Choose the right vitamin and mineral supplement for your horse
Even the best forage rarely covers the horse's need for vitamins and minerals. With three products and one rule of thumb, you'll find the right supplement in two minutes.
Every Day Happy suits most horses in light to moderate work. Peak Performance is for hard work, rehabilitation and breeding, and already contains algae oil and RC Movement. Supreme Minerals is the one to choose when you only want to supplement the forage with pure vitamins and minerals.
If you don't have a forage analysis, feed at Ekstra dosage. That is our starting point.
Ekstra dosage per 100 kg of horse, light work
Product
0‑14 år
Senior 15+
Supreme Minerals
15‑20 g
20 g
Every Day Happy
65 g
80 g
Peak Performance
65 g
80 g
Find your horse's weight and multiply up. Example: 500 kg horse, multiply by 5.
No analysis? Here's what to do
Feed on Ekstra. Most Danish forage analyses show too little of the important trace minerals
Give the supplement every day, rest days included. The need doesn't take a day off, even if your horse does
If you have a stallion, add 10 per cent on top, or feed it at Ekstra
Every Day Happy and Peak Performance share a chart. 0‑14 år: light work Normal 45 / Ekstra 65 / Maximum 85. Moderate 60 / 80 / 100. Hard 76 / 106 / 121.
Senior 15 years and over: light work Normal 54 / Ekstra 80 / Maximum 102. Moderate 73 / 97 / 121. Hard 91 / 127 / 145.
Supreme Minerals: 15‑20 g for light work. 20 g for moderate work, pregnancy and seniors. 20‑35 g for intensive work and in the first 1‑3 months of lactation.
Always scale up by your horse's current weight, not the ideal weight. For a 500 kg horse, multiply by 5.
What counts as light, moderate and hard work?
Light work or turnout: 20 minutes walk, 10 trot and 10 canter, 40 minutes in total, 1 to 6 times a week.
Moderate: 30 minutes walk, 20 trot and 35 canter, 1 hour and 15 minutes in total, 4 to 6 times a week.
Hard: 40 minutes walk, 35 trot, 50 canter and 15 minutes gallop, 2 hours and 30 minutes in total, 2 to 3 times a week.
If rider and tack weigh more than 20 per cent of the horse's weight, the requirement increases. A ratio of 1:5 is optimal.
When can you drop to the Normal dose?
Only if you have a forage analysis and it shows at least these values on a dry matter basis: copper 4‑5 mg/kg, zinc 20‑22 mg/kg, manganese 40‑50 mg/kg and iron 100‑110 mg/kg.
Keep an eye on iron: the horse only absorbs 10‑15 percent of the iron in its forage. If the analysis is below average, as it often is in Denmark, stay on Ekstra.
Feeding too little costs you at the other end: poorer hoof and coat quality, lower resilience and more vet and farrier bills.
Foals, youngstock, broodmares and stallions
Foals 2‑5 months: 1 g of Every Day Happy or Peak Performance per kg of foal per day. If you use Supreme Minerals, it is 0.5 g per kg of foal.
From 6 months and as a youngster: dose as for an adult horse in light work, but according to the expected adult weight.
In-foal mare: months 1‑8 according to the mare's workload, months 9‑11 as moderate work. After foaling, the first 3 months as hard work, then moderate until weaning. If the mare is both in foal and lactating, keep her on hard work throughout lactation.
Stallions: always 10 per cent more. The easiest option is to feed them at Ekstra.
Extra support during demanding periods
During moulting, around competitions and transport, during illness, harder training or a change of environment, you can increase the dose of Every Day Happy, Peak Performance or Supreme Minerals by 50‑60 per cent. This applies from a few days up to 4‑6 weeks. After that, you go back to the daily dose.
If your horse needs a longer booster, keep to Ekstra for 8‑16 weeks or Maximum for 4‑12 weeks.
What vitamins and minerals do in the horse
Vitamins and minerals are micronutrients that the horse cannot produce enough of itself. They play a part in building and maintaining bones, muscles and hooves, in energy metabolism and the immune system, and in a shiny coat and good general wellbeing.
Forage is always the foundation of feeding, but even good forage rarely covers the full requirement. That's why every horse needs a daily supplement, regardless of age, breed and workload.
