Vitamins and minerals for horses play crucial roles in supporting various bodily functions, from immune system strength to muscle function and overall vitality. Proper nutrition is therefore vital for maintaining your horse’s health and performance.
Ensuring your horse receives adequate vitamins and minerals is essential for their well-being where each nutrient serves a specific purpose in maintaining health, and where deficiencies can lead to various health issues.
Vitamins such as biotin and minerals copper and zinc are critical for promoting healthy skin, coat, healthy cartilage to hoof growth. Vitamins A, C, E work together with selenium to support immune function, fertility and are important antioxidants for cellular function. Minerals such as Magnesium and Zinc play key roles in muscle function, bone strength, to immune response. Magnesium also has a special role in numerous bodily reactions.
Vitamins and minerals work in pairs, so the balance is also crucial as too much of one will unbalance the other. Common pairs are Sodium and Potassium working together to maintain electrolyte balance in the body. This pair also relies on Calcium and Magnesium, responsible for muscle and nerve function. Calcium also pairs with Phosphorous for bone density and strength. Other minerals such as Zinc and Copper work together. Deficiencies in any of these often result in quite noticeable health issues such as ill thrift, poor quality coats, brittle hooves, to weak muscles or bones.
Supplementing your horse’s diet with the right vitamins and minerals can help prevent deficiencies and support optimal health and performance. Whether your horse is an athlete or a companion animal, ensuring their nutritional needs are met is essential for their long-term well-being. If you are feeding mainly forage or a diet with very little hard feed, look into a quality supplement such as Opti-Min that has balanced ratios of nutrients to top up any nutritional shortfalls.
