Saddles etc for sale and a Vitamin E question

[miladyelizabeth]

First, I have several horsey items on Ebay closing this weekend: small Kerrits breeches, cheap 28" dressage girth, fancy new dressage pad, and four saddles. Please go bid on stuff so I can pay vet bills! Saddles range from super-cheap basic model cutback style to a really nice Passier Vector, pictured here.

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Comments

[kudosirony]

I love his blanket!

I have no idea with horses, but I do know humans. I have Vitamin D deficiency and it's simply because my body doesn't metabolize (whatever it's called) it correctly. If he's Vitamin E is low because of pasture or because he can't process it correctly will determine if it's a permanent thing or not. I would imagine pasture since you're just noticing it or it could be the lyme exasperating it...I could be completely off on this though.

I don't know SmartPak's price but I remember I had to supplement my rescue with Vitamin E for a bit (long story, not lyme related) and the cheapest way to do it was buying Vitamin E pills online. He had no problem with the pills just being dumped in his grain. Just throwing that out there for frugal horse keeping. :)

Good luck!

[miladyelizabeth]

Thank you for the input. The vet wanted him on 2500 IU of natural E, rather than synthetic, which is twenty-something bucks a month at Smartpak. I think pills may be cheaper, but the simplicity of Smartpaks might outweigh the savings, esp since he is already getting supplements. I'll definitely keep that in mind down the road.

I agree on the pasture theory - apparently he was living outside and had grass access at his previous home, so it would have taken a while for the deficiency to show up.

[lurath]

I personally have lyme disease and I'm sorry to hear that your guy does too. It REALLY sucks. You vet may have recommended this already, but putting him on an anti-inflammatory may help for the future. I personally use lots of Omega fats, devilsclaw and MSM, all of which seem to help the muscle spasms and arthritis-feeling.

Vitamin E does have anti-inflammatory qualities too, so his low levels could be related to his lyme in that he's using more than an average horse to keep the inflammatory process down. It could be the pasture too, though, because I supplement my own horse with E because our soil in this areas is selenium/E deficient.

Good luck!

[miladyelizabeth]

Yeah, our theory was that it's a chicken-and-egg type thing. He probably slipped on ice in turnout, and was more prone to injury due to the Lyme and E situation.

Lyme is endemic in our area (it's named after Lyme, CT) so nearly every horse tested is positive to some degree on one of the two tests.

[brigidsdaughter]

Living near Lyme is why I have a meltdown around ticks, thanks to my grandma sharing her paranoia when I was a kid.

Uuuuuugh.

/random commentary

[kerlin]

I hate to say this, but isn't low Vitamin E and muscle spasms also an indication of EPSM? It might be worth pulling a titer just in case.

Good luck with him, though - he has a very sweet face.

[miladyelizabeth]

Interesting point, and I'll definitely ask her about it. Given that she runs a draft horse rescue, she is familiar with EPSM. She didn't mention it, which makes me think he didn't have enough other symptoms to match that diagnosis. Thanks for the suggestion.

[loser_n_proud7]

If you can swing it, do IV tetracycline before doxy. It's made the biggest difference in the horses I've seen who have lyme versus the horses treated with just doxy.

[hidefrommyself]

Where I'm from, we automatically add E and Selenium to to their feed... there's just not enough of either from grazing.

[hidefrommyself]

I see you're nearby in CT... you will probably have to go with a feed through E/selenium supplement year round, but it's really not that expensive.

[miladyelizabeth]

The vet suggested Smartpak's natural vitamin E at a custom dose for him, since his selenium levels were normal. At this dose it's like $27/month, which is well worth it for him to be healthy. :)