[castana4]

I would like to know what vitamins you give your horses.
My mare is 13 this year and I am looking at giving her better vitamin sup, she is needing something extra in her feed. She is not lame but was a snatching one of her legs from me and did it yesterday to the black smith. She used to jump alot and a friend advised me on giving her cortaflex what do you think ????

[Dawn]

Cortaflex isn't a vitamin supplement.

What exactly are you looking for?

[prettyqtrs]

The only one of our horses that gets supplements are our broodmares. They are on Mare Plus. Other wise we just have them and the other horses on Strategy and grassy hay, plus grass that's in their pasture. Is she used/worked very often? Are you looking for something because you are worried about arthritis or something else? What kind of feed do you have her on?

[castana4]

well I know cortaflex is not a supplement I was told to use it at my yard as my mare seems to be having some pain in one of her front legs. She is not lame but this lady is using cortaflex everyday for her horses ad says its great stuff. I dont know anyhing about it really. I am going to look it up on the net but just wouder if anyone uses it. Also the problem is I think American things are much different to what we get here in spain or the UK . So what I plan on doing is finding some things on here and having them sent to me from england.
I just feel my mare is not getting the correct vitamins We dont have grass here and she is getting hay but I want to make sure she is getting everything she needs.
this is what she is getting as the yard feeds my horse thats the rules here unless you have your horse at home
they give her a scoop of mix which basically has a miture of alfalfa pellets oats bran etc then she has 2 sections of alfalfa then like a type of straw at lunch which they call paca.( there is not much in that in the form of goodness) then a scoop of mix at night and paca again. Then i pop in some carrots oil and apples and in the winter she gets sugar beet. She also has a salt block in her feed bowl.

[Dawn]

Cortaflex is a supplement, it is not a vitamin supplement. What are you looking to accomplish with the supplement.

Is it common over there to feed straw? It should really only be fed to horses that are so severely over weight that they can not safely eat the needed roughage in a day.

[cassidy]

if you want a good vitamin supplement i would suggest - equivite

[castana4]

yes we dont have hay here so its straw alfalfa or nothing unfortunatly

[Dawn]

I still don't understand what kind of supplement you're looking for.

[Blistering Winds]

I'm with dawn. What is it you are looking for? Arthritis help? Or nutritional help?

If the horse is in pain, first find out WHY the hrose is in pain before dumping stuff into the horse. It could be an actual injury and you don't really need cortiflex. The glucosamine and chondroiton in the cortiflex helps a LOT with joint pain. My husband, Myself, and my mom have been on glucosamine chondroiton with great success. Amazing what it does for joints! So I do recommend it for chronic joint issues. NOT for acute issues or short lived issues, since it takes time to get into the system and work. It isn't an overnight success by far! But over time, it is excellent. But again, that is for JOINTS and not for muscles or anywhere else.

So first, I'd run her to the vet to rule out anything else before "medicating" for something. Which basically you are when you give cortiflex.

[ejforrest]

Most horses are "over supplemented" rather than under supplemented.
If your horse is getting good quality hay, fresh clean water and a salt mineral block, she sould be fine.
Some horses react to high protein and high carbohydrates by becoming spooky or aggressive. If this is happening to your horse, cut all molasses and corn based feeds and feed grass hay only. Adding extra magnesium and B vitamins often helps to reduce aggressive or over-exuberant behavior.
Horses doing light work to medium work(trail riding/ring jumping work) dont need grains. Grains are known to cause colic, founder, tying up, diarrhea and other health problems. There are other energy feeds avl. Beet pulp, more hay, fats.