Vitamin E

[MNA12]

I have a mare who in the last 2 years has had problems with her canter and canter transitions. This spring she did a lot of tail swishing (up and down) when in the canter so we tried Vitamin E and it stopped and she seemed a lot better. This winter she ran out of vitamin E (I was unaware) and she has been doing her tail swishing but has also been bucking into the canter (just small bucks) I’m assuming this is because she doesn’t have vitamin E. My question is in what way would the vitamin E help her cantering?

She does have a slight stifle issue on the right. We now have a farrier balancing her feet. We’ve only seen her stifle issues go into work once when doing flying lead changes where it was stuck for a few seconds. The other times we usually see issues if she’s stuck in a stall for days and not being worked but it’ll usually stick coming out of her stall and be fixed in seconds. (We have not seen this since she was young)

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

[Sansena]

What is her breeding? Some breeds are susceptible to canter trouble… Dr. Beth Valentine has a website outlining the various conditions and how they can be helped.

Insofar as Vitamin E helping… it’s oftentimes prescribed for horses with Equine Motor Neuron Disease. Some vets extrapolate that general neurological or muscle conditions can be helped by mega dosing Vitamin E.

All 3 conditions (stifle issues too) can be made worse by lack of movement /being stuck in the stall.

[MNA12]

When she was a 2 year old we had a full work up done on her with everything normal just a stifle issue. She is a morgan and from what I see a lot of them have the stifle issues. She was only getting a small amount (1 scoop a day and upped to 2 scoops in the summer when showing) When she was in training as a youngster she use to have the best canter transitions I found in the last couple years they went down hill but the field she is out on has next to no grass (we noticed issues with the canter about 2 years into moving there).

[Sansena]

Are you in the same condition you were as when you were 2 yrs old? Many of these conditions become exacerbated with age.

Lack of pasture will impact many negatively, of course. As will the lack of Vitamin E, especially if they’re compromised as I described in my first reply. Discuss EMND, PSSM and EPSM to your vet. Muscle biopsy is one way to diagnose it, but I’ve found diagnosis is irrelevant. If you adopt the diet described by Dr. Valentine, you’ll either see improvement, or you won’t.

[MNA12]

I have looked into the symptoms and have not seen any of these in my mare. She is being worked 4-5 times a week and last year was showing almost every weekend. When putting my mare on vitamin E I did have a discussion with my vet she came out and saw her and checked everything. Her idea was maybe her vitamin E is a little low (lack of pasture) and she may need a bit of vitamin E to help her recover faster from work outs.

[sheltona01]

Vit e is an anti inflammatory as far as I know. Not an expert on it.

[walktrot]

I’ve had my gelding on it for years. It is an anti-inflammatory and the vet suggested it. I use the all-natural with selenium from HorseTech.

[OneTwoMany]

Here is a helpful article: https://thehorse.com/113532/when-do-horses-need-vitamin-e/

[Posting_Trot]

The easiest thing to do would be to put her back on the Vit. E supplement, and see if the problems with cantering go away or get better.

You could also have the vet out to take some blood to test for Vit. E levels in her system, but that would be somewhat pricier.

However, if after adding the Vit. E again the poor cantering persists, you probably should talk to your vet. It could be that her problems with cantering now are caused by something completely different from what caused the earlier problems.

[Simkie]

Vitamin e is necessary for proper neural and muscle function. Unless your horse is eating good pasture for the bulk of her forage, her vitamin e is lacking. It quickly degrades when hay is cut.

There’s nothing terribly unique or curious here. She’s just telling you that she needs supplementation. Get her back on vitamin e.

[MNA12]

Vitamin E has been ordered. Just curious if there was a certain reason for it. I’ve been lucky to have a horse to tell me things aren’t right. I had no idea she was out but since finding out I have ordered it.

[goodhors]

When tested, were her Selenium levels in the “normal” range? Selenium with Vit E to allow absorbtion, is a vital nutrient for muscle use and keeping the reproductive system working well. Lack of both can cause problems, not cycling well, eggs not coming and going as they should, perhaps being released on groups to cause clusters for soreness.

Over the years we have learned a LOT about Selenium and Vit E in our performance horses. We top dress our Selenium and Vit E for easy horse to insure they get the correct amount DAILY, since horses can’t story them. Sweating removes Selenium from the body, which then needs replacing. We see it as a kind of “grease” that keeps many things working smoothly in the body. Working horses, mares that cycle monthly, will use up Selenium quickly. Horses, even big ones, do not need a lot of Selenium and Vit E, and too much can be harmful. Vitamin mixed supplements may not provide enough. We get horses tested to see that they are getting the proper amounts for their work.

Perhaps you have enough Selenium in your soil that horse does not need it supplemented. However many areas like mine, Great Lakes, have no Selenium in our soil, so hay or grain, grazing, has no Selenium in it for the animals. We also learned there is very little Selenium along the East Coast States, after buying horses from that area. They were just NQR to our eyes, though not lame or stiff. A selenium test showed them to be dangerously deficient, so Vet came back out to give Selenium shots until supplements got levels up in their bodies. We also supplemented our cattle and sheep when we had them, they need Selenium and Vit E too or they develop various problems.