Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin essential for horse health. Vital for lung, immune system and skin health, this horse vitamin functions as an important antioxidant within the body. Vitamin C is needed for the synthesis of L-carnitine, and hormones like epinephrine and dopamine. Vitamin C is vital for collagen strength. Collagen is the major protein in all connective tissues, including tendons and ligaments and even blood vessels.
A under normal conditions a horse can synthesize enough vitamin C in its body to prevent the development of a full blown deficiency state. However, the ability of this synthesis to maintain normal vitamin C levels in times of stress is questioned.
A diet of mainly hay or haylage, heavy exercise and poor health resiliency, especially in the lungs, has been shown to lead to decreased vitamin C blood levels in unsupplemented horses. These situations may create a higher demand for vitamin c than can be supplied by a high hay and haylage diet and may exceed the body’s ability to make this essential vitamin.
For comparison a stabled horse on a hay or haylage based diet would be taking in less than 1 gram of C from its daily diet while an average horse on good green and growing spring grass would get a minimum of 20 grams/day.
Vitamin C horse supplementation is of potential benefit in the following scenarios:
- Horses on high cereal, low forage diets, or those on very poor quality forage.
- Horses eating a mainly or solely hay or haylage diet
- Horses which need lung support
- Horses which need skin support
- Older horses, where there are weight maintenance issues connected with digestive issues.
- Horses with failure to thrive due to illness or stress.
- Horses in hard work, high stress situations or competing (endurance, travelling, racing, eventing, hunting).
- Horses with poor gut micro-flora populations
- Young horses with incomplete gut micro-flora populations.
Care should be taken when supplementing vitamin C to horses known or suspected to be iron overloaded. Vitamin C increases iron absorption in the intestine. It also can act as a pro-oxidant rather than anti-oxidant in the presence of excess iron in the circulation or tissues. Feeding at the lowest rate is recommended in these situations or contact us for further advice.