Exercising horses require more oxygen, sometimes up to 30 times the amount needed at rest, to facilitate energy production. The resulting increased throughput through the energy generating pathway might indirectly lead to damage of the muscle fibers as a result of increased ROS production and subsequent disruption of muscle fiber membranes. | Photo: Stephanie L. Church/The Horse

Could feeding antioxidants to your horse help him through a performance problem? Antioxidants, whether found in the diet or supplemented, could potentially help exercising horses experiencing oxidative stress, said Catherine Dunnett, BSc, PhD, a nutritionist at Independent Equine Nutrition and the director of product development at Racing Blue, who’s currently based in France.

She discussed the role of antioxidants and how they work to fight the dangerous effects of free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in a presentation at the sixth equine school at the Alltech Symposium, held in Lexington, Kentucky.

Free radicals are chemicals that have an unpaired electron, which makes them very reactive,” said Dunnett