Flintstone’s doesn’t make a vitamin for horses, but that doesn’t mean that your best pet should be left without. When most horse owners consider their horse’s health and nutrition needs, they think about the different foods, the varying amounts of water, and a host of other considerations. Among those considerations must be the inclusion of different types of vitamins.
Ideally, a horse should have a very balanced diet. Through a combination of different foods, they should be getting plenty of proteins, carbohydrates, and a little bit of fat. In addition to that, there are the very important things like vitamins and minerals that every horse needs in order to truly be healthy. Without a steady balance of these things and twice daily feeding, a horse’s health can suffer and his performance will go down the drain along with it.
Supplementation is the key when it comes to providing a healthy, balanced diet for your horse. Just as simply providing meat and water would not make for a healthy person, giving a horse only grains and hay will leave him substantially lacking. If you want to provide snack foods for your horse, think about things that are high in vitamins and minerals such as fresh carrots and apples. These snacks should be given liberally, especially to those horses that are active. Commercial snack foods, such as Mrs. Pasture’s cookies are also good for horses. These grain-based treats are good for the animals and they taste great.
Vitamins will be found in these healthy foods that you provide for the horse, but you might have to find minerals in other places. Salt blocks have long been a staple of horse nutrition and it is not because horses like the taste. Horses lick them up, and with the sodium, they get lots of nutrients. When you purchase these salt blocks, make sure to specifically ask for the ones with added nutrients.
Vitamin supplements are good for most horses, but there are certain horses who don’t take well to the liquid form. Before you go out and buy liquid vitamin supplements to add to the horse’s food, make sure to consult a vet and find out what is best. They may suggest that you stick to the diet of hay and oats if your horse is doing particularly well. It is all dependent upon the horse.
One of the best things that vitamins can do for horses is to improve their energy level. If you have a horse that is not functioning at its highest level, then perhaps some natural vitamins can be the pick me up that he needs. Oats are a good supplement to add energy for horses before they go on long endurance rides. Bran, on the other hand, is a nice vitamin additive that will help keep colic away from horses.
Vitamins are an extremely important part of any horse’s diet. There are plenty of ways to find these vitamins and nutrients in natural foods that will promote overall health for your horse.
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