Re: endurance horses and antioxidants

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

I agree that 'whole foods' are a much better source of antioxidants for both humans and horses---for horses, the best source is always going to be green pasture, a fantastic source of beta carotenes (precursor to vitamin a), vitamin e and who knows what else.  However, not every horse is lucky enough to have access to good *green* pasture and yes, endurance horses do definitely require more antioxidant than a stay-at-home horse would---it's just a natural result of the higher performance we ask of them, regardless of the level of competition.  So if grass isn't available, then I do advise the addition of an additional 1000 iu of vitamin e to the daily ration.  A gelcap from WalMart is just fine, either thrown whole into the mash or opened just prior to feeding (sooner than that and it will just oxidize).  If you're feeding *stabilized* rice bran, then that's a good source of vitamin e as well, though I personally wouldn't feed rice bran just because of the vit e content.  For beta carotene, carrots are still a nifty source and God knows, they sure are easy to "supplement" with.  Beats artificial supplements every time in my book.  Vitamin C, yes, performance horses or horses under stress do benefit from a little extra, but ONLY during the periods of actual stress, not as a daily supplement---good research from Sarah Ralston at Rutgers has demonstrated that daily supplementing just gears up the body to excrete it faster, with no additional benefit to the immune system, so only supplement with about 5 grams twice a day during times of stress only and stop as soon as you're home again.

 

JMO.

 

Susan G

----- Original Message -----

From: Beth Gunn

To: ridecamp@endurance.net

Sent: Friday, September 21, 2001 8:53 PM

Subject: RC: endurance horses and antioxidants

Riding buddy and I got onto this discussion referring to me turning 40 yrs :) next week...started wondering if we can help our horsey friends, esp after correspondense regarding heaves and allergy to mold spores, etc.  Antiox builds defenses in immune system, yes?  Foods for us , from what I've read, include spinach, tomatoes, and blueberries....how about for equines?  Looks like complete foodstuffs much more beneficial than Supplements.

Thanks friends,

Beth Gunn