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Why Pro-Dosa Boost ?

  • The most complete, balanced, bioavailable multi-nutrient paste available for horses

  • An essential tool in supporting the horse under stress

  • Nil withholding period – safe to use in competition

  • Easy to use oral paste

  • Cost effective

  • Developed by an equine veterinarian

  • Manufactured in NZ from premium, pharmaceutical-grade nutrients, suspended in a palatable gel

  • Manufactured under a comprehensive quality management program (GMP certified)

FINDING A SAFE, EFFICIENT & EFFECTIVE SOLUTION FOR OPTIMAL HEALTH