Supplement Shopping
Walk into a feed store, or simply go online, and you will find hundreds of supplements. You’ll also find a daily barrage of commercials and ads all trying to convince you that their product is just the thing your horse needs.
So how do you select the best supplements for your horse? How do you understand the science behind the active ingredients?
It can be overwhelming. In fact, in a survey of horse owners across the USA:
72% said they were concerned about a lack of scientific evidence to support the product.
13% said they were confused about the supplement options available.
6% said cost was overwhelming or a concern.
4% said they felt pressure from others to use a product.
To add to it, equine veterinary research at the academic level is quite challenging due to costs and competition for federal grant dollars.
So How Do You Know What’s Best for Your Horse?
The most important place to start is with education that is fact-driven and purposeful. If you don’t have the time or aren’t confident in yourself, that is okay! Reach out and I can guide you.
If you want to begin with your own research, the following steps will allow you to make informed and educated choices that will give you a better outcome with less stress.
Start with a veterinary exam and lab work.
A full workup allows you to start with a solid understanding of how your horse is feeling, diagnose any health issues, and develop a treatment plan with your vet. If your horse is already on any drugs or supplements, your vet should be aware of the kinds and doses before this work-up. Remember, supplements should only be a complement to other therapies.
While generally well-tolerated, it is particularly important to consult a professional if your horse has metabolic issues, kidney disease, or other serious health issues. Even more so if your horse is on a prescription like pergolide (Prascend) or omeprazole.
Examine your training and environment.
A well-planned exercise program goes a long way towards your goal of a happy healthy horse. No calming or nutritional supplement will overcome a horses’ natural personality and environmental challenges like lack of turnout or exercise. Likewise, a metabolic supplement won’t overcome metabolic risks due to obesity if a weight-loss strategy is not also implemented.
Ensure you have good foundations.
Long-stem forage should be the cornerstone of every feeding program. Horses should have access to fresh clean water at all times. Each feed has a purpose statement and feeding rate on the label. Read labels of all products to be sure they are the right fit for your horse and fed at the correct amount. If your horse is not at their ideal weight, the base diet is the first place to make changes.
Supplements often end up being redundant and add things already provided by a quality feeding program. A nutrition professional can help make sure your diet is meeting the recommended daily amounts of vitamins, minerals, calories, and protein.
Define your goals and rationale.
Clarify what you are trying to improve or modify with a supplement, and learn what active ingredients would be appropriate to address this problem. This is particularly important when you are using multi-ingredient supplements.
Here are some common examples of unclear goals or rationale I’ve encountered:
Using probiotics in a horse with gastric (stomach) ulcers. Probiotics work only on the hindgut and do not target the stomach.
Using a bone supplement (such as vitamin K) to help arthritis or ligament problems, which target different environments than hard tissue. Vitamin K does not play a role in these cell-signaling pathways, so supplementation of Vitamin K will not achieve meaningful results.
Considering an omega-3 supplement to add muscle mass. Although they are a valuable addition to many diets, they are omega-3 fatty acids and will add fat—not muscle. Amino acids (protein) such as leucine, isoleucine and valine build muscle.
What Does Science Say?
This question is extremely important when considering supplements for your horse. To find quality equine supplement information online, look for unbiased, reputable scientific sources: universities, government agencies, and equine nutrition organizations.These journals typically have a peer-review process to ensure the quality and validity of the research they publish. You can access these journals through academic libraries or online scientific databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed or ScienceDirect. Some are open access and will include the entire article. There is also value in reading the abstracts even if the entire article can not be obtained. Two examples of reputable journals are the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science and Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition.
Additionally, there are a few general rules to follow when reading research:
Make sure you are reading the most up-to-date research by focusing primarily on studies that have been done in the past 5 - 10 years. If a product was evaluated 10 years ago but there is no follow up, you can assume there is no longer validity.
Be careful with human and mouse studies. While you may be able to more easily find these studies on a certain ingredient and these studies are a good place to understand function and pathology, they should not be generalized to horses.
Pay particular attention to the dosage and timing of the administration of the product used in the study. Crosscheck this with the label of the supplement you are considering to see if this is the same type and dosage. For example, a study focused on magnesium citrate can’t be used to evaluate a supplement containing magnesium oxide—they are not comparable ingredients. The gold standard is “double-blind, placebo-controlled” studies.
Finally, always be on the lookout for “studies” that include emotionally charged words like “suffer,” “career-ending” or “harm.” Many companies use customer stories as case studies, that is not unbiased research. Although there may be value in the information, this is considered anecdotal evidence.
Is there a place for social media, forums, and consumer perspective?
Absolutely!
Other horse owners can provide helpful anecdotes and information about products that worked for horses with issues similar to your own. And the emotional support provided by online groups can be helpful to owners dealing with upsetting health issues in their horses. However, such anecdotes should not be confused with scientific evidence.
The Bottom Line
Supplements are a great asset to horses and can be very impactful when chosen thoughtfully. As a general rule, less is more when it comes to supplements. If you still have questions or want an expert to guide you through developing the right diet for your horse, reach out today!