Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant primarily found in green pasture grass that plays a role in muscle wasting and neurodegeneration in horses. As pasture lands become increasingly more limited and more horses are housed on less acreage, vitamin E deficiency becomes a real problem. | Photo: iStock

Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant primarily found in green pasture grass that plays a role in muscle atrophy (wasting) and neurodegeneration in horses. As pasture lands become increasingly more limited and more horses are housed on less acreage, vitamin E deficiency becomes a real problem.

Stephanie Valberg, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, ACVSMR, Mary Anne McPhail Dressage Chair in Equine Sports Medicine at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, in East Lansing, described conditions linked to vitamin E deficiencies and how to manage them during the 2018 Kentucky Equine Research Conference, held Oct. 29-30 in Lexington.

Veterinarians see three neurologic conditions associated with vitamin E deficiencies in horses, said Valberg, and which one the horse develop depends primarily on genetics