Which Supplement?

 

As a specialist retailer of supplements we understand how confusing it can be trying to choose the right supplement! There are so many different ones on the market so how do you choose what you need? And what is a good supplement?

 

There is no doubt that a correct program of supplementation can improve performance (often dramatically), prevent injury/ illness, and speed recovery times after intense effort. When nutrients are used in this sense they are often referred to as nutraceuticals.

 

People often do not realise the importance of a correctly and nutritionally balanced diet. Sub optimal nutrition will have deleterious effects on body system and functions, and even personality is influenced for better or worse with improper nutrition.

 

Horse owners are often confused by the array of feeds available many of which are called “balanced feeds”. Complete horse feeds are nutritionally balanced, however unless fed at exactly the correct quantity they can become unbalanced and often do not take into consideration the quality and quantity of forage and roughage fed. If horse owners actually fed their horse at the manufacturers recommended daily quantity many horses would be overweight and to fizzy to ride. There are so many factors which affect nutrient requirements including; teeth and digestion, age, exercise, breed, pregnancy, illness, location, injury and general health plus many more.

 

The only way to get a completely accurate evaluation of nutritional intake is by having feed and hay analysed by a laboratory which is expensive and rarely practiced. This doesn’t take into consideration nutrient digestion and absorption.

 

Vitamins and Minerals

There are certain major minerals and vitamins recognised by the National Research Council as being required in a horse’s daily diet these include:

 

Major Minerals:
Calcium
Magnesium
Phosphorus
Potassium
Sodium
Chloride
Sulphur

 

Trace Minerals:
Colbalt
Copper
Flourine
Iodine
Iron
Manganese
Selenium (antioxidant)
Zinc (Antioxidant)

 

B-Vitamins:
Biotin
B12
Folic Acid
Pantothenic Acid
Niacin
Pyridoxine B6
Riboflavin
Thiamine

 

Vitamins:
Vitamin A (Antioxidant)
Vitamin C (Antioxidant)
Vitamin D (Fat soluble Vitamin)
Vitamin E (Antioxidant and Fat Soluble Vitamin)
Vitamin K (Fat Soluble Vitamin)

 

Amino Acids:
Lysine
Methionine

 

There are many other elements which do not have an established daily requirement. True deficiency states may not exist for many of these, however many are know to be beneficial. The list is too long to mention!

 

How to Calculate Cost per Day

Some companies are very clever with their marketing, pricing and sizes which lead us to believe that something is cheap when actually it turns out to be much more expensive per day than its competitors.

 

When choosing a supplement it is important to know how to calculate cost per day. This can be calculated using the following formula:

 

Cost per day (£) = Price (£)/ size of tub (grams) x daily dose for your horse (grams)

 

eg Biotal Equine Gold 1.5kg.

1.5kg = £28.95

Cost per day (£) = £28.95/ 1500g x 25g = £0.48 per day

 

So Equine Gold bought in the 1.5kg tub costs nearly 50p per day.

 

If you are unsure how to work out which product offers best value please do contact us and we will try our best to help you.