# Good quality Multi vitamin & mineral supplement



## BethH (21 January 2016)

Hi Have been looking for a better quality multi vitamin than I currently use, has anyone used SNP Competition Horse Supplement before?  It seems well priced and has Lysine & Methionine in it which is not so common for a multivit - any feedback & is it any better or worse than the millions of other multivit supplemets out there?  

I did have some great responses to my previous post about finding a decent multivit, but this one seems to fit the bill more than most????


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## Shady (21 January 2016)

i've not heard of that one but i've been using Equimins Advance complete , it has both of those things in it , the horses like it and are looking good on it,. i tried 365 before but that has iron in it and also Equivite but it smelt disgusting and the horses wouldn't touch their food, even with just a tiny pinch to start off
it's all very confusing isn't it!!!!!


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## supsup (22 January 2016)

I've had a look at the SNP supplement and sorry, it's not exactly a winner, at least from my point of view. First of all, multi vit&min supplements that have lysine and methionine added (aka "quality protein" or "essential amino acids") are generally sold under the label of a "balancer". So it's not exactly true that you don't often find vit&min supplements with added amino acids, just that they usually run under a different name. Many are then pelleted to make them easier to feed, but not all (if you prefer a powdered supplement).

The reason I think SNP is pretty poor is because while it has a long list of ingredients, the levels per dose are actually quite low. Just to give a a reference - the minimum daily recommended amounts of zinc, copper and selenium for a 500kg at maintenance are 400mg, 100mg and 1mg. (Admittedly some of that will be covered by the forage, but just to five you an idea of numbers.) The recommended dose of SNP is 75g/day, and a dose would then contain 112mg zinc, 38mg copper and 1.5mg selenium. It would also contain 0.75g of methionine and 0.1g lysine. 

Now compare that to e.g. Pro Hoof (a powdered vit&min supplement with added lysine and methionine): 525mg zinc, 175mg copper, 1mg selenium, 10g lysine, 3g methionine per daily dose. Can you see that you'd be getting much more bang for your buck?
It's really worth comparing ingredients per recommended dose, and price per recommended dose, not just look at the list of ingredients. BTW, Equimins Advance Complete (available as powder or pellet) would also compare favourable against SNP. Hope this helps.


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## sem9999 (22 January 2016)

Thunderbrook daily essentials?


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## BORODIN (22 January 2016)

Why not feed a feed that is complete ??


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## TGM (22 January 2016)

BORODIN said:



			Why not feed a feed that is complete ??
		
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I suspect because a lot of horses don't need the extra calories that would be consumed if they ate the manufacturer's recommended daily amount of a complete feed.  Also some people like to avoid some of the ingredients that are found in complete compound feeds, so prefer to feed straight feedstuffs alongside a supplement.


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## thatsmygirl (22 January 2016)

Equimins advance complete is what I use and really rate it.
Half really aren't worth bothering with, don't touch the likes off NAF, nettex, mole valleys own etc its just a waste of money.


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## BethH (22 January 2016)

Gosh - it's such a minefield and you are right sup sup & TGM.  My horse is a really good doer but very sharp so I feed agrobs museli because it is low in sugars and starch and has no added junk like molasses etc along with a handful of charnwood linseed.  He has also become allergic to alfalfa/lucerne which rules a lot of other feeds & balancers out as alfalfa is often used as a binder.  

He has always had feedmarks benevit but has had a rough couple of years and became a bit run down with a weakened immune system for various reasons, so I felt needed a little more quality than the benevit to ensure he was getting all he needed as his feed is quite basic and he will be 17 this year.  I looked at the hackup bespoke but the blend they came back with was surprising and some of the ingredients I have tried before and they made no difference to him & I can feed the individual herbs far more cheaply, it also worked out quite expensive as the dosage was higher so a £40 tub would only last 6weeks making it quite expensive in comparison to the others on the market. So I was hoping to find a good value all round multivit.  Will have a look at the equimins  & thunderbrooks, thank you sup sup it does clarify the quality of the snp isn't as good as I hoped.  It's so hard to try and work out which will be the most beneficial overall!  Thanks you all for posting - very useful info so far!


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## Janovich (22 January 2016)

Forage Plus get my vote...


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## amandaco2 (22 January 2016)

I use pro balance.


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## BethH (22 January 2016)

Great thank you I'll add those to the list to investigate - just come across pro mineral too - all very interesting stuff!


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## smellsofhorse (22 January 2016)

I go for progressive earth.
Good prices, different options on suplumebrsuppliment mixes and other things you can add.


