An article in the October 8, 2009, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, has reminded me of an issue that has bothered me for at least a couple of decades. While horse owners seem more than happy to give their horses any number of supplements, the fact is that, no matter what the supplements promise, horse owners can’t really know if the supplements do any good.

Why? One reason is that there is not a requirement that any of the supplements actually do what they say they’re going to do. Read that again; the claims made by supplements don’t have to be supported by any evidence. If you buy a watch, you have a reasonable assurance that it’s going to keep time, because that’s what watches do. But with supplements, just about any claim can be made, and there’s no requirement to prove it. In addition, even if a product were to do what it was claimed to do, horse owners still wouldn’t necessarily be assured that it would be effective, because there’s no way to assure that the product that they’re giving has in it what the labels says it contains.

The bottom line is that you simply don’t know what you’re getting when you purchase a supplement for your horse. The lack of supporting evidence, product variability, and differences in recommended doses make it essentially impossible for horse owners – or even veterinarians – to make any sort of rational selection of most supplements for their horses.

well said.

This a great argument for a balanced feed with a good reputation rather than trying to supplement for what your feed is lacking. A personal favorite is Purina Strategy, ive seen first hand what a difference a quality feed can make in just a short peroid of two weeks.

Another thing people seem to forget is that even if the supplements do what they promise, there is no way to make sure your horse is eating the supplement. This is especially true of pour-on-feed powders or liquids that so many supplements come in. For being such chow hounds horses can use their extremely dextrous noses to shake off or push aside anything that makes their favorite thing (their grain) smell or taste a little funny.