We often hear about a balanced diet and how important it is for both us and our horses. A balanced diet is indeed essential for good health, but to achieve it, the correct amounts of macronutrients (Carbohydrate, fats, and protein) need to be fed in accordance with the correct amounts of essential micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).

Vitamins and minerals are needed every day by your horse and are essential for optimum health. They are involved in every physiological process for life and your horse couldn’t function without them. However, requirements can be influenced by age, lifestyle, illness/disease, and workload so it’s important to ensure your horse is getting what they need.

In our latest blog, we focus on the essential vitamins and minerals your horse needs every day, what they do and how to ensure your horse is getting a good supply through the right diet and nutrition:

What are Vitamins and Minerals?

Vitamins are a group of organic compounds needed by the horse in lesser amounts than macronutrients, but which are all equally essential for normal metabolism, growth and function, and a lack of them causes deficiency diseases. Vitamins have varied and diverse roles in keeping your horse’s body functioning well for optimum health.

In contrast to vitamins, minerals are inorganic compounds with a definition separate to their role in body functioning. Unlike vitamins they are elements not complex molecules and are indestructible. Although five thousand minerals are thought to exist, only a small number are required in the horse’s diet.

Vitamins and minerals are collectively known as essential micronutrients because they are needed in smaller amounts than macronutrients like carbohydrates and protein, but they should form part of a fully balanced diet for daily health and vitality.

How Do Vitamins and Minerals Benefit Your Horse’s Body?

Vitamins and minerals perform hundreds of beneficial roles throughout your horse’s body, from strengthening bone, contracting muscles, balancing fluids, and keeping their heart pumping, to energy metabolism, basic cellular activity, growth, and immunity.

Which Vitamins and Minerals Do Horses Need For Daily Health?

Vitamins are divided into two groups: fat-soluble (dissolve in fat) and water-soluble (dissolve in water). Fat-soluble vitamins include A, D, E, and K, while water-soluble vitamins include vitamin C and the B vitamin complex: B¹ (thiamine), B²(riboflavin), Biotin, niacin, folic acid, B¹², B⁵ (pantothenic acid) and B⁶ (pyridoxine). Vitamins D, C and niacin are synthesised by the horse, all other B vitamins and K are synthesised by microbes in the caecum and colon (large intestine), but vitamin A and E must be supplied from the diet

Minerals can be divided into Macrominerals (Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride and Sulphur), which are required in higher amounts, and micro or ‘trace’ minerals, which are needed in much smaller amounts and include copper, iron, manganese, iodine, selenium, and zinc. All minerals need to be supplied within the diet to ensure your horse receives the right levels for optimum health and function.

How Are Vitamins and Minerals Absorbed By The Body?

Vitamins and minerals generally need to be provided daily through the diet, apart from those that can be synthesised by the body (Vitamins C and D) or by hindgut microbes (Vitamin K and B-complex vitamins).

The vitamins and minerals in feed are absorbed from digestion through the small intestine wall. They pass into the bloodstream and are used immediately, stored in the liver, or go to the kidneys to be excreted.

How Can You Ensure Your Horse Is Getting Enough In Their Diet?

Fresh grass is an excellent source of all vitamins and minerals, but this contribution can vary with the season, or access to grazing. Providing a balancer, vitamin and mineral supplement, or fortified feed fed at the recommended rate, is the best way to ensure your horse is getting everything they need at the right levels. B-complex vitamins and vitamin K are synthesised by healthy hindgut microbes, who thrive on forage, so feeding plenty of it will ensure your horse gets a good supply.

What Are The Risks of Under or Over-Feeding Vitamins and Minerals?

Consistently under- or over-feeding of vitamins and minerals can risk deficiency or toxicity, which can compromise health. Additionally, minerals such as calcium and phosphorus need to be fed at the correct ratio (2:1 – Calcium to phosphorus) to optimise health and body function. Straights like cereals or Copra Meal (CoolStance Copra) will generally have an inverted calcium to phosphorus ratio, so getting the right balance is essential.

Feeding a comprehensive vitamin and mineral supplement, like VitaStance Mineral Mix, alongside CoolStance Copra, will help ensure the correct 2:1 Calcium to Phosphorus ratio to help provide a nutritionally balanced diet.

Tips To Include Vitamins and Minerals In Your Horse’s Diet:

Provide Plenty of Good Quality Forage

Good quality forage fed on an adlib basis which is well digested by hindgut microbes will mean your horse should have a good supply of both B vitamins and vitamin K which are synthesised as part of the fibre fermentation process.

Additionally, forage provides a source of potassium for horses which is a key electrolyte alongside sodium and chloride. Electrolytes are needed for almost all bodily functions, including fluid regulation and balance, digestion, the acid-base (pH) status of the horse and vital neurological functions such as muscle contraction for optimum performance.

Add a Comprehensive Vitamin and Mineral Supplement

Feeding a comprehensive all in one vitamin and mineral supplement like VitaStance Mineral Mix, daily, will help deliver all the essential micronutrients your horse needs for maximum health and vitality. Scientifically formulated to meet the specific nutritional requirements of horses, the complete formula covers all the essential bases, simplifying your horse’s diet and helping to address nutritional deficiencies and imbalances to support a fully balanced diet.

Additionally, VitaStance Mineral Mix provides the primary electrolytes Sodium, plus Chloride, as salt. Sodium is the main regulator of thirst and is thus essential to ensure your horse is drinking sufficiently for optimal fluid balance.

Add some Fruit and Vegetables to your Horse’s Feed

Small amounts of fruit and vegetables not only provide a tasty treat but are packed with fibre and vitamins and can therefore, be a beneficial addition as part of a balanced diet.

If you have any questions about creating the best diet for your horse or pony and keeping your horse healthy through the right nutrition, please contact 01488 73322 or info@boomerangnutrition.co.uk.