Last Updated on November 4, 2022 by Allison Price
Feeds are the horse’s natural source of vitamins and nutrients. It is dependent on those meals to get all the nutrients and vitamins they need. Sometimes they don’t get enough when they only eat grass or hay because horses need more than that to have a balanced diet.
The cornerstone of good nutrition is a balanced diet. This ensures all essential nutrients are available without losing or gaining weight. You have to pay attention to the price when choosing what fits your horses’ needs. Taste matters, no matter how good it is for your horse’s health, they won’t eat it if it doesn’t taste good. In this post, we will discuss the most preferred horse’s food supplements by equestrians.
8 Best Horse Vitamins and Minerals Food Supplement
Vita Flex Health and Wellness Pellets
Vita Flex is not your typical vitamin and mineral horse supplement. It contains essential amino acids for muscle growth. The vitamins and minerals are already available. This well-rounded supplement is excellent for foals, full-grown horses, and even elderly equines. This product comes in delicious and palatable pellets. It ships in a large a 5lb container and is accessible worldwide.
Product Details:
It contains essential amino acids for muscle growth. This product comes in delicious and palatable pellets.
Pros
- A great formula for horses.
- Easy to administer in food.
- Horses have no problem eating the supplement. No problems with the stomach or intestines after consuming it.
- The container is cheap.
- It lasts for 80 days.
Cons
- None so far.
Compressed Himalayan Salt Lick
Product Details:
It contains all the 84 natural minerals and trace elements. These are all ideal for livestock and farm animals. The supplements come with a hole in the middle. This hole helps you mount the stick somewhere your horses can reach.
The Himalayan Salt Lick for horses is an all-natural supplement. It is from pure forms of mineral salts through extraction. These are recommended for livestock and farm animals. Fox, White Tail Deer, raccoon, rabbits, chipmunks, will like it.
Milliard 6 lb Himalayan Animal Salt Lick is my horses’ favorite treat. Though the shape makes it harder to flip, it prevents from being worn through.
Pros
- It is excellent for all sorts of animals. (ie. horses, buffaloes, cows, sheep, goats, pets, and even wild animals.)
Cons
- Some Horses don’t like the taste.
DAC Colt Grower 5 Lb. Mineral Supplement
Product Details
- Vitamin and mineral supplement for young growing horses
- Enhanced with probiotics
- Contains essential amino acids
This is a unique weight gain supplement. It is usually for the underweight colts. This supplement contains the best vitamins and minerals every growing horse needs. Horses will get calcium, zinc, copper, and, other vitamins. It boosts metabolic function and bone development. It improves nerve function, immune functions, hoof, skin, and coat quality.
If you’re planning on choosing a product that works like magic, you need to try the DAC Grower.
Pros
- It is a great mineral source. It improves nerve function, immune functions, hoof, skin, and coat quality.
Cons
- None so far.
Vita Royal Untie Selenium Supplement for Horses
Product Details
- It contains ingredients that are high in selenium and vitamin E.
- It is loaded with ingredients like calcium, magnesium, chromium, iodine, and zinc.
- The supplement is high in probiotics.
- Soluble in water.
Vita Royal Untie is more than a selenium and vitamin E supplement. It also contains a custom amino acid. This supports chelated forms of calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc, chromium, iodine, and selenium. It is bio-available by almost 100 percent to maximize absorption. This product uses water-soluble vitamin E and includes micro-encapsulated probiotics.
It is highly recommended if you’re looking for guaranteed satisfaction.
Pros
- 100% absorbed and bioavailable
Cons
- It’s a bit pricey, but worth it. Because it actually works.
AniMed Pure MSM
Product Details
- Pure MSM does not harden. It has no fillers so it is suitable for long-term use.
- It is an excellent supplement for joint pain and stiffness.
- Pure MSM minimizes inflammation and arthritis.
AniMed Pure MSM Powder is a pure MethylSulfonylmethane (MSM) for dogs and horses. It helps improve joint mobility and assists in protein and amino acid production. It is best for improving connective tissues, furs, hides, and hooves.
MSM is a natural remedy to several forms of pain and inflammation. It is a bio-available source of dietary sulfur to assist in collagen synthesis. This encourages joint, cartilage, and healthy skin.
I have been using AniMed Pure MSM for older horses as it really works in relieving tendonitis and inflammation.
Pros
- All Natural 99.9% Pure Supplement.
- MSM is a great chelator that can help rid heavy metals in the body. It also helps reduce pain and arthritis inflammation.
Cons
This has common side effects which include:
- Diarrhea.
- Abdominal discomfort.
- Nausea.
- Swelling.
- Fatigue.
- Difficulty concentrating.
Mare Magic
Product Details:
- It helps your mare get more relaxed during her cycle.
- It contains dried Raspberry Leaf.
- Known to help ease the effects of hormonal changes
- Used on geldings
- Highly palatable
Mare Magic supplements are an herbal remedy. It develops to help the moody, cranky, uncomfortable mare. Vets recommend this for mares who have been dealing with what seems to be hormonal issues.
Mare Magic worked in my hormonal mare before, it almost had an overnight change in its mood.
Pros
- Mare Magic is easy to feed and palatable daily supplement, and it smells good.
- It’s not a drug so you can give it to show horses
Cons
- Faltered progress in calming or lessening the horses’ heat cycle.
- Improvements may take awhile.
