FAQ

Magnesium can help, but that’s usually only if it is low in the diet to begin with. Omneity contains high levels of magnesium and a full profile of B-vitamins and will balance the diet for all minerals and vitamins. This is a good starting point to ensure the diet is balanced – imbalances in the diet can cause horses to be more excitable.

Visceral+ also has high levels of magnesium and is used to treat ulcers. If ulcers are an issue, this certainly would be beneficial. Lastly, w-3 Oil contains high levels of DHA, which has been shown to improve focus and calm. Having said all of that, none of these solutions are likely to have a huge impact on spooking, say like giving ACE might, but would be part of a longer-term solution to training and sound nutrition.

Omneity – Equine Mineral and Vitamin Premix is a great choice for horses that have Cushings and IR, as it will balance all the mineral and vitamins needs of your horses. There is no point in giving any type of supplement until the whole diet is properly balanced. If your horses are only receiving hay, the feeding rate is 200 grams for a 500 kg horse. If you are feeding a commercial complete feed (Integri-T, High Fat/Fiber etc), then the dose is adjusted based on how much you are feeding. For example, if you were feeding 2.5 kg of a commercial complete feed, you would only need 100 grams of the Omneity to balance out the diet.

For Cushings/IR horses, I would suggest adding MagneChrome on top of Omneity. It boosts levels of magnesium and chromium, as well as providing extra antioxidants to help combat the chronic inflammation accompanied by Cushings/IR. It certainly is not a cure for either, but will help.

Minerals and vitamins are crucial to your horse’s health, they are involved in virtually every metabolic process. They are critically important to the ultimate health and performance of your horse. The hay you feed does contain many of the minerals required by the horse, but certainly not all of them and often not in the correct balance or sufficient quantity. The process of curing and storing hay destroys virtually all of the vitamins that were present in the fresh standing forage, therefore, it is necessary to supplement these. Select one of Mad Barn’s formulations to complement your feeding program or contact us if you are interested in getting a custom mineral and vitamin made to meet your horse’s exact requirements.

When horses are on fresh grass, they generally do not need any vitamin supplements (A,D,E) as they are abundant in fresh forages and from the sun for vitamin D. Some of the trace minerals may be adequate as well, depending on fertility of the soil, but it will vary widely by region and fertilization program. There are some notable exceptions though, selenium, iodine and cobalt typically need to be supplemented as there will be inadequate levels of these nutrients. A note on selenium. Soil selenium levels vary widely across different geographical locations and due to its narrow range of safety, it is wise to determine the levels in feedstuffs before embarking on a supplementation regime. A soil selenium map is provided at this link, along with a wealth of information on selenium.

For the macro minerals, again it is likely the horse would obtain enough calcium, phosphorus and potassium from the grass, but is likely to be deficient in magnesium and most definitely in sodium.

Therefore, no, your horse does not need a fully fortified mineral and vitamin premix when the majority of the feed intake is from fresh pasture. Having said that, it may be more convenient to use a complete mineral and vitamin premix product like Omneity to supply the deficient nutrients, but it would be less expensive to supplement just the missing nutrients. This can be done by purchasing a trace mineral supplement, such as our Trace Mineral Pak, and adding salt and possibly magnesium oxide to balance out the pasture. Alternatively, Mad Barn can make a custom blend for you to supply the nutrients required. Please contact us to inquire about custom formulations.

The maximum tolerable intake of selenium for a horse (i.e. no long term deleterious effect) has been set at 5 mg/kg DM intake, but usually the literature recommends not exceeding 2 mg/kg of DM (dry matter) as the maximum tolerable intake. At 2 mg/kg of DM this equates to about 20 mg of selenium per day for the average horse (500 kg body weight) which eats about 10 kg of feed as the maximum intake.  It is not advisable to try and reach these levels, as there is no need to feed that much selenium. Furthermore, selenium is regulated in North America not to exceed 0.3 mg/kg of total dry matter intake, equating to 3-4 mg of selenium per day for the average size horse. The daily minimum intake of selenium for a horse should be at least 1 mg, therefore the total diet needs to be at least 0.1 mg/kg of selenium, but not more than 0.3 mg/kg. Please note, that mg/kg is the same as parts per million (ppm).

