I have been giving my anxious guy some of the smartpak supplements but looks like the prices are going up up up.
Anyone considering switching to something else?
Currently I’ve been using:
SmartCalm Ultra
SmartGut Ultra
Any recs for alternatives?
I just got the email too…my one horse is on SmartGut and that is going up $5 a month. My other is on SmartFlex which is also going up $5 a month.
I am going to be researching other options this week and anticipate I will likely switch them…I just don’t know what I will switch to yet.
I havent noticed an increase yet. I only use Smart Breathe Ultra, though.
I board and really like the smartpaks for convenience. I’m not sold on losing the colicare yet, but I am shopping around within the Smartpak site for options that are cheaper than what I’m currently using.
Yep. Switching mine off of Smart GI Ultra to Mad Barn Visceral. It’s only around $200 cheaper annually, but every dollar counts. Worth noting that if the increase had only been a few dollars a month I probably wouldn’t have bothered, but it amounted to an almost 20% increase.
If my horse’s insurance didn’t already include colic coverage, I might stick with it for that alone.
Platinum Performance products carry a Colic Coverage as well. They aren’t cheap either though.
I have not received any notice about price increases yet, but I currently have a stockpile of my mare’s supplements (SmartGut Ultra, SmartMuscle Mass). When I was originally shopping for an ulcer prevention supplement, I compared quite a few different products on the market and landed on SmartGut Ultra. It’s worked great for my horse, and if it’s working, I’m not going to change things at the risk of the cost of treating ulcers again.
I’m not at the point of switching, IMO, but I only have a single horse and the costs that come with having just one. The convenience SmartPak’s bring is one less thing I have to worry about.
I don’t know about SmartGut Ultra, but I used to feed SmartCalm Ultra and have found that any decent magnesium and/or B1/Thiamine supplement will have the same results with my gelding. I’ve fed him just magnesium and just B1 and I THINK it’s the B1 that does the trick for him, but sometimes I feed him both. They’re both cheap, so it’s no biggie to feed them separately. Or I’m sure there are plenty of non-SmartPak calming supplements that contain similar levels of Mg and B1.
After loyally using Smartpak’s for 15(?) years with multiple horses I switched off them a couple years ago when I started seeing a lot ox price increase and issues with billing for Smartpaks two weeks early and then being locked out of adding ride along supplies.
I found that since a lot of places offer discounts on auto ship and no freight costs (what stopped me from buying bulk in the beginning) it was substantially cheaper to make my own. My horse will only eat his supplements in his night mash so I’m feeding them anyway.
I think only four horses out of the 20 getting supplements are left doing Smartpak’s. We have all been switching!
Becky
