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Horses can’t pour themselves a glass of orange juice in the morning to get a jump on daily vitamin C requirements, so just how do they consume sufficient amounts of the vitamin for optimal health?

Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, plays several roles in the horse’s body, including involvement in hormone synthesis, bone calcification, and antioxidant functions. Unlike humans, horses can synthesize vitamin C from glucose within the body. For this reason, deficiency is very unusual, but when horses experience excessive stress their bodies may not produce enough.

Most horses that consume fresh forage such as good-quality pasture grass will easily meet vitamin C requirements. Hay, on the other hand, contains very little vitamin C due to oxidation. Levels of vitamin C in commercial feeds are also fairly low since the potency tends to decrease quickly after manufacture.

Stressful situations may call for vitamin C supplementation. Supplemental sources of the vitamin are challenging. Due to lack of intestinal absorption, more than three grams per day of vitamin C is necessary to elicit a change in blood ascorbate levels.

Preserve (available in Australia) is a complete antioxidant supplement that contains vitamin C and is ideal for immune support, especially during stressful times such as injury or illness. In addition to vitamin C, Preserve contains natural-source vitamin E and selenium, two important antioxidants that boost immunity.

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