Talk to your vet or a qualified equine nutritionist before adding supplements, especially if your horse is unwell, lame, pregnant, competing under drug rules, or already on medication. This article is general information. It doesn't recommend products or amounts. Follow the label, and your vet's advice, for how much to feed.
Walk into any saddlery or feed store and you'll find shelves of tubs promising better joints, stronger hooves, a calmer temperament or a shinier coat. Some supplements fill a real gap in a horse's diet. Others have little evidence behind them. And the wording on the label tells you more than you might think about which is which.
Start with the diet, not the tub
Before buying anything, check the basics. Agriculture Victoria's feed guidance says at least 70% of a horse's diet should be roughage (hay, pasture or chaff), concentrates such as grain should be no more than 30%, and changes should be made gradually over 3 to 5 days [7]. It recommends adding a vitamin and mineral supplement to make sure the diet is balanced, and keeping up dental and worming programs so the horse can use its feed efficiently [7].
It also suggests getting expert advice from an equine vet or a qualified equine nutritionist if you're unsure about your horse's requirements, and getting a feed analysis for accurate nutrient figures [7]. A supplement can only fix a gap you know about. Our feed calculator and weight calculator are a good starting point for working out what your horse is eating now.
What the label is allowed to say: Australia
In Australia, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) regulates veterinary chemicals, including some feed supplements. Its guidance on animal feed products draws a clear line [1].
Supplements that don't need registration. Nutritional supplements fed in feed (or as blocks and licks) for voluntary eating are excluded from registration, provided they're represented only as suitable "to supplement diets where levels may be low", or words to that effect [1]. They mustn't make health claims, and the APVMA says their label should carry a statement such as "Nutritional supplement product for inclusion in animal's feed. Product has no therapeutic effect" [1]. The label should give the inclusion rate per kilogram of feed, not per kilogram of bodyweight, and avoid words such as "dose" or "dosage", because feed supplements by definition aren't dosed [1].
Products that claim to cure or treat. Supplements represented as capable of curing a condition or disease need registration as complementary animal health products, or in some cases as pharmaceutical products. That applies even when the condition is caused by a low level of that nutrient [1]. The APVMA's examples of complementary products that need registration include [1]:
- veterinary herbal remedies
- marine extracts such as green-lipped mussel or shark cartilage
- nutraceuticals such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids and glycosaminoglycans used at daily amounts higher than the normal nutritional requirement
- probiotics, prebiotics and enzyme products
- homeopathic remedies.
One ingredient, three categories. The APVMA uses vitamin E as an example. Added to feed "to supplement diets where levels may be low", it's an excluded feed supplement. Added to cure a non-specific condition caused by a dietary deficiency, it's a complementary animal health product. Added to cure tying-up in horses, it's a pharmaceutical veterinary medicine [1].
The 2015 reforms. Since March 2015, some animal feed products are excluded from APVMA regulation if they pass four tests covering ingredients, manufacturing quality systems, labelling and claims [1]. Under the claims test, unless the product is sold only through vets, any claim that it treats a disease, condition or injury must be backed by scientific evidence of a standard suitable for publication in peer-reviewed journals, which the APVMA can ask to see [1].
What the label is allowed to say: New Zealand
In New Zealand, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) classes animal feed and nutritional supplements as "oral nutritional compounds" under the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act 1997 [2]. They're normally authorised through an exemption from registration, but MPI stresses that exemption from registration isn't exemption from regulation [2].
A product won't be exempt if it contains more of a nutrient than is needed to deliver a nutritional benefit, or if it makes therapeutic claims. MPI's example is "this product treats arthritis" [2]. In those cases it's likely to need registration as a veterinary medicine [2].
Reading a label: quick guide
| What you see | What it usually tells you |
|---|---|
| "To supplement diets where levels may be low" and "no therapeutic effect" | Sold as a nutritional supplement, not a treatment [1] |
| A claim to treat, cure or prevent a disease (e.g. "treats arthritis") | Should be registered as a veterinary product; in Australia, check the label for registration details, or ask the supplier [1][2] |
| "Dose" or "dosage" on a feed supplement | Not the wording the APVMA expects on an unregistered feed supplement [1] |
| Inclusion rate per kg of feed | The format the APVMA expects for excluded feed supplements [1] |
If a product makes a strong health claim and you can't tell whether it's registered, ask the supplier or your vet.
What the research says: joint supplements
Joint supplements based on glucosamine and chondroitin are among the most popular. A 2009 review in the Equine Veterinary Journal looked at all 15 published studies of glucosamine-based nutraceuticals in live horses. It set a minimum quality standard, and only 3 of the 15 studies met it. The authors concluded the quality of studies was generally low, preventing meaningful interpretation of the results, and called for new high-quality research [3].
A 2021 review of preventive measures used to protect performance horses' lower limbs, from therapeutic shoeing to nutraceuticals, reached a similar conclusion: despite their popularity, the evidence base and clinical outcomes are variable, and few studies have robustly shown that these measures protect the limb [4].
That doesn't mean no product works for any horse. It means owners should be sceptical of strong claims, and lameness or stiffness should be diagnosed by a vet rather than managed with a tub from the shelf. Find an equine vet near you.
What the research says: biotin for hooves
Biotin has better evidence than most hoof supplements, although the studies are older.
- In a long-term Swiss study, 97 horses with brittle, chipped hooves were given biotin and 11 were left unsupplemented as controls. The supplemented horses' hoof horn improved after 8 to 15 months. Interestingly, the growth rate of the hoof wall was the same in both groups, and hoof condition got worse again in 7 of 10 horses when biotin was reduced or stopped [5].
- A South African study of 24 riding horses over 10 months found biotin produced statistically significant improvements in hoof growth rate and hardness [6].
Two points stand out: any improvement takes many months, and in the Swiss study it didn't last when supplementation stopped [5]. Hoof problems have many causes, so involve your farrier and vet. Our care planner can keep farrier visits on schedule, and you can find a farrier in the directory.
Questions to ask before you buy
- What gap am I filling? Has my vet or a nutritionist looked at the whole diet [7]?
- Is the claim nutritional or therapeutic? If it claims to treat or cure, is it registered [1][2]?
- What's the evidence? Is there published research in horses, and is it good quality [3][4]?
- Am I doubling up? Check the labels of every feed and supplement in the ration, so you know what's already being fed.
- How long before I'd see a result? For hooves, the research suggests months, not weeks [5][6].
- Does my horse compete? Check your competition's rules on prohibited substances with your vet.
- What will it cost each year? Add it to the horse cost calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Do horses need supplements? Agriculture Victoria recommends a vitamin and mineral supplement to make sure the diet is balanced [7]. Beyond that, it depends on the horse and its diet. Ask your vet or a qualified equine nutritionist.
Are joint supplements worth it? The research on glucosamine-based products in horses has been generally low quality [3], and evidence for nutraceuticals more broadly is variable [4]. If your horse is stiff or lame, get a vet diagnosis first.
Does biotin help hooves? Studies have found improvements in hoof quality after months of supplementation [5][6]. Talk to your farrier and vet about your horse's hooves.
Supplements can have a place, but they work best as part of a balanced, forage-based diet, chosen with advice rather than marketing.
