Who has done this, and is it worth the money? I do bloodwork and have check ups, but I've got once particular mare who isn't cleaning up her grain and it eating a lot of wood. She's got free choice to mineral and hay, on top of being fed a complete feed. Want to hear from those with personal experiences doing HSA and see if it's worth the money to try.
I did the horse hair analysis with Dr. DePaulo. http://www.depaoloequineconcepts.com/ It was very helpful, as it showed my gelding had toxic levels of arsenic in his system which was causing it behavioral issues. I put him on the custom supplement and it solved all my problems.
not that I have done the analysis - but I think condition of hair can guide you on what is missing in an animals diet.
Goats for one - if they are mineral dificient will show up in hair color and end of tail (they will lose their hair) on my auburn does, the auburn goes from bright to a dull color. hair ends will have the appearance of a bad perm.
Posted 2015-01-10 10:57 AM Subject: RE: Horse hair analysis
Elite Veteran
Posts: 825
A friend of mine had it done on one of her horses. He went from being gate sour and very hot to the complete opposite. I wanna say she said it was around $150 for the analysis and $180ish for the mixture of supplements that the company sent back for them to feed. She did say that the supplement mixture could be from $50 to $200. Not sure who she used though.
Posted 2015-01-10 11:56 AM Subject: RE: Horse hair analysis
Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11493 Location: 31 lengths farms
Had it done on my mare after also having a blood panel done, hair analysis supported the same info we had gotten on the blood panel. Hair analysis was $25, and no I didn't tell them what the blood work had shown. Supplements that were recommended for the issues ran me $180 .
I personally would not bother, as the science behind hair analysis (in general across several species) is not conclusive for anything except detecting heavy metal at toxic levels.
Different samples from the same horse can also have much different results. I remember Tia had some experience with this analysis as well and was not in favor of it (I forget her board name)
I had it done with a hot problem gelding and it came back with a lot of mineral imbalances. I had it done thru Uckele and i put him on their recommended supplements and he is a new horse. i will definitely have it done again if i have a doubt. It cost $150 I think and their supplements are within reason.