Two products. Same brand. Both described as vitamin and mineral balancers. Both sitting in carts and feed rooms across North America with loyal followings behind them. If you have looked at Mad Barn’s lineup and wondered why they make both AminoTrace+ and Omneity — and which one your horse actually needs — you are not alone. The answer is not arbitrary, and getting it right matters. These products are not interchangeable, and feeding the wrong one is not a neutral decision.
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The Short Answer (Then the Full Picture)
Before the detail: do not feed both at the same time. This is stated plainly in Mad Barn’s own guidance and it bears repeating here. AminoTrace+ and Omneity both supply trace minerals. Stacking them risks over-supplementation of minerals that have a narrow safe range. Pick one, based on your horse’s situation. If you are unsure which situation applies to your horse, that is exactly what an equine nutritionist or veterinarian is for — and Mad Barn offers free nutritional consultations that are genuinely worth using before you commit.
Now, the full picture.
Omneity Premix: The Broad-Coverage Default
Mad Barn’s Omneity Premix is the product you reach for when your horse is generally healthy, working reasonably well, and eating decent forage, and you want a single product that fills the most common gaps in a hay-based diet without a lot of complexity.
Omneity is a loose powder that supplies chelated (organic) trace minerals, essential amino acids, B-vitamins, biotin, digestive enzymes, and yeast. The chelated mineral forms are worth noting: organic trace minerals are generally better absorbed than inorganic sulfate forms, so the body has more to work with even if the numbers on the label look similar to a cheaper product. There are no fillers, no added sugar, and no unnecessary bulk — Mad Barn’s formulation philosophy throughout their line is to put the nutrients in and leave the padding out.
The use case for Omneity is broad by design. Many owners feed it as the nutritional foundation for horses on:
- All-hay diets with limited or no fortified feed
- Grass hay that may be low in key trace minerals (copper, zinc, and selenium are the usual suspects in North American forages)
- Diets where the owner wants amino acid coverage without a separate protein supplement
If your horse is an average recreational horse, a moderate-work sport horse, or a horse whose bloodwork and hay analysis suggest no particular metabolic concern, Omneity is often the right starting point. It covers a wide range of common gaps without being overly aggressive on any single nutrient.
Omneity also comes in a pelleted form — Omneity Pellets — for horses who object to loose powder in their feed. Same formula, pelleted on a low-NSC oat-hull base. If you have a picky eater or a horse fed with very little carrier, the pellets solve the palatability problem without changing what you are actually feeding.
Who Omneity is not for: Horses with metabolic conditions — EMS, insulin resistance, PPID, or a history of laminitis. For those horses, the formulation calculus is different, and AminoTrace+ is the product Mad Barn has designed for that situation.
AminoTrace+: The Higher-Demand Formulation
AminoTrace+ is a pelleted vitamin and mineral product, but it is not simply a stronger version of Omneity. It is a different formulation built around a specific profile of horse: one with metabolic considerations, high mineral demands, or forage that creates particular challenges.
The key differences in the AminoTrace+ formula:
- Elevated organic trace minerals — zinc, copper, manganese, and selenium are all dosed higher than in Omneity, using chelated forms
- Chromium — included specifically for its role in insulin and glucose metabolism; not present in Omneity
- Higher magnesium — many owners of metabolic horses and easy keepers report that magnesium is a meaningful addition to those horses’ programs; AminoTrace+ supplies it at a level that reflects that
- Lysine, methionine, and threonine — the three most commonly limiting amino acids, supplied to support muscle quality, hoof horn, and overall protein utilization
- Natural vitamin E — the bioavailable form, not synthetic dl-alpha-tocopherol
- Yeast and prebiotic blend — hindgut support built into the base formula
The common use cases where many owners and nutritionists reach for AminoTrace+ over Omneity:
- EMS and insulin-resistant horses — metabolic management is a veterinary matter, and any supplement is an adjunct to a vet-directed plan, not a substitute for one; but AminoTrace+ is formulated with that context in mind
- Laminitis-prone horses — again, laminitis is a veterinary emergency and a complex ongoing management challenge; this is not a treatment product, but many owners of laminitis-prone horses feed it as part of a broader program under veterinary guidance
- PPID (Cushing’s) horses — same framing applies; the chromium and elevated mineral profile reflect the nutritional considerations in these horses
- Horses on high-iron forage or water — high dietary iron can compete with zinc and copper absorption; AminoTrace+‘s elevated zinc and copper levels are relevant here
- Horses with poor hoof quality or slow growth — the amino acid and elevated zinc profile supports horses commonly fed for hoof improvement, though what you see will depend on the whole diet and the individual horse
- Easy keepers — horses who maintain or gain weight on very little feed, and therefore get little nutritional coverage from a fortified commercial feed
AminoTrace+ comes only in pellet form, which works in its favor for metabolic horses who often need tight control over what goes into their bucket — no guessing about whether the powder mixed in evenly.
