question on vitamin supplements

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

Any of the complete mixes you mentioned contain sufficient vitamin and
minerals for an endurance horse, if you're feeding more than about five
pounds a day.  You don't need to add an additional vit-min mix beyond that.

The only exception is that I like a bit more vitamin A for a really hard
working horse, but I provide that with either fresh pasture, or a couple
pounds of carrots a day.  I also add about 20 mg of biotin per day, and I do
add a specific supplement for that.  I happen to prefer Paragon Biotin Plus,
most biotin for the money and not alot of fluff.

The only other "supplement" you need is plain, white, loose salt.  Nothing
fancy---if you're paying more than about twenty cents a pound for salt,
you're paying too much.

Susan G
----- Original Message -----
From: Susith@aol.com
To: ridecamp-d@endurance.net
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 8:01 AM
Subject: RC: question on vitamin supplements


This is a question for Susan Garlinghouse or others who may have studied
vitamin/mineral requirements in horses.

I would like to know if the contents of the Complete Feed such as Ranchway's
All American, Purina, etc. are sufficient for a performance horse, or do
they
need all the extras that are available in the supplements such as Accel?

Over the winter while the horses haven't been working, I substituted the
complete feed as their supplement and now that we're going back to work, I
wonder if we need the "designer" vitamins or can manage on the Complete?

Basic diet is 60% grass hay, 40% alfalfa, 1-2 lbs grain.

Thanks,
Susan