* We don't use synthetic minerals in our EquiVita range.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15637215
Just one example of how our soil nutrient levels have significantly depleted over the years due to industrial agriculture. The problem is compounded - whether horse or human, we get less minerals from our food than we used to, due to chemicals like glyphosate sprayed on agri-crops, then our processed diets, pharmaceutical drugs, and inflammatory lifestyles deplete our bodies of the minerals we do have.
Us humans are armed with the knowledge to select an appropriate vit/min supplement off the shelf, and upgrade our diet accordingly, to add back the missing nutrients into our bodies. Our horses, however, rely entirely on us to get it right for them. This is why we need a balanced mineral solution to help provide our horses with an effective nutritional foundation.
Let's put it into perspective. Imagine randomly removing 50% of the nuts and bolts from your car, then trying to drive it. How far do you think you’d get? Some might just about rattle and roll, but imagine the stress on your car engine. Chances are, you wouldn’t risk even putting the key in the ignition.
In our human world, if we’re eating the standard western C.R.A.P. diet (not me being rude - it stands for Carbs, Refined, Artificial, Processed), health nuts report that our own machinery is missing a staggering 80% of our essential nuts and bolts. Just as our car won’t function properly, neither will our body, which is why such a high percentage of the western human race is so sick.
Put simply, we need all of the essential components for the body to work properly. And not unsurprisingly, it's the same for our horses.
FACT - Our UK grasslands are deficient in many of the essential minerals, and way too high in others, namely calcium, iodine, iron and manganese.
FACT - Changes in the chemistry of grass cause changes in the chemistry of the horse, with many chronic health conditions being due to unbalanced micronutrients.
FACT - Most alleged behavioural issues will resolve by feeding minerals balanced to our known UK forage deficiencies, which balance the horse's chemistry.
Our EquiVita range is milled for us by Premier Nutrition, who are committed to manufacturing safe, compliant feed independently audited by, and certified to, UFAS, FEMAS, BETA NOPS, and ISO 22000, so you can be confident in the product you receive.
* 5% saving on 3kg
* 10% on 5kg
* 15% on 10kg
* 20% on 20kg
* And ... free UK Delivery within the GB Mainland on orders 10kg-plus. (Sorry - excl. Channel Islands, IOM, N.Ire, Scottish Highlands & Islands)
This is Maisie and her front hooves. We got involved with Maisie following the winter of 2017/18 where she'd been abandoned and needed serious support to get healthy again. We were very much involved in her refeeding programme, and her owner kindly allowed us to do a Case Study on her on the website.
One of the biggest areas of improvement was her hooves - spot the tighter hoof/pastern angle 😉 You can see the profound changes in her hoof to pastern angles, with the new, stronger capsule taking shape above the very obvious old hoof, all engineered and energised by our EquiVita forage balanced minerals.
As her new, tighter hoof capsule grew down it naturally shortened her toe to where it should be. This allows the whole hoof to be more supportive of the pedal bone and limb.
For new starters on minerals, I always suggest to start with our 1kg trial bag – any new-to-minerals horse will tell you that minerals are notoriously unpalatable, so it’s best to start with a pinch in the feedbowl and work your way up, unless you want ‘the look’ where they think you’re trying to poison them. Took me 2-weeks to get our Carmen on the full measure, but then she’s a meticulous TB Diva, whereas my three natives gobbled it down without batting an eye. However, for fussy eaters, 2-weeks is generally the average time reported back from clients who have to take it slowly.
I mentioned above that our grasslands are also deficient in the important omegas 3 & 6, especially so during winter, so it’s recommended to also add Linseed (micronised) which mimics the omega ratios found in grass. I absolutely swear by it - it’s a staple in my feedroom and I can’t recommend it highly enough for condition, coat shine, joint comfort and itchy skin, to name a few. It’s also a gut superstar, especially for our colicy-risk horses, as it’s high mucilage content coats and soothes the GI tract wall and the food bolus for ease of transit. https://equinatural.co.uk/p/linseed-micronised.
The recommendation is to feed 100g/day outside of the grass-growing period, i.e. winter, or if a horse is on a hay-only diet.
It's essential to feed salt in the diet for so many important reasons; apart from keeping body fluids in balance and providing essential natural electrolytes which play a key role in normal nerve/muscle/kidney function and blood sodium levels, sodium is also needed to balance potassium levels, both in grass and in the body, and especially in hot weather.
Sodium and chloride (salt) are the major electrolytes lost in sweat, followed by potassium, so we need to feed around 20-25g salt daily to cover a baseline requirement. If you prefer to feed electrolytes, make sure this amount of salt is included in the composition.
Salt also encourages drinking water; obvious for summer hydration but for winter too - horses drink far less water in winter so we need to help encourage them to do so. It really is a no-brainer to add a quality salt into the feedbowl.
However ... as the biochemist team at Alltech have advised us, the problem with blending salt into a mineral/vitamin mix is that salt attracts moisture - it's a natural dessicant (drying agent) so the risk is that it will denature much of the composition. This means that a mineral mix blended with fine salt will not only lose its essential structure, but also shorten the shelf-life. This is one reason why I prefer to add in coarse salt; the other is that my connie, Murphy, hates the taste of salt so I have to sneak it in via coarse salt, so there's no overwhelming taste of salt for him.
We therefore don't include salt in our EquiVita range.
Add a generous heaped tablespoon of salt into the feedbowl, double if in hard work or sweating. We sell unrefined coarse sea salt, certified by the Soil Association, as well as fine Himalayan rock salt, both available in bulk at seriously good prices compared to the supermarkets, in our Online Shop/Individual Items/Salts page.
So, if it's not good to blend salt into a mineral blend, why do we include salt in our VitaComplete range?
Good question! But here's what we do to ensure our VitaComplete range isn't affected:
