Everybody needs vitamins. They are crucial to your bodies’ effective use of its available resources. It would stand to reason then, that if humans need supplements, then so to would other animals, and in particular horses.
Horses by themselves usually produce sufficient vitamins and minerals themselves, and they instinctively know when they bodies are low on a certain thing they need, which means they’ll go find the food that will provide them with the nutrients they need. However, in today’s society, where we keep horses in paddocks the size of a normal backyard, it is unlikely that an active horse will get the essential nutrients they need. So let’s take a look at the various horse vitamin supplements they may require.
Vitamin A
The truth is that horses have in body carotene, but unfortunately it can’t be transformed in vitamin A as many animals’ systems can do. So, there is a lack of vitamin A in horses and they need to supplement it artificially. Usually, they would get it through their food, and in particular their hay, where they have a serious deficiency though, a good vitamin A horse vitamin supplement will do the trick.
Vitamin A is important for their vision which is very important for race or outdoor horses, as it will enhance their vision at night as well as strengthen their overall vision. The other useful function of vitamin A is that it helps in the reproduction, respiration and digestion processes. For show horses, it can help in the look and feel of their coat, possibly aiding in its growth and appearance.
Vitamin D
Another important vitamin for horses is vitamin D. It helps horses to be strong. One of the major ways in which people will choose a horse is by looking at, and checking, the quality of their teeth. Usually a horses’ teeth will tell a lot as to whether the horse is healthy or not. For good teeth, horses need to get enough vitamin D as it regulates the intake and aids in the intake of calcium and phosphorous, another positive from that, is that it will help with the strength of the horses bones by facilitating additional absorption of calcium.
Vitamin E
The next important horse vitamin supplement is vitamin E. It is vital for the immune system, it protects the cells from free radicals, which if not checked and kept on top of, can cause thrombi in the blood, which is definitely not a good condition to have. Insufficiency of this vitamin can cause muscle weakness, if you want your horse to be strong and run faster, it would be a good idea to supplement it with vitamin E.
As a final note, it is important to make sure that you get your horse checked out thoroughly, to establish whether or not a horse vitamin supplement is needed.
