A splash of this and a scoop of that… we can all be guilty of adding lots of different things to our horse’s feeds – but do you know what is actually in the supplements?
The legal term for a supplement is a complementary feeding stuff which is fed alongside other feed to give our horses a complete diet.
Supplements fall into several different groups
1.
Vitamin and minerals to balance the diet
2.
Probiotics and Prebiotics to support the digestive system
3.
Fats or oil-providing supplements for extra calories
4.
Electrolytes for rehydration and salt replenishment
5.
Therapeutic supplements for physiological
Do you really need to feed a supplement?
Before you go ahead and buy a supplement speak to a qualified equine nutritionist and make sure you are feeding a balanced diet. Most horses can get everything they need from grass, hay or haylage and hard feed. As well as the correct levels of vitamins and minerals, a lot of hard feeds are now supplemented with additional pre and probiotics.
If it sounds too good to be true it usually is!
It’s easy to get caught up in the marketing but it is important to avoid any supplements that make veterinary claims.
Therapeutic supplements are formulated to provide physiological support, they are not medicines and it is illegal for a company to claim that their product can cure something, act as an anti-inflammatory or provide pain relief.
Companies found to be making illegal claims can be and have been prosecuted by Trading Standards or the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. As a rule of thumb if a product is making a claim that seems too good to be true it probably is!

Comparing different supplements
Unfortunately, whilst manufacturers have to tell us what is in the supplement in terms of the ingredients there is no legal requirement to tell us how much is in the tub and even when companies do, it still isn’t always to easily compare products.
So here are some top tips to consider when looking at a supplement label.
1.
Calculate the actual daily dose your horse gets and check that the amount provided is going to be enough to be effective
2.
When comparing products make sure you are comparing like for like based on the daily amount of active ingredients (g) for your horse. Feeding a supplement that states on the label that the product provides 11,000IU/kg of vitamin E doesn’t tell you how much your horse is going to get because you aren’t going to feed 1kg of the supplement per day.
3.
Remember one scoop of product A is not going to weigh the same as product B so focus on the weight of the product fed not the number of scoops
4.
The amount of an ingredient can vary wildly between products. As an example, Science Supplements Flexability contains 16g of Glucosamine compared to NAF’s Supaflex which contains 5g per day.
If the only information you have is the ingredients per kg then here is how you can work out the actual quantities fed per day…
If the recommended dose or feeding rate for your horse is 50g per day
11,000 IU per kg ¸ 1000 = 11 IU per g
11 IU x 50 = 550 IU per 50g
Product testing
Sadly, there are some pretty unscrupulous companies selling supplements. A published study in 2010* tested 23 glucosamine products to see if what was on the label matched what was actually in the tub. Nine of the products failed to meet the label claims and four products had less than 30% of the quantity specified on the label.
So our advice would be to always go with a well-known brand that has published independent, peer-reviewed scientific studies to back up their products.
Clever marketing
Watch out for these ‘clever’ marketing tricks
- Products that advertise using percentages rather than actual grams. 75% of a small bag of Galaxy Minstrels is actually less than 50% of a sharing pouch!
- Products that display ingredients in smaller units to make it look like there is more in the tub… for example 10,000ug compared to 10mg
- Sometimes companies will say that a product contains a popular ingredient to help sell the product. However there might only be tiny amounts in the product that aren’t even worth feeding to your horse
- Before and after photos – these can be really effective at selling a product but some companies will take it to an extreme – photoshopping the image, using a different angle or even using a different horse!
- Be aware of testimonials where the person writing the testimonial is receiving something in return

Quality Assurance
We all want to know that what we choose to feed to our horses is safe to use, traceable, batch tested and free from contamination.
Here are three kitemarks to look out for when choosing your supplements.

BETA NOPS
The aim of this scheme is to reduce the risk of disqualification from Naturally Occurring Prohibited Substances (NOPS) in your feed and supplements to help to protect you when competing under rules such as BD, BE or BS.
NOPS can either be naturally present in certain ingredients or can occur as a result of cross-contamination during processing either before or at the feed manufacturer’s facility. The BETA NOPS code ensures that all their members evaluate the risk of NOPS contamination during each step of the manufacturing process, so from the feed where it is grown until it ends up in the feed sack or supplement tub. The suppliers of the raw materials are regularly audited and staff undergo rigorous training.

UFAS
Some companies are members of the Universal Feed Assurance Scheme (UFAS) to ensure full traceability of all of the natural ingredients used in their products.

GMP+ Feed Certification Scheme
The GMP+ Feed Certification Scheme is internationally recognised and sets out clear rules and regulations relating to the production facilities of feed, the storage, transport, staff, procedures and documentation. This allows any participating company to guarantee reliability, quality, sustainability and safety within the feed industry.
There is a lot to absorb in this article so our take home advice is – make time to read and understand the label. Do your research about the products and make sure the ingredients are graded and traceable to source.
Finally, ask those ‘in the know’, for their recommendations. Just because it’s the new fad and the label looks wonderful doesn’t mean it will work!
* Oke S, Aghazadeh-Habashi A, Weese JS, Jamali F. Evaluation of glucosamine levels in commercial equine oral supplements for joints. Equine Vet J 2006; 38(1):93-95.