Do supplements actually work?

[Doodadidi]

I’m not talking about balancers to make up for nutrients lacking in forage but the herbal type supplements.
I’ve realised I’m spending a small fortune (over £100 per month)on herbal supplements for ulcer-prone horses, laminitics, herbal supplements to minimise worm burden and although these all get great reviews and have ingredients with long Latin botanical names I haven’t a clue whether they are really doing any good or are just expensive placebos.
Could I get away with a lower dose I wonder?

I’m fairly new to the horse world- what supplements if any do you think work, how much do you spend and for how long has the supplements market been like this?

I have no proof other than my horse seemed to improve in comfort and soundness on Devil’s Claw Root . She had sarcoids and they miraculously disappeared with Global Herbs Sarcex. I also swear by Pro Hoof by Progressive Earth for laminitics.

Our pony is on Ventilate for her breathing and it definitely helps keep her off the ventipulmin .

No.
Unless your vet has specified / prescribed you are wasting your money but people see what they want to see so many will tell you such and such works wonders.
No different to the enormous human “wellness” industry.

Hmmmmm. The devils claw is on the list of FEI so probably that does have some effect.
However I don’t think for example giving a teaspoon of thyme to a 600kg horse is going to do anything.

Does your horse have multiple different health issues that need addressing? If you are giving lots of different powders to one horse to prevent stuff it might not even be prone to, you are just flushing cash down the drain. If you give a subtherapeutic dose, even more pointless.

I have 3 horses, I feed one of them a joint supplement as he is arthritic and the ingredients in the supplement I feed have been scientifically found to give relief. I feed the correct dose, based on his weight. They get basic feed appropriate to their level of work, and one who doesn’t work just gets a vitamin and mineral supplement in a handful of chaff.

For many horse issues, good basic nutrition and stable management is far more important than supplements. Don’t waste your money on anything until you got those sorted out.

I cant imagine anything works for a laminitic or worm burden.

i add limestone flour as i feed linseed so need to, but that's it :)

The best thing that you can do to reduce worm burden is to poo pick your field every day.

There is actually evidence that poo picking increases worm resistance to wormers by reducing the pool of worms. I stopped poo picking 25 years ago and only ever have one or two high counts in new horses.

I add salt and garlic to my herds feed. Salt as they need more than is in most feeds and garlic to make them less palatable to flying insects.

One of my liveries is an equine vet, working at a local equine hospital, so I go by what their guidelines are. Resistance to wormers means that fields should be poo picked, and worming should only be done once a WEG has been done.

You absolutely should remove poo if you have to worm.

@britnay you absolutely should trust everything a qualified vet tells you. Have you ever known one to make a mistake?

@YearoftheFirePony can I ask you how much salt and garlic you add to your feed ? I have always added garlic to my dogs feeds as the vets told me that is a fantastic aid to not get fleas and I put a scoop of general garlic in their feeds , they won’t touch a salt lick either

I’m not sure how big my scoops are. I like the gold label garlic powder. The salt licks aren’t the best anyway as horses can chip teeth or start windsucking on them.
The other alternative is to offer a water buffet with salt in one bucket, garlic in another etc

I spend on a good quality biotin supplement and that has definitely made a difference

Thank you- it’s interesting to hear all your thoughts.

I think the issue I have is that any supplement takes so long to make a (apparent) difference and it’s impossible to know what would have happened if the supplement hadn’t been given in any case..

I might add garlic for flies as I’ve yet to find a fly spray that actually works!

I was under the impression garlic was toxic to dogs?