Many horse owners are concerned about how effective their feeding programs are in providing the nutrients their horses need to maintain good health and a high level of performance. Sometimes, concerned horse owners fall victim to advertising that suggests various supplements including vitamins and minerals are absolutely necessary to their horse's health.
Determining horse's nutritional status
Research shows that the best practice for all horse owners is to provide a well-balanced diet that includes the recommended amounts of the various vitamins and minerals for the horse's age and performance requirements.
In addition, horse owners read about ways to determine a horse's nutritional health status through blood or hair analysis and other methods.
Beyond ration evaluation, blood and hair analysis have been used to estimate nutrient status in the horse. Some nutrients can be analyzed through blood work. Depending on the nutrient, a veterinarian may need a whole blood, plasma or serum sample for laboratory work. The blood sample needs to be handled with care so that hemolysis doesn’t occur.
In some respects, the blood status of a single nutrient at a single point of time may not give a good picture of the availability of the nutrient to the horse. Deficiency or toxicity symptoms in the animal must also be included in determining if a horse has a nutrient deficiency or toxicity.
According to a study by Per Spangfors, a veterinarian with Euro-Vets AB in Simlangsdalen, Sweden, who submitted a paper for a Kentucky Equine Research (KER) nutrition conference on the topic of blood analysis and its relationship to feeding performance horses, "there is a great danger with blood analyses in that what the owner ends up with is a set of figures on a piece of paper....the figure in his hand is a photograph of a dynamic situation, and was only valid for that particular situation. He should also know that the clinical picture of his horse is the truth, no matter what the blood test and normal values say, and he should have consulted a specialist about the interpretation of the analyses, but the absolute truth is never revealed."
Spangfors concludes, "Blood analysis is also an excellent tool for determining nutritional status in an individual horse, but the exceptions are many. Knowledge of the dynamic processes involved and a critical eye are necessary. Normal values should be used with great care, and comparing a new sample to previous samples from the same horse is the preferable method."
In fact, research shows that the best practice for all horse owners is to provide a well-balanced diet that includes the recommended amounts of the various vitamins and minerals for the horse's age and performance requirements. In short, Consulting with a veterinarian or equine nutritionist before supplementing a horse is important. Some vitamin and mineral supplements can be counter productive to certain health problems.
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