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Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition

   Welcome to my forum. 

Here you will find more than 6 years of questions and my answers. It is searchable and offers a great deal of information. 

Currently, I am discontinuing new questions. This may change in the future, but in the meantime, please know that It has been a true pleasure serving you. 

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All the best,

 Dr. Getty 

 



Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition
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ultium

I feed ultium to 2 of my horses one is 4 and the other 8, they are both barrel horses, the 8 year old is in a more intense riding program the 4 year old is just started on barrels not pushing her. The 4 year old eat a little over 6.5lbs a day and the 8 year old eats about 7.2 pounds a day. I feed conquer joint supplement to both of them, and thats it, are they getting enough nutritional with just feeding the ultium. They are both turned out on grass all day, and they get grass hay also.

Where are you from? ct

How did you locate this forum? I've talk to you personally about several of my horses

Re: ultium

Greetings Sharon,

Ultium is fine, but I would want to add two things for your performance horses. First, give them more vitamin E. Ultium's website does not state the exact amount of vitamin E per pound, though it is listed in the ingredients. Therefore, I am going to assume that the amount of vitamin E is typical for most commercial feeds -- approximately 140 IU per lb. Your horses should have 5 IU of vitamin E per lb of body weight while working intensely. 7.2 lbs of Ultium provides approximately 1000 IU and 6.5 lbs provides approximately 900 IU. So, it is best to add up to an additional 4,000 IU per day, depending on the work level.

Choose a supplement that does not contain selenium, since this is already provided by the commercial feed. I like SuPer E Natural since natural vitamin E is more active and you can control the dosage better than other vitamin E supplements. One scoop provides 1,000 IUs.

The second thing I want to recommend is additional flaxseed meal. There is flax in Ultium, so I would add 1/2 cup per horse (assuming they are both around 1000 lbs). Nutra Flax is stabilized and has additional calcium to correct for flaxseed's very high phosphorus levels. One scoop is 1/2 cup.

I assume they are both getting enough salt, but it's worth mentioning since they are likely sweating a great deal while working. Electrolyte supplements replace what is lost in sweat, but the horse must be in good sodium balance to begin with. That means, your horses should be getting at least one ounce of salt per day (two tablespoons of table salt or consuming enough salt block). They're already getting minerals from Ultium, so a white salt block is best. And be sure to feed hay before an event to give them enough chloride, which is not provided in adequate quantity in salt or electrolyte supplements.

Thanks for writing.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

sharon schwab
I feed ultium to 2 of my horses one is 4 and the other 8, they are both barrel horses, the 8 year old is in a more intense riding program the 4 year old is just started on barrels not pushing her. The 4 year old eat a little over 6.5lbs a day and the 8 year old eats about 7.2 pounds a day. I feed conquer joint supplement to both of them, and thats it, are they getting enough nutritional with just feeding the ultium. They are both turned out on grass all day, and they get grass hay also.

Where are you from? Bayfield, CO