Dr. Ensminger Cites Vitamin Need In Horse Diet
28 February, 1963
Dr. Ensminger Cites Vitamin Need In Horse Diet
The Vitamin Story; Onc-A-Day for the“ Hoss”.
Beri-beri was known to the Chinese as early as 2600 B. C., and scurvy long occurred among sailors fed on salt meat and biscuits. However, for centuries these and other maladies were thought to be due to toxic substtances in the digestive tract caused by disease producing organisms, rather than food deficiencies. More time elapsed before the discovery of vitamins. Of course, there was no medical profession prior to 1835, the earlier treatments having been based on superstition and witchcraft rather titan science.
The Vitamin Background
Largely through the trail and error method, it was discovered that specific foods were helpful in the treatment of certain of these illnesses. In 1747, Lind, a British naval doctor, showed that the juice of citrus fruits( now known to be high in vitamin C) was a cure for scurvy. More than a century later— in 1897, it was concluded that the disease beri-beri was common to a diet of polished rice( deficient in vitamin BI). Also, at a very early date, the Chinese used a concoction as a remedy for night blindness. And Cod-liver oil was used in treating or preventing rickets long before anything was known about the cause of the the disease.
Finally, in 1912, Funk, a Polish scientist working in London, first referred to these nutrients as " vitamines”( later the“ e " was dropped; thus the word vitamin). The actual existence of vitamins, therefore, has been known
Horses For
SALE Colts— Mares Show Horses
Two Stallions In Service MERRY BOY STUD BOYCE ' S BILLY SUNDAY Come To SEE ME or PHONE AT NIGHT CY 4-2758— Unionville, Tenn. R. C. BOYCE
Barn on Highway 41-A Four Miles North of Shelbyville, Tenn.
By Dr. M. E. Ensminger Clovis, California
for only 50 years, and only within the last few years has it been possible to see or touch any of them in pure form. Previously, they were mysterious invisible“ little tilings” known by their effects. In fact, most of the present knowledge relative to the vitamin content of both human foods and animal feeds came through studies with animals.
It has been well said that we are gradually learning to teed our children as well as our aniamls. This correctly implies that animal feeding is quite scientific. However, in an attempt to shower a beloved mount with kindness, horsemen are frequently gullible to needless concoctions— including various vitamin preparations.
Needed In Horse Rations Certain vitamins are necessary in horse rations in order to permit proper growth, development, health, and reproduction.
A severe deficiency of vitamin A may cause night blindness, reproductive difficulties, uneven and jioor hoof development, respiratory troubles, incoordination, fanciful appetite, and certain leg bone weaknesses. When vitamin A deficiencies appear— or preferably before such symptoms are evident— the horseman should add to the ration green, leafy hay, not over I year old; green pasture; yellow corn; carrots; or stabilized vitamin A.
Foals sometimes develop rickets due to a lack of vitamin D( this disease may also be caused by a lack of calcium or phosphorus, or by an incorrect ratio of these two minerals). The telling symptoms: enlargement of the knee and hock joints, and bowed legs. This condition may be prevented by exposing animals to direct sunlight as much as possible, by feeding sun-cured hay and suitable minerals; and / or by feeding the foal a vitamin D supplement such as cod-liver oil or irradiated yeast.
Horses seem to require vitamin E, but most practical rations contain liberal quantities of it. Rather than buy costly vitamin E concentrates indiscriminately, therefore, add them to the ration only on the advice of a nutritionist or veterinarian.
A deficiency of riboflavin( one of the B vitamins) may cause periodic ophthalmia or moon blindness.; This malady may be lessened by feeding green hays and green pasture— feeds high in riboflavin— or by adding crystalline riboflavin at the rate of 40mg. per horse per day. Other B vitamins may be essential, but horses usually get enough of them either in natural rations or by synthesis in the intestinal tract.
While vitamins may be purchased at the corner drug store, they can usually be supplied at lower cost and greater palatability through natural feeds.
Horse“ Fingerrinting”
Horses are identified by methods much like the human system of fingerprinting used by the FBI and by police departments throughout the world.
With registered horses, marking is a means of ascertaining ancestry or pedigree. In race horses, an infallible means of identification is necessary to prevent a ' ringer”; the name once given to a horse that was falsely identified, with the idea of entering him in a race with slower horses where he was almost certain to win.
In the early 1920’ s, the most common camouflage for a ringer was a coat of paint— hence the terms“ dark horse” and“ horse of another color.” Formerly, the ringer ' s nemesis was rain; today it is the lip-tattoo system or the photographs of his chestnuts. Through these the public is guaranteed the identity of each and every horse running in major races. The liptattoo consists of branding, with forgery-proof dye, the registry unmber under the upper lip of the horse, with a prefix unmber added to denote age. The process is both simple and painless.
More recently, Pinkerton’ s and others have " fingerprinted” the horse’ s chestnuts or night-eyes— the horny growth on the inside of each of the four legs. Studies have revealed that the chestnuts of no two horses are alike, and that from the yearling stage on these protrusions retain their distinctive sizes and shapes. The chestnuts are photographed, and then classified according to size and distinctive pattern.