Horse Journal editor Cindy Foley's three horses, Sally (a Morgan), Paz (a Saddlebred) and Kelsey (a Quarter Horse) come marching in for dinner. | Photo courtesy of Cindy Foley
Do you need help with complicated and confusing world of equine supplements?
Do I have the person for you: Cindy Foley, the editor of Horse Journal.
Here, Cindy explains what’s important and what’s hype, how to save money, and the one book she considers an invaluable resource:
I truly believe in the power of good nutrition, and I frequently receive compliments on how good my three mares look. They’re all “teenagers,” and I pay close attention to what they’re eating. If a horse receives optimal nutritional support, he or she will be better able to grow healthy hooves, have a shiny coat and have strong immune system for warding off illness.
We get the best hay we can buy, and we provide only the amount of grain/feed that they need to maintain their weight. So, I’m not feeding enough grain to reap any strong nutritional benefit from it.
If you’re surprised by this, take a look at the minimum recommended feeding levels on the back of your feed bag – the amount those nice-looking nutritional analysis labels say they’re based upon. Very few of us “normal” folks feed grain in that high an amount. And that’s a good thing, because all our horses would be obese!
Instead, we look to supplements to fill gaps and imbalances in our horse’s diet, especially if evidence of a nutritional deficiency shows up. Most often it’ll show up first in the horse’s coat and/or hooves. No wonder hoof supplements are the most popular supplement category.
If you read hoof-supplement hoof supplement ads and labels, you’ll see they boast about containing biotin. But look closely. Do they contain 15 to 20 mg of biotin per serving? That’s what you need to make a difference in your horse’s hooves. Bad hooves also benefit from added methionine, zinc, copper and even B vitamins (biotin is actually a B vitamin).
Sure, the supplement label will make you believe it’s got the stuff you need, but those key nutrients may be included in amounts too small to help your horse. Why? The manufacturer wants to be able to sell the stuff at a cheaper price. (That doesn’t mean the most expensive product is your best choice either.)
Another popular category that makes me cringe is joint supplements for arthritic horses. Feeding your horse 500 mg of the popular joint supplement glucosamine is a waste of money. Your horse needs to receive a minimum of 10,000 mg of glucosamine in order to actually make a difference. It’s like taking a baby aspirin for your adult-size headache. If the glucosamine is combined with solid levels of another joint ingredient then you might be able to drop that to 1250 or 2500 mg.
When it comes to nutrition, it pays to know what you’re doing. Under-dosing, over-dosing and feeding nutrients out of balance with one another can be useless, harmful or wasteful.
But how are you supposed to know all this? Well, Horse Journal has been giving the information to its subscribers for years, helping direct them to the best products for their money. Our nutritional articles became so popular that we decided to put them together in one book, making it easier to understand nutrition and avoid getting ripped off.
The Horse Journal Guide to Equine Supplements and Nutraceuticals, written by Eleanor M. Kellon, V.M.D., will give you clear instructions, solid advice and recommendations you can go to the bank with. It’s at HorseBooksEtc. for $29.95.
Dr. Kellon was the veterinary editor of Horse Journal from its inception until just last year. In this book, she offers a wealth of information on the topic of horse supplements, including:
- The one ingredient common to all the best pain fighting supplements.
- Which mineral can reduce the risk of laminitis.
- The stable cough remedy that’s already in your medicine chest.
- The one joint nutraceutical that outperformed ten others for reducing lameness.
Take the Horse Journal Guide to Equine Supplements and Nutraceuticals to the feed store and make an informed horse supplement purchase. Your horse will thank you.