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## Luci07 (22 January 2016)

Forage plus looks good but expensive? 

I am going to try the platinum performance for my horse as it is very high in Vit E which I want (highest I have found), and has a good amount Zinc and Lysine as well. I have gone through all the extras on my various feeds to work out the right amounts.

Will also be moving finally to just straights but am making my changes gradual.


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## supsup (22 January 2016)

Right. Because I'm a geek... On my personal short-list for a decent multi vit with some essential amino acids would be the following four. I've looked up prices (incl. shipping) for around 3-5kg sizes (the more you buy in bulk, the cheaper it tends to get) and the recommended dose per day (assuming 500kg horse).

Pro Hoof: £1.05/day (3.6kg pack, on the lower end for zinc and copper levels, medium range for magnesium levels)
Equivita: 84p/day (3kg pack, higher zinc/copper, high magnesium levels)
Forageplus (Winter balancer): £1.16/day (5kg pack, high zinc and copper levels, surprisingly no methionine, just lysine. But there are other winter balancer options to chose from)
Equimins Advance complete: 76p/day (4kg of the powder. also available as pellets. decent zinc and copper levels, but relatively low magnesium)

Hope I didn't make any mistakes. It's been a while since I did a price comparison, and I have to say I'm surprised that Forageplus is not more expensive, and that Pro Hoof is as expensive as it is. Somehow I thought there was more of a gap between the two. Of course, there are more differences in the details (what form of supplemental copper and zinc, forageplus is probably the go-to brand if you really need to avoid additional iron in the diet etc. etc.).


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## southerncomfort (22 January 2016)

Another vote for Equimmins. I put my old pony on it when she was recovering from illness and eating a conditioning feed that had not vits and mins in it.

She did SO well on it and I swear it made a huge difference to her recovery.  She is back on a feed balancer now but I wouldn't hesitate to use it again.


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## paddy555 (22 January 2016)

Luci07 said:



			Forage plus looks good but expensive? 

I am going to try the platinum performance for my horse as it is very high in Vit E which I want (highest I have found), and has a good amount Zinc and Lysine as well. I have gone through all the extras on my various feeds to work out the right amounts.

Will also be moving finally to just straights but am making my changes gradual.
		
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is that synthetic vit e or natural? quality not quantity is what counts with vit E.


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## BethH (22 January 2016)

Hi  - Supsup I love the fact that you are a geek, it's so helpful! One thing I realised is that you have to have a good look at the scoop size before working out how far it goes.  I looked at the pro balancer versus the pro mineral and although the pro balancer is only a little more expensive, you need to feed twice the amount and I liked the forageplus too & yes the platinum one but it is expensive!   I was contemplating feeding the pro mineral and then continuing with the linseed I already use and going back to the brewers yeast but then it all starts getting complicated!!!  

So on balance, I think I like the look of the equivita - assuming this is the equinatural company, a kilo would only last 2 weeks as you need to feed approx 65g a day but I can see if you buy a large tub the cost falls dramatically so a 5 kilo tub for £40 would last approx 2.5mths which makes it very good value at around £16 a month and it seems to have the job lot of everything I need.

Love this forum, a decision is so much easier to make when you have good info being given - thank you all


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## Shady (22 January 2016)

BethH said:



			Hi  - Supsup I love the fact that you are a geek, it's so helpful! One thing I realised is that you have to have a good look at the scoop size before working out how far it goes.  I looked at the pro balancer versus the pro mineral and although the pro balancer is only a little more expensive, you need to feed twice the amount and I liked the forageplus too & yes the platinum one but it is expensive!   I was contemplating feeding the pro mineral and then continuing with the linseed I already use and going back to the brewers yeast but then it all starts getting complicated!!!  

So on balance, I think I like the look of the equivita - assuming this is the equinatural company, a kilo would only last 2 weeks as you need to feed approx 65g a day but I can see if you buy a large tub the cost falls dramatically so a 5 kilo tub for £40 would last approx 2.5mths which makes it very good value at around £16 a month and it seems to have the job lot of everything I need.

Love this forum, a decision is so much easier to make when you have good info being given - thank you all
		
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Beth, test it first unless you are sure they will not mind what you put in their food, mine will eat anything, seriously, turmeric, global herb mixes with ginger etc but they would not touch Equivita and i have a big tub of it wasted, it has the weirdest , strongest smell of any supplement i've tried, could be there was something off with it but you might want to buy a smaller tub first just in case. xxx


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## BethH (23 January 2016)

Ah - thanks shady, mine is a gutbucket but I think that might be wise - don't understand how 1kg can be £22 and 5kg only £40, puts you off a bit.  It's frustrating, I wish there was just 1 decent all round supplement out there that was reasonable value of money!!!  I want to get a decent mix of vitamins and minerals, really like the sound of pro mineral and it's good value but then as soon as you look at their balancer which has the vits in, it works out 3x the price if you use the correct doseage - sigh!


