Vitamin E Oil giving horse extra energy?

[NinjaPony]

I thought I'd post on HHO to see if anyone else has found that vitamin e oil has given their horse an extra energy boost?

My pony has been retired with severe lung damage. About a week before he came off the steroids, I decided to give him some vitamin e oil. I'd read in a journal that it can help lung function, and at this point I really have very little to lose. So I bought the pure vitamin e oil from Equimins, and have been giving him a teaspoon in each morning feed.

To my total surprise, after 2 weeks off the steroids and on the oil, he has really perked up. He has so much more energy coming in and out of the field and is now rolling, bucking etc.

I'm well aware no supplement can fix the kind of damage my boy has, and at one point I was thinking I was going to have to make the call as he was so lethargic. I have no idea if it's the oil or not, and at this point it really doesn't matter, as long as he is happier but thought I'd share with you all anyway as it might be helpful for someone else and I'm curious to see if anyone else has had this kind of positive experience with it.

Should add that he is not PSSM and has never shown any symptoms.

 

[ihatework]

If you have a mild underlying muscle myopathy then that could be the improvement. I’ve also known one present with some laboured breathing that was improved (but not cured), so presumed to be a combination of allergic airway and stress

 

[SEL]

I'm forever recommending vitamin E to horse owners - anyone would think I had shares in it!! (**should probably have shares in it**)

Lots of horses who present with myopathy type symptoms (so sluggish, stiff etc) perk up on vitamin E. So I suspect many of our horses are lacking in it and once they are getting what they need they just start to feel better. Its a great antioxidant too.

So my guess is your horse has more energy just because they are feeling better

 

[paddy555]

how very interesting NP, thanks for sharing this.

I had a strange incident with vit e. Horse had PPID, was on prascend and at age 16 in July 2014 went blind. Very blind. Vet couldn't see an obvious reason. The horse had a good life, a guide pony and a guardian mask. We decided to let him get on with it until it was obvious he could no longer cope.
Fast forward to Feb 2015, horse still blind. In the meantime I had a PSSM horse who responded to vit E so we had vit E and I saw an article written by Dr K that PPID horses should have 5000iu of natural vit E oil.
So I started giving him this, dose was a good 5000iu and never thought any more about it. I was giving it purely for the cushings aspect. Everything about his life was still the same, only change was vit E, prascend dose was still 1 tablet.

Mid Oct. 2105 it was obvious something was changing. He appeared to be able to see something, not much but something. Over the next month his eyesight came back. It was fascinating taking him out for a walk as he just stopped and stared as he started to see things that had been lost to him. I moved onto riding him again gradually until I was riding as normal.
Make of it what you will. The only change was vit e. I did find an article about vit e, horses and eyes.
Mine is also equimins.

I hope your pony continues to progress. It would be interesting to hear an update in a few weeks time if possible.

 

[Micky]

Wow that’s really interesting about going blind and vit e oil..my ppid horse seems to be losing his sight for the last year or so..mainly one eye I think..so I think I’ll order some and see, plus the other benefits..many thanks..

 

[NinjaPony]

how very interesting NP, thanks for sharing this.

I had a strange incident with vit e. Horse had PPID, was on prascend and at age 16 in July 2014 went blind. Very blind. Vet couldn't see an obvious reason. The horse had a good life, a guide pony and a guardian mask. We decided to let him get on with it until it was obvious he could no longer cope.
Fast forward to Feb 2015, horse still blind. In the meantime I had a PSSM horse who responded to vit E so we had vit E and I saw an article written by Dr K that PPID horses should have 5000iu of natural vit E oil.
So I started giving him this, dose was a good 5000iu and never thought any more about it. I was giving it purely for the cushings aspect. Everything about his life was still the same, only change was vit E, prascend dose was still 1 tablet.

Mid Oct. 2105 it was obvious something was changing. He appeared to be able to see something, not much but something. Over the next month his eyesight came back. It was fascinating taking him out for a walk as he just stopped and stared as he started to see things that had been lost to him. I moved onto riding him again gradually until I was riding as normal.
Make of it what you will. The only change was vit e. I did find an article about vit e, horses and eyes.
Mine is also equimins.

I hope your pony continues to progress. It would be interesting to hear an update in a few weeks time if possible.

Interesting about your PPID horse showing an improvement; my other pony has PPID and I was wondering about putting him on it too given the positive effect on my other one. I might give it a go!

 

[NinjaPony]

Just to update: pony is still on vitamin e oil and has surprised the vets by continuing to stay stable. This is combined with a round of the latest equihaler treatment. His respiratory rate before and after treatment he dropped from 20 to 12 which is good news for him and he’s continuing to be much perkier. His appetite has improved to the point where I’m having to put him on a diet! I’m hopeful that I may yet have a bit of time to spend with him before his lungs deteriorate further.

 

[Lintel]

All very interesting.... following..

 

[bubsqueaks]

How interesting Ive not heard much about Vit E - we use Equimins balancer & our cob could do with a pick me up so might give this a try thank you