Kentucky Performance
Product Details:
- It provides a highly bio-available source of natural vitamin E (d-alpha-tocopheryl acetate) to horses.
- It maintains healthy muscle and nerve function.
- It supports a strong immune system in horses of all ages.
Elevate Maintenance Powder provides vitamin E and nutrients. It is easy and available to get vitamin E. This has no other vitamins or minerals in it. Horse owners should change the amount fed to horses. This is without worrying about creating health imbalances.
Three of my horses look better after using Kentucky Performance Elevate.
Pros
- Elevate Maintenance has 1000 IU of natural vitamin e per scoop. The 2 lb container has a capacity of 65000 IU.
- At present rates, maintenance per unit is cheaper than the concentrate
Cons
- It contains a lot of sugar.
Omega Horseshine 3 Supplements
Product Details:
- It’s made of flaxseed and includes omega-3 fatty acids.
- This has been known for many years as a true super-food.
- The supplements are for improving health and horse performance.
- It improves hoof health for horses along with fur skin, coat, and joints.
This enhanced supplement contains the best ratios of natural EFAs. It is higher in Omega-3 and 9 and lower in Omega-6. This also includes synergistic plant and vitamin-based antioxidants from flaxseed. All flaxseeds used in the production meet the requirements of the Global Food Safety. This has the initiative for human use using a stringent microbial reduction method. It uses the Pure Glean stabilization technique for long shelf life. The flaxseed is BRCGS-certified and guaranteed stable shelf for at least a year and many have an 18-month shelf-life. Through ambient storage conditions, there’s no cooling or special packaging needed!
Omega Horseshine The Omega 3 Supplement made my horses’ coat shiny and thicker. They quickly improved their look, after I added this to their diet.
Pros
- Flax-based omega-3 supplements are for horses, dogs, and chickens.
- Omega-3 profiles have more Omega-3 fatty acids than the daily serving of Omega Grande.
Cons
- Very inconvenient packaging amount.
How to Feed Horses the Supplements
Equestrians must follow the instructions for usage, recommended feeding ratios, and end dates. Feeding supplements that are not for horses can be a waste and dangerous for your horse. Horses have limited capacity to absorb certain nutrients such as iron. Over supplementing these nutrients may result in the excess nutrients. Other nutrients like iodine have unlimited absorption. Over supplementing can be toxic to your horses. Vitamins’ effectiveness is also dependent on the end date.
Supplements are useful when your horse is in need of extra nutrients. This is also for an overall increase in the nutritional value of their diet.
What Are Vitamins & What Do They Do?
Vitamins are organic molecules required by the body in small amounts. They help maintain essential functions. Vitamins already available in the body, yet the synthesis level may not be adequate to meet the body’s needs.
There are two broad types of vitamins: water-soluble vitamins, and fat-soluble vitamins. The vitamins soluble in water are vitamins B, and vitamin C. The vitamins which are soluble in fat are Vitamin A, D, E, and K.
Vitamins, usually water-soluble, can take up little capacity in our body.
As an organic molecule, vitamins are unstable over time. When incorporated in mixtures, they deteriorate over time. Supplements have vitamins that horses can eat, including:
Vitamin A
Vitamin A has many important functions. It is usually for the skin, eye and it’s stored in the liver.
B Vitamins
B vitamins refer to a group of vitamins with a numerical suffix. These are B1 (Thiamine), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Nicotinic Acid), B6 (Pyridoxine), and B12 (Cobalamin). These are for energy release, proteins, fat breakdown, and protein synthesis.
Biotin
Biotin is a B vitamin. It is important for coat and hoof strength in horses.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C functions in the immune system. It focuses on respiratory health. It scavenges free radicals to restore function to vitamin E.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is necessary for calcium absorption from the gut. It is of particular importance in young growing horses and broodmares. We can get some vitamin D from exposure to sunlight.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is one of the most abundant antioxidants in nature. It acts to trap and inactivate harmful free radicals. This protects against cellular injury in the body.
Vitamin K
Vitamin K is essential for blood clotting and is stored in the liver.
Trace Minerals: What Do They Do?
Trace minerals or trace elements are inorganic materials. Like vitamins, they are needed by the body in small amounts to carry out essential functions. This should be part of the daily intake, as the body has no capacity to synthesize at all. As inorganic products, trace minerals from the intestine are not absorbed. By adding the mineral to a protein, these are more easily absorbed. The body has some capacity to store trace elements. As inorganic molecules, trace elements are stable over time and when used in mixtures they remain useful for a long time.
Here are some of the trace minerals:
Copper. Copper is for soft tissue growth and hair pigmentation. It has a role in red blood cells and skeletal development.
Iron. Iron is a key element in the formation of hemoglobin. It is the molecule that carries oxygen around the body.
Selenium. Selenium is an antioxidant. It works as a defense mechanism through the Glutathione Peroxides System. It acts to protect the body against the damaging effects of free radicals.
Iodine. Iodine has a key role in thyroid function. The thyroid hormones regulate energy use and metabolism within the body. It is critical for fertility.
Cobalt. Cobalt is required in small amounts. The body uses it to create Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) and it is used in the release of energy from carbohydrates by cells.
Manganese. Manganese is for carbohydrate and fat metabolism. It has a role in the production of joint cartilage.
Zinc. Zinc is an important co-factor in many enzyme reactions in the body. It has a particular role in skin health and wound healing.
