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A horse may need vitamin and mineral supplementation for several different reasons, including when feeding a high-grain diet, or low-quality hay, if a horse is under stress (traveling, showing, racing, etc), prolonged strenuous activity, or not eating well (sick, after surgery, etc.). Indications that some thing is missing in a very horse’s food plan can be subtle or evident.
No one doubts that a thin horse is missing some thing, but a horse that is continuously fat, even on highly minor feed, may have an underlying deficiency producing a thyroid trouble. Similarly, a horse in fantastic flesh may have a dry coat which sunburns, or changes color, effortlessly in the summer months. He could have weak hooves, susceptible to splitting and breaking. The mane and tail can be ragged-looking, with split ends. Nutrient deficiencies usually show up as nervousness or lethargy, depending on what’s lacking. A veterinary workup can tell you exactly what your horse is missing.
Vitamins and minerals are extremely important to horse health and performance, yet it is the management of mineral and vitamin nutrition that is most often neglected in performance horse operations. Supplying minerals and vitamins, in addition to quality feedstuffs, is the best way to ensure the animal's nutritional requirements are being met. Optimum performance can be achieved through optimum nutrition.
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Severely stressed horses may benefit from the vitamins B-complex and Vitamin C during periods of high stress.
Minerals are required for maintenance of body structure, fluid balance in cells, nerve conduction, and muscle contraction. Only small amounts of the macro-minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, and sulfur are needed daily. Sweating increases the horses need for sodium, chloride and potassium, which is the reason for supplementing with electrolytes if a horse is sweating a lot.
An important category of vitamins and minerals are antioxidants, which include vitamins C & E, selenium, zinc, and others. Nature supplies antioxidants to protect us from the destructive effects of environmental free radicals. Free radicals are caused by ultra-violet rays from the sun, x-rays, exposure to pesticides, insecticides, herbicides and more. What's more, free radical damage accumulates with age, so they are especially important for your older horse.
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