Supplements

So I decided to make a post all about supplements. Specifically oral supplements. This always seems to be kind of a hot button issue with horse people. Some people are really big believers in them, some people think that every one is a hoax, and just makes really expensive pee, and then there are others that fall somewhere in the middle. Which one are you?

I tend to think of myself as kind of a "middle ground" believer in supplements. I think some of them work really well, some of them are a placebo effect (for the owners), and there are definitely some that are a hoax. That all being said, I buy Charmer an approximate ton of supplements. No really, I think if you weigh it out, he eats a literal ton of supplements.

I have a few that come in actual Smartpaks - but literally just enough to hit the $40 free shipping on everything. The amount of money I save in shipping makes up for the extra $0.15 I pay to get them in little packages. The rest of them, I either pick up at my local feed store, or get the Autoship buckets from Smartpak. I've experimented with a lot of supplements, and definitely found some that downright do not work. And sometimes I find a cheaper version that works exactly the same. But for the most part, I am a big believer in all the supplements I put Charmer on, and have seen an actual difference in him due to them.

Let's start with his Smartpak. These three supplements were all veterinarian recommended (although technically they pushed for SmartDigest Ultra - but I'm poor). When I first got Charmer his feet were typical, bad thoroughbred feet. He has been on Farrier's Formula Double Strength since basically day one. And I am definitely way too paranoid about his feet to take him off of it,

When I gave our vet some of Charmer's "history" and things, she suggested he sounded like he had a magnesium deficiency. He was really touchy while grooming, always had a tight back, and was generally a little jumpy. Once we put him on Magnesium 5,000, after about 2-3 weeks, we noticed a difference. He was quieter, in less back pain, and calmer.

The SmartDigest was a more recent suggestion - since Charmer is a cribber, and gets quite a lot of grain, he ticks at least two "susceptible to colic" boxes. So when we moved to a new vet (simply due to location, I LOVED my old vet. She just lives really far away from where I'm at now), they suggested putting him on SmartDigest Ultra. But that is approximately 2.5x more expensive than the normal stuff, so I pushed them to see if it would help do basically the same thing they wanted. And eventually, they gave in and told me that the cheaper version would probably work just as well to give him the prebiotics and probiotics they suggest he be on.

Then, there are 3 supplements that I buy in Autoship buckets from Smartpak.

First off is Tri-Amino, this is another one Charmer has been on for a long time. Since not long after I got him. I took him off it once, and regretted it! This is another vet recommendation. When I got Charmer, since he was straight off the track, he didn't really have a great deal of topline. Obviously he had some, I mean he was in decently fit racing shape, but it was not the same muscle that a sporthorse needs. She suggested this as a transition and possibly a long term supplement to help him build and keep muscle. The one time I took him off of it for a couple months, he lost at least 50lbs in muscle. Needless to say he got put back on it, and hasn't come off since. This even helps him hold some topline during the winter months where I ride fairly minimally. 

Vit-E & Selenium was just added in the last year, because we live in a pretty selenium-deficient area, so I added this into his diet again at the recommendation of our vet, and it definitely seemed to aid in his recovery time from difficult workouts. 

The last supplement that I get in Autoship buckets through Smartpak is Apple-A-Day. This one we only started around last May. I would say it was a trainer recommendation, but honestly I think it was more of a requirement. She does not like any of the horses in her barn to not be getting daily electrolytes especially in the summertime, so since this supplement is ridiculously cheap and lasts me 3 months in the summer and usually 4+ in the winter, its not a bad price, even if they don't really do much.

This is one of the buckets that I buy at our local feed store, Daily Gold Stress Relief. (Which I only found out during the writing of this blog that Smartpak sells this product now!). Many people have accused this product of having little-to-no scientific research behind it. And honestly that is true (at least from what I've seen - correct me if I am wrong). But over half the horses in the barn that I worked at/train at were on this product to help with ulcer related tendencies, and you could see an obvious difference when they were on it and when they weren't. I put Charmer on this product for 2 weeks (their slogan is 2 scoops for 2 weeks and you'll see a difference!) and boy did I see a difference. He was so much quieter and happier. He definitely has had ulcers in the past, and I find this to be a great preventative measure for them. He clearly likes it, and I'm not one to try and contradict what he tells me makes him feel better.

Last but not least is Purina Amplify, which is a short term supplement, just to increase his weight a little bit. He lost a lot of weight over the summer, and we tried to really get it back this fall, and he always winters better than he summers, so I took advantage of the fact he tends to gain weight in the winter and really tried to ramp up his calorie intake to pack on the pounds before the heat hits again in the spring/summer. (Side note: does anyone else have a horse that does not seem to handle heat well? He sweats fine, so it is not anhidrosis, he just always loses weight in the summer and doesn't seem to handle heat well). 

I know that is a lot of supplements. Trust me, I would love to get him down to only 1-2 supplements, but every time I have tried to change, or remove a supplement from his diet, I see adverse affects, and end up just biting the bullet and keeping him on the supplement anyways. Do you all think I'm that crazy horse owner (probably...)? Or do you have a horse that eats a literal ton of supplements too?