Horse Supplements – an overview

A horse is a significant investment. Not only is it a costly animal to purchase, the housing and care of a fine animal such as this takes commitment.

Whether you own a horse as a work animal, for racing or for family enjoyment such as a “pet”, taking good care of that animal has to become a priority in your life. If a horse is healthy and well cared for, it will live a long and productive life.

More than one horse owning family confer family status to particularly beloved beasts. So knowing the proper care and feeding is just one of many new skills you will learn if you are new to horse ownership.

In most cases, the customized food you provide to your horse along with their grazing will provide them with most of their nutritional needs.

But in certain circumstances, a need arises to supplement your horse’s diet with supplements designed to achieve a specific health goal that is pertinent to your horse’s health or role in your life.

And probably the most well known of all horse supplements is a combination of eight antioxidants all built around vitamin E.

Vitamin E is an important supplement for the development of muscle in your horse as well in aiding with digestion and for recovery from injury as well.

The amount of supplement that horses require is measured in “internal units” or “IU”. 1000 IU per day of vitamin E is considered a healthy amount of supplement to provide to your animal.

Before you purchase an additional supplement though, be sure you check with how many IU per day your horse may be getting through his normal food and grazing habits.

It is good to consult with your veterinarian as to the amount of additional vitamin E to give your horse on top of what the animal may be already getting.

Be aware of the level of activity of your horse as well as her physical condition when determining the amount of vitamin E supplement to provide.

A pregnant horse should have twice as much supplement or 2000 IU per day to help her during a time of greater physical demand.

If your horse has physically stressful work it does or is what might be considered to be a “high performance” horse, that IU level could reach 3000. Again, your veterinarian is the best consultant on how much to give to your horse for maximum long term health.

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