Supplements

[Abby P]

There are veterinary resources online that support both.

Right...and some say in the text to go behind the withers and then show a picture of it going over the top of the withers! For some formulas (like the KER one that keko recommended) it's probably more important for accuracy that the tape is vertical, and for physical measurements (like for a saddle or harness), it's more important to measure where the actual thing will go around the horse. So just know your usage, I guess, but sheesh, the nerd in me wishes for two separate names.

 

[1roadtoad]

The poop may be a separate thing but re: the dirt - is it possible he's eating roots? Sometimes grass roots can have a lot of sugar in them (i.e. taste sweet) so horses will dig them up and eat them. If it's just plain dirt then I got nothing.

I'll try to see if he is in fact, just eating dirt or digging for roots. Thanks

 

[HersheyMint]

Hi all,
Somewhere I read suggested to try Healthy Coat topping for a horse supplement. Does anyone use this or know about it?
Thanks

 

[Becmar]

I have used it. I really liked it. But my mini came up with a fatty liver. Don't know if it was related or not. But it is an oil base product.

 

[HersheyMint]

Is that the reason you stopped using it?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I think I would like to add some oil to my horses' diet. What about vitamin E capsules? Would a horse consume it? Is it a good idea?

 

[MaryFlora]

About 15 years ago, when still showing, I used a liquid vitamin E product for horses. The minis loved it and one plus was the beautiful coat they developed.

 

[Kelly]

My dwarf Thunder use to be a poop eater. He could eat poop and not colic, but out on grass or unlimited hay he would colic. Maybe he was lacking something, I don’t know. It was a very fine line with him. I didnt worry to much about it, I just wormed him every other month. I have to admit life is easier with him at his new home.

Now all my boys get is their ration balancer, unlimited hay, tiny portion of alfalfa hay, “grass” all day, and a salt lick. Easy peasy. No supplements, just a little sand clear once a month, and they love peppermints if they boys get bored, sometimes they dig around the dry lot for roots, but they don’t eat poop.

Thinking about switching them over to Strategy Healthy Edge in the spring if Breezy has a hard time keeping on weight with his increased work load.

 

[Abby P]

I think I would like to add some oil to my horses' diet. What about vitamin E capsules? Would a horse consume it? Is it a good idea?

Why do you want to add oil? Usually people only do that if a horse can't maintain weight and needs the calories. Just adding fat won't make their coat shiny or anything like that, something specific like ground flax might help with that. But any fat source is going to add calories and unless they are too thin, generally I would say minis don't need the calorie boost!

Vitamin E is a whole separate issue, definitely you can supplement that if you know they are low. My horses have always eaten the human gelcaps just fine in a wet hay pellet mash so if you already wet down their feed then they probably won't even notice them. If they did you could solve it by just popping the capsules and squeezing the contents into the mash or even onto dry stuff. I buy pelleted natural vitamin E because my guy has to eat his stuff dry due to my barn's setup.

If they are getting appreciable fresh grass, though, then they probably don't need any E supplementation unless they have underlying issues.