5 Things To Consider When Choosing Dietary Supplement For Your Horse

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Horse supplements are commonly used to prevent deficiencies and improve the performance of body functions. Before using the additives, you need to consult your horses’ veterinarians about the supplemental plan. It’s essential to carefully monitor the horse’s feeding diet to ensure the desired effect on the animal’s health and make adjustments if necessary, until the proper nutrition balance is achieved.

Supplements alone will never keep a horse healthy, but proper management and thorough care will keep your horse in good condition. Checking the type of supplements and their purpose to the animal may help the horse owner correct the nutrient deficiencies. 

Some horse supplement reviews may provide you the needed information to evaluate the quality of the product. However, there are more determining factors to think about before you give supplements to your horse.

In this article, you’ll learn the additional factors to consider when choosing dietary supplements for your horse.

  1. Determine the Need

Proper consultation with the vet will help you identify the horse’s supplement needs and what you plan to accomplish with the additives. A targeted product will be a better choice because there are various multi-vitamin supplements available in the market. It’s critical to look for feed additives that address a specific requirement for your horse’s health and performance to avoid horse feeding mistakes. This strategy helps the horse owner determine if the supplement supports the horse requirement and may reduce the risk of over-supplementation.

For instance, horses with a history of colic and hepatic disease should be carefully assessed before using botanical supplements. The interaction of the herbs and pharmacologic agents may cause adverse effects to the horse body functions. Even pregnant or lactating mares and young foals should not be given with herbal supplements that aren’t tested yet for horses because it may compromise their health.

  1. Quality Matters

The next determining factor is the quality of the product. There’s a wide range of supplements on the market claiming for safe and high quality. To ensure that you’re buying the right one, consider the following tips:

  • Look For a Reputable Company: One way to identify which horse supplements are trustworthy is by the company’s credibility.  An established manufacturing facility offers educational material for processing and handling products. 
  • Check the Label: The ingredients should be clearly specified on the label, and the number of active components present per serving. The lot number and expiration date should be included on the label. The production number is the tracking system of the company to ensure product quality. Other essential things that should be available on the label are the manufacturer’s information and contact details for customer inquiries.
  • Marked With NASC Quality Seal: The National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) is one of the institutions committed to ensuring high-quality animal supplements. Products bearing the NASC quality seal assure consumers the supplements come from a reputable company that implements quality control standards. Aside from that, the NASC quality seal provides a support team for adverse reactions.
  • Supplements Made From The Highest Quality Ingredients: Supplements for horses should be derived from natural sources with intact freshness and purity. Supplemental components must be safe from chemical and microbiological contamination to achieve the desired health benefits.
  • Top Food Supplement Brands: Branded products will ensure that your horse is getting the most out of the intended essentials. These products are produced by companies specializing in quality in manufacturing food supplements. Be careful with some unknown producers that may provide you with contaminated products.
  1. Avoid Unrealistic Claims

Trustworthy supplemental products don’t include unrealistic claims. It’s best to avoid products using phrases like ‘prevent’ or ‘cure.’  Client reviews and testimonials can be a good thing, but a manufacturing company without scientific data and only testimonials supporting its claims might produce low-quality dietary supplements. Hence, it’s wise to research and don’t believe everything you read.

  1. Do Your Research

Before buying horse supplements, check each ingredient and determine how it’ll affect the horse’s health. Look closely with product labels and learn how each ingredient or active components are formulated to achieve the required balance in nutrition. 

Try to immerse yourself in various educational sources, including scientific studies, client reviews, manufacturing company’s production and formulation methods, quality seals, and other relevant quality factors. For instance, synequin for horses provides reviews for individual ingredients and their functions to improve horse health. 

  1. Reasonable Cost

Price is a consideration but cheaper cost isn’t always the best option. It’s true if a cheaper product has red flags like lack of label information, no customer service and contact information, and absence of evidence for quality control measures. Most of the top-quality animal supplements come with a higher price due to state-of-the-art facilities and control measures to ensure quality.. Hence, it’s a smart choice to have supplemental products with high quality at a fair cost.

Conclusion

The key to choosing the right supplement is identifying the horse’s particular challenging nutrition requirement and addressing the need. The quality of the product and the cost are some of the determining factors when buying supplemental products. Considering the tips mentioned in this article may help the horse owner find the right supplements for a horse diet.