Grey Horse Equine Nutrition

06/11/2026

My recommendation is always to test your horses Vitamin E levels before supplementing it. Why spend money if you don’t have to? I always hear, well my horse is on grass so his levels should be fine. I hate to burst your bubble but… you can test two horses on the same grass and the exact same feeding program and one will come back deficient and one will come back normal or high. You can’t assume all is good, you need to test.

🐴 Horse Post of the Day: Vitamin E Edition (feat. The Great Supplement Olympics) 🐴

Random Horse Person:
“What are people using for their vitamin E supplement? I’ve been using the same brand for awhile. Want to see if there are better ones?”

Cue the comment section chaos:
“Powdered vitamin E!”
“Pelleted vitamin E!”
“Make sure it’s d-alpha tocopherol!”
“Water-soluble only!”
“Nano-dispersed is superior!” (for the low, low price of your monthly mortgage payment)
“I just feed treats with vitamin E added.”
“I don’t like product X because it has added dextrose.” (The scoop is 7 grams per serving, all while your horse is likely eating 9,000+ grams per day!)
“This vet-formulated product has 16,000 IU of vitamin E!”
(Fine print enters the chat: one scoop actually provides ~4,150 IU… and it’s synthetic.)
“I refuse to feed pelleted vitamin E with soy. Soy is inflammatory.”
(Friend… it’s a 34-gram scoop. Your horse is not spontaneously combusting from trace soy exposure.)

Meanwhile, me in the corner:

🚨 Can we ask the important questions first? 🚨

1. What are your horse’s baseline vitamin E blood levels?
Because “just supplementing on good vibes alone” is not a nutrition plan.

2. Are you trying to MAINTAIN vitamin E levels… or actually RAISE them?
Because those are two very different goals.

Here’s the educational part before Facebook Nutrition University revokes my membership:

For maintenance:
Powdered or pelleted natural vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol) often works just fine for many horses, especially if blood levels are already adequate.

For horses testing low in vitamin E:
This is where water-soluble or nano-dispersed forms tend to shine. They’re generally absorbed and utilized more efficiently, making them more effective when you’re actually trying to raise deficient blood levels.

❌ More expensive ≠ automatically better
❌ More IU on the label ≠ what’s actually fed per serving
❌ Fearmongering over microscopic ingredients ≠ good science

Moral of the story: before we start debating pellets vs powder vs unicorn tears infused with antioxidants… maybe start with what problem are we trying to solve?

06/06/2026

Horses at maintenance have significantly lower nutrient requirements than horses in moderate work.

Let’s use digestible energy (DE), or calories, as an example:

- An average 1,000 lb horse in moderate work requires a minimum of 21.2 Mcal (21,200 kcal) per day to maintain body weight.

- An average 1,000 lb horse at maintenance requires a minimum of 15.1 Mcal (15,100 kcal) per day to maintain body weight.

That’s nearly a 30% reduction in calorie requirements when a horse goes from moderate work to maintenance.

To put that into human terms, it’s similar to going from a 2,000calorie per day diet to a 1,400 calorie per day diet.

What would happen if you only needed 1,400 calories per day to maintain your weight, but continued eating 2,000 calories every day for a month?

As workloads decrease, this is a great time to re-evaluate your horse’s nutrition program and make sure calories in are matching calories out.

06/05/2026

When switching feeds, protein and fat percentages are the least important things on the tag!

Here’s what I look at, in order of importance:

Ingredient List
Guaranteed Analysis
Feeding Directions

Let’s break it down:

1. Ingredient List
Are the ingredients clearly listed (e.g., beet pulp, alfalfa meal), or are they grouped under vague terms like “processed grain by-products”?
Collective terms = ingredient changes based on commodity prices.

2. Guaranteed Analysis
Only nutrients listed under the guaranteed analysis on the product tag (not just the website) are regulated and must be present at those levels, they’re testable and enforceable by law.

The more items guaranteed, the more nutritional quality the company is backing.
Marketing may promote “digestive support,” but unless ingredients like probiotics are in the guaranteed analysis, there’s no guarantee they’re viable post-manufacture (this is called tag dressing).
Note: Don’t compare nutrient levels without first comparing feeding rates, context matters!

