Here at Sound Advice we always encourage horse owners to provide the majority of their calories in the form of pasture or hay or some combination of the two. This is because horses are evolved to graze and process 1 to 2% of their bodyweight in forage every day. Hind-gut fermentation is essential for health and maintaining body condition. Apart from nutrition, grazing is good for physiology, bio-dynamics, and even dental health.
Most owners supplement their horses with hard feed to provide what is missing from their pasture. Feed is outrageously priced at the moment. You may be feeding unnecessarily, or buying feeds that are not economical for what you are trying to achieve. It's a good time to look at each item you are feeding your horse and evaluate how much it is contributing to overall health.
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Supplementing the right vitamins and minerals (supplying only what is missing from pasture or hay) can help reduce feed costs for horses in several ways:
Balanced Nutrition: Sound Advice supplements can provide a balanced intake of essential vitamins and minerals that might not be present in sufficient quantities in the horse’s regular feed. This means you won’t need to buy multiple types of feed to ensure a balanced diet.
Efficient Use of Feed: When a horse’s diet is deficient in certain nutrients (typically copper, zinc, iodine and magnesium), the horse may not be able to utilise all the energy in the feed efficiently. By supplementing these nutrients, you can help your horse get the most out of its feed, potentially reducing the total amount of feed needed.
Health Maintenance: A horse with a balanced diet is likely to be healthier overall, which can reduce costs associated with veterinary care and medications - both off-the-shelf and prescribed.
Performance and Longevity: Proper nutrition can enhance a horse’s performance and extend its active lifespan, potentially leading to savings in the long-term - not feeding a chronically unsound horse.
Customisation: Sound Advice supplements allow you to customise your horse’s diet based on its specific needs, which can be more cost-effective than buying multiple specialty feeds in a scatter-gun approach.