Omneity Equine Mineral and Vitamin Premix contains 20 mg/kg of selenium, which is all in the organic form, which is 5 to 10 times safer than inorganic selenium. The maximum tolerable intakes were established based on inorganic selenium. When feeding 4 scoops/day (120 g), that would supply 2.4 mg of selenium or 1.2 mg of selenium if you’re feeding only 2 scoops (60 g).

Given that concentration of selenium, you would have to feed 1 kg of Omneity per day to be at the maximum tolerable intake of selenium – i.e. you shouldn’t see any long term effects and you would have to feed in excess of 2 kg/day long term to start to see negative impact of selenium. To have an acute toxicity case, it takes a dose of about 1.5 g of selenium.  That dose equates to feeding 75 kg of Omneity – clearly this level could never be consumed. It is very unlikely any horse would voluntarily consume even 1 kg of the product, so toxicity is not a concern.

Toxicity is usually only a concern if you are using a specific selenium supplement that has a very high concentration of selenium – the polo horses in Florida come to mind, this was a case of someone making their own selenium supplement, and they obviously calculated or mixed it wrong. That is why it is advisable to only deal with reputable companies and people. It is a relatively straight forward calculation working out selenium concentrations, but there is always the chance for error if someone confuses the units or misplaces the decimal point, which was obviously the case in Florida.

Mad Barn has rigorous QC/QA procedures in place that ensure that all our products are made to specification and mixing or formulation errors do not occur.

A Note on Injectable Selenium for Horses

The above-mentioned case of selenium toxicity in Florida was from an improperly prepared injectable supplement, with selenium mixed at 10 times the desired concentration. Selenium toxicity from injection has a much lower threshold than oral administration, 15 times lower in fact. 0.2 mg of selenium per kg of body weight is acutely toxic when injected, which correlates to 100 milligrams of selenium for the average size horse. Oral acute toxicity levels are 3 mg of selenium per kilogram of body weight or 1.5 grams (1,500 milligrams) of selenium for the average size horse. Personally, I do not like the use of injectable selenium, for several reasons, but if a product containing selenium is to be injected, it should be done under the supervision of a veterinarian.

Enzymes are necessary to catalyze or speed up metabolic reactions, which can either synthesize products or break them down. In the gut of the horse, the enzymes are primarily involved in processes to break down the food so that it may be absorbed and assimilated in the body. The horse naturally produces their own enzymes, but supplemental enzymes can aid in the digestion of feed, ensuring increased digestion and less flow of rapidly digestible nutrients to the hindgut where they can compromise hindgut pH and ultimately negatively impact the hindgut microflora. Also, additional enzymes can help break down products that the horse does not have natural enzymes for. An example would be phytic acid, which is normally indigestible, but supplemental enzymes can help release minerals from phytic acid, reducing the need to purchase supplemental minerals. Research indicates that hindgut health is crucial to avoiding colic, laminitis and proliferation of clostridia.

Alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid are required by the horse, they are considered essential fatty acids (EFA’s). NRC suggests a dietary minimum for linoleic acid of 0.5 percent of total dry matter intake. For a horse weighing 450 kg, this represents approximately 50 grams of linoleic acid, which is likely to be supplied in most normal equine diets. However, there appears to be poor conversion of the EFA’s to the longer chain fatty acids like EPA and DHA, which have extensive research in other species showing numerous health benefits and being generally anti-inflammatory. For this reason, if your horse is unthrift or suffering from inflammation, it may be worth supplementing some extra fatty acids, specifically alpha-linolenic acid and DHA. Typically, providing DHA had to be done through feeding fish oil, but with large scale micro-algae facilities, it is now possible to provide supplemental DHA without feeding fish oil. To get all the benefits of extra DHA without the fishy smell and fussiness associated with trying to feed it, see our w-3 Oil and IR Supplement.

