FAQ
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Do you make your formulas?
No. Our products are manufactured by the leading and largest manufacturer of animal supplements in NZ, who hold all relevant registration and certificates. They source their raw ingredients from top quality accredited suppliers that pass through strict customs regulations.
A great deal of research, attention, thought and care has gone into each formula to bring you the best possible product that functions as a multi-purpose supporter of health. Our formulas also aim to balance your horses mineral needs across the whole diet and not just the bucket feed.
Do you have organic minerals?
Yes, our products contain organic minerals where indicated to offer higher beneficial absorption levels especially when it comes to Zinc, Copper, Iodine & Selenium. When something is advertised as an organic mineral - there is no such thing. There are organic compounds and Inorganic minerals. An organic compound commonly called mineral means it has undergone a process to bind it to an hydrogen atom, which then increases the capacity for absorption. An Inorganic mineral on the other hand typically comes from the earth and usually will have oxide, sulphide or sulphate after the mineral type. These are incorrectly termed "organic". Examples are copper sulphate, magnesium oxide, ferrous oxide (Iron) or zinc sulphide. There is much debate in the equine industry as to what forms are better to use and the research supports both 'organic' and Inorganic to be better absorbed. We trialled both over the course of 12 months in 2017 when we were formulating our products and opted for a mix of both - organic for important commonly lacking nutrients and Inorganic for others.
If feeding back to basics, what would help for weight gain?
Yes believe it or not, it does help with weight gain, depending of course on the underlying reason for them being hard to put weight on in the first place. If its nutritionally related, yes. If it's pain, no, aged yes and no.
Correct mineral balance plays a HUGE role in a horse maintaining a healthy weight, along with ensuring a good omega 3:6 balance, plenty of good quality forage and avoiding common inflammation triggers.
The Base Feed is a good starting place and suits 80% of horses alongside a HHIO mineral formula; and a specific one if needed. The easy choose combos are pre-balanced, so select one that suits your horses needs according to the star colours, and your ability to regularly source and your budget. Start with this initially. If your horse is in heavy work, pregnant, nursing or elderly then you may consider feeding extra protein and energy. Beware to not over do it nor complicate it (the results are always sub standard when a bit of this and a bit of that is added). This is an example feed for a horse in full work, eventing at lower levels and out competing all year in other disciplines. The boiled Barley addition - be sure the horse is in hard work and has the ability to utilize the high starch levels and is not having issues such as digestive, behaviour etc. If not, go for something like Coprice High Joule that is a cooler energy.
Bucket Feed:
40g HHIO Performance
Copra, Lucerne Chaff, fresh crushed Linseed + Salt (Base feed)
Lupins & crushed Peas (soaked) (great sources of more horse appropriate protein, fibre + calories)
For the harder working/keeper they get additional boiled barley and HHIO Support
For long trips and events such as HOY, HHIO Support to help combat higher stress levels
For any that are affected by seasonal variations - HHIO Assist
Forage: Grass and mostly meadow hay. Lucerne hay if away or weather is freezing.
Please feel free to utilize the HHIO Feeding information on the website, a heap of info to help guide you through adopting a clean feeding strategy. If you need personalised assistance, you can get this here
Can you help me select the right supplements for my horse?
Absolutely! There are two ways in which we can help you select the best feed regime and supplements for your horse:
1. Full feed consult - we can offer personalised nutritional feed balance and recommendations based off your pasture or hay analysis.
2. Product advice - specific advice on which formulas are the best fit for the signs and symptoms your horse currently has
Why should I choose HHIO horse supplements?
Our supplements are specifically formulated for horses grazing on NZ pasture, our locally made HHIO horse supplements help to correct mineral imbalances, avoid nutrient deficiencies and provide support to horses at all stages of life. They aim to promote overall wellness, support digestive health, and enhance performance and behaviour. You can view our range of horse supplements here.
Do you have a product that’s suitable for all horses, if that was their only mineral intake?
We do have our HHIO Foundation pellets. They are a 70g dose in pellet form of everything a horse (70g = 350kg +) will need. Just supplement plain salt separately. They are designed for equines that aren't hard fed but need minerals. They can be fed as a stand alone supplement or within a hard feed.
What are horse supplements used for?
Horse supplements are designed to support specific areas of equine health, such as digestion, joints, hooves, immunity, skin, coat and overall wellbeing, specifically where diet alone may not meet a horse's needs. Each of our supplements contains targeted ingredients to help promote, preserve and support good gut function, increase nutrient absorption, and/or contribute to improved behaviour and health. Supplements are intended to support a balanced diet, and not replace good quality forage feeding.
Why is digestive health important for horses?
Are HHIO formulas safe for laminitic or metabolic horses?
