Vitamin D

[larrygene]

I just got my annual physical and my doctor put me, in fact, he said he had put all his patients on a vitamin D supplement. His reasoning was the majority of his patients were getting older and with age comes a certain amount of inactivity. The inactivtity in essence means not getting outside and getting adequate amounts of sunlight which makes our bodies produce vitamin D. Vitamin D it is thought helps keep our bones strong and helps our bodies regulate the calicum and phosphorus.

That got me to thinking about all the trouble we are facing with TB's that have bone and joint problems. We are accusing certain bloodlines of producing animals with soft bones or low bone density. Could it be that it is not the breed but the lack of sunshine the animals are getting at such a young age? Many in the sales market are bringing young foals inside to be prepped for sales and by socalled"hothousing" them they are restricting them to sunlight that is needed for proper bone developement. I am well aware that not all breeders do this but what about young horses in training. Many are taken out early in the mornings, some before the sun shines, galloped and brought back in to their stalls. Never getting the proper amounts of sunlight. I am also aware that most conditioners feed some type supplement but does it contain enough vitamin D. What is the recommended daily amount a growing horse needs? My physican has me on 1000 i.u. daily. Would that be enough for a horse?

Right now our yearlings are outside most of the day. But when we start bringing them in to break and keeping them up I believe I am going to start them on a supplement of vitamin D along with the other vit/min supplements. Just some food for thought!!!!


Larrygene

[cewright]

My vet has everyone supplement their young horses with calcium to reduce OCDs. He also points to a study out of K-State which suggested the calcium supplementd horses grew larger than the unsupplemented controls. I will ask about the Vitamin D.

Thanks for the tip!

Chuck

[xfactor fan]

Lack of vitamin D is also related to increased chances of cancer.

[valjoe]

I was thinking about it awhile ago. They sure don't get enough sunshine when they enter training. Overdose is toxic so have to be careful.

[larrygene]

I think it would be toxic in massive amounts. I might be wrong but if I'm on 1000 i.u. a day a horse should easily be able to handle 2000 i.u. or 3000 i.u. If anyone knows the recommeded amount please let us know.

Thanks

[soundfast]

Amount of Vitamin D varies. Adult performance horses in training 6000 IU.Mares and stallions 4000IU. One and 2 year olds 2500. Under a year 1000 to 2500. In general should be about 1/10 the amount of Vitamin A.That is the total amount and hay usually supplies some and other feeds also + even indoors they usually get some sunlight. The main function of Vitamin D is the control of the transportation absorption and depositing of calcium and phosphorus. Grossly excessive amounts of D lead to excessive calcium in the blood which can lead to heart failure,stiffness or intestinal trouble. These problems are seen at approximately 10 times the recommended dose. Calcium phosphorus ratios are also important. Grass has the ideal ratio. Micro nutruents also influence bone strength and horses should have sodium,potassium,magnesium,zinc,manganese,niacin,choline and biotin. Some mycotoxins interfere with D absorption so a horse could show a deficiency even when given adequate amounts in their diet. Alfalfa does not have the best calcium phosphorus ratio and the diet should be adjusting accordingly if the horse is gettin alfalfa hay. Moisture and certain metals can lead to the destruction of Vitamin D which is also lost in storage at maybe 2 to 5% a month. Diet alone will not explain the huge differences in soundness between the get of some sires compared to others but proper nutrition can help.

[larrygene]

soundfast, its obvious you know what you're talking about. But, my question is , would keeping animals inside day after day for years, i.e., horses in training and racing that see very little sunlight, would that affect their need for additional vitamin D? Could that enviroment create a situation where the lack of sunlight causes thin, brittle, bones in our racehorses? Were horses 50, 60 years ago trained differently? Given more access to the outdoors and sunlight moreso than todays horses in training? I don't know but there seems to be too many horses having skeletal breakdowns in this day and age. Its hard for me to believe one or two bloodlines could cause this much problem to the breed. Wouldn't it be great to have such a big problem solved by simply adding a supplement??

Food for thought

[aardvark]

Larrygene,

I just read an article about bone density in humans. I definitely think you can carry the philosophy over to animals and in this case horses.

Here are the supplements I identified as needed from the article (may be a spelling error or two as I sometimes cant read my own scribble):

Boron
Idodine
copper
manganese
magnesium
potassium
Viatmin C, A, & K
Thiamine?
riboflavin
calcium
phosporus
zinc

The article also mentioned that prunes were good because it provided a inulin fiber in your system which helps to absorb needed vitamins and minerals.

I have also read that your average weekender horse isnt ridden often enough to build proper bone denisty. Horse should be worked 5 days a week for an extended period to build proper bone density. This was a university study, TX if I recall.

[soundfast]

Horses in training are not constantly kept indoors but a lack of nutrients like vitamin D can lead to bone loss and make animals more prone to fractures. Steroids can also cause bone loss. Heredity + poor nutrition + steroids could put horses over the edge to a fatal breakdown but any one of those things by itself might or might not. Vitamin D is usually found in hay,horse feed and supplements so a really serious deficiency is not that likely to occur. Horses on pasture that have plenty of sunlight have also had fatal fractures. Increased amounts of certain nutrients can help to make bones denser and fractures less likely. Mares if they do not get enough calcium in their diet will lose it from their bones when nursing their foals making them more prone to fractures. There are supplements on the market that are a combination of nutrients to help with bone strength and density. Like osteoporosis in humans can be helped to a certain extent by diet or supplements horses could be helped somewhat also. Certain horses do tend to sire a higher percentage of offspring that have fractures or other unsoundness or in some cases maybe a lot that are slow. I have put in a number of lists of sires and the last one under "Soundest sires" is the worst list of stallions whose progeny average 12 starts or less lifetime and it includes both famous and hardly known names some of which have no winners and very poor earnings. The wide differences between the soundest sires and worst list show that even in similar environments and presumably with similar diets there is a big difference in soundness. Doubling on unsoundness produces horses more likely to have fractures and I do not know for certain how much difference the diet can make. Crossing 2 sires both with low starts per runner can lead to offspring with even fewer starts. Jump Start,Half Ours, and quite a few others did not have even an average number of starts for their sire or broodmare sire before having a fracture or two. Tale Of The Cat had already had 2 fractures by the time he had made 5 starts. Maybe a higher than average need for certain nutrients could be a contributing factor.I think heredity plays a part and the effects of heredity might be mitigated by diet and exercise but selecting for soundness would probably be the biggest help to the horses. The osteoporosis web site I visited says there are 2 ways to find out if you have fragile bones 1. break one of your bones. 2. have a bone density scan. Bone density scans can be done on horses and they can use portable machines. If bone density is low then changes need to be made to help prevent fractures.

[MINNOW]

Hi Larrygene.
I have just taken your advise and started myself on vitamin D.
I do notice in the winter I get the sad syndrome,Right now it good weather and lots of sunshine,so I figure by the time it comes around again I will be built up better to withstand our cold Canadian winter.

[larrygene]

MINNOW, I definitely think there is something to the vit D deficency for those of us that are prone to stay inside for whatever reason. Between a poor diet, lack of sunlight , and little strenuous exercise people today are more likely to have bone problems. At least that's what my MD says. My wife and I are on it and hope it works. Let me know if you see a change this winter.

[MINNOW]

Watched the 700 club today,there was a Doctor turned chef on.He said lack of vitamin D caused depression.and that the sunshine states had less reported cases than colder states.Any body looking for a barn helper in Florida or California.