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Nearly all commercial horse feeds such as senior feeds and vitamin supplements have the above mentioned vitamins added to them in adequate amounts so a horse will not become deficient.\u00a0 Horses also get many vitamins and minerals in small amounts in their hay.\u00a0 Some hays are low in Selenium, Calcium, Zinc and Phosphorous, so ideally a horse owner will test their hay and supplement accordingly.\u00a0 However, vitamin E is quickly lost after grass is cut and dried, so it is a given that your horse will not get enough vitamin E on a diet made up of mainly dried hay.\u00a0 Also, if you read the labels on your horse feeds and vitamin supplements, it is almost guaranteed that even though there are many added vitamins and minerals, vitamin E will be present in very small amounts, if it is added at all.<\/p>\n
For instance, a real diet of a horse that was eating 12 lbs Timothy hay, 5 lbs of a mixture of complete horse feeds for performance horses, and grazing outside on a dormant winter\u00a0pasture contained only 800 IU of vitamin E daily.\u00a0 This horse was also being worked several times a week.\u00a0 The minimum recommended dosage for an adult horse not being worked at all is 1,000 IU daily.<\/p>\n
Here is why all of this information is so important:<\/p>\n
Vitamin E is critical for a horse’s neuro-muscular function.\u00a0 Something like 1 out of 10 horses will not show overt signs of vitamin E deficiency, even when their blood levels are low.\u00a0 Some of this may have to do with the fact that horses can store some vitamin E in their muscles and can use this in times of deficiency.\u00a0 There is also a discrepency between how well individual horses absorb and use vitamin E, and some horses need more E than others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tucked up abdomen in Vitamin E deficient horse<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Now let’s say you have that 1 out of 10 horse that reacts poorly to having vitamin E deficiency.\u00a0 This horse will have progressive neurological and muscular degeneration that can mimic various serious diseases such as PSSM, EPM, Shivers and others.\u00a0 You may have an extremely athletic horse that gradually loses muscle mass and becomes so weak\u00a0he has difficulty lying down, going up and down hills, and may exhibit all kinds of behavioral issues.\u00a0\u00a0His masseter (jaw) muscles can become weak, which leads to decreased time spent eating hay or grazing and weight loss.\u00a0 He may stand with his hind legs spread wide or pulled under for support.\u00a0 His back muscles may be tight and sore from holding up his hind end, and also his abdominal muscles may appear tucked up and tight.\u00a0 If left for too long, the deficiency can cause irreversible nerve damage and muscle wasting.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lack of vitamin E can lead to a few different horse diseases including Vitamin E Deficient Myopathy (VEM), Equine Motor Neuron Disease (EMND), Nutritional Myodegeneration (NMD), Neuroaxonal Dystrophy (NAD), and Equine Degenerative Myeloencephalopathy (EDM).\u00a0 All of these often cause irreversible damage and a poor prognosis.\u00a0 Vitamin E Deficient Myopathy has the best chance of resolving when vitamin E is given in adequate amounts.<\/p>\n \u00a0When reading labels for vitamin E content, it is important to understand that synthetic vitamin E is very poorly absorbed by horses, so you need to feed at least double the amount if you are feeding synthetic vitamin E.\u00a0 Synthetic E is called dl-tocopherol, while natural vitamin E (which is absorbed much better by horses) is called d-tocopherol.\u00a0 If your supplement has a large amount of vitamin E listed on the label, it will either be very expensive or else it is synthetic vitamin E rather than natural E.<\/p>\n The baseline recommendation from the NRC’s (National Research Council) updated horse nutrition guidelines is that horses should have 1,000 IU vitamin E daily.\u00a0 It is important to know that many horses require much higher doses of vitamin E during times of stress, when in hard work, pregnant or lactating, or young and growing.\u00a0 Horses that have signs of deficiency may need more than 5,000 IU daily to recover from neuromuscular issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n Vitamin E is more expensive to feed than other vitamins, which is probably why it is rarely added to horse supplements.\u00a0 Horse Guard is one brand that makes supplements that contain adequate amounts of vitamin E.\u00a0 There are also excellent natural vitamin E sources available from Smartpak Equine, Kentucky Equine Research and others.\u00a0 Some\u00a0people feed\u00a0human vitamin E capsules in adequate doses.<\/p>\n \u00a0It is safe to give up to 10,000 IU of vitamin E daily to horses, and there have been no documented signs of vitamin E toxicity in horses.\u00a0 Since it is expensive to supplement vitamin E, it is extremely unlikely that a horse would be over supplemented, and more horses are at risk of being under supplemented.\u00a0 I feel it is important that vitamin E supplementation is emphasized to horse owners, and it is possible that many behavioral issues people have with horses are due to neuro-muscular problems from vitamin E deficiency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It can be difficult to evaluate whether a horse’s diet is adequate and to discover whether a horse is getting all of the vitamins and minerals needed for good health.\u00a0 Many, many people feel that horses do best with minimal … Continue reading ![\"1\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hoofforum.com\/square\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/1.jpg\")
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