Mineral Feeding Options

minerals are not adequately metabolized by the horse. This is rarely the case with the organic minerals.
There are many natural sources of minerals and vitamins that we can supplement with little detrimental affect. These include kelp rosehips dolomite apple cider vinegar and sea salt.
So what is the best way to do that? I hear you say.
It really depends on your situation how you feed and what you supplement with.
If you are bucket feeding a performance horse or breeding stock then adding supplements to their feed is easy but be careful what youre giving doesnt conflict with any prepared feed mixes.
Be aware that almost all prepared feed and mineral mixes are designed for the average type of horse on the average type of soil. You need to know what your soil is lacking in and supplement with that. Or in some cases your horse may show some reliable physical signs such as a faded curly on the ends coat indicating a copper deficiency or erratic behaviour in spring when the grass is at its richest indicating more magnesium needed.
But what if your horse lives in a herd and doesnt need regular bucket feeds?
Then feeding minerals as often as you can is better than none at all or offer them free choice.
There are a couple of ways to do this take a selection of supplements like the natural ones suggested above out to the horse each day in a small bucket and leave it with them while the weather is fine. These supplements are ususally too expensive to risk being ruined by rain.
This method will suit the at home horse owner who can retrieve the buckets or just leave them with the horses to take what they need while they attend to grooming or paddock maintenence.
For those that dont have the luxury of living with their horses its easier to have free choice minerals under cover either in a shelter shed or if you havent got one of those make something up like the apple bin above converted to hold the minerals. Facing it away from the prevailing weather will protect the contents.
Whatever form of feeding minerals you adopt remember that horses always need free choice salt so it is imperative to supply a block to lick or if you can keep it under cover loose or rock salt.
Many mineral or salt licks can contain a high amount of molasses that encourages the horse to gorge and costs you a fortune so look for blocks that contain 3 molasses or less.