Vitamin & Mineral Supplements - Feed Database

A vitamin and mineral supplement helps fill nutrient gaps that are common in a horse’s diet. Hay, pasture, and grain often provide enough calories, but they may not supply enough copper, zinc, selenium, iodine, vitamin E, amino acids, and other nutrients needed to support normal hoof growth, coat quality, immune function, muscle function, and overall health.

A well-formulated vitamin and mineral supplement provides these nutrients in a concentrated daily serving so the diet can be balanced without adding unnecessary grain, calories, sugar, or starch.

Mad Barn’s Omneity® is a complete pelleted vitamin and mineral supplement designed to balance forage-based diets with 100% organic trace minerals, vitamins, amino acids, digestive enzymes, and yeast.

A complete vitamin and mineral supplement is a balanced formula that supplies the major micronutrients commonly missing from equine diets in one daily serving. Instead of adding copper, zinc, selenium, iodine, vitamin E, biotin, amino acids, or other nutrients separately, a complete supplement provides them together in appropriate amounts and ratios.

This is usually a better approach than feeding individual minerals because nutrients interact with each other. For example, copper and zinc need to be balanced together, selenium must be fed carefully, and excess iron in the base diet can affect trace mineral status. Adding one nutrient at a time can leave other gaps unresolved or create unintended imbalances.

A complete formula such as Omneity® Pellets simplifies ration balancing by supplying broad-spectrum vitamin, mineral, amino acid, digestive, and hoof support in one measured daily serving.

Yes, most horses eating mostly hay or pasture require a vitamin and mineral supplement. Forage is the foundation of the equine diet, but it will not provide balanced levels of every required vitamin and mineral.

Common deficiencies in forage-based diets include copper, zinc, selenium, iodine, vitamin E, and certain amino acids. These nutrients are important for hoof quality, topline development, immune function, antioxidant status, tissue repair, and metabolic health.

Mad Barn’s Omneity® Pellets are designed for horses on grain- and forage-based diets that need micronutrient support without extra calories.

Your horse may still need a vitamin and mineral supplement if you feed less than the manufacturer’s recommended amount of grain. Most fortified feeds are designed to balance the diet only when fed at the full label rate.

Many horses receive only a small amount of grain for convenience, weight control, palatability, or as a carrier for supplements. In that case, they may receive only a fraction of the vitamins and minerals the feed is intended to provide and may have deficiencies in the diet.

A concentrated supplement such as Mad Barn’s Omneity® Pellets can help fill those gaps without requiring the horse to eat more grain than they need.

When choosing a vitamin and mineral for your horse, look for a supplement that provides balanced levels of essential vitamins, macro minerals, trace minerals, and amino acids in a daily serving that fits your horse’s feeding program.

Important nutrients include copper, zinc, selenium, manganese, iodine, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin E, B-vitamins, biotin, lysine, and methionine. The formula should also use high-quality organic trace mineral sources and avoid unnecessary added iron, since many forage-based diets already contain more iron than horses require.

Mad Barn’s Omneity® Pellets provide complete daily micronutrient coverage with 100% organic trace minerals, amino acids, digestive enzymes, yeast, and B-vitamins in one formula.

Organic trace minerals are minerals bound to organic molecules, such as amino acids, to support absorption and use in the body. They are often preferred in equine supplements because they are less likely to interact with dietary antagonists that can reduce mineral availability.

This is especially relevant for copper, zinc, manganese, and selenium, which play important roles in hoof quality, antioxidant defence, connective tissue, immune function, skin, coat, and normal metabolic processes. Feeding a supplement with organic trace minerals ensures your horse can absorb these nutrients in adequate amounts to support hoof health, athletic performancxe, coat quality and more.

Omneity® Pellets use 100% organic trace minerals to support reliable daily mineral intake in forage-based diets.

Most horses do not need added iron in a vitamin and mineral supplement. Iron is usually abundant in hay, pasture, soil, and water, and many forage-based diets already supply more iron than horses require. Supplemental iron should generally only be used when recommended by a veterinarian, such as in cases where anemia or iron deficiency has been identified.

Excess dietary iron can also interfere with the balance of other trace minerals, especially copper and zinc. For that reason, many horses are better suited to a supplement that balances copper, zinc, selenium, iodine, and other nutrients without adding unnecessary iron.

Mad Barn’s vitamin and mineral formulas are designed with forage-based diets in mind and do not contain added iron.