3. Feeding Directions
These tell you how much to feed to meet the vitamin and mineral needs.

Example:
If a feed recommends 6 lbs/day for a 1000 lb horse and you’re feeding only 3 lbs, you’re delivering half the nutrition. Choosing a feed with a lower recommended feeding rate can be more cost-effective and appropriate.

A feed with a 3 lb/day rate vs. 6 lb/day dramatically affects both nutrition and cost. Lower feeding rates should have higher nutrient concentrations to make up the difference.

Organic Minerals
Organic forms (e.g., zinc methionine complex) are far more bioavailable than inorganic forms (e.g., zinc oxide).

Are organics listed before inorganics? If not, it may just be tag dressing. This is a deep topic, but placement matters!

06/05/2026

It’s no joke, if someone asks about salt there will be 100 comments. Salt is salt and our horses have a requirement for it so let’s provide it. Salt may be the least expensive thing we buy for our horses ( I mean, if you want to spend a fortune on it, knock yourself out) but it is pretty important. The best salt is the salt they will consume.

🐴 Horse Post of the Day: The Great Salt Summit (aka “World War Sodium”)

Random Horse Person:
“Can you add iodized salt into your horse’s grain for their added ‘loose salt’? If so, how much?”

Simple question. Totally innocent. Should take 3 seconds to answer.

Instead, the internet collectively summoned:
• Himalayan salt healers
• Sea mineral evangelists
• “Redmond or nothing” loyalists
• Anti-caking ingredient detectives
• Trace mineral salt or die fans
• And at least one person yelling “Horses cannot self regulate!!” in ALL CAPS like it’s a courtroom drama

Meanwhile, a perfectly reasonable horse nutrition question has now become a 155-comment philosophical debate on sodium, minerals, the moral character of salt blocks, and whether iron is lurking in your seasoning cabinet like a villain.

My eye is twitching…profusely. I may not recover.
________________________________________
🧂 So… can you use iodized salt?
Yes.

And we can all breathe again.

Here is the actual, unexciting, science-based answer that causes the least chaos:

Practical Salt Guidance for Horses
1. Salt is salt (mostly sodium chloride)

Whether it’s iodized or plain white salt, the horse’s primary need is:
• Sodium + chloride (electrolyte balance, hydration, nerve/muscle function)
Fancy origin stories do not change this basic biology.
________________________________________
2. Iodized salt is safe
• Provides sodium chloride plus iodine
• Iodine is a required trace mineral for thyroid function
• Most horses already get iodine from:
o Fortified feeds
o Mineral balancers
o Commercial supplements

So iodized salt is generally fine—but it’s not “magical,” and it’s not required if iodine is already covered elsewhere.
________________________________________
3. How much to feed?
For maintenance horses:
• ~1 Tbsp salt per 500 lb body weight per day
(split into meals or top-dressed)

For a ~1,000 lb horse:
• ~2 Tbsp/day total

For hard working or heavily sweating horses:
• Often 2–4+ oz/day total sodium chloride may be needed depending on heat/sweat rate

And yes—this is plain salt math, not a wellness ritual.
________________________________________
4. Free-choice salt is fine… with a caveat
• Many horses self-regulate well when healthy and not over-supplemented elsewhere
• But some do not consume enough consistently → especially hard keepers, picky eaters, or heavily managed athletes
• And some will routinely overconsume salt

So:
• Free-choice salt = useful tool
• Measured salt in feed = more reliable in many cases to ensure intake

Both can be correct. Try not to start a war over it.
________________________________________
5. The “fancy salt” situation

Himalayan / sea / mined / ancient unicorn salt:
• Functionally still sodium chloride
• Trace minerals are nutritionally insignificant at feeding rates
• Main effect: very overpriced salt
________________________________________
Bottom line (for anyone still reading after the salt civil war)
• Yes, iodized salt is fine for horses
• No, you do not need to overthink the source
• Yes, your horse still just needs adequate sodium intake daily

Sometimes the most advanced nutrition strategy is… a tablespoon and some peace of mind.