Your traditional oat has stripped its hull and is now naked! The net effect of the oat breeding program was to grow an oat with no hull, which is the portion of oat that is high in fiber and low in energy.  Therefore, what you get is an oat with a much higher starch and fat content per kilogram than traditional oats.  The advantage of these oats, is that it vastly reduces the amount of processing that oats traditionally went through for human food consumption.  It wasn’t specifically bred for horses.

Oats were/are a popular feed for horses because they contain much less starch than corn (45% vs 75% respectively) and the prececal starch digestion of oats is higher than corn.  These 2 factors combined make the likelihood of excessive cecal fermentation (can be a cause of founder and laminitis) from oats much less likely than when feeding corn.  Oats also tend to be more palatable, although naked oats were shown to be less palatable than whole oats.  To say naked oats would have a lower glycemic index than traditional oats or corn is wrong, it would be higher because the starch availability in the small intestine is higher.  And if you don’t believe me, here’s a direct quote from the Merck Veterinary Manual:

“Oats, one of the most traditional grains for horses, may be fed whole, rolled, or crimped, which increases the bulk 20–30% and improves digestibility by ~10%. “Hulled” or “naked” oats are more energy dense than regular oats and should be introduced slowly to reduce the risk of founder or colic.”

I realize people think of corn as being the hot grain, so the above comments on starch digestion might seem off, but I think some of the misconceptions between corn and oats come from feeding by the coffee can or scoop and not by weight.  For example, if you fed 1 coffee can of each grain, you would be feeding 20% less oats than corn by weight, therefore, 50% less total starch when feeding the same volume of oats as compared to corn.  On top of that, because the oat starch is more digestible, the flow of starch to the hind gut would be much less with oats – vastly reducing the risk of digestive upset. Horses becoming hot from being fed corn is more likely a function of digestive discomfort from excessive hindgut fermentation than from the grain providing too much energy or hot energy.

There are 3 main processing methods for raw soybeans that are used in animal feeds:

1) Solvent extracted soymeal. This is the most common form of soybean. The soybean is crushed and separated, and the outer hull (which is high in fiber) from the inner germ and the oil extracted with solvents.  This provides the most complete removal of oil from the soybean itself, leaving the soybean meal with approximately 2-3% fat.  Some of the outer hull is then added back in to standardize the protein content to 44-48% crude protein.

2) Roasted soybeans. This is pretty self-explanatory; the whole soybeans are roasted, which helps to destroy the anti-nutritional factors in the soybeans and also makes them very palatable. These beans will contain approximately 38% protein and 16-17% fat.

3) Extruded soybean meal/mechanically extracted soymeal.  Instead of using solvents to extract the fat from whole soybeans, they use mechanical extrusion to remove the fat.  This is far less efficient and thus, the remaining soymeal has much more fat than solvent extracted soymeal (6-15%) depending on how efficient the mechanical extraction is. Mechanical extraction may leave more of the anti-nutritional factors intact, but they should not present an issue when fed in small amounts.

I certainly have no issues feeding soybean meal/roasted soybeans to horses.  The higher fat content in the extracted or whole roasted soy can certainly put a shine on a horse.  Of all the plant protein sources readily available, they also have one of the best amino acid profiles, no question.

In terms of how much to feed, it largely depends on the quality of hay being fed, specifically the protein content.  Almost all classes of mature horses only need 10-12% crude protein for the total diet (the exception being late gestation and lactating mares).  Horses exercising hard do require more total protein per day than a horse at maintenance, but this extra protein is acquired by a higher rate of feed intake, so the percent protein in the diet remains the same.  How to figure out how much to feed:

Your average horse (weighing 450-500 kg) will consume approximately 10-12 kg of feed per day.  If the diet should be 12% protein, that means they consume (.12*11=1.32) 1.3 kg of protein per day.  If the hay is 10% crude protein, an additional 200-300 grams of protein will be needed.  The extruded soy is around 38% protein, therefore, need to feed (0.200/0.38=0.53 kg).  If the hay is over 13% crude protein, then technically you don’t need any of the soy, but could feed 100-200 grams to get the fat and a bit of extra high quality protein.  If the protein is too high in the diet, you just end up with a smelly barn (excess ammonia being excreted).

