HashRouge
Well-Known Member
Has anyone fed one that they've found effective?
Immune boosting supplement?
- Thread starter HashRouge
- Start date
PurBee
Well-Known Member
For mammals, the immune system requires ‘ACES’ to work effectively - its a good mantra to remember when injured/ill as you can boost the ‘ACES’ to boost the immune system.
ACES = vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and Selenium.
I’d also add zinc and copper for horses, considering average forage deficiencies in both minerals.
Many good quality mineral balancers and mixes contain a fair amount of ACES so rarely need to add extra (unless times of injury/illness) - except vitamin C - which horses, similar to cats, are meant to generate within their body and dont require oral supplementation. Yet i have found with both cats and horses, addition of sodium ascorbate very helpful for infections and tendon/ligament issues primarily. Vitamin C is essential for natural cartilage growth/repair.
My horses love orange segments - havent tried them with lemons! But i often throw in half an orange into their beet/mineral mixes alongside teaspoon of sodium ascorbate, as the oranges contain nutritional parts helping the added sodium ascorbate be better absorbed.
Just be careful of selenium levels- its absolutely essential for the body and immune system but only in trace amounts - as overdose of selenium is serious, and because its only required in relatively tiny amounts for a horse - 1-3mg per day depending on weight/activity - overdose could occur if you end up feeding a mineral mix with it in aswell as a bagged energy feed with it in, and then add another immune boosting mix to those….can tip the selenium dose over the RDA.
So always add-up the selenium youre feeding.
In the uk and ireland there are some areas of both countries with selenium ‘hotspots’ - where levels in the soil and forage are much higher than desired. Theres a whole county in ireland i avoid getting hay from due to this. Yet most soils have average low amounts and low supplementation is ok. Just google your county where they graze and where you get hay from to find out the known soil selenium levels, before adding selenium to the diet.
Below is a pic of uk selenium soil levels - areas in red/orange are high. When we consider we feed the average 500kg horse @2% BW forage 10kg - the areas in red/orange would supply a daily amount of between 9mg/day -162mg per day - far too high dose for a horse.
If you are in red/orange zones on the map best get the forage tested (rather than soil) - before proceeding to supplement it.
http://ukso.org/static-maps/advanced-soil-geochemical-atlas-of-england-and-wales.html
ACES = vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and Selenium.
I’d also add zinc and copper for horses, considering average forage deficiencies in both minerals.
Many good quality mineral balancers and mixes contain a fair amount of ACES so rarely need to add extra (unless times of injury/illness) - except vitamin C - which horses, similar to cats, are meant to generate within their body and dont require oral supplementation. Yet i have found with both cats and horses, addition of sodium ascorbate very helpful for infections and tendon/ligament issues primarily. Vitamin C is essential for natural cartilage growth/repair.
My horses love orange segments - havent tried them with lemons! But i often throw in half an orange into their beet/mineral mixes alongside teaspoon of sodium ascorbate, as the oranges contain nutritional parts helping the added sodium ascorbate be better absorbed.
Just be careful of selenium levels- its absolutely essential for the body and immune system but only in trace amounts - as overdose of selenium is serious, and because its only required in relatively tiny amounts for a horse - 1-3mg per day depending on weight/activity - overdose could occur if you end up feeding a mineral mix with it in aswell as a bagged energy feed with it in, and then add another immune boosting mix to those….can tip the selenium dose over the RDA.
So always add-up the selenium youre feeding.
In the uk and ireland there are some areas of both countries with selenium ‘hotspots’ - where levels in the soil and forage are much higher than desired. Theres a whole county in ireland i avoid getting hay from due to this. Yet most soils have average low amounts and low supplementation is ok. Just google your county where they graze and where you get hay from to find out the known soil selenium levels, before adding selenium to the diet.
Below is a pic of uk selenium soil levels - areas in red/orange are high. When we consider we feed the average 500kg horse @2% BW forage 10kg - the areas in red/orange would supply a daily amount of between 9mg/day -162mg per day - far too high dose for a horse.
If you are in red/orange zones on the map best get the forage tested (rather than soil) - before proceeding to supplement it.
http://ukso.org/static-maps/advanced-soil-geochemical-atlas-of-england-and-wales.html
Pinkvboots
Well-Known Member
The vet told me to put the horse on a good multi vitamin and mineral supplement and also said a short course of aloe vera juice can also boost immunity.
Reacher
Well-Known Member
Interesting I didn’t realise how many places in uk had high selenium. According to the map I am on the edge of the high concentrations. My grass analyses were low for selenium but I’ve not tested my hay.
Ratface
Well-Known Member
How interesting. Thanks for the information.
catembi
Well-Known Member
Echinacea? My new boy had ab absolute faceful of grass warts when I got him. No joy with thuja, colloidal silver or acyclovir. I did a search on here re immune boosters which came up with echinacea. Long story short, the grass warts started noticeably drying up & dropping off within about 2 1/2 weeks & now the whole lot have gone as if they never existed. I am astonished & wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. The idea is that the echinacea boosts the immune system so his own body fights off the warts, which are a virus.