06/03/2026

🐴 Horse Post of the Day: A Brief Guide to Equine Social Media Hysteria🐴

Friendly reminder that if you spend enough time on horse social media, you too can learn that:
• A single strand of mane hair apparently contains the secrets of the universe
• “Forage ONLY” is somehow the same thing as a balanced diet
• Every horse needs an anti-inflammatory diet, despite inflammation literally being part of normal immune function
• Omega-6 fatty acids are plotting against civilization
• Soy is basically industrial poison… except for the thousands of horses eating it without issue
• Beet pulp is apparently out there trying to trigger the metabolic apocalypse
• Commercial feeds are basically crack co***ne for ponies
• Vaccines are secretly causing every mystery ailment known to mankind
• Ulcers are caused by grain, stress, turnout, confinement, pasture, hay, supplements, the moon phase, and possibly Mercury in retrograde
• Salt is dangerous, but also electrolytes are mandatory, but also commercial electrolytes are toxic, but Himalayan unicorn salt fixes everything
• Dewormers are evil chemicals, so naturally, the superior parasite control strategy is herbal blends administered according to lunar alignment and astrological compatibility
• Every fat horse has EMS
• Every spooky horse has ulcers
• Every topline issue is PSSM
• Every stiffness issue is Lyme disease &/or EPM
• Every veterinarian is “missing something” that a Facebook comment section solved in 12 minutes
• A random influencer with 4 sponsored posts and a Canva certification knows more than PhD nutritionists, veterinarians, and actual researchers

And of course:
“Do your research” now means watching three TikTok reels and reading a comment from someone whose source is “trust me, I’ve owned horses for 30 years.”

Meanwhile, the horse just wanted:
✔ Consistent forage
✔ Balanced nutrition
✔ Routine vet/farrier care
✔ Adequate turnout
✔ Consistent conditioning
✔ Reasonable management

But sure, Karen, tell us more about how soybean meal is destroying the equine microbiome while your horse hasn’t seen a forage analysis since the Obama administration. 🙃

Did I miss anything???

06/02/2026

06/01/2026

This!!!!! I love being told the supplement I feed is not natural for a horse, from a bodyworker . I hate to point out….. bodywork is also NOT natural. Our horses have evolved from wild horses and our care has to evolve to meet those changes.

🐴 Horse Post of the Day: “It’s Not Natural” — A Love Letter to Selective Outrage

Random Horse Person on Facebook:
“I want to switch my horse from Triple Crown Senior to forage only because feeding grain isn’t natural. Wild horses don’t eat grain.”

Also, Random Horse Person:
✅ Horse lives in a 12x12 luxury apartment with stall fans and an automatic waterer
✅ Gets bodywork every other Tuesday because he looked at a cavaletti emotionally
✅ Feet done every 5 weeks with custom orthopedic shoe package
✅ Teeth floated every 6 months
✅ Hauled 8 hours to a horse show where he performs interpretive dressage under stadium lights while wearing imported saddle pads that cost more than my first car
✅ Has a winter wardrobe rivaling a North Face catalog

…but somehow the Triple Crown Senior is where we’re drawing the “unnatural” line? 🤨

Friends. Fellow chaos coordinators of domesticated prey animals.
We have GOT to stop acting like “it’s not natural” is the ultimate evidence-based mic drop in horse nutrition.

Nothing—and I mean absolutely nothing—about modern horse management is natural.

Wild horses do not:
❌ Get chiropractic adjustments because their SI joint feels “sticky”
❌ Receive MagnaWave sessions after a hard lesson
❌ Have their hocks injected before show season
❌ Text their massage therapist after tweaking a glute in the warmup ring

Somewhere in my brain lives a little cartoon:
A herd of wild horses is galloping away from a mountain lion.
Lead mare suddenly screeches to a halt.
“Timeout, everyone. My thoracic sling feels off. Karen the osteopath is on her way.”
The cougar, respectfully, waits.
💀

Now before Team “BUT THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM” storms the comment section…

Yes, horses are hindgut fermenters. Yes, forage should be the foundation of the diet. Yes, fiber matters. A lot.

But “wild horses don’t eat it” is not the nutritional trump card people think it is.