A vitamin and mineral supplement for horses is a concentrated micronutrient formula. Its primary role is to supply the vitamins, macro minerals, trace minerals, and key amino acids that are commonly missing from forage-based diets, without adding meaningful calories, starch, sugar, or feed volume.

A ration balancer is a low-intake fortified feed. It typically combines vitamins and minerals with a protein carrier, such as soybean meal or another plant protein source. Because it is a feed, it contributes more crude protein, calories, fibre, fat, starch, and total intake than a concentrated vitamin and mineral supplement.

Our nutritionists recommend prioritizing the vitamin and mineral profile first, then adjusting protein, calories, and fibre separately as needed. This approach gives you more precision because micronutrient requirements are relatively consistent, while calorie and protein needs change with body condition, workload, forage quality, growth, pregnancy, lactation, and season.

For many horses, a complete vitamin and mineral supplement such as Omneity® Pellets is the better choice than a ration balancer. If the horse also needs more calories or protein, those can be added separately with appropriate feeds while keeping the vitamin and mineral program consistent.

Yes, Omneity® Pellets can be used in place of many commercial ration balancers when the horse already meets its calorie and protein needs from forage or other feeds.

Omneity Pellets provide vitamins, macro minerals, organic trace minerals, amino acids, digestive enzymes, and yeast in a concentrated daily serving. This makes them useful for horses that need micronutrient support but do not need additional grain, calories, starch, or protein carrier ingredients.

If your horse is underweight, growing, lactating, in heavy work, or has higher protein and calorie needs, a nutritionist can help determine whether Omneity Pellets alone are appropriate or whether additional feed is needed.

The cost of a vitamin and mineral supplement varies depending on the quality of the product and the body weight of the horse. It is best to compare supplements on a cost-per-day basis, rather than just looking at the price of the bag or tub. A cheaper product may cost more over time if the serving size is larger or if it does not fully balance the diet.

A concentrated supplement can be one of the most economical ways to meet daily nutrient requirements, especially for horses that do not need extra grain or calories.

Mad Barn’s Omneity® Premix provide complete daily vitamin and mineral support in a powdered premix format. For a 500 kg (1,100 lb) horse, Omneity costs approximately $0.84 per day when purchased on subscription.

Yes, a vitamin and mineral supplement can be fed with senior feed or complete feed when those feeds are not being fed at the full recommended rate.

This is common for horses that only need a small amount of feed, easy keepers on restricted-calorie diets, or horses receiving senior feed mainly as a carrier for supplements. If the complete feed is underfed, the horse may not receive the full intended amount of vitamins and minerals.

In these situations, a supplement such as Omneity® Pellets can help fill the remaining micronutrient gaps without increasing the total feed volume unnecessarily.

For most horses, a measured vitamin and mineral supplement is more accurate than a mineral block or free-choice lick. Mineral blocks are convenient, but intake varies widely between horses.

Some horses consume too little to meet their needs, while others may consume more than intended. This makes it difficult to know whether each horse is receiving enough copper, zinc, selenium, iodine, vitamin E, and other nutrients.

If the goal is to balance the diet, a measured daily serving is the most reliable approach.

The best vitamin and mineral supplement for horses with poor hoof quality is one that helps to balance the entire diet and supplies adequate amounts of nutrients involved in hoof health. Hoof quality depends on an adequate supply of nutrients, including biotin, copper, zinc, methionine, lysine, selenium, and overall dietary protein.

Biotin supports normal hoof horn quality. Copper supports connective tissue formation, zinc supports keratin production, and amino acids such as methionine and lysine provide building blocks for hoof tissue.

For many horses, Omneity® Pellets is the best starting point because it provides biotin, copper, zinc, methionine, lysine, organic trace minerals, and broad daily vitamin and mineral support. Horses with persistent hoof quality concerns, high-iron forage, or higher trace mineral needs may benefit more from AminoTrace+, which provides an enhanced trace mineral profile in a pelleted formula.

The best way to know if your horse’s vitamins and minerals are balanced is to evaluate the full ration, including hay, pasture, grain, supplements, water, body weight, workload, and health goals.

Many horses appear to be eating well but still have gaps in key nutrients such as copper, zinc, selenium, iodine, vitamin E, and amino acids. A forage analysis provides the most accurate information, but a nutritionist can still identify likely imbalances based on your current feeding program.

Mad Barn offers free ration balancing by qualified equine nutritionists to help determine whether your horse’s vitamin and mineral needs are being met.