Who AminoTrace+ is not for: A healthy, easy-going horse with no metabolic flags. Feeding a higher-dose mineral and chromium product to a horse who does not need that profile is not a neutral decision. If your horse is healthy and your hay analysis shows no particular deficiencies, Omneity is the more appropriate tool.
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Side-by-Side: How to Choose
| Omneity Premix | AminoTrace+ | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $54.99 | From $64.99 |
| Form | Loose powder (pellet available) | Pellet only |
| Trace mineral level | Standard, chelated | Elevated, chelated |
| Chromium | No | Yes |
| Magnesium level | Moderate | Higher |
| Amino acids | Yes | Yes, with higher lysine/methionine/threonine |
| Vitamin E form | Included | Natural vitamin E |
| Best for | Average horse on hay-based diet | Metabolic, high-demand, or high-iron-forage horses |
| Stack with the other? | No — pick one | No — pick one |
| Pellet option | Yes (Omneity Pellets) | Pellet only |
The decision point is almost always the horse’s metabolic status and forage situation. If you are unsure where your horse falls, the right next step is a hay analysis and a conversation with your vet or an equine nutritionist — not a guess based on symptoms. Mad Barn’s free nutrition consultations are a legitimate resource here; they will look at your forage, your horse’s history, and your current feeding program and give you a real recommendation rather than a generic one.
I have talked through how to approach these kinds of nutrition decisions — particularly for horses with complicated histories — on the podcast, if that kind of broader context is useful to you.
A Note on Supporting Products
Neither AminoTrace+ nor Omneity is a gut supplement, and neither replaces targeted support for horses with known gastric or hindgut concerns. If your horse has a history of ulcers, stress from travel or showing, or hindgut sensitivity, Visceral+ is designed to layer on top of a mineral balancer program — it deliberately contains no added vitamins or minerals so it does not complicate the picture. Ulcers are diagnosed by scoping, not by symptoms, and Visceral+ is not a treatment; it is an adjunct to veterinary care.
For horses on AminoTrace+ who also have hoof perfusion concerns — particularly laminitis-prone horses in a vet-directed rehab program — Mad Barn’s Jiaogulan is commonly fed alongside it to support nitric oxide production and peripheral circulation. That is a more targeted conversation to have with your vet, not a blanket recommendation.
And if your horse is already on a well-formulated mineral balancer but still showing signs of protein limitation — topline loss, poor muscle development, weak hoof horn — Three Amigos supplies concentrated lysine, methionine, and threonine without adding more mineral load on top of what is already there. Bloodwork and assessment from a nutritionist are the right way to determine whether protein quality is actually the gap.
The Bottom Line
Omneity and AminoTrace+ solve different problems. Omneity is the broad-coverage pick for a horse without metabolic flags who needs reliable, well-formulated mineral and amino acid support on top of a forage-based diet. AminoTrace+ is the pick for metabolic horses, easy keepers, horses on high-iron forage, and horses in programs where elevated trace minerals, chromium, and higher magnesium are part of a vet-directed management plan.
Neither product is universally superior. The right one is the one that matches your horse’s actual situation — which means starting with forage testing and a veterinary or nutritionist conversation if you are not already working from that information. What goes in the bucket matters. Take the time to get it right.
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