RE: [RC] Blood test levels - Susan E. Garlinghouse, DVM
What the currently published ‘normal’ levels are are
not necessarily the optimal levels, but most vets wouldn’t necessarily be
familiar with that unless they worked around endurance horses a lot. So
the results your vet told you were possibly okay according to the published
normal ranges. I’d call the office and just politely ask what the
actual selenium levels were, that you just wanted to keep track yourself, or
were just curious or whatever. Very few vets mind that sort of thing, I
certainly don’t. Then compare that value to the
endurance-recommended range of 200-250 and adjust from there.
If a horse is having significant selenium-deficiency issues,
then you generally see issues related to muscle tightness, tying-up symptoms,
overly stiff muscles even when the intensity of exercise is appropriate to
their level of conditioning, etc. There are lots of muscle myopathy
issues that show up the same way, and just upping selenium supplementation
generally won’t be a silver bullet, depending on exactly what’s
going on. But many horses improve when assorted dietary issues are
addressed, including selenium. For horses that are generally doing well,
but get some additional selenium anyway to boost them into the 200-250 range,
usually just perform a little better---better recoveries after work, capable of
harder work without sore-muscle problems, smoother movement, better extensions,
that sort of thing. When I upped my dressage guy’s selenium a year
or so ago, his dressage score for extended gaits all of a sudden really improved,
and we could really increase his work level without some chronic soreness
problems that had haunted us a bit before. Maybe a coincidence, but it
was enough to boost him into the national top five for his division, and a
national championship for another division, so I’m pretty happy either
way. J
Sometimes good nutrition isn’t just dealing with active
problems, it’s also making ‘normal’ into ‘better’,
eh?
Susan Garlinghouse, DVM
From: Lori Bertolucci
[mailto:loribertolucci@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 12:13 PM To: suendavid@xxxxxxx; ridecamp Subject: RE: [RC] Blood test levels
Susan, I have had my gelding's selenium levels checked in
the past, and was told they were okay...can't tell you what the levels
were. But now I wonder, should I get another test run to check them? I haven't
had any problems, but do know of ranchers in our area having low selenium
levels affecting their newborn calves, and I have heard of some foals having
the problem...
If a horse is having problems, what symptoms do you usually
see? Not that I thnk my horse is having problems, just curious.
Thanks.
Lori
"Susan E. Garlinghouse, DVM" <suendavid@xxxxxxx>
wrote:
I agree with Heidi's comments
and my experience has been that even horses
that seem 'normal' do better performance-wise on a higher plane of selenium
than the current published recommendations. Any ride vet working in the PNW
(and most in the W and PS) will tell you the same, and I suspect it's also
true for other regions notoriously low in forage selenium---SE, Great Lakes,
etc. I would also respectfully disagree with the recommendations made to
decrease the current selenium intake level---I'd increase it, too, per
Heidi's recommendation. There are potentials for toxicity, but you have to
get pretty wild with the stuff for a long time to get to that level. The
organic selenium yeast sources (and by 'organic' I mean bound to a
protein/carbon-based unit, not organic in the no-pesticides-used sense)
apparently have very little potential for toxicity over the inorganic sodium
selenite sources, so I prefer the selenium yeast form. Last I checked,
Platinum Performance has a good source that is included in the general
wellness supplement (though too low IMO) or, more cost effectively, by
itself as just straight selenium yeast where a pretty tiny amount will add a
good additional level of selenium. A four-lb tub of the stuff will last a
loooooong time.
I like Heidi's recommendations of 8-10 mg a day for performance horses---my
endurance mare that's working pretty hard gets 15 mg a day, and my competing
dressage gelding squeaks by with a mere 10 mg a day. Both get regular blood
work to verify their serum levels are in the 200-250 range.
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