SARAH: "What supplements should every horse have?"
What a question.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I did not write this
and you did not write this, right?
SARAH: I did not write this.
DR LYDIA GRAY: And I'm sure this is the same place you went to,
but when I get asked that--
I get asked that a lot.
And also, what is your horse on?
I step back and think, well, what is the horse getting?
First, let's-- well, forage first.
So you said earlier, 1% to 2% of the body weight
in high quality forage.
That's got to be like the basis.
And then you want to make sure that, using the body condition
scoring, that horse is at an ideal weight,
and that's the calories and the energy that you provide it.
It might need to be a grain or it
might need to be alfalfa, beet pulp, or fats, or something.
Then you've got to complete and balance
the diet for the proteins or the amino acids and the vitamins
and minerals.
And now you can begin to think of, OK,
next would be maybe salt. Make sure--
because there's not a lot of salt, unlike human feedstuffs--
not a lot of salt in horse feedstuffs.
So you've got to provide that.
And then I think that, making sure
that the omega-3 balance, amount and balance is correct is next.
And then and only then do I begin
to think about, now, so what supplements should horses
be on, in every horse?
And also what problems does my individual horse have,
that there might be a supplement that can support him?
SARAH: But two that you just mentioned, salt and omegas,
there are a lot of supplements that contain those.
Because we know a lot of horses' diets are lacking.
DR LYDIA GRAY: But it's interesting
that they're considered sort of the base diet.
SARAH: Yeah.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
SARAH: But still, it tends to be a gap for some people,
especially on the salt one, where
we think of it like people, where it's like, oh,
you probably have too much.
Not the same for horses.
DR LYDIA GRAY: No, it's not the same at all.
Yeah, I don't know that they have high blood pressure, so.
So as far as what every horse needs,
I kind of think that based on that wild horse,
the mustang research, that showed they have had joint
distress even though they were mustangs doing--
they weren't going to shows and they weren't jumping fences
and doing canter pirouettes--
so that tells me that every horse needs some joint support.
Because there's just-- just from living, just from being alive.
I mean, I'm not an elite athlete.
I know, shocking.
But my joints hurt.
So you know, I'm on a joint supplement.
So I kind of think I would reach for a joint supplement first.
I know my horse, when I got him, he was four.
He was not halter broken.
And my friend--
SARAH: I bet he was wild.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah, a little bit.
Actually knocked me down a few times.
But my friend who worked for a supplement company
gave me a new horse present.
I don't know what it's called.
But--
SARAH: A horsewarming.
DR LYDIA GRAY: A horsewarming present.
And it was a joint supplement.
And so he is--
He's 17 now.
And so he's been on one for 13 years.
The other thing that probably every horse,
you should at least have a conversation maybe
with your veterinarian about is vitamin E.
Because unless your horse is on fresh green pasture--
so if your horse is just eating hay--
I'm almost positive that not getting the amount of vitamin E
that he needs per day.
And then if you add on work or exercise,
that amount that's required goes up.
So then, for sure.
So I would probably have a conversation
or do some reading about vitamin E and say,
this is what my horse gets, and this is what he needs,
and what's that gap?
And so fill that in.
And from there is when I begin to look at the problems.
There is a category that I'm sort of torn between,
which is the digestion.
SARAH: That's where I thought you were going.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Because you're like, well,
every horse doesn't need digestion,
except that horses in general are pretty fragile creatures.
Their microbiome, or the bacteria
that live in their hindgut, they're
pretty fragile, as well.
So any little change, and they're like,
"Danger, Will Robinson."
So that, and the fact that if there is some GI distress,
it can be pretty serious.
SARAH: Mhm, pretty quickly.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Now I've talked myself into, well, maybe
every horse should be on a digestive support supplement.
SARAH: Especially if you consider
the risk factors for digestive stress,
which are things like changes in hay,
even if it's a new cut from the same field,
can increase a horse's risk of digestive stress by, like,
10 times, research has said.
DR LYDIA GRAY: And grain, like, five times.
SARAH: Yep.
And then there's things like increased time spent
in a stall, which whose horses don't encounter that?
And so there's so many things that are really common risks.
DR LYDIA GRAY: And that are out of your control sometimes.
SARAH: Yeah, absolutely, that can increase
the risk of digestive stress.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So I think we've talked ourselves
around to adding digestive--
SARAH: Yeah, it's a good one.
DR LYDIA GRAY: --support to that.
And now I come to the individual problems.
So you know, if your horse has icky-looking hooves,
or if the top line needs developed.
Or like this other lady, the last question,
her horse was like, I don't want an insect within a mile of me.
You know, my horse doesn't care.
And so there's supplements for each of those issues.
And that's when you begin to design
your horse's personal SmartPak of supplements to address--
find the solution to the problem that you are having
with your individual horse.
SARAH: So I can give a brief shout-out--
because it is so hard to say a blanket recommendation of this
is what your horse needs, that's why
we have a whole team of stairs that you
come every month to give continuing education
and training to.
We have a team of Customer Care supplement experts
who are just a call or click or even text away now,
that you can reach out to.
And they'll walk through all of those questions.
They're trained to help you uncover problems
that you may not have realized that supplements could
help with, or just really understand your goals
and help you with your horse.
And if you are like me, a person who would rather die than pick
up the phone and call someone with it,
you can use the wizard at SmartPak.com/Wizard,
which walks you through the same questions that can kind of help
you uncover those areas of support that your horse might
benefit from.
DR LYDIA GRAY: They don't need me.
SARAH: I mean, well, you don't need a blanket recommendation,
because you can get a customized one.
And it's really easy.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
Perfect.