During the winter, horses may have more difficulty getting adequate amounts of vitamin E. In the cold season, horses often spend less time in the meadows, where the grass is rich in vitamin E. Preserved forages such as hay, on the other hand, contain very little. Yet this vitamin is essential for all horses, especially sports horses. Vitamin E is essential for neuromuscular development. Athletes undergoing intense training have very large muscle mass, which is stressed by physical exercise and mental effort. For this reason, they require four times greater doses of vitamin E.
Suffice it to say that while a lightly trained horse needs 500 IU, a horse doing intense work may require as much as 2,000 IU. For this reason, we make sure our horse’s diet is well-supplied with this vitamin. It is usually added to all feeds formulated for performance horses or can be added with specific supplements. It is also contained in oils, particularly wheat germ oil, followed by sunflower oil.
Dr. Emanuela Valle