The Best Supplements for Hay Fed Horses

Our nutritionist’s top tips to ensure your horses are getting everything they need for optimal health, performance, show shine and strong hooves with supplements for hay fed horses.

Why supplement hay fed horses?

Fresh grass is rich in many vitamins as well as omega-3 fatty acids, but these do not store well once grass is cut and cured for hay. Vitamins, especially vitamins A, B and E should be supplemented hay is the major roughage source.

The omega-3 fatty acids naturally supplied by fresh grass do not store in hay. These natural fats are responsible for providing an anti-inflammatory balance in the immune system, countering the pro-inflammatory omega-6 oils contained in hay and hard feeds. Omega-3s help to keep the skin, hooves and coat healthy and create an amazing show shine! There are various ways of supplementing omega-3 fatty acids to tip the omega 3:6 ratio back into a positive balance.

• One of the most effective and convenient ways to add omega-3 fats to the diet is with 30 grams/day of Farmalogic Omega Balancer powder. This is a great way to top up with omegas if you’re using complete feeds that provide most or all of your horse’s mineral requirements. Omega Balancer is a palatable and stable omega-3 supplement which is even more potent and effective than linseeds or linseed/flax oils due to the DHA/EPA content from marine-sourced omega-3.
• If you feed plain hard feeds, and your horse needs a full serve of vitamins, minerals and omega-3s we recommend EVM Omega-3 PLUS as an all-in-one solution. Like Omega Balancer, EVM Omega-3 Plus provides marine-sourced EPA and DHA, which are not provided by plant-sources like chia or linseeds.
• Note that despite some marketing claims, hemp products are higher in omega-6 than omega-3 so do not contain the right ratio to correct horse diet omega-3 balance.

Don’t forget electrolyte supplements and water

When horses eat lots of hay rather than grass, they will drink more because hay contains much less water than fresh grass so be sure to keep water troughs full of clean, cool water. It is also important to ensure enough salt is fed to keep water intake up and avoid impaction colic. Salt can be sprinkled through a large bale of free-choice hay, or added to each individual meal. Aim for a total daily salt intake of between 7 to 12 grams of salt per 100 kilograms of horse bodyweight, remembering to count any salt included in premixed feeds and supplements.

Gut Health Supplements

Low quality hay with a high proportion of stem and little leaf can cause horses to scour. If this occurs, replace up to 30 percent of the daily intake with lucerne hay, or increase grass hay quality by sourcing leafy hay. Increase electrolytes and add a probiotic containing S. boulardii live yeast to improve gut health of horses with diarrhoea.

For general gut health we recommend 30 grams per day of Farmalogic Rejuvenate which contains prebiotics with protected live yeast probiotics. Increase to 60 grams per day if your horse scours, when going out in the float or other times of stress such as competitions and separation anxiety. Another option for competition days is to give Farmalogic B-Good instead of Rejuvenate on those ‘big’ days.

Supplements for Respiratory Health

Some horses are prone to upper respiratory tract irritations which are aggravated by dusty feed and environmental conditions. Here are some tips for minimising the risk to your horse:

• Steam, soak or hose hay prior to feeding to reduce fine particles such as leaf, dust and mould spores that may be present in the hay. Be sure to throw away any damp feed twice daily to avoid horses eating mouldy food.
• Feed hay in an area of the paddock with good grass cover or if feeding on bare ground, feed from a halved 44 gallon drum or over a large rubber mat or tarp (this will also help to minimise ingestion of dirt and sand which can accumulate in the gut causing ‘sand colic.’)
• Keep feeds low (preferably at ground height) so that mucus can drain from horse’s respiratory system.
• Supplement with omega-3s in the form of EPA and DHA which effectively incorporates fatty acids into  plasma and membrane phospholipids of horses with recurrent airway obstruction and may reduce pulmonary inflammation. By tipping the essential fatty acid balance in favour of omega-3  over omega-6, potentially harmful inflammatory responses are modulated which may be valuable in the treatment of equine recurrent airway obstruction and other equine inflammatory diseases including osteoarthritis.
• Supplement with Farmalogic Melox antioxidants. Research has shown that horses with lung disease tend to have lower levels of vitamin C than those with healthy lungs. Vitamins E and C, selenium and other antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase are beneficial when included in horse antioxidant products.
• Research in humans shows positive responses of some hay-fever afflicted individuals to MSM supplementation. Anecdotal reports from owners suggest that 10 to 20 g of MSM is beneficial in some horses.