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RE: [RC] Vitamin E deficiency in horses - Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.

 

 


From: M Paul latiolais [mailto:hmpl@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 4:42 PM
To: suendavid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Ridecamp (E-mail)
Subject: Re: Vitamin E deficiency in horses

 

Susan,

>So is vitamin E an issue for horses in general? The only selenium supplement I have found (and use) also contains vitamin E. Is there a particular reason for >that?

 

The selenium supplements also contain vitamin E because the two work synergistically.  Both are antioxidants, and yes, it’s an issue for endurance horses because they use up a lot more just during “normal” distance exercise.  It doesn’t imply you’re doing anything wrong, or the horse is being overridden (although injury will also greatly increase the requirement), just all the normal wear and tear of trotting down the trail all day increases the body’s need for substrates that repair tissues working overtime.

The thing is that even the best quality of any hay contains relatively little vitamin E, so if your horse’s forage is provided by hay, pellets or cubes, he’s getting very little vitamin E.  The vitamin E content that’s contained in fresh forage oxidizes pretty quickly after cutting and curing and is pretty much gone within 4 months or so of harvest.  Grain has a little, but not enough.  Rice bran has a lot, and it’s probably a more bioactive form of vitamin E, but there are other issues with feeding a lot of rice bran that limit its use.

So for any endurance horse that isn’t getting access to daily fresh green forage, IMO, they should be getting a daily vitamin E supplement.  The natural forms (ie, green forage, a pound or so of rice bran or the KER supplement) are apparently more bioactive than the tocopherol forms you can get at Wayy World.  For my money, I don’t lose too much sleep over the exact form if the horse is not showing any signs of muscle pathology.  I give my guys maybe 1000-2000 iu per day when they’re working, and if I see some nice grass out on the trail, I’ll stop and let them graze for 10 minutes or so---can’t beat getting those supplements for free. <g>  If I have some muscle injury or tieing up issues to deal with, then I break out the more expensive supplements.

I tend to sort of disregard the vitamin E content in the selenium supplements---most places, those supplements don’t fly off the shelves, and I suspect the majority of the vitamin E content has long since oxidized.  If there’s still some in there, great, no harm done (the upper daily max dose for horses is roughly 10,000 iu per day).  If there’s none in there, as I suspect is the case in many instances, then I’ll have covered my bases already with other vitamin E sources.

JMO.

Susan Garlinghouse, DVM, MS