Vitamin E for horses with no grass??? Also quick oil question.

[RegentLion]

I need to add a Vitamin E supplement to my horses as they’re in hay (no grass) for winter. I would happily feed it all year long as well, if it’s not shockingly expensive.

They are all on Kalm Ultra and/or Essential K and whole flax.

I’ve heard so much conflicting info about synthetic vs natural. (Natural is more expensive but more bio available so you feed less! Synthetic is cheaper but less bio available than the other so just feed more, besides the manufacturers have accounted for this in their recommended feeding amounts!)

Also a quick oil question: for the oldies that need some extra pounds (seem to be managing hay well), I’d like to try to add oil or a fat-heavy feed such as K finish. Is one a smarter option than the other? And I can feed any oil-right? Vegetable or soy or corn?

So what say you, COTHers?

[Simkie]

Santa Cruz for vitamin e, yay!

https://www.scahealth.com/scah/product/ultracruz-equine-vitamin-e-horse-supplement

I do 2000 ius for my normal horses (half a scoop) and 4000 ius for my Blush because of her neuro issues. It’s cheap! :yes:

The oil vs other fat sources is a bit of a personal choice and a debate :lol: I do oil because it’s SO calorie dense and my horses have no trouble eating it. Regular oils (soy or canola or corn) are high in omega 6, which may or may not concern you. I worried about it a lot when I was struggling with a lame horse–did not want ANYTHING that could promote even a spec of inflammation–but for your average horse, it’s really probably fine. I like the big 40 lb jugs at CostCo, which are soy.

[DoubleDown]

I feed the Santa Cruz as well, the vet school here recommends natural Vit E over the synthetic hands down. Their pricing isn’t too bad. My 2yo OLD is on 8,000IU/day.

[walktrot]

I use Vit E from HorseTech.com. They have a couple of products with natural Vit E. They use food grade milled flax as the base.

[JB]

Another UltraCruz Natural E user here. At $.13/1000IU when getting the bigger bag, it’s pretty much as cheap as you’ll find. You can get a generic capsule from Walmart and use that for about the same price as well. The amount of powder for a 2000IU serving is small, but it is a very fine powder so needs something to stick to - don’t want to be breathing it in.

[drawstraws]

I’ve used the Ultracruz Vitamin E, as well as Smartpak’s version and am currently feeding Elevate to a gelding who is a headshaker with a prior EPM diagnosis and have been happy with them all.

I also feed Tribute and used the K Finish to put some weight on a young gelding who was just overall thin and needed some conditioning as he grew. Only took about 30 days to put some bloom on him and he looked fantastic. I added a couple of cups a day to his grain, so while it’s a little more expensive per bag, you don’t need to use much and it was a lot more convenient than oil.

[tazycat]

Interesting thread ,but i’ve never have supplemented Vit E and horses do just fine. Only supplement i use is Equilix vit/min tub.

[BatataHead]

Out of curiosity, are your horses getting any supplemented feed in addition to the hay - like a ration balancer or pelleted feed? Mine is on dry lot for turnout/no grass, eats Purina Ration Balancer, Omega Horseshine and a copper and zinc supplement. No supplemental E other than what’s in his RB. Hasn’t been on turned out on grass for over 4 years. I tested for vitamin E just to check things and he came up on the high side of normal.

[tazycat]

The old guy gets tc senior. The 5 year old quit eating the tc senior. So alfalfa and pasture is all he gets, plus the Equilix tub. Never have had horse’s tested for vit E levels. Their probably fine grass hasn’t turned all brown yet.

[quietann]

Mine is another “Neuro” horse on Santa Cruz natural Vit E, 8000 IU per day. The Santa Cruz scoop is 4000 IU. But most really only need about 1500 to 2000 IU. Check how much is in their feed if you are giving them any. So far every vet in this area I’ve used has recommended this for horses that don’t get grass.

[RegentLion]

@BatataHead

Out of curiosity, are your horses getting any supplemented feed in addition to the hay - like a ration balancer or pelleted feed? Mine is on dry lot for turnout/no grass, eats Purina Ration Balancer, Omega Horseshine and a copper and zinc supplement. No supplemental E other than what’s in his RB. Hasn’t been on turned out on grass for over 4 years. I tested for vitamin E just to check things and he came up on the high side of normal.

Yes the horses are on one or both of Tribute Essential K and/or Tribure Kalm Ultra. The essential K is a ration balancer. I have either old old horses or young ones. So I don’t want to risk them not getting enough E.

Our grass is not only dry and brown but it has snow…

[RInurse_Rider]

I have no grass at all - dry lot. Two of my horses will eat the human vit E caps no problem. My picky mare will avoid them, so she gets Elevate, 1/2 scoop daily. With a little beet pulp she eats it all. Beet pulp is also a great way to feed oil with less mess - add the oil to the water used to hydrate the pellets.

