When it comes to nutritional supplements, potency isn’t just a buzzword — it’s the difference between results and wasted money.

If a supplement doesn’t contain enough of the nutrients your horse actually needs, it won’t make a difference. If it contains too much, it risks doing harm. Like medicine, nutrition must be delivered in the right dose to have the right effect — and that’s where potency comes in.

Let’s unpack what it really means, and why it’s a core reason Missy’s Bucket works where others don’t.
 
What Is Potency, Really?

Potency refers to the amount of active ingredients in a given dose of a supplement. It tells you whether a product contains enough of something to actually trigger a biological response in the horse’s body — also known as a therapeutic effect. If there’s not enough of an ingredient, the body doesn’t respond. Too much? You risk toxicity.

Potency is what defines that sweet spot in between — the therapeutic window.

Think of It Like Fertilising a Plant

Here’s an analogy:

• Sprinkle a tiny bit of fertiliser around a struggling plant, and nothing will happen. It’s just not enough to make a difference.
• Use the right amount — a potent, targeted dose — and you’ll see the plant respond with renewed growth and vitality.
• Use too much? The plant’s roots may burn, and you can end up doing more harm than good.

It’s the same with horses. If the supplement isn’t potent enough, there won’t be any biological effect. If the formulation is unbalanced or overdosed, it can stress the body or cause toxicity.

The Therapeutic Index: Not Too Little, Not Too Much

Every nutrient, including water, has a therapeutic index — a range between “not enough to help” and “too much to be safe.” Good supplement design ensures the daily dose falls within this narrow range: high enough to work, but not so high that it harms.

This is especially important when dealing with:

• Horses with metabolic issues
• Horses on hay-only diets
• Laminitis-prone horses
• Horses with chronic deficiencies from pasture or feed
   

Why Potency Is Built Into Missy’s Bucket

At Missy’s Bucket, we don’t formulate based on marketing fluff — we formulate based on real pasture and hay testing data, and the research-backed nutrient requirements outlined by leading equine nutritionists like Dr. Eleanor Kellon.

That means:

• The minerals most commonly deficient in Australian horses are included in high enough amounts to matter
• The ratios between minerals are carefully designed to avoid antagonism or imbalance (more on that in a future post)
• You’re getting a high-potency supplement that’s actually able to deliver a therapeutic effect, not just “top up” the diet with feel-good quantities

 
 Why Low-Potency Supplements Fall Short

Many commercial supplements look fine on the label — but once you break it down, the actual amount of key nutrients per serve is too small to do anything. They’re designed to be palatable, cheap to produce, and easy to sell — not necessarily effective.

So your horse stays deficient. You don’t see a change. And you wonder why nutrition “didn’t work.”

The Bottom Line

Potency matters. It’s what makes the difference between a supplement that sounds good and one that actually supports your horse’s health in a measurable way.

When evaluating any supplement, ask:

• Does it contain the right ingredients?
• Are those ingredients present in high enough amounts to be therapeutic?
• Are the ratios balanced so they don’t compete or cancel each other out?
• If the answer’s no, it might be time to rethink what you’re feeding.