Why Are Vitamins Important For Horses?

Vitamins are required by the horse for growth, tissue maintenance, body function, and optimum athletic performance. Vitamins are classified as either fat-soluble or water-soluble.

What does vitamins do for horses?

Vitamins help the horse’s body carry out the functions essential to life such as: Production of skin, hooves, bone and muscle. Strengthening of the immune system. Maintenance and repair of cells, tissues and organs.

Why are minerals important for horses?

Minerals are found in water, soil, rocks, and plants. They’re necessary to maintain body structure, electrolyte balance, nerve conduction, and muscle contraction in horses.

What are the most important vitamins for horses?

Horses need vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K for optimal health. The quantities needed are small, but the effects are important. For some vitamins, too much in the horse’s diet is just as bad as too little.

Does my horse need a vitamin supplement?

If a horse’s diet does not provide all the necessary vitamins and minerals, you should consider supplements but only after speaking to a vet first. What is this? Horses need antioxidant vitamins like vitamins A, E, and K. They may also need Vitamin C and D as well as biotin to maintain hoof health.

How much vitamins do horses need?

Rations for all classes of horses without access to fresh forages should provide at least 30 IU active vitamin A / kg body weight (whether as beta-carotene or an active synthetic form such as retinyl acetate).

What happens if a horse gets too much vitamins?

“People don’t realize that if they’re feeding four or five supplements, they’re at toxic levels, especially if the horse is on a really good-quality forage and a high-grain diet.” Too much Vitamin A in a young horse’s diet can hamper growth, cause skin conditions, and interfere with bone development.

Do horses need vitamin and mineral supplements?

It is essential that your horse receives daily vitamins and minerals for their health and well-being as part of a balanced diet. Although they aren’t required in such large quantities as fibre, protein and carbohydrates, they are still just as important!

What nutrients give horses energy?

Carbohydrates provide the primary source of energy in the horse’s diet. A horse should receive at least 1% of its body weight in forage. Most horses will eat 1.5–2% of their body weight in forage to safely meet their energy needs. Carbohydrates such as forage and energy grains make up the base of the horse’s diet.

What supplements should a horse get?

Common B vitamins supplemented to performance horses include biotin, vitamin B12 and folic acid. Common minerals supplemented to performance horses include calcium, phosphorus, sodium, chloride, copper and zinc. Care should be taken when supplementing vitamin A or D and the minerals selenium and iodine.

How do horses get vitamins?

Feeding a ration balancer. Small amounts of a ration balancer can provide the vitamins and minerals a horse needs. A ration balancer is a commercial horse feed designed to provide the trace minerals and vitamins your horse needs. It’s high mineral and vitamin content allows you to feed it in small amounts.

What do horses need daily?

Horses need a regular supply of food and water
In most cases, they need to have hay or pasture throughout the day, with additional grain feedings twice a day. An average-size horse will eat about 20 lbs. of food a day and drink at least eight gallons of water.

What vitamins do older horses need?

Aged horses can benefit from the addition of a comprehensive omega-3 fatty acid, antioxidant, vitamin and trace mineral supplement that complements a forage-based diet and can help a senior horse to both meet all nutrient requirements and maintain a healthy level of inflammation.

Do horse supplements actually work?

While supplements can’t cure arthritis or other joint-related problems (arthritis is an incurable degeneration), both research and anecdotal evidence have shown that supplements improve mobility, range of motion and performance in horses with joint issues.

What is the 20% rule with horses?

The researchers found that an average adult light riding horse could comfortably carry about 20 percent of their ideal bodyweight. This result agrees with the value recommended by the Certified Horsemanship Association and the U.S. Cavalry Manuals of Horse Management published in 1920.

What nutrients can help boost a horse’s immune system?

For these horses, certain nutrients can give the immune system a boost. Among well-known supporters of immunity are zinc, selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids. Newborn foals have no protection against disease until they absorb antibodies from the dam’s colostrum. The immune system develops as the foal grows and matures.

How can I tell if my horse is deficient in a nutrient?

Symptoms of Vitamin Deficiencies in Horses

• Vision/eye changes – specifically reduced ability to see in dim or low light conditions, increased tearing, changes in clarity of the cornea.
• Immune system – increased sensitivity to pneumonia.
• Impaired reproduction.
• Increased appetite.
• Muscles – progressive weakness.
• Hoof changes.

What is toxic to horse?

Weeds: Onions/garlic, ground ivy, milkweed, bracken fern, cocklebur, horsetail, white snakeroot, St. Johns wort, star-of-Bethlehem, sorghum/sudangrass, yellow sweet clover, blue-green algae, bouncing bet, larkspur, mayapple, skunk cabbage. Trees: Black locust, oak (green acorns), horse chestnut, boxwood, holly.

What supplements calm a horse?

Providing nutritional support for the nervous system can help the horse to maintain a calm outlook and concentrate on his work. Key nutrients such as bio-available magnesium and vitamin B1 (thiamine) can help maintain correct nerve and neuromuscular function, supporting focus and concentration.

Where are vitamins broken down in horses?

small intestine
The stomach and small intestine of a horse are called the upper gut where most of the protein, fat, vitamins and minerals contained in feed are digested and absorbed.

What gives horses more energy?

Starch is a carbohydrate found in cereal grains such as barley, maize and oats and provides a good source of fast release energy, particularly useful for horses working hard for short periods.