A form of wobbler syndrome called equine degen-
erative myeloencephalopathy (EDM) presents itself in young horses at first by incoordination and clum- siness, which deteriorates into ataxia (the loss of full control of bodily movements). These horses have been found to show low vitamin E levels. Nutritional myodegeneration, known as white muscles disease, affects skeletal or cardiac muscles of rapidly growing, active foals, accord- ing to Dr. Valberg, and is primarily due to a dietary deficiency of sele- nium beginning in utero. In some cases, there may also be a deficiency of vitamin E. Signs include muscle weakness, difficulty rising, trembling of limbs, stiffness, prolonged recum- bency, firm painful muscles and potentially aspiration pneumonia. Signs of cardiac involvement, accord- ing to Dr. Valberg, are depression, rapid heart rate, difficulty breathing and foamy nasal discharge, or potentially sudden death. Horses showing loss of muscle mass, toe dragging,
poor performance, weakness and muscle fascicula- tion (brief contractions) may be diagnosed with vita- min E deficiency without evidence of damage to motor nerves. Equine Motor Neuron Disease (EMND) is also asso-
ciated with vitamin E deficiency. Horses show muscle wasting, muscle fasciculation, shifting of weight between hind limbs, low head carriage in some cases and prolonged recumbency, according to Dr. Valberg. All of these diseases are reported to respond well to high doses of vitamin E.
PAIRING E AND SELENIUM There is a synergistic relationship between selenium and vitamin E. “Vitamin E is the first line of defense. Sele- nium works on the inside of the cell as an antioxidant, glutathione peroxidase, protecting the cell from oxida- tive damage. If the membrane undergoes damage, selenium offers protection as a second line of defense,” says Dr. Getty. She warns, however, that the margin of safety for selenium supplementation is very narrow. “Tying up” or exertional rhabdomyolysis, which means muscle breakdown, is related to selenium and vitamin E deficiency.
E AS A SUPPLEMENT “If I have a neurologically challenged horse, I do reach for vitamin E. But it is not a magic bullet,” says Dr. Getty. “There is this idea that horses have to have 100 percent of their nutritional requirement of 27
different things every day at precisely the same time and balanced off one another or the whole system will go to hell,” says Dr. David Ramey of Los Angeles, California. “But that is not how the horse’s system was designed to work.” “I’m not one of these people who takes everything
“If I have a neuro- logicaly chalenged hose, I do reach fo vitamin E. But it is not a magic bulet…”
back to the wild,” he continues, “but it’s useful here. Horses in Mongolia or on the BLM lands are walking around all day eating poor quality forage and they’re not dying of vita- min E deficiency. The horse evolved to thrive on fairly unlimited amounts of relatively poor quality natural grasses. One day a horse gets 50 percent of his daily requirements of vitamin E. The next day he gets 150 percent of the requirements of vita- min E. On the day he gets 50 percent, he is going to draw from his own stores and make up the gap. And the
day he gets 150 percent, he is going to store. Horse people have been sold on the idea that if the horse doesn’t get the precise amounts every day, look out. The whole system falls apart. This is nonsense.”
Beltane enjoys his work now on long lines and over cavalletti.
Without regular access to fresh green grass, the
horse’s diet may need to be supplemented. One way to protect a horse is to feed a whole food diet. “Plants have vitamin E to protect their cell membranes. So, seeds, nuts, some oils carry it,” explains Dr. Getty. “The vitamin E in olive oil will protect the oil from oxidiz- ing when exposed to air. When you open a bottle, you let the oxygen in. The vitamin E will protect it, but if you have a bottle for more than a year, it is probably rancid because the vitamin E is used up.” The recommended level of vitamin E supplemen- tation for an average, healthy horse not exercising is
Warmbloods Today 31
Courtesy Karen Mountain
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