Product Overview
Milk Thistle provides antioxidant support for horses. It can help support healthy liver function.
Mad Barn’s Milk Thistle is a dried, powdered form of the seed of the Silybum marianum plant. This herb can be added to equine diets to support healthy liver function and provide antioxidants.
Milk Thistle, also known as St. Mary’s Thistle, is a Mediterranean plant that contains various active compounds collectively called silymarin which include silybin. The main site of action of milk thistle is the liver and it has been well-researched for its effects on liver disease in humans. [1]
Silymarin is an effective antioxidant that is thought to support the liver in times of injury related to toxins, fat accumulation, and iron overload.
Milk thistle helps protect the liver from toxins in the environment, like those found in poisonous mushrooms, ragwort or red maple trees. If these are prevalent in your area, consider adding milk thistle to your horse’s diet.
Horses and ponies with hyperlipemia may have excess fat in the liver. Milk thistle supplementation may help to support their liver and its normal function. In humans, silymarin has been shown to protect against the negative effects of fat accumulation in the liver. [2]
Milk thistle could provide nutritional support for horses with laminitis. In one study, tissue extracted from horse hooves was challenged with toxins and treated with milk thistle or silymarin. The protocol was able to neutralize the toxin and improve the structural integrity of the tissue. [3] Further research is needed to verify these effects in horses consuming oral milk thistle supplements.
Silymarin also acts as an iron chelator, meaning it binds iron molecules and may help reduce serum ferritin levels and iron stores in tissues. [4] In humans that are genetically prone to iron overload, this herb has been shown to decrease iron absorption.
To include Mad Barn’s milk thistle in your horse’s diet, we suggest a dosage of 4 grams per 500 kg (1100 lb) of bodyweight per day. You may want to start feeding a smaller amount and increase gradually over several weeks to minimize avoidance. It can be provided as dried powder added directly to the feed or brewed into a tea that is poured over the feed.
Milk Thistle is generally well tolerated in horses. It has not been studied in breeding or pregnant horses so its safety in these animals can not be assured.
In humans it has been shown to cause diarrhea and other gastrointestinal upsets in a minority of people. In healthy horses, concentrated milk thistle extract in the form of silibinin phospholipid did not cause adverse effects when given at a dose of up to 52 mg per kg of bodyweight (26 grams for a 500 kg horse) for one week on four separate occasions.