Wild horses also:
⚠️ Don’t routinely live into their late 20s and 30s
⚠️ Don’t compete in eventing, endurance, hunters, reining, or Grand Prix anything
⚠️ Aren’t expected to trailer 12 hours, stand in stalls, perform athletically, maintain muscle, recover from ulcers, arthritis, poor dentition, insulin issues, PSSM, EPM, Lyme disease, etc…

Survival ≠ thriving.

A feral horse surviving on scrub brush while covering 15 miles a day is not the same thing as your senior show horse named Fluffy who spends 20 hours/day standing in a paddock the size of a postage stamp and requires electrolytes because the weather hit 80° today.

The better question is not:
❌ “Is this natural?”

It’s:
✅ “Does this support THIS horse’s physiology, workload, health status, and actual needs?”

Because if we’re using “natural” as the gold standard, I regret to inform everyone that your horse’s vitamin/mineral supplements, ulcer meds, monthly SmartPak subscription, fly sheet, bodyworker, and PEMF therapy would also like a word.

Carry on. I’ll be over here feeding science and minding my own business. 🍿🐴

05/29/2026

I see FB posts like this everyday. You cannot supplement your way to a fantastic topline. You have to look at the quality of your feeding program and then pair that with an appropriate training program. Fluffy is not going to build topline by walking to the mailbox and back. That would be like body builders drinking a protein shake and sitting on the couch watching TV. If it was that easy to build muscle we would all be body builders. Hard work and targeted training programs have to be in place as well as a balanced, quality feeding program.

Horse Post of the Day: “We made horse nutrition harder than it was intended to be.”

Random Horse Person:
“My horse’s topline is lacking. Here’s her diet:
• A very popular vitamin/mineral supplement with approximately the amino acid profile of drywall dust
• Tiny handful of soaked alfalfa pellets acting as an emotional support feed
• Timothy hay
• Alfalfa hay
• Overgrazed pasture that mostly qualifies as decorative landscaping
• I want to stay grain-free and forage-based.”

Me:
Ah yes. The modern equine diet strategy:
Take perfectly reasonable forage…
Then add seventeen tiny components until nobody remembers what’s actually providing nutrition anymore.

Meanwhile the horse is over here trying to assemble muscle tissue out of hopes, dreams, and trace minerals.

Here’s the thing people hate hearing:
Topline is not built from magic powders labeled “muscle support,” “gut harmony,” or “moon-charged amino synergy blend.”

Muscle is built from:
✔ Adequate calories
✔ Quality protein
✔ Essential amino acids (especially lysine, methionine, and threonine) in decent amounts
✔ Correct work
✔ Time

And before the “NO GRAIN EVER” crowd faints dramatically into the nearest slow feeder:
A ration balancer is not the nutritional equivalent of feeding your horse a family-sized bag of Skittles.

You could very likely simplify this entire feeding program by:
➡ Replacing the mediocre vitamin/mineral supplement
➡ Replacing the carrier alfalfa pellets
➡ Feeding 1–2 pounds of a quality ration balancer of your choosing

And guess what?
It can STILL be forage-based.
It can STILL be grain-free.
It can STILL fit a low-NSC program.
Wild concept, I know.

Because, contrary to internet folklore, ration balancers were literally designed for horses exactly like this:
• Easy keepers
• Horses needing better protein/amino acid quality
• Horses on mostly forage diets
• Horses needing nutritional support without excessive calories

Also:
If the horse is in proper body condition (BCS 5-ish), and the topline is still weak, that often points less toward “needs more calories” and more toward:
➡ protein quality
➡ appropriate amino acid balance
➡ proper workload and conditioning

And sometimes…its simply limited to genetics and conformation.

Translation:
You cannot Pilates your way out of an amino acid deficiency.
But you also cannot supplement your way out of inadequate conditioning.

The internet loves acting like topline is some mystical art requiring 14 supplements, fermented yak algae, and the tears of a Scandinavian dressage trainer.

Sometimes the answer is just:
Feed better protein.
Work the horse correctly.
Be patient.
But also be realistic.

Revolutionary, truly.

05/19/2026

Want to know more about adding Vitamin E to your horses diet? Here is some great info on the different forms and the stability of Vitamin E.