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Topic: Last day of a great vitamin sale (Read 1571 times)
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Boss Mare
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If anyone is feeding people vitamins to horses, May 16 is the last day of a big 3 for 1 sale at Puritan's Pride: "[url]http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=37927889&siteid=41434625&bfpage=1642192"[/url]
We buy vitamins C, E, and various Bs for the horses and it always works out cheapest to buy the people pills (which probably have better quality control) than the horse products. I thought the 3 for 1 sale was a come on, but really, the prices are great and the service from this company is fine. We have ordered from them several times. This is the best deal out there for Vitamin E and the various Vitamin Bs.
Dr. Eleanor Kellon, nutrition guru and editor of The Horse Journal, recommends in her book Equine Supplements and Nutraceuticals supplementing horses with:
- For all horses, especially those who don't get fresh grass, from 500 up to 5,000 IU of vitamin E per day. We supplement our open mares and maintenance-types at 1,200 per day, and our growing horses at 2,000. Vitamin E is good for so many things, including neurological development (there is research showing a lower incidence of neurological problems and also faster recovery times for conditions such as EPM).
We buy the 400 IU softgels and the horses eat them up with their grain (1000 IU size are available but may require opening the capsules--pain in the butt and it usually isn't any cheaper).
The best deals (largest quantities):
You can get natural (a form that's hard to find in horse supplements) for 69.99 for 3 jars of 1000 400 IU gels, which is almost a year's supply for three horses, or about $2 per month per horse. (Everything we have gotten from them has at least 18 months before the expiration date, so stocking up works.)
Synthetic (dl-alpha tocopherol), the form that is typically included in horse supplements, are 27.65 for 3 jars of 500 400 IU gels, which is a little cheaper than the natural form.
Of course you can get these in smaller quantities. Either way, it is a great price.
- For nervous horses and mares who are "marish," and especially for horses who don't get fresh grass, Kellon recommends these B vitamins:
500-1000 mg Thiamine
300-600 mg of B6
6-12 mg of Folic Acid
We started the vitamin B supplementation on two marish alpha girls a few months ago and it has helped A LOT.
Horses produce their own vitamin B so people think they don't need supplementation. However, production relies on them getting all of the nutrients they need to make the vitamins. More importantly, the horse manufactures vitamin B in the digestive tract, specifically in the small intestine, cecum, and colon. However, the horse absorbs most of its vitamin B at the small intestine. This means that most of what the horse produces in the cecum and colon winds up in the manure! So supplementation makes sense here, regardless of the rest of the diet.
Anyway, if you feed people vitamins and need a supply, check "[url]http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=37927889&siteid=41434625&bfpage=1642192"[/url] out today to get the 3 for 1 prices.
After today, the pricing will go to 2-for-1, but there will also be a coupon (using this link: "[url]http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=37927889&siteid=41434625&bfpage=1717911"[/url]) for $10 off on your order of $65 or more.
BTW, the links look funny (please use them to go to the website!) because we have added Puritan's Pride as a sponsor to support these forums. When you use the links here we automatically receive credit for referring you to them.
Thanks!
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« Last Edit: May 16, 2005, 02:41:03 PM by Boss Mare »
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Joy
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Re the dl-alphatocopherol (Vit E), I found an interesting reference this weekend. d-alpha is the natural kind, and has a right spin on it wrt molecules (electrons?), and dl-alpha may have a left spin (the chemical process doesn't allow them to actually formulate that) which means that not only can dl-alpha NOT be usable by the body, but may actually deplete whatever is already there.
Now, several studies have shown that dl-alpha isn't used as well, but this is the first time I've heard that it could actually cause depletion. Do I know if it's true? Nope. You're welcome to search that out, but the bottom line is that d-alpha may be more expensive, but in the long run may actually be more cost efficient.
This is probably true for other sythetic vitamins as well, but then, I tend to be a purist....
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Tannenwald Trakehner
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TANZBRISE by Windfall out of Tariana
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It isn't really a spin, it is the way that atoms and groups are connected in a molecule with respect to each other and the bonds that give it sort of a twist. Each kind of twist denotes a distinct form of a chemical, or an "isomer," based on the way that the molecules refract light (these are also called "optical isomers"). The two choices are dextro (a right hand twist) and levo (a left hand).
The DL- form is a racemic mix of dextro and levo isomers, meaning both are combined, and that form is then stabilized with the addition of an acetate group. The natural form has only dextro isomers. I have never read anything indicating that using the racemix mix would deplete the store of d-alpha tocopherol, and would have to reach too far back to my past life as a chemist to figure out why that might be. I would be interested in reading the source you are referencing.
However, lots of studies have indicated that the dextro form is more available to the body. Thus, D- is better than DL- in terms of availability.
Except that I am not aware of any horse product that uses the natural form, and there is a reason for that. First is the cost (which is usually more disparate than those prices would indicate). Second is stability. Vitamin E is an antioxidant which works to protect whatever it is in by being oxidized itself, sort of a sacrificial lamb. It is easily destroyed by exposure to air, light, and high temperatures (that is why vitamin e pills for people usually come in a brown jar, to prevent insult from light). So dumping some natural vitamin E into a bag of feed (or pelletizing the feed while the vitamin E is in it...) would result, by the time the bag arrives on a store shelf, in a bag of feed with barely any active vitamin E remaining. Feed products almost always (meaning I can't think of a packaged feed that doesn't...) contain dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate. This is a stabilized form of the synthetic vitamin which increases stability.
I think there are some new liquid vitamin E supplements out, one from KER and maybe one from BASF, that contain natural forms. But by and large, horse vitamins are synthetic dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate. And the only (or at least the most economical) way to give your horses the natural form is by buying people pills 
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Joy
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Ingrid, thanks for the clarification. I think the word used actually was "twist", but I couldn't tell you where I found the reference, because I came across it accidentally, took note of it as an interesting fact, and might have forgotten it altogether except that only a couple of days later you mentioned Vit E.
I'd forgotten about the oxidizing agencies of Vit E! Thanks!
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