Raw or unprocessed soybeans should be avoided due to enzymes and anti-nutritional factors present.

Horses at maintenance do not require a lot of protein – NRC gives a range of 540 grams to 720 grams of protein per day for a 500 kg horse, which is equivalent to a diet of only 5 to 7 percent crude protein.  It is difficult to get feedstuffs that are that low in protein, so usually a decent quality hay alone will meet the horse’s protein requirements and if you’re feeding some flax on top of that you will be well covered.  Contrary to popular belief, heavy exercise does not increase the animals protein requirement to any great extent – they do lose some protein through sweat and exercising horses tend to have more muscle mass so that will also contribute to a small increase in requirement for protein.  The increase in protein requirement though is easily met by the increase in total feed intake of heavily exercised horses.  The NRC recommends an additional 0.354 g CP per kg of BW, which works out to an additional 177 grams of protein.  If you add that to the 720 grams for maintenance, it is still less than 1 kg of protein per day.  Given that the intake of an exercising horse is going to be higher – 20-30% more – the percent crude protein of the total diet still only needs to be 7%.  I typically recommend keeping the diet between 10-12% crude protein for mature horses.  Lactating mares and foals will need more than this.  Technically speaking, horses don’t actually have a protein requirement, they require amino acids.  Unfortunately, lysine is the only amino acid they have established a requirement for in horses.  It is possible to extrapolate data from other species though and apply it to the horse with some confidence.  Most feeding programs are well in excess of the amino acid requirements when the diets are at 10-12% protein.

Many people believe that hard working horses need to have a diet with a higher protein content, this is totally unfounded and in fact there is research in race horses that has shown feeding excessive protein actually causes horses to have slower run times.  The same goes for horses that are injured, there may be a nominal increase in protein utilization due to tissue injury, but not enough to warrant dramatically increasing the total protein content of the diet.  Excessive protein just makes the kidneys work harder and increases the amount of ammonia in barns.  Any protein the horse does not need has to be broken down – which means taking the nitrogen off the amino acids, turning that nitrogen into urea and then excreting.

There are feeding strategies for hard working horses where a high dose of protein is effective.  There is roughly a 2 hour window after heavy exercise that if you give horses a good dose of protein and simple carbohydrates is very effective in improving recovery from exercise.  Essentially, this strategy stimulates an insulin response, which will improve recovery from exercise.  Insulin is a potent anabolic hormone and very sensitive to dietary manipulation. Causing an insulin spike right after exercise will help stop muscle breakdown and shift the horse back to building muscle again.  This should only be done after heavy exercise though.  Even with this strategy, the total diet crude protein content should still be in the 10-12% range.

Magnesium is a pretty safe mineral to supplement. The NRC requirement for magnesium is pretty low (all calculations are based on 500 kg horse) 7.5 grams/day, which is less than 0.1% dietary concentration of magnesium. Most hays will contain 0.2% magnesium or higher, so the hay alone should meet the requirement. Having said that, minimum NRC isn’t really a marker for optimal health and certainly not one for ponies or horses that may have health issues. As stated, magnesium supplementation is pretty safe. Up to 0.8% of the diet, which is equivalent to 80 grams/day of magnesium intake (total dietary magnesium intake) did not produce any negative side effects. Based on other species and research, I would suggest not exceeding 40 grams/day long term, which would equate to 0.4% total dietary magnesium. Most well balanced equine diets supply ~25-30 grams of magnesium, so adding another 10 grams of magnesium would be acceptable – that would be the equivalent of 18-20 grams of Magnesium Oxide – the preferred source of magnesium. It is high availability and acts as a natural buffer, without the laxative effect of magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts).

