Vitamin help please :)

[Maybeapril]

I need help finding a good vitamin suppliment. My horse has been on Optimum EQ which he enjoys, but my pocket book not so much...
I feed him:
AM and PM
4 cups oats
4 cups beet pulp (dry weight)
2 pounds alfalfa cubes
1/3 cup flax seed
1/2 cup canola oil
currently 2 wafers Optimum EQ
Then in the evening I give him Force Flex
He is out on decent pasture 24/7 and get grass hay.
What would you guys suggest I use for a vitamin if not Optimum?
There are so many out there my head is spinning!

[Nanerpus]

I'm a fan of Platinum Performance, both my horses are on it. But that's pricey, too.

[fivehorses]

grand meadows, grand vite.
Poulin grain guy came here for a consult, read the grand vite ingredients and said it was a good mulit vit.

[kcmel]

I use this one; it's pretty reasonably priced:

http://www.formula707.com/707/vit_min.htm

[dbadaro]

i use mega cell or mega mag. i've recently switched to the megamag. very reasonably priced! my horse has a great, shiny coat! he seems to be happy

[pintopiaffe]

Can you find out from your local Ag Extension what your area (soil & hay) is lowest & highest in? Then you can get a suitable multi vit/min that's not throwing out (or peeing out) the excesses...

I did high end feed and supps for about a decade, then the economy tanked, and I actually went back to the vit/min used 25-30 years ago, Blue Seal Min-a-Vite. It is broadly formulated for the area (selenium deficient, cal/phos balanced for grass etc.) and of course has improved over the years. I did a comparison to some of the others I like (Uckele, SmartPak Performance Grass) and it compared way more favorably than I expected. So I'm saving $30/40 per month, and the horses all look really good. I could use a titch more copper and magnesium, but... no one is showing any deficiencey, that's for sure... and I can/could supplement those singly if I really felt necessary.

So, if you can go with something broadly for your geography--or better yet, locally milled--you may find yourself saving money AND better supplementing too.

[Nanerpus]

Also got to thinking, keeping budgets in mind, my friend SWEARS by Clovite, she gets a huge bag of it from Blue Seal and it is not too pricey, esp. if you buy a big bag. Maybe check out that?

[Hampton Bay]

I use SmartPak, and it costs me about $60 a month for 4 horses on just the not-in-work-without-grain dosage. If mine are actually working, they get a bit more of it. I use the Performance Grass, but just half a dose. Same as the easy keeper but cheaper.

[dwblover]

Farnam Vita-Plus.

[Rayman421]

Shouldn't need any vitamin supplement if you feed is balanced and horse has access to loose minerals and loose salt.

A good friend of mine used to work for a couple different feed companies (has a degree too) and said both of them basically told her vitamin/ mineral supplements are a great way to pad their pockets. Very few horses actually NEED them. ie: horses recovering from bad illness or have digestive/age problems. I also worked for a top bloodstock agent who raised and trained several ECLIPSE award winners and he also didn't believe in supplements. These were top of the line Graded Stakes winning RACE horses and he never fed supplements!



If YOU feel better feeding a vit supplement to your horse then just get what your budget can afford. In any case, unless you have a special needs child, if you feed over $25 supplements to a horse in a month, something is wrong with your feeding program. And what works for one, won't work for all.