Risks of over-supplementing?

Question

im taking my horse off grain completely... hes an easy keeper and is fine with just hay. im going to be giving him triple crown's 12% supplement to make sure he gets what he needs(http://www.triplecrownfeed.com/12percent.php) and maybe just a cup of beet pulp to fill his belly and make the supplement more palatable. im afraid of over supplementing him. should i give him a plain salt block as opposed to a red mineral one?

Also...the feeding directions on the bag say to feed enough grain with this product to maintain desired body condition... that doesnt make sense to me... if a horse is getting enough grain why would he need the supplement? and what are the risks of over supplementing? thanks =)

Answer 1

Ok you need to slowly take him off grain by slowly lowering it every day. I would give him whole corn or a little grain (NOT CRACKED CORN!) to fill his belly and what they mean by feed enough grain with this product to maintain desired body condition is if he's overweight give him alittle grain with the supplement but if he's on the skinny side give him more grain with the supplement. Grain does not provide all the vitamins and minerals that a supplement has so they really need both. Grain provides some things a supplement doesn't have. I have 1 really easy keeper and i give him round 3 cups of grain once a day, 1 flake of hay once a day and he has a red mineral block to eat if he wants. I would give your horse grain or whole corn instead of beet pulp because beet pulp isn't as palable and too much can make a horse colic. A horse will only eat the red mineral block if he doesn't have enough minerals in his diet and it sounds like he would if you give him supplement so you could place a white salt l**k in there, he would use that more. Most supplements are made to be used with grain or some other food. Around 1 cup of grain or whole corn would be a good filler and if he is in a stall give him 1 cup, if he is in a pasture give him 1 1/2 to 2 cups depending if he's fat or skinny. Good luck!

Answer 2

give her a cup of that thats what i did with my rocy mountain horse

Answer 3

I would talk to your vet first. You can through the horses body off if you over supplement.

Answer 4

Some over supplementing effects will cause an imbalence in the horse.  More often though a lot are excreted through the urine.  I would give both a salt block and mineral block.  I feed my horses essential 32 which is just a supplement because they do not get grain.  Also not all grains contain all the vitamins and minerals a horse will need so that is why people supplement.  You can always talk to your vet about this I am sure over the phone you can discuss what he feels is a good amount of feed for your animal and the amount of work you are doing with it.  At my feed store their are nutrionist that help with picking out the right feed for my animals.  I find they are really helpful and pretty truthful.

Answer 5

If your horse has a balanced diet and no particular health problems, supplementation is completely unnecessary and can be harmful.  If he is an easy keeper, give him free choice good hay and pasture and water.  As far as salt, I would give him white salt.  I use loose salt to make it easy for the horses to utilize it without burning their tongues.  Horses are "self regulating" with minerals so they will not take more than they need.  Some of the information about the "red" blocks indicates that it may over bind the hemoglobin because of iron content.  There are mixed reports but I think the simpler the better and why take a chance?  If your horse has what he needs in his diet, giving supplements will throw off his natural balance, particularly relative to minerals and this can be really detrimental dependent upon what is effected.  There is a lot of hype out there. Just remember, these people are trying to SELL you something and most of the time it doesn't have much to do with what is best for your horse.  All of the recent research indicates that the only benefit of supplementation is to the $eller.  good luck.

Answer 6

If you over supplement certain things, it makes the horse's body incapable of processing some of the vitamins and minerals.