I would recommend Omneity, our comprehensive equine vitamin and mineral formula. It is available in a powder or pellet, depending on what your horse will eat. It will supply all of the minerals and vitamins that he needs that he can’t get from eating hay alone. And it doesn’t contain any added sugars or artificial flavouring agents. Using the directions on the product label, feed with 2-3 tablespoons of plain, loose salt and fresh water at all times. Your horse should also be getting lots of exercise to lose weight and you should avoid giving any commercial feeds that he doesn’t need.

It is pretty straightforward feeding PSSM positive horses, keep the sugar and starch down and add a bit of extra protein and antioxidants. Get in touch with us through our contact form and we can review your horse’s diet.

You should definitely get a good ration balancer into them to balance the minerals and vitamins. Omneity – Equine Mineral and Vitamin is perfect for this, especially with 100% organic selenium which ensures greater maternal transfer to the growing baby. Although having babies is hard work, incubating them does not actually increase nutrient requirements tremendously, so there is limited need to increase calories and protein for most of pregnancy. Once they foal, the real work starts and you will definitely need to boost the calories and protein over what hay is providing. If you want a more detailed feeding regimen, please feel free to email us through our contact form.

We recommend Omneity, which is our comprehensive equine mineral and vitamin supplement. Just adjust the dosage to the bodyweight of the mule or donkey.

Ulcers and other gut problems are incredibly common among today’s horses, and stress is one of the main culprits that can cause them, whether that be from transportation, a new environment, intense training, social isolation or stress that arises from being withheld feed. Ulcers can definitely reduce feed intake as well, which is likely why he is underweight. We have hundreds of customers who have gotten their horses back to healthy weight with Visceral+, because when the ulcers heal, their appetite comes back. It is our best product for the treatment and prevention of both gastric and hindgut ulcers and it is in a pelleted form for easy feeding. Visceral+ works by forming a barrier to protect stomach tissue, enhances mucin (stomach mucous) production and stimulates cell turnover so that ulcers heal faster. It also contains yeasts, our 5-strain probiotic blend, amino acids and beneficial herbs to nourish the whole GI tract.

In terms of boosting her immune system, the number one thing to do is make sure the diet is balanced. You can also consider increasing your horse’s Vitamin E intake. Most of our products are gut health focussed, but they may still help as you get general immune enhancement. The Optimum Digestive Health Pellet has an array of ingredients for improving immunity and gut health, which may be of assistance, but it really depends on what the root cause is. You may also want to consider Omneity – Equine Mineral and Vitamin. It is a highly concentrated product and uses higher quality trace minerals and has much higher levels of b-vitamins, which would be helpful.

The most important base for any equine diet is to provide loose salt and an equine mineral and vitamin to fulfill your horse’s daily nutrient requirements that can’t be acquired from hay alone. Our
Omneity (available in a premix or pelleted format) provides more than just high levels of commonly lacking vitamins & minerals. It also contains yeasts and digestive enzymes that assist with digestion as well as 20 mg of Biotin in each serving, eliminating the need to feed hoof supplements. Salt is especially important, as it stimulates drinking. Once minerals and vitamins are balanced, then you can start to add other feedstuffs like flaxseed or vegetable oils for additional calories. If you are looking for additional joint support, our W-3 Oil contains high levels of DHA that is very effective at controlling inflammation and is priced very competitively compared to other brands out there.

For gastric & hindgut ulcers, we recommend Visceral+, which can be used effectively following omeprazole treatment and contains probiotics and nutrients that accelerate tissue healing. A lower cost option for gut health maintenance would be our Optimum Digestive Health Pellets. ODH also contains probiotics, however it wasn’t developed to treat ulcers. It works by stabilizing the gut flora and enhancing digestion, both of which help to prevent digestive upset.

To help them recover, I would suggest getting them onto a comprehensive vitamin and mineral, like Omneity. It will ensure your horses get the right amount of selenium, vitamin E and all other trace minerals and vitamins they can’t obtain from hay alone. In terms of probiotics, we carry Optimum Probiotic which is a fantastic, 5-strain probiotic blend that will help replenish gut bacteria.

