homemade supplements for your horse / pony

wosheen

Hi folks

I was chatting with a few people about feed supplements yesterday. There are hundreds of commercially prepared vitamin and mineral supplements on the market, and they can be incredibly expensive.

A few people mentioned that they whizz up their own "tonics" and supplements at home, including combinations of:
- honey
- garlic
- linseed oil, cod liver oil, or flaxseed oil
- glucosamine
- mint (?!)
- a little sea salt
- kelp / carrigeen
- coconut (particularly for weight gain)
- Chamomile (particularly for fizzy horses)

Just wondering if anyone has homemade supplement concoctions you make for your horse, and what do you include?

DISCLAIMER - i know you should talk to your vet before giving your horse any supplements, but I just wanted to put the topic out there as I'm interested to learn what others do.

silverfox88

thats really interesting about the coconut for weight gain, and the chamomile too actually - suppose it makes sense in a way that some people make their own, so many of the ingredients are natural! did go through a grumpy phase when i was broke of mushing up my own garlic cloves to put in her feed

Esroh

wosheen wrote: »

Hi folks

I was chatting with a few people about feed supplements yesterday. There are hundreds of commercially prepared vitamin and mineral supplements on the market, and they can be incredibly expensive.

A few people mentioned that they whizz up their own "tonics" and supplements at home, including combinations of:
- honey
- garlic
- linseed oil, cod liver oil, or flaxseed oil, Vegetable oil
- glucosamine
- mint (?!)
- a little sea salt
- kelp / carrigeen
- coconut (particularly for weight gain)
- Chamomile (particularly for fizzy horses)

Just wondering if anyone has homemade supplement concoctions you make for your horse, and what do you include?

DISCLAIMER - i know you should talk to your vet before giving your horse any supplements, but I just wanted to put the topic out there as I'm interested to learn what others do.

Worked on one of the big Arab owned Farms back when they actually backed and rode off 99% of the yearlings they sent into training and we added all the above to their feeds.



Also worked for one of the best known show hunter producers at one stage and he would have used all aswell and also added a 1/2 pint of Guinness to Sat evening feed.

byhookorbycrook

Used to buy lindseed until a local horse producer told me that he buys aldi/lidly veg oil and it did as well. Cider vinegar is great too.

Ave Sodalis

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Cider vinegar is great too.

+1 for the cider vinegar. We had a herbalist recommend that for a horse. It's great, not only for a supplement, but various other tasks as well

EGAR

I am a big fan of herbal remedies. And have had great successes with them.

On arrival:





4 different vets recommended PTS for him.

Solely good and slow feeding, remedies/supplements and patience and he is now as fit as a fiddle:

Three months after arrival:




Seven months later:



Apart from wormers and lice killer he got no meds.

wosheen

EGAR.... WOW..... he looks like a completely different horse!!! Well done to you, it's amazing what great care and patience can achieve, what a fantastic result and looks like he has a whole new lease on life! It's a credit to you. Mind asking what you used in terms of remedies / supplements?

EGAR

Thank you .

He got Milk Thistle, Echinacea, Cider Vinegar (he is still getting that so are all my other horses) and Kelp.

And nutritious but slow feeding up and the May grass helped tremendously as well .

He's a big 17hh and it was very slow going but we got there eventually!

fits

He's lovely EGAR you did a good job Kelp in particular is supposed to be great.

I dont feed supplements at all but my horses have a huge field of permanent pasture with very diverse flora and they are very healthy. I'll be shutting off some of it soon so they dont get too fat.

wosheen

After seeing all the recommendations, I picked up some cider vinegar today at my tack shop. I had seen it in a health food shop and was going to buy, but glad I waited to check out the tack shop as the price difference is ENORMOUS - hmmm that's food for thought in itself! The lady in the health food shop told me it's a big seller, great for skin and for losing a few pounds, so if it doesn't work for the horse I might throw a bit back myself

I take it you just mix a small amount, maybe around 20ml, in with the feed? It's pretty strong, so I don't want to put him off his food either...

Ave Sodalis

wosheen wrote: »

I take it you just mix a small amount, maybe around 20ml, in with the feed? It's pretty strong, so I don't want to put him off his food either...

Yeah just a small amount. We've never actually measured the amount we pour in and work by eye with cider vinegar as it isn't harmful but in general it's about 20ml.

It's great for humans too and just about every other animal.

mussha

just an enquiry what would be the best natural remedies for my new mare . she is underweight and her coat is very dry . i am open to any suggestions .

Ave Sodalis

mussha wrote: »

just an enquiry what would be the best natural remedies for my new mare . she is underweight and her coat is very dry . i am open to any suggestions .

For the weight, make sure she has plenty of forage at all time and give her access to good quality grass. Also make sure her worming is up to date.
As for her coat, I would suggest a bit of sunflower oil through her feed and that she has been deloused. She may have a deficiency (I'm not saying she does), in which case I would get tests run on her for deficiencies and go from there

convert

mussha wrote: »

just an enquiry what would be the best natural remedies for my new mare . she is underweight and her coat is very dry . i am open to any suggestions .

Do you know if she's had a worm dose recently?

However, it might be an idea to contact your vet and have him/her check her out just incase. Better safe than sorry.