This week, we are continuing with the theme of toxicity because it lies at the root of most health issues horses experience.
Looking back at past cases, the pattern is unmistakable. Once you remove those dietary toxins, things start to turn around. The tricky part is knowing what is helpful and what is harmful, so that is what we are focusing on today.
Over-Supplemented
Over-supplementation becomes a major contributor to malabsorption, inflammation, and chronic health problems. Many ingredients, especially synthetic, inflammatory, or poorly absorbed ones, cause toxicity, overwhelm digestion, and suppress the immune system.
Interpreting Ingredient Lists
Horse owners must learn to interpret ingredient lists to distinguish food ingredients from vitamins, minerals, preservatives, flavorings, and fillers. Many supplements contain a few beneficial components surrounded by ingredients that negate their benefits. So it is essential to know which are organic, which are inorganic, and which are highly processed.
Detoxifying Means Removing, Not Adding
Detoxification comes from removing substances rather than adding more. Every ingredient requires a digestive resource, and when the system is congested, even beneficial nutrients turn toxic. Removing non-essential supplements frees the liver, gut, and cells to function normally, improves absorption, and reduces inflammation. A temporary reset with hay, water, and salt will allow the digestive system to heal.
The Fear of Stopping Supplements
Many owners fear that their horses will regress if they remove their supplements, yet many horses decline because they cannot properly absorb the supplements they get. Most commercial ingredients are so processed and inorganic that the body barely recognizes them. Simplifying is not deprivation. It restores capacity. Nutrition from forage and whole foods becomes far more effective with reduced digestive stress.
Why Simplifying Works
Turnarounds can happen when owners strip everything back to only a few essential nutrients plus detoxifying herbs. Even horses on high-quality programs with good ingredients can improve dramatically by reducing their overall load. Fewer ingredients reduce competition for receptors, lowering inflammation and improving the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients and minerals.
Ingredient Competition
Inflammatory ingredients block the absorption of critical minerals, fat-soluble vitamins, and proteins. Even high-quality formulas can fail if too many ingredients compete for absorption. Less is often more because simplified diets reduce receptor blockage, increase bioavailability, and allow the body to use what it gets.
Choosing Supplements
Labels market conditions like ulcers, metabolic syndrome, and digestion, without guaranteeing ingredient suitability. Horses with ulcers, for example, cannot absorb synthetic nutrients well, especially while on proton pump inhibitors. So owners must evaluate what each ingredient actually does rather than trusting marketing claims.
A Three-Step Supplement Audit
- Count every ingredient your horse consumes daily across all supplements.
- Categorize each item (food, vitamin, mineral, preservative, flavoring, or colorant)
- Assess processing level and quality
Auditing provides clarity and helps you decide what to remove, what to keep, and what genuinely benefits the horse.
Do you know what exactly is in your horse’s supplements, and what they’re actually doing for their health?
Keeping your horse’s diet and supplement program clean is one of the most beneficial things you can do for them. There is nothing that turns a horse’s health around faster than cleaning up their diet and supporting their health from the inside out.
The good news is I’m going live on Saturday, December 6, 2025, at 10 am Mountain Standard Time, and I invite you to join me for my first-ever two-hour workshop called Detox Done Right: How To Reduce Your Horse’s Toxic Load and Upgrade Their Health.
For just $127 Canadian, you will get my hands on my label-reading playbook and my clean feed roadmap- and we will finish with a 30-minute Q&A to help turn your supplement confusion into clarity.
If you care about your horse’s health and want real, practical steps that lead to results, then this workshop is just for you!
Save your seat by clicking on the link in the show notes, or head over to my website. No need to worry if you register and miss it because I will have a recording waiting for you, whenever you are ready- but I do hope to see you all there, live!
Links and resources:
Connect with Elisha Edwards on her website
Join my email list to be notified about new podcast releases and upcoming webinars.
Free Webinar Masterclass: Four Steps to Solving Equine Metabolic Syndrome Naturally
Register for my self-paced course, Resolving Equine Metabolic Syndrome Naturally.
Save your seat in Elisha’s 2-hour live workshop Detox Done Right.