There are a few ways that joint health can be improved through dietary intervention.
Making sure the diet is properly balanced in all key trace minerals and vitamins can go a long way in supporting healthy joints, as the tissue that joints and connective tissue are made of requires sufficient levels of trace minerals to synthesize and repair them.
Supplementing MSM can also help with reducing the symptoms of arthritis and other conditions that affect the joints and connective tissue. Our blog article provides some good information regarding MSM and the benefits of supplementing with it.
Another way of supporting healthy joints would be to supplement with omega-3 fatty acids. Our w-3 oil is very high in DHA, which is a potent omega-3 fatty acid that helps combat inflammation all throughout the body. Feeding up to 2 cups of ground flaxseed can also boost omega-3 fatty acid levels in the diet.

The average iron content in a typical grass hay is around 100 ppm, or mg/kg. With a daily intake of 10 kg of hay, that would work out to around 1000 ppm. The NRC recommended daily intake of Iron is 400 mg.

Our Omneity – Equine Mineral and Vitamin is a complete formula that fully balances a hay-only or grain-complemented diet. 120 grams of the Omneity Premix contains 1020 IUs of natural vitamin E, which is around 200% of the average daily requirement for mature horses. If you’re looking for more on top of that, we sell bulk natural vitamin E.

Our Omneity pellets act a a ration balance and will definitely help. That will balance all the minerals and vitamins in the diet. You should also add loose free choice salt.

Our Omneity Equine Vitamin and Mineral contains all the essential nutrients needed that can’t be obtained from hay, with the addition of beneficial yeasts to assist with digestion. The Premix is a granulated mixture, with little protein. We also have the Pelleted version, which is pelleted with oat hulls.

Need is dependent on physiological status, it goes up slightly with increasing work load. Most hay will meet the protein (amino acid) needs of most horses, unless it is really low in protein. However, there may be some amino acids that are insufficient in the diet like lysine, threonine and methionine. Our Omneity supplement provides these three amino acids.

20 mg per day of biotin is the recommended therapeutic amount based on the current research. Supplementing any more than that may not have a beneficial effect on hoof growth. Our Omneity vitamin & mineral supplement provides 19.2 mg per day of biotin at the average feeding rate.

For managing laminitic horses, we recommend getting the diet balanced in vitamins and minerals, in addition to reducing the sugars and starches in the diet and diligent hoof care. Balanced vitamin and mineral nutrition can be achieved with Omneity or AminoTrace+, our equine mineral and vitamin formulas. AminoTrace+ contains higher levels of copper, zinc and magnesium than Omneity to provide additional support for horses with metabolic issues such as laminitis.

We recommend first balancing the diet with a complete vitamin and mineral supplement to make sure the horse is getting everything they require that can’t be obtained from forage alone. A correct balance of vitamins and minerals will go a long way in promoting lean muscle growth and topline. Omneity, our equine vitamin and mineral, fully balances a large range of forages and also contains the essential amino acids that will contribute to muscle growth. Along with hay, and perhaps some ground flax seed, Omneity would be a great starting point.

Selenium levels vary depending on where you are in the US. We provide 2.5 mg of selenium (for 500 kg horse) in our Omneity Equine Mineral & Vitamin supplement, which provides adequate levels for an area completely devoid of selenium, but can also be used in areas with some selenium in the soil. It’s also in organic form so it is much safer than inorganic forms.

Depending on where you live, your horse may be deficient in selenium. Most hay is deficient in several other trace minerals as well: iodine, zinc, copper and possibly manganese. Additional magnesium is also beneficial. You should also supplement the other fat soluble vitamins A & D if not getting fresh pasture. Our feed balancer supplement Omneity is designed to meet all of your horse’s needs.

