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The best of
nature...
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... and science
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...to give superior care for large and small creatures-a-like.

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Vitamins and Minerals in Today's Market

The National Research Council's "Nutrient Requirements of Horses" was created and published for one principle reason: to give horse owners an unbiased view to Equine nutrition. The publication addresses amounts of nutrients required "to sustain normal health, production and performance of horses based on published research, total population and the committee's experience." In today's market, there are so many vitamin and mineral supplements that it’s hard to make heads or tails of what's fact or fiction. Here are the essentials of what you need to know:

FACTS:

• A horse that is fed properly will only need small quantities of supplemented vitamins and minerals.
• Vitamins are required to promote body functions such as metabolic processes, energy transformation and enzyme functions. Macro-minerals are essential for body structure, maintaining acid-balance, fluid balance, nerve conduction and muscle contraction and Trace minerals are required for very important biological reactions.
• Nutritional values in hay are lost with time: As much as 80% of vitamin content can be lost in the making hay. Stored hay might lose up to 50% of its vitamin E in one month. Vitamin A losses 9.5% and vitamin D losses 7.5% of activity in hay every month, in addition to big losses in D, K and thiamin.
• Vitamin E is required for normal musculoskeletal development and works in tandem with selenium.
• Vitamins E and A are not transferred across the placenta to the unborn foal, selenium is. Therefore, regardless of a mare’s intake or body content of these vitamins, a foal is deficient in both E and A at birth. In areas that have selenium deficient soil, without supplementation, a foal will be born deficient. If a mare has adequate intake of these nutrients all three are secreted into the milk and are particularly high in colostrum.

DEFINITIONS:

• Antioxidants are compounds which protect cells. Vitamin E, vitamin C, selenium, manganese, zinc, cobalt, and copper all have antioxidant properties.
• Chelated Trace Minerals are small, expensive structured molecules that allow for greater absorption.
• Absorption and bioavailability are very important factors in the decision making process: chelated amino-acids and proteinated forms of trace mineral have better absorption, digested easily and are more expensive. Oxides, sulfates and carbonates forms of trace minerals are larger molecules, less absorbent and are used in abundance for manufacturing because they are inexpensive.

DEFICIENCIES:

• Deficiencies in Vitamin E and Selenium can result in equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (EDM), create foals born with white muscle disease, are implicated in causing a variety of disorders such as rhabdomyolysis (tying-up syndrome), equine lower motor neuron disease, degenerative mylopathy (a neurological disease in young horses), decreased immune response to infectious diseases, decreased growth rate, decreased efficiency of feed utilization, increased retained placentas, increased embryonic mortality, reduced milk production, heart failure, difficult respiration and pulmonary edema.

Equisyl Vitalminerals: Mare and Foal™ is a complete wellness and development formula that is critical to both mare and foal health. It is designed to address nutritional deficiencies and potential problem areas common in the feeding of expectant mares at late stage gestation and the developmental requirements of a new foal. This highly palatable cane molasses and bedded dehydrated alfalfa base, provides a foundation of highly essential vitamins, chelated trace minerals, amino acids, electrolytes and anti-oxidants critical to successful parturition and foal development.

FEATURES:

• A premium nutritional supplement with 30 bio-available nutrients for the health of mare and foals
• Built upon a platform of alpha-tocopherol (Vitamin E)
• Formulated with chelated trace minerals and amino acids
• Features essential anti-oxidants for the growing foal
• Provides water and fat soluble vitamins required for optimum cellular metabolism
• Recommended by Veterinarians
• Highly palatable

VITAMIN E AND SELENIUM BENEFITS

Vitamin E can help ward off problems that affect the nerves, degenerative diseases like wobbler syndrome, equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (EDM), various muscle diseases, and have been shown to have better immune responses to vaccines.

Vitamin E and selenium work together in preventing nerve degeneration, and also help prevent tying-up and other muscle problems.

1 mg of selenium increased blood selenium and decreased the number of abortions and neonatal mortalities in mares fed and their foals had higher concentrations of IgG at 2, 4 and 8 weeks of age.

COMPARE FOR YOURSELF

MARKET COMPARISON
Guaranteed Analysis per pound	Equisyl Vitalminerals	Mare-Plus	Grow Colt
Vitamin E	9,071 IU	960 IU	320 IU
Selenium	12 ppm	4 ppm	4 ppm

A vitamin and mineral supplement should fit the requirements of your mare and foal’s needs. Animal Healthcare Products is a trusted foaling partner and has helped horse owners foal over 50,000 mares over the last 15 years. From the manufacturers of Predict-a-Foal, Mare and Foal is the best of science and nature combined for both your mare and foal’s development and health.