Arabian Silk - Horses of Endurance
Gypsy Moth Productions.
A post a tad off the beaten path today, as I've been meaning to write about this DVD for a week or so now. I ordered Arabian Silk in the beginning on November. Since I have absolutely zero skills in time management and was wanting to watch it RIGHT NOW!. I ended up emailing Christine Lazzarini, the producer. I must say, I was and am still extremely impressed not only by her immediate reply - but her generosity.
Concerned that the first one may not arrive, Christine very kindly mailed me a second one, and then when I told her the first one had finally arrived, Christine insisted I keep the second one as well, in apology for the first one being delayed. Now I certainly didn't hold Christine responsible for the delay - as I'm pretty sure no one controls customs, not even customs! So a big round of applause for Christine, and her excellent customer service skills.
Onto the Show
I'll confess, I enjoyed it. Some of the parts were a little hokey, but still made me smile - such as the horse narrator. I did have a Mr. Ed giggle. Nevertheless, the entire show was quite well done. The part I enjoyed was that is was done in a way that held interest the non-riding members of my family, and I watched it several times as well - nodding along in those certain 'yep yep' spots.
Definitely worth a watch and the price.
You can find it here:
http://www.arabiansilk.com/
Since I now have this extra copy - leave a comment- tell me why I should send it to you!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Vitamin E and the Endurance Horse
The role of Vitamin E in the Endurance Horse.
Endurance horses have a required need for fast recoveries, good body condition and overall health due to the specific demands of the sport. In order to achieve this, we as owners and riders need to stringently evaluate the horse diet and consider whether or not the horse's dietary needs are being correctly met.
One of these dietary needs is Vitamin E. Vitamin E is responsible for several functions in the mature working horse. (I won't address growing horses in this- that is another topic for another day)
For the mature working horse, Vitamin E works as an antioxidant, which is important in protecting tissues and cells from being degraded by free radicals. A horse with insufficient stores of Vitamin E can suffer from muscle soreness/stiffness after a bout of intense exercise - this speaks directly to endurance horse to me!
Where do horses get Vitamin E from?
Pasture can provide the idle horse with sufficient amounts of Vitamin E, however more strenous exercise may require additional supplementation. When grasses dried and baled(hay/winter) Vitamin E is lost - therefore for the stall kept horse, or pasture kept horse over wintering may also require 'help' in this area during those times when fresh forage is unavailable or less than prime condition.
What is Vitamin E?
Vitamin E is a group of substances, two of which are --alpha-tocopherol and gamma-tocopherol. These two contain the anti-oxidant properties that are required in the horse. The Alpha - is the most active (biological) and most common type found in the horse's body.
Commercial 'stable' sources of Vitamin E have been a challenge for equine nutritionists to develop - as in order to make alpha tocopherol stable enough for use,(in feeds) by chemical transition it becomes dl-alpha tocopherol acetate.
Supplementing with a synthetic form of Vitamin E is possible, however it is less effective in providing plasma tocopherol. Because of the lower cost, this is the type of Vitamin E most commonly added to feeds - even though it is extremely limited in bio-availability. Therefore a feed can say it contains Vitamin E - but which one?
I find at this point, it's much easier to get on the horn with your feed manufacturer and ask specifically in order to get the right answer.
KER did a study on the differences in synthetic Vitamin E, vs feeding natural Vitamin E.
The horses fed the natural supplement (natural sourced ) increased the baseline plasma by 56%, compared to the study group that were being fed the synthetic.
So that begs the question, finding the difference , where to get the right Vitamin E? As far as I can tell, that my friends is between you and your feed company!
A quick search of google reveals Smart Pak for has a natural source available, as well as a select few others. I'm sure there are more.
Endurance horses have a required need for fast recoveries, good body condition and overall health due to the specific demands of the sport. In order to achieve this, we as owners and riders need to stringently evaluate the horse diet and consider whether or not the horse's dietary needs are being correctly met.
One of these dietary needs is Vitamin E. Vitamin E is responsible for several functions in the mature working horse. (I won't address growing horses in this- that is another topic for another day)
For the mature working horse, Vitamin E works as an antioxidant, which is important in protecting tissues and cells from being degraded by free radicals. A horse with insufficient stores of Vitamin E can suffer from muscle soreness/stiffness after a bout of intense exercise - this speaks directly to endurance horse to me!
Where do horses get Vitamin E from?
Pasture can provide the idle horse with sufficient amounts of Vitamin E, however more strenous exercise may require additional supplementation. When grasses dried and baled(hay/winter) Vitamin E is lost - therefore for the stall kept horse, or pasture kept horse over wintering may also require 'help' in this area during those times when fresh forage is unavailable or less than prime condition.
What is Vitamin E?
Vitamin E is a group of substances, two of which are --alpha-tocopherol and gamma-tocopherol. These two contain the anti-oxidant properties that are required in the horse. The Alpha - is the most active (biological) and most common type found in the horse's body.
Commercial 'stable' sources of Vitamin E have been a challenge for equine nutritionists to develop - as in order to make alpha tocopherol stable enough for use,(in feeds) by chemical transition it becomes dl-alpha tocopherol acetate.
Supplementing with a synthetic form of Vitamin E is possible, however it is less effective in providing plasma tocopherol. Because of the lower cost, this is the type of Vitamin E most commonly added to feeds - even though it is extremely limited in bio-availability. Therefore a feed can say it contains Vitamin E - but which one?
I find at this point, it's much easier to get on the horn with your feed manufacturer and ask specifically in order to get the right answer.
KER did a study on the differences in synthetic Vitamin E, vs feeding natural Vitamin E.
The horses fed the natural supplement (natural sourced ) increased the baseline plasma by 56%, compared to the study group that were being fed the synthetic.
So that begs the question, finding the difference , where to get the right Vitamin E? As far as I can tell, that my friends is between you and your feed company!
A quick search of google reveals Smart Pak for has a natural source available, as well as a select few others. I'm sure there are more.
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