Yes! Our formulas do not contain any sugar, added iron or any ingredients that are high in iron. They not only are safe, but also help address the important Iron:Copper:Zinc:Manganese ratio imbalances typically found in equine diets and that metabolic horses are more susceptible too. To truly thrive metabolic horses do best on a tightly dialled ratio of 4:1:3:3, whilst healthy horses with no issues can manage up to a 10:1:3:3 ratio level.
Why do you charge for scoops?
We try to keep our foot print as small as possible to do our part to look after mother earth. We encourage people to re-use and we would love for you to do this with scoops - to help minimise how many end up in waste. We have tried different approaches over the years but have found by charging a nominal amount it draws the best attention to people - do they really need a scoop or can they use the one they received in previous orders. It's the same reason we don't offer product in fancy buckets or containers with fancy labelling. Most people have an abundance of supplement buckets and tubs they can re-use and pop HHIO products into. When we first started out we used eco-friendly product bags. Whilst it looked great, and helped mother earth, it unfortunately didn't hold up well to the rigors of shipping and transport. When we went to manufacturer pre-packaging they unfortunately weren't robust enough to hold up to the bagging process. We are constantly reviewing and researching - so as new products come to the market place that may be feasible, we will revisit.
Is there a mineral block out there that gives sufficient minerals of everything?
No unfortunately, no mineral block will provide a horses full needs. Blocks are designed for cows with rough tongues and a horse won't consume enough for their daily needs or will consume too much of what they don't need in the case of Iron. They contain high levels of Iron (the pink/red colour) which we are aiming to actively avoid. You can place a plain white salt block out to help with sodium intake as that's the only mineral horses will naturally seek to supplement (or the seaweed ones in a brown box - that is plain salt and seaweed). The mineral blocks made of molasses - can trick horses into consuming far more than what would be helpful for them and again have Iron, Potassium and Manganese that do not required additional supplementation on typically; and have low levels of the important ones like Copper and Zinc. It is near impossible to supplement Selenium safely via a salt/mineral block.
I read on a recent social media post that Apple Flavour isn't safe? Why do you use it?
Unfortunately quality well absorbed minerals in affective levels don't taste nice, which ever way you try to sugar coat it (crack open a multi vitamin capsule and try to eat it!). It is why generally most supplements have a filler of some kind unless something like kelp is used.
HHIO keeps our doses low and fillers out so you get higher inclusion levels per dose than most on the market. We could forgo the flavour and increase our doses which would then increase the cost of the product or we could reduce the inclusion levels so you have to feed more than our current low doses - not a great outcome for you the consumer.
In order to help make them more palatable we use Apple Flavour in 3 of our products. Whilst its not entirely ideal given our stance on clean feeding it is safe and contributes to 0.1g in a Performance dose, 0.05g in a Foundation dose and 0.075g in a Restore dose.
Our particular Apple Flavour is manufactured in Germany under the highest of regulations and legislation for animal feed manufacturing, which aligns with the rest of our formulation being manufactured in NZ's largest and leading animal supplement feed manufacturer, who also follow strict regulations.
The social media post stated (a mineral supplement competitor):
"This is a good example - apple flavouring.
Most people imagine that means a little bit of apple.
It doesn't.
In many cases its refers to a manufactured aroma made from chemicals such as:
Hexyl acetate - used to create a green apple scent and also used as an industrial solvent
Butyl acetate - commonly used in paints and coatings
Ethyl acetate - used in inks and adhesives
Isoamyl acetate - a strong artificial fruit fragrance
Ethyl 2-methylbutyrate - used to create apple-like aromas
Propylene glycol - used to carry and blend flavour chemic
If a company is willing to call that "apple flavour" its raises a reasonable question.
How mush trust should we place in the rest of the label?"
From the company who makes our Apple Flavour
"Thanks for your question – and for sharing that post. It’s a good topic to clarify, as there is often some confusion around what “apple flavour” actually means.
The description in that post is not wrong in principle, but it is oversimplified and somewhat misleading without context.
In practice, most flavours (in food and feed) are not made from whole fruits, but from individual aroma molecules that recreate the characteristic smell and taste.
These can be natural (extracted directly from plants), nature-identical (synthetically produced but chemically identical to natural molecules), or artificial. Our products fall into the second category: nature-identical flavours.
Our flavour Bigarol Green Apple PE is based on nature-identical aroma compounds, is chemically equivalent to those found in real apples, and is produced under strict quality and safety standards.
Yes, substances like esters (e.g. hexyl acetate) are part of apple aroma, and importantly, these are naturally occurring compounds in apples that we simply reproduce in a controlled and consistent way. So this is not “fake chemistry”, but precise replication of nature.
The key message is:
- “Apple flavour” is always a reconstruction of aroma, not mashed apples when it comes to natural-identical flavours
- The important difference is how well and how cleanly this is done
I hope that helps.
If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me again.
Best regards,
Anne
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Kind regards
Dr. Anne Winkler
Please note the Apple Flavour does not contain any sugar, purely an additive.
