Re: over supplementing brochure

["Susan Evans Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

Most of the data they cite in the article on oversiupplementation is derived
from NRC sources and it's all pretty much accurate.  However, in most cases,
you have to try REALLY hard to provide a horse with enough of any vitamin or
mineral to reach significantly detrimental levels.  Much more likely is that
you will either be a) contributing to an expensive pee puddle, or b)
adversely (but not catastrophically) affecting absorption or utilization of
other minerals, such as in calcium and phosphorus, or copper and iron.

The take-home info here is to avoid going crazy with vitamin/mineral
supplements.  Don't feed ten pounds of a complete grain ration, plus a scoop
of this total vitamin mix, an extra scoop of that for the feet, a half cup
of this for the coat, a scoop of that because she's a mare and a pound of
something else because you have a race next week.  Most supplements contain
more than one nutrient and while you probably aren't going to do any harm
oversupplementing some nutrients (like, say vitamin B---they'll just pee out
the excess), you could potentially get excessive amounts of other minerals
like selenium, especially if your forage already contains high levels.

I actually like the Grand Vite products very much, they're what I supplement
my own guys with.  Don't worry too much about the symptoms of
oversupplementation, it's unlikely you'll get to toxic levels in a normal
feeding program.  Just use some restraint in supplementing---choose ONE
complete vitamin-mineral mix (or feed a grain mix where the vitamin/mineral
pack is already included), and if you feed any other supplements, provide
them in a more or less purified form to provide a specific amount of a
specific nutrient.  For example, I also supplement extra vitamin E to one of
my horses, but that bucket contains ONLY vitamin E, not a bunch of other
things that I may not want, don't want to pay for and may or may not be
detrimental if I feed too much. :-)

Hope this helps.

Susan G
-----Original Message-----
From: Vervaet <vervaetp@deruyter.k12.ny.us>
To: Ridecamp <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Monday, February 15, 1999 10:01 AM
Subject: over supplementing brochure


>Just wanted to let everyone know that Grand Meadows (Grand Hoof, Grand
Flex,
>Grand Vite Plus) has put out an interesting brochure involving over
>supplementing.  I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts who has read it.
>Their site is www.grandmeadows.com, their e-mail addy is
>grandmeadows@juno.com and their # is 1-800-255-2962 to request the
brochure.
>Paula
>
>