B Vitamins are generally created in the gut of the horse by its own physiology, and under normal circumstances are not required to be supplemented. However this internal manufacture can be disrupted when the horse is on a high carbohydrate and/or low fibre diet, or stressed by – travel – performance pressure – change of environment – or by illness. Signs of low Thiamine can be distracted, spooky behaviour, edgy and difficult manner.
Research has shown that B Vitamins and particularly Thiamine, can be insufficiently made in the gut and therefore lower in supply and so many horses may need supplementation, especially if access to good pasture is not available.
Thiamine is required in higher amounts when carbohydrates are the main source of energy, for example racehorses and high-performance horses, plus often these horses are not on full time quality pasture. Spookiness and nervous type energy is often blamed on carbohydrate intake, (but in fact carbohydrates just create energy) but more often it is the lowered thiamine levels.
Often this type of behaviour is attributed to low magnesium levels, even though a natural diet with a small feed usually provides sufficient magnesium. Many feeds and additives contain Organic or chelated Magnesium, which is not water soluble, and so it can be overdosed to a toxic level with negative effects to the horse. Magnesium oxide is water soluble but is inorganic but less popular (there is a trend for organic), and so safer for the horse. Read our article on Supplements here.
Supplementing 1000mg per day can bring the levels up to normal and help to calm the horse. It can be given when needed, for example days prior to travel and competitions etc, but also on a regular daily basis if pasture is not of the best standard. For a particular intensive situation, the dose can be doubled. As the physical size of the dose of a vitamin is not practical to measure, it is mixed with a carrier called maltodextrin so a useful scoop can be used. It also makes the product more palatable to a horse.
If a horse is in full performance mode and hard training then the option of supplementing the other B vitamins is more useful and can be given with a course of Vetpro Blud-Boost, or as a one-off boost then B-Boost can provide for that day.