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## Leo Walker (23 January 2016)

With Equivita its free postage, so it bumps the cost up a lot for smaller amounts


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## BethH (23 January 2016)

good point!  And now am thinking what about pro mineral plus brewers yeast again, I already feed the linseed!!


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## D66 (23 January 2016)

sem9999 said:



			Thunderbrook daily essentials?
		
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This works out at 70p per day for the big bucket.  Whats your opinion of the composition?  I use the base mix and the horses have never looked better just wondering if I should get them this as well.


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## StorminNormin (11 February 2016)

I'm just not sure about Thunderbrook anymore, after all the comments on FB and various forums about bullying and threatening customers,  as well as blocking people off the barefoot FB page for asking perfectly innocent questions. They posted a while ago that their Base mix is 40% linseed which is a  huge proportion so it's no wonder that horses look so well on it. I think someone in TB posted that in error because the post was suddenly changed! It also has rice bran which is now getting a bit of bad press and other than that the mineral content is low. Might as well get your own bag of linseed from Charnwood and add your own with a balanced mineral blend. I use Prohoof but looking at a bespoke from Equivita now as my hay analyses needs extras to balance it.


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## BethH (12 February 2016)

Hiya, thanks for that.  Some of these smaller feed companies are a nightmare, I've had problems with another so tend to steer clear now.  Ok my solution in the end was that I have kept him on the agrobs museli & charnwood linseed and then bought some progressive earth pro mineral to give it a go as seems very good value and put him back on brewers yeast for the b-vits.  Then I have gone back to adding in rosehips/celeryseed powder & marigold sigh!  Why isn't there just 1 good value supplement that covers everything at the right level needed daily!!!!

If anyone wants to tell me that I am missing anything or recommend anything else I'd be happy to hear it....


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## supsup (12 February 2016)

BethH said:



			Why isn't there just 1 good value supplement that covers everything at the right level needed daily!!!!
		
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I think the reason is because not everyone wants/needs the same thing. If you've had your forage analysed, you don't want to pay for anything that you don't really need - so a cheaper supplement that leaves out a few ingredients might suit better. And not everyone will want to pay for things like herbs in their vit&min product. Vitamin E is one of the most expensive ingredients included in supplements, so that's why going from a mineral-only to a decent vit&min supplement can make quite a difference in cost. In the end, you get what you pay for, to some degree. The best you can do is shop around and carefully read labels.


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## StorminNormin (12 February 2016)

Why don't you contact EquiNatural? Theyll do a tailormade blend for you with exactly what you need. That's what they're doing for me, and it's such a relief to get an all in one instead of all the bags everywhere. They're very friendly as well, I've been using their herbs for years, www.equinatural.co.uk


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## lrw0250 (12 February 2016)

I use Pro Balance from Progressive Earth. It was recommended by our barefoot trimmer and I like the fact they sometimes send you a free bar of chocolate with your order!


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## onemoretime (12 February 2016)

I have started to use Equine Answers 365 vit & Mins.  Please could someone( a Geek) tell me what you think of this supplement, I would be very interested.


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## Yardbird (12 February 2016)

lrw0250 said:



			I use Pro Balance from Progressive Earth. It was recommended by our barefoot trimmer and I like the fact they sometimes send you a free bar of chocolate with your order!
		
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But if you order the large size you get a big bar of choc and it is too fattening!


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## Leo Walker (12 February 2016)

Yardbird said:



			But if you order the large size you get a big bar of choc and it is too fattening!
		
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I only get small ones or Highland Toffee with mine. I think I shall start buying in bulk :lol:


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## laura_nash (12 February 2016)

Janovich said:



			Forage Plus get my vote... 

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Mine too.  I had the full forage analysis and feed plans done and was very pleased with the service.  I also saved money (I was already using their balancer and was very happy with it, but it turned out I only needed to feed half the recommended dose).

OP if he's a bit run down with a weakened immune system I would really recommend a course of global herbs restore, I've used it very successfully in the past as a pick me up after illness etc.  I just buy one bottle and use it till it runs out.  If you do try this though, watch out if he's already a bit sharp as it can make them feel very well!


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