hello my horses has some minor neorogical symptoms and is being tested for epm and Lyme. Until then the vet recommends vitamin E- adding 2,000IU to his diet. He already gets 1,950IU in his diet now from grain (TC lite and TC 30% + animed remission). The vet recommended the elevate brand… I’ve done research that says d-alpha-tocopherol- the natural form is the best… but the elevate brand has acitate. What is a good brand, dosage, things to look for- etc? Do i need to provide an oil as well? Help!
The Vit E in the grain is synthetic, which means at best, it’s 50% bioavailable. I used Elevate at the double dose rate to correct a Vit E deficiency, and then switched to Ultra Cruz. Someone on here posted a very helpful spreadsheet about brands, bioavailablity and pricing. Try searching Vit E threads here in the forum.
ETA: Here is a helpful thread discussing Vit E, along with Xanthoria’s very helpful spreadsheet
https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/horse-care/9836656-vitamin-e-again
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Do we know the TC Vit E is synthetic? It only says “Vitamin E supplement” for both of those products 
UltraCruz Natural E is a very cheap $.13/1000IU if you buy the 4lb bag. Even if you feed 2000-4000IU/day, it lasts a really long time. You could add some flax or a squirt of oil to the feed to not only mix it (it’s a really fine, dusty powder) but also provide some extra fat for its absorption.
UltraCruz Natural Vitamin E comes in a pellet and a powder formula.
https://www.scahealth.com/scah/search?Ntt=ultracruz+natural+vitamin
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I use Vitamin E with selenium (also available without Se) from Horsetech.com. It is natural Vit E in food-grade ground flax meal. I don’t recall offhand what the dosage is, but they do custom products so you could get what you want.
I recently posted about Vitamin E as well not sure if you saw the thread or not but I decided to go with the powder from Ultra Cruz
https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/horse-care/9836656-vitamin-e-again
I have been very happy with the Ultra Cruz it ships fast and mixes easily. The powder is a tad messy and sticky so make sure you’re outside when you are mixing it haha I bag my supplements for my boy and I made the mistake of doing it in the living room. White powder everywhere!
best of luck to you and your horse neuro changes are no fun at all.
LOL, I used to feel like a cocaine dealer after mixing supplement baggies! I was SO happy when they came out with the pellet.
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When I used TC for my mare, the feed tags said dl-alpha. I haven’t bought for over a year now, but I can’t imagine they would substitute cheaper for more expensive. Don’t get me wrong, I love TC and would use again if my horse needed grain, but being that my old mare was neuro, I HAD to pay attention back then.
I have used Elevate in the past, but I currently have a horse on Smarpak’s Vitamin E pellets (which are natural). We put neurological horses on 10,000 iu per day, so its 4x the maintenance dose.
That could be. I use TC30 but TBH, I don’t really pay much attention to the E content of what I use, because either the horses are getting enough grass, or I add the UltraCruz E at 2000IU when they’re not, so it doesn’t matter. But I’ll definitely check the tag on the next bag I get, which will be soon (and I’ll check the other feeds too in the store)
Thanks for adding that myleetlepony! Here’s a direct link to the comparison spreadsheet I made:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HyzecjwZzxHj3keS5_fQ3aYEvXDU9IBxb5smQAYfslA
Those using UltraCruz may wish to read this: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/santa-cruz-biotechnology-fine_us_573fb4a5e4b00e09e89f2828?
I get my Vit E from Horsetech and have been extremely happy with them!
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Other than being natural (d-alpha), does Vit E from plant oils, such as Flax, Wheat Germ, Sunflower, etc provide more benefits than pelleted/powdered d-alpha Vit E?
eta: Sad to read about SC. I have bought supplements from them, but think I won’t do so again.
I don’t even know what to say. Not even.
natural is natural. The problem is concentration. How many IU of E is in a 1c serving of flax, or 1lb of BOSS (and how much pro-inflammatory O6 comes with that), etc? My guess is not nearly enough.
We just started using Elevate but it is expensive. I found https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078Y7Z5ZR/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Our horse requires 10K IU daily which requires 10 tablets of this product. At $.09/tablet the cost is less than $1.00/day.
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I had to crush a bunch of allergy meds for my horse for a while and would leave all the bottles and his other supps with little powdery plastic baggies out on the living room floor. When my boyfriend’s friends came over they were always like 
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I’ve been using HorseTech’s natural vitamin E, and have had great results. Also, they give you cookies if it’s ordered from their site. Lol. But just be aware that you will need to feed WAY more than a “normal” dose for a suspected neuro issue…especially if you are low already. I believe my sensitive chestnut mare did very well on 2 scoops a day, (of HorseTech) but cannot recall how much that was.
I have just been feeding the capsules…400 IU caps, #5. Mare eats them right up. I think since I started this I have found 2 capsules that have gotten spit out in her hay feeder. I just ordered some (d-alpha) from Amazon for $18 for a 50 day supply which comes out to 36 cents/day. My mare is on dry lot so I just trying to replace what would be in grass. I started her out on an 8000 unit dose for a couple weeks then 4000 and since then, 2000.
Susan
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There are two strengths of Elevate. One is Elevate Maintenance (widely available) and the other is Elevate Concentrate (usually only from vets, but also Allivet.com and Amazon.com). I use the Concentrate version, best price is usually Allivet on autoship. I fed 10000 IU daily for a year after cervical stabilization surgery, and now feed 5000 IU daily, probably forever. The Concentrate is the better deal, obviously. This brand was recommended by the surgeon and attending vet.
In Canada we have Stable Masters Choice all natural Vitamin e. It’s only 70. 00 Canadian for 140 day @ 1/2 tsp= 1000 iu. Almost all of the horses in my barn are on it cause in Ontario we don’t get much seasonal grass
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