineral deficiencies common to the UK include selenium and copper. Lastly, don’t forget nutrient loss from fibre and forage. Particularly over winter, nutrients that are well-supplied in fresh grass, such as vitamin E, will be lost once that forage is preserved, and so winter deficiencies are a reality. That doesn’t necessarily mean you should be reaching for a bag of feed, as that takes you back to the problems of feeding concentrates. You should continue to feed a predominantly high fibre and forage diet, and simply balance this with a broad-spectrum supplement. Vitamin and mineral supplements come in a variety of forms including powder, liquid and concentrated pellets. Your choice largely depends on which suits you and your horse. Some horses seem to prefer a liquid. Alternatively, palatable pellets can either be added to
“Some horses seem to prefer a liquid supplement”
a small amount of feed, or fed alone for those not given bucket feeds at all. Balancers are simply broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplements that usually include gut support in the form of pre and probiotics. They come in powder or pellet form. Concentrated balancers allow the requirements for balancing the diet and the gut to be fed in a simple handful of palatable pellets, so make a good choice for many horses. When balancing the diet, don’t forget salt and the electrolytes that are lost during work. For simplicity, free access to a salt lick in the field and stable is the ideal approach for both horse and owner, but don’t forget to upgrade that basic salt to broadspectrum electrolytes when your horse has worked hard.