Equine Challenge Products

[caryn]

Hello,
An expert farrier recommended a product by Equine Challenge to my friend as a general supplement ( good for overall horse health - coat, hooves, digestion...) and she has been using it for about 4 months. She LOVES it. I have noticed that her horses look really good. Very shiny coat and bright eyed. She'd had a hard time keeping weight on her 3 year old and he looks the best he has ever looked. Prior to starting Equine Challenge, she routinely fed high grade milled flax seed, which is a substantial portion of Equine Challenge, so I don't think the change in appearance/overall health is attributable to the flax.

I feed flax ( nutra-flax - stabilized with added calcium to balance calcium/phosporous ratio ) and horse guard general vitamin/mineral supplement currently. I am thinking of switching over to Equine Challenge Vitamins and Minerals Grass formula. Anybody else feed this supplement? Any thoughts on the product from our resident nutrition experts?

Here's a link to the product website:
equinechallengeproducts.homestead.com/EquineChallengeProducts.html

[cutiepiepmu]

The equine challenge products are good products - they use high quality ingredients in the product. HOWEVER - if you are feeding the horseguard product currently at the level recommended you may not see much change between the two. Horseguard vitamins are outstanding and are highly absorbable.

The one thing you might want ot consider though is feeding a good free choice mineral along side of things. Don't force feed because you could over supplement - BUT feeding a free choice loose mineral allows the horse to graze as needed.

As a general - I find that alternating minerals is a great idea. I generally rotate the minerals I use 2 times yearly for 30 days at a shot. I rotate at the first of spring and also the end of fall.

Worst case - try it with your horse. If you do- give it 60 days or so unless something bad starts to happen(which is UNLIKELY!) some horse do better on certain products.

With the friends horses - were they previously on a vitamin/mineral supplementation program???

sara in WA

[cutiepiepmu]

I also wanted to add - the one thing i DONT like about their product is that they don't list the amounts of each vitamin/mineral. This IMO can be an issue since you don't know if you are over supplementing or not and you don't know if certain things are adequate.

Sara in WA

[caryn]

Thanks for the input Sara. Nope, my friend's horses were not receivng vit/min supp. Could be why the effect was so dramatic.

The horse guard is great, but I thought I'd give EQ Challenge a try for my Appendix QH Ally at least. The farrier really swears by the product for hoof health. She doesn't grow much and she's the only one of my horses that needs shoes. Lots of TB in her, I thought maybe this product would be better for her. Also, she is mildly allergic to just about everything, including corn. Horse Guard has corn in it, not enough to cause hives, but EQ Challenge doesn't. In fact, it is the first supplement that I have found that does not have anything in it that Ally is allergic too. So exciting She really is allergic to everything.

Glad to hear you think highly of the product. I think I'll start with Ally. I still have a couple of months worth of Horse Guard left and may just continue it for my other 3.

[caryn]

Do you have a favorite "free choice" mineral product?

[caryn]

One more thing about my friend's horses. Before starting the supplement, her mare JJ had lots of excessively long hairs sort of scattered about. Hard to explain, but her winter coat was not "even" like it is now. The farrier told her those would go away and they did within 2 weeks. It's like she shed unhealthy hairs and now have a thick, soft, healthy winter coat.

[cutiepiepmu]

My favorite hoof grow product(outside of the one I make Is actually Select the Best Nu-Hoof Maximizer. Outstanding stuff - on my QH who grows very little foot we saw nearly a full inch of growth in the first 45 days of using it! UNREAL! I know that is a soy based product - but can't remember off hand about corn.

As far as the long hairs - I personally would figure it was poor nutrition - especially if the horse was not getting anything other than just hay. Nutrition is funny stuff - when the body gets everything it needs, things tend to just fall into place. i can only IMAGINE if I fed myself HALF as good as I do my horses - WOW, I would be a super model! But instead, I just had frosted flakes for dinner since John is gone and I didn't want to cook! LOL

I have a couple of minerals I like ALOT. 1st one is ADM Alliance Gro-Strong. It comes in a variety of forms in both a formula for grass as well as alfalfa. It comes in loose and a Quad-Block which is handy for pasture situations. I like these minerals alot- they are balanced, chelated and contain some electrolytes. It is in a flax base. I leave them out free choice in the loose form, but if I have a horse that doesn't eat them, I add to the feed daily.

The other minerals I like are a new product from horseguard. They are a free choice mineral that is loose. I like those alot.

I also order custom mixed minerals from Zinpro if I have a horse that is struggling. I will pull a blood pannel then figure out a custom mix. Zinpro minerals ROCK! But, you have to be able to handle purchase of large quantities. I order large amounts sinceI use them in many of hte products I mix.

Everything I feed is forage based, but I customize the diet based on the individual If I am not seeing dapples - something is wrong!

Sara in WA