[luvmyhackney]

I add the Vitamin E capsules from whoever has them on sale, my pony doesn’t eat powder. He eats the capsules just fine. Sometimes Walgreens or CVS has them buy 1 get 1 50% off and I stock up on a few months worth.

[Simkie]

FWIW, Santa Cruz does have vit e in a pellet now: https://www.scahealth.com/scah/produ…rse-supplement

Dunno how that compares in price to the pills for those horses who aren’t keen on powder, but could be worth running the numbers.

@RInurse Rider the powder Santa Cruz linked upthread is the same as the Elevate powder, just drastically better priced at ~$0.11 per 1000 IU vs ~$0.38 per 1000 IU. You pay a hefty premium for the label. Also, if you’re only doing a half scoop of Elevate, you’re only giving the horse 500 IU, which probably isn’t really enough if the horse never has grass.

[bugsynskeeter]

@RegentLion

I need to add a Vitamin E supplement to my horses as they’re in hay (no grass) for winter. I would happily feed it all year long as well, if it’s not shockingly expensive.

They are all on Kalm Ultra and/or Essential K and whole flax.

I’ve heard so much conflicting info about synthetic vs natural. (Natural is more expensive but more bio available so you feed less! Synthetic is cheaper but less bio available than the other so just feed more, besides the manufacturers have accounted for this in their recommended feeding amounts!)

Also a quick oil question: for the oldies that need some extra pounds (seem to be managing hay well), I’d like to try to add oil or a fat-heavy feed such as K finish. Is one a smarter option than the other? And I can feed any oil-right? Vegetable or soy or corn?

So what say you, COTHers?

UltraCruz not only has the Natural Vitamin E mentioned above, in both a powder and a pellet, we also have a Weight Gain for Horses. It is pure flax oil and natural vitamin e (1000IU/serving). You can knock out 2 birds with one stone with that! https://www.scahealth.com/scah/product/ultracruz-equine-weight-gain-horse-supplement

[Libby2563]

@Simkie

FWIW, Santa Cruz does have vit e in a pellet now: https://www.scahealth.com/scah/produ…rse-supplement

Dunno how that compares in price to the pills for those horses who aren’t keen on powder, but could be worth running the numbers.

I’m calculating that the pellets are 11 cents per 1,000 IU–can that be right? ($72 / (80 servings * 8 1,000-IUs-per-serving) = 0.113). And you get free shipping for the 80-day supply since it’s over $50. Dammit, now I wish I hadn’t stocked up on powder last year!! I have to add some senior feed just to bind it because their ration balancer (Triple Crown 30%) isn’t sticky at all.

I have also done human capsules, which I preferred to the powder for ease of feeding, but they were usually at least twice as expensive unless on a really good sale.

[Simkie]

@Libby2563

I’m calculating that the pellets are 11 cents per 1,000 IU–can that be right? ($72 / (80 servings * 8 1,000-IUs-per-serving) = 0.113). And you get free shipping for the 80-day supply since it’s over $50. Dammit, now I wish I hadn’t stocked up on powder last year!! I have to add some senior feed just to bind it because their ration balancer (Triple Crown 30%) isn’t sticky at all.

I have also done human capsules, which I preferred to the powder for ease of feeding, but they were usually at least twice as expensive unless on a really good sale.

Yep! I’m glad you looked and posted! I’ve never done the math–just assumed the pellets would be more $$ than the powder (isn’t that ALWAYS the case?!) Pellets sure would be easier to feed than the powder…it’s just SO light!

[JB]

Wait, the pellets are CHEAPER than the powder? Did SC mess up the pricing again? :lol:

[RInurse_Rider]

@Simkie

FWIW, Santa Cruz does have vit e in a pellet now: https://www.scahealth.com/scah/produ…rse-supplement

Dunno how that compares in price to the pills for those horses who aren’t keen on powder, but could be worth running the numbers.

@RInurse Rider the powder Santa Cruz linked upthread is the same as the Elevate powder, just drastically better priced at ~$0.11 per 1000 IU vs ~$0.38 per 1000 IU. You pay a hefty premium for the label. Also, if you’re only doing a half scoop of Elevate, you’re only giving the horse 500 IU, which probably isn’t really enough if the horse never has grass.

There is an Elevate Concentrate which is 5000 IU per serving. That’s the one I bought. But I tried a different “human” capsule which my picky girl eats with no problem! It’s this one: http://a.co/gxfyiaX $29.50 for 200 capsules (1000 IU each). I give my horses 2 daily.

[Xanthoria]

I’m still skeeved out by the Santa Cruz animal abuse scandal, so not giving them my money. I use HorseTech and have a custom supp with 10,000IU natural E and it’s fantastic.