Omneity premix is our comprehensive equine mineral and vitamin supplement. It contains everything horses need and does not have any fillers. It would be safe to give to your drafts as it won’t contribute any added energy and is a great addition to hay. To slow down hay intake, it may be a good idea to use a slow feeder with your drafts.

If your horse is regularly showing signs of ulcers, then my first recommendation would be to give the full recommended dose of Visceral+. It’s a pelleted formula that was developed to specifically treat gastric ulcers, but it also provides full coverage of the rest of the digestive system to assist in the prevention of colic. Visceral+ also contains our 5-strain probiotic blend which is found in our Optimum Probiotic supplement.

To put more weight on a horse, we recommend our w-3 Oil supplement. w-3 Oil is an energy supplement containing essential fatty acids like omega-3s found in the form of microalgae-synthezied DHA. This gives it all of the benefits of fish oil but without the fishy taste that some horses find unpalatable.

Our w-3 oil supplement can be very helpful in controlling inflammation. It is made of essential fatty acids and multiple sources of omega-3’s. We recommend feeding 2 – 3 ounces per day. Also, ensure the diet is balanced with enough selenium and vitamin E. Omneity is a great equine mineral and vitamin supplement to ensure optimal health.

We don’t have anything specific for DSLD, as there really is no treatment for it. However, Omneity is an excellent choice to ensure you are giving your horse a balanced diet and our w-3 oil with essential fatty acids may be helpful in reducing inflammatory processes.

A properly balanced mineral and vitamin, like Omneity, can help support healing of ligament inuries by providing the building blocks for healthy tissue growth. We also carry an omega-3 fatty acid supplement, w-3 Oil, which will help to reduce inflammation.

It depends on what exactly the iron levels in your hay are. The high range is upwards of 300 ppm (mg/kg or ug/g). If you are under this amount, our Omneity equine mineral and vitamin is a good choice. If you have horses with metabolic issues such as Insulin Resitance, laminitis or related conditions, I would recommend AminoTrace+ because it will do a better job of balancing high dietary iron.

For all ponies, we recommend our Omneity mineral and vitamin supplement. It is designed to cover all of the core nutritional needs for your horse. Simply adjust the feeding rate for your pony’s body weight.

The most important thing to help with a horse recovering from an injury is balanced nutrition. Is your horse currently on a mineral and vitamin supplement? You may want to look into our Omneity premix as it is designed to address all the core nutritional needs of your horse and balance their diet.

In terms of supplemental support for injury healing, our w-3 oil contains omega 3 fatty acids which can help to reduce inflammation. We also carry an MSM bulk powder which can support healthy collagen and connective tissues, both of which are important for injury recovery.

In regards to adding weight, assuming the horse is healthy and there are no malabsorption issues or parasites, it is just a matter of increasing the energy density of the diet. This is most efficiently and economically done with adding some fat source to the diet. Ground flax and w-3 oil are good choices to achieve this. Adding a digestive aid like Optimum Digestive Health does increase the digestibility of the feed the horse is consuming, so can also be beneficial for weight gain, as well as overall health and immunity.

Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation can help reduce inflammation and proper vitamin and mineral nutrition will go a long way as well.

We have a fantastic omega-3 oil called w-3 Oil that contains high levels of DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid that is only found in marine sources.

You could also try flax oil or ground flax seed; both have good levels of omega-3s. Spirulina may also be beneficial for allergies.

This means that for every 1 kg of product consumed, there are 3000 mg of ingredient. The amount that your horse gets per day will depend on how much you are feeding every day.

If your horse is insulin resistant, the we would recommend AminoTrace+, which is similar to Omneity but higher in antioxidants. We also have an IR supplement which can be used in addition to Omneity or AminoTrace+

The IR Supplement is not a complete vitamin/mineral formula; it contains supplemental magnesium and chromium, which have both been shown to improve insulin regulation. Making sure the diet is fulfilling baseline mineral and vitamin requirements, though, is what we first recommend before adding in the IR Supplement.

Balanced vitamin and mineral nutrition, as well as monitoring sugar and starch intake and diligent hoof care, will go a long way in helping to prevent laminitic episodes and healing any existing damage. AminoTrace+ will definitely help with this. If you have a recent hay analysis, we would be happy to take a look at it and evaluate your horse’s diet.

For weight gain, it mainly comes down to adding more energy to the diet in the form of fermentable fiber (beet pulp, forage cubes, oats) and/or fat (vegetable oil, ground flaxseed). A combination of these feeds will work very well and promote gut health.

We recommend those feedstuffs because they are cost-effective, palatable and safe to feed to almost any horse (assuming good health).

If it is easier to use a commercial feed, there is nothing wrong with that either, as long as it is a good quality low NSC feed. You can still balance the minerals and vitamins around that.

If gut health is not optimal, though, adding more energy may not be effective. We recommend ruling out any possible digestive issues that may be hindering weight gain, such as gastric ulcers – which are common among young horses.

The most important thing for laminitis is to address any imbalances in minerals and vitamins in your pony’s diet. For most ponies, we recommend Omneity which is our comprehensive mineral and vitamin supplement.

However, the best thing to do would be to evaluate your pony’s current diet and determine whether any adjustments should be made. You can fill out this form to get your pony’s diet evaluated and we can give you additional suggestions on how to manage laminitis.

What we usually recommend first in all horse diets that we do is to balance the vitamins and minerals with a complete vitamin and mineral formula. Hay alone will not meet vitamin and mineral requirements for horses, so it is imperative that they be supplemented. This can be achieved with Omneity – equine mineral and vitamin, all without adding additional starch and sugar to the diet.

In terms of reducing stiffness, adding in an omega-3 fatty acid supplement will help. Our w-3 Oil contains high levels of DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid that helps reduce inflammation arising from joint damage. 30 -60 mLs per day would be a good starting point, and horses love the taste

In regards to hay belly, that is largely caused by feeding very mature hay or hay that is lower digestibility. Adding some ground flax, beet pulp or even a bit of oats can help increase the digestibility of the hay and improve hindgut fermentation to help avoid the ‘hay’ belly.

For managing laminitic horses, we recommend getting the diet balanced in vitamins and minerals, in addition to reducing the sugars and starches in the diet and diligent hoof care. Balanced vitamin and mineral nutrition can be achieved with Omneity or AminoTrace+, our equine mineral and vitamin formulas. AminoTrace+ contains higher levels of copper, zinc and magnesium than Omneity to provide additional support for horses with metabolic issues such as laminitis.

Our vitamin and mineral supplements Omneity & AminoTrace+ contain high levels of biotin as well as a full array of B-vitamins and key trace minerals needed to balance the diet. Both are great choices if you are wanting to enhance hoof health.

We recommend Omneity for a daily mineral/vitamin to meet the requirements of all horses, including senior horses. If your horse is healthy, that is the only thing you need to supplement. Our w-3 Oil can be added to your horse’s diet to give their coat some shine and also fight inflammation. 30-60 mL per day would be enough.

If additional calories or protein is needed in the diet past what hay can provide, then the addition of beet pulp, ground flax, and/or a fatty acid supplement like our w-3 Oil would do the trick.

Our Omneity and AminoTrace+ supplements provide many of the rate-limiting amino acids that are necessary to support protein synthesis and muscle growth. However, when it comes to building muscle, the most important factor is consistent exercise. Good quality hay will likely supply adequate protein, but if you want to boost the level of quality protein, you could add in some ground flax.

The likely culprit of the bad feet is inadequate minerals and vitamin intake. If you add in the recommended rate of Omneity – our equine mineral and vitamin – you will be supplying all of the vitamins and minerals he needs to grow a strong hoof and enhance overall health.

There is no added iron in any of our products, so none would help with anemia. Anemia in horses is extremely rare and iron overload is much more of a problem, so our vitamin and mineral products actually help to counter high dietary iron. If your horse been diagnosed with anemia by a veterinarian, they would be the best person to consult with about what to feed.