Your horses total body weight is comprised of roughly 4% minerals. Compared to a 60% water and 30% fat makeup, these trace minerals may seem trivial; however, they’re vital for dozens of internal systems and significantly impact your horse’s overall wellness.
In fact, a complete lack of minerals would render your horse’s ability to metabolize fats, proteins or carbohydrates. They’d also have diminished muscle function and would likely collapse under their own weigh due to brittle bones.
To ensure your horse is getting the right nutrition, a balanced diet is priority number one. Unfortunately, hay and pasture alone are often not enough to meet their need of certain nutritional minerals. That’s because there is a large variance in soil types and none of them have the complete roster of minerals in forage alone.
Enter the need for mineral supplementation. It’s common for horse owners to use a “trace mineral block” to see that their horses are receiving minerals.
Still, these blocks do not have adequate amounts of minerals as they are primarily salt. It is important to supplement with a concentrate feed or ration balancer to ensure our horses are receiving adequate amounts of the minerals their bodies require to grow and stay healthy.
Here’s a brief rundown of the organic trace minerals and nutritional benefits of one such performance mineral complex: Zinpro 4-Plex EQ.
About Zinpro 4-Plex EQ
Zinpro 4-Plex EQ is a unique amino acid complex mineral primarily made up of trace minerals including zinc, copper, manganese and cobalt. It utilizes only North American sourced minerals and attaches them to an essential amino acid at a 1:1 ratio.
In simple terms, it means that they take quality organic minerals and connect them to an amino acid (the building blocks of protein), which the body HAS to have. This process ensures that the minerals aren’t just easily absorbed, but used.
Currently, Zinpro is the only company in the world with this technology.
Zinpro Minerals have been shown to improve:
- hoof condition
- coat quality
- hormone regulation
- digestion
- strengthen immune system
- bone development
Let’s look at each in a bit more detail.
Main Functions of Trace Minerals
Trace minerals are critical for a variety of bodily functions. Zinc, copper, manganese and cobalt bolster the performance and wellbeing of everything from hoof condition to digestion.
This Trace Minerals Function chart from Zinpro maps out how each mineral helps contribute to your horses most essential internal and external systems:
Ultimately, forage, hay and pasture are rarely enough to provide your horse with the smattering of essential minerals needed for optimal health and performance. By supplementing a balanced diet with an amino acid complex like Zinpro, you’ll enhance your horse’s overall wellness and help prevent a variety of expensive health problems.
