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  Discussion on Equine Choice Mineral Supplement
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Member:
canter

Posted on Friday, Aug 31, 2007 - 8:11 am:

Dr O,
The barn where my horse is boarded has started putting these Equine Choice supplements in the pastures. It's marketed as "a supplement for maintenance, breeding and performers". It comes in 50 lb tubs, which the horses lick at will.

The package analysis:
crude protein 12%
crude fat min 5%
crude fiber max 2%
calcium 1.2-1.7%
Phosphorus min 0.8%
copper 300 ppm
iron 1,000 ppm
selenuim 4ppm
zinc 1,000 ppm
Vit A 50,000 IU/lb
Vit D3 min 10,000 IU/lb
Vit E min 3.75 IU/lb
Biotin min 0.2mg/lb

The ingredients: molasses, soybean meal, wheat middlings, corn, dried grain...and then it lists all the vits/mins

The horses love this thing and will go at it for long periods of time. My mare actually scrapes her top teeth along the surface to get more.

These aren't left in the pastures at all times; it may be in one pasture of 2 horses one day and in another pasture of 2 the next day.

I'm wondering about the wisdom of this. All that molasses, eaten at will doesn't seem like a good thing to me. My mare is on a balanced feed (Buckeye), good quality hay and green but currently sparse pasture 24/7. All horses have a normal mineral block in their pastures, but they go mostly ignored.

My biggest gripe is that as my (white) horse swipes at flies on her body, she leaves sticky brown marks all over the place that are not easy to groom out. None of the listed minerals in the tub are on your toxic list if over consumed. So, do you see any health reasons to discontinue this practice?

Thanks so much,
Fran
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Aug 31, 2007 - 10:28 am:

Any health reasons...hmm not really Fran but I cannot figure why anyone would choose to use it. Yes we are all trying to get away from simple carbs in a horses diet but the fact of the matter is that except for the sensitive individuals (Equine Metabolic SynDrOme and maybe Cushings) this would be safe to feed in moderation to horses that are already receiving adequate forage.

About the only rational for this type feeding I can think of it to a difficult keeper that is already eating as much forage as they will a day and still loosing weight. Questions I would be interested in are:
1) What is the energy content in MCals per lb.
2) How much are the horses consuming daily per horse.
3) Does this decrease the amount of forage consumed daily.
4) How much does it cost?
DrO
Member:
canter

Posted on Friday, Aug 31, 2007 - 5:04 pm:

Well, I think they are being fed as a treat, since the horses like them so much, with the added bonus of a few extra vitamins and minerals. None of the horses at the barn have Equine Metabolic SynDrOme, or Cushings, so we don't need to worry about that. There is only 1 hard keeper, a 30 y.o. Paint, who only this summer has started to look his age. Perhaps he will benefit from it.

To answer your questions
1) I'll have to check to see if that's listed on the label
2) Hard to tell how much the horses are eating as it's left out in the pasture for hours at a time. But, I did notice that it's just under 1/2 way gone (the one my mare shares), so doing some rough math, it's a 50lb tub, it's been out there for about 4 days, 4 horses, that's aprox 3.125 lbs eaten per horse, assuming they have all had equal opportunity, so 0.78 lbs per horse per day...seems like a lot. But everyone of the 4 is in very good shape, not heavy, not thin.
3)No, they are all eating grass, hay and feeds just as eagerly as ever
4) No idea of cost, the barn owner buys it and doesn't pass down the cost.

Truly, I think the barn owner (most of the horses belong to them, very small private barn with just 3 boarders) simply has a soft heart and sees that the horses enjoy this and can't resist giving them something they enjoy. She's really quite practical normally, but this thing made me wonder.

I'll check back with the answer to question #1.

As always, I appreciate your help, DrO!

Fran
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