VITAMINS: Exciting? No. Necessary? Yes. 

VITAMINS: Exciting? No. Necessary? Yes.  In the past several months we’ve covered the roles of water, protein, fat, and carbohydrates in the horse’s diet. This month we’re looking at vitamins and next month we’ll talk about minerals. Ugh, right? Not the most exciting topic. We think a lot about water (or we SHOULD be) and we pay attention to protein and we fret about fat and carbs. But vitamins and minerals…yeah, they’re in the feed, sometimes we wonder if we should supplement, but they don’t usually occupy a lot of brain space. They’re just sort of…there. Right? Let’s see if we can have some fun with this topic though and learn something as we go along. I’m not going to tell you how much you should be feeding your horse. That is a discussion to have with your veterinarian, as each horse is an individual and should be fed as such. Your horse’s need varies depending on age, job, environment, diet, and health. The topics we’ll look at in this article and next month’s article are what the vitamins and minerals do, where they are found, and what happens if your horse eats too little or to much of them. Just as too little can be harmful to health, adding too much isn’t good either. More isn’t always better. I’m also not going into great depth with each of the vitamins and minerals. With a nod to equine nutritionists and researchers, one could write pages and pages for each vit and min. One could spend hours researching and reading about the role of each. Some haven’t even been studied that much, and in some cases the daily requirements for the horse have not yet been established. My goal is just to keep you interested and help you with the basics. Here’s the thing about vitamins and minerals: a little bit goes a long way. I suppose you could think of them as super-concentrates. We talk about the horse’s need for gallons of water, pounds of fiber, even pounds of carbs and protein, but vits and mins? The horse needs ounces, or maybe not even that much, in his daily diet. You can see this just by looking at the feed tag, which we’ll do later. I’m not trying to scare you here, but not providing enough ounces- or too many ounces- can be a big deal. How can you tell if your horse isn’t getting enough, or is getting too much? There may be physical signs that you can observe in your horse’s behavior, muscles, teeth, hooves, hair, performance, and overall health. That isn’t definitive though. The best way to determine is to talk with your veterinarian, who will probably recommend a lab test. Keep in mind that if your horse is deficient in vitamins and minerals or has a toxic amount in his body, it can take time to clear this situation and get him “right” again. So how can you make sure your horse is getting the correct amount? It’s actually not that hard. If you are feeding a commercial feed and you are following the recommendations on the bag, your horse is likely in the safe range. Same thing if you are feeding a ration balancer and following the feeding guidelines. Remember, this means feeding by the pound, not by the scoop, or the handful, or “just a bit.” If you have your hay analyzed, then you have even more useful information. Let’s look at a few definitions to set the stage. Vitamins are organic substances. That doesn’t mean “organic” like the high-priced veggies at your local supermarket. Organic means that they are produced by animals and/or plants, which are living organisms. Minerals are inorganic and come from the soil or may be dissolved in water. They may be absorbed by the plants that your horse eats, but the plant doesn’t produce them. Without being too technical, the main difference between organic and inorganic is that organic nutrients (protein, fats, carbs, vitamins) all contain carbon. Inorganic nutrients, such as minerals and water, do not contain carbon. Although water can carry carbon, it isn’t part of the chemical composition of water. (An extra cookie for you if you remember the molecular formula for water!) Now this paragraph is not related at all to today’s discussion, but it’s kind of cool. Four years ago, I visited relatives in Alaska. We were in a part of the state with incredibly high amounts of the mineral silica in the soil. There is a certain type of grass that takes up so much silica that it looks crystallized- as if one had dipped it in clear glitter and let it dry. It was beautiful, very brittle and abrasive- nothing that a horse would want to eat! In fact, I didn’t see signs of anything, including insects, eating this grass. It didn’t grow very tall either, partly because of the short growing season and probably because the huge amounts (and weight) of silica in the plant tissue didn’t leave much room for many other nutrients. A rather extreme example of how plants can take up minerals, certainly, but fascinating and rather pretty in a bizarre way. A vitamin or a mineral might be found in different forms, and this matters because some forms are more bioavailable (easily digested) by the horse than others. Some can actually be manufactured in a laboratory. Generally, it’s thought that the naturally produced versions are the better choice. An example of this is magnesium. Feed manufacturers have several forms to choose from! The choice is driven by cost and digestibility. The more digestible, the higher the cost, of course. Adding more of the cheaper stuff doesn’t necessarily mean the horse gets more of the mineral either. In fact, it can lead to the blocking of digestion of other minerals. It turns out that the proportion to other minerals, not just the amount, can be key. When you’re looking at the feed bag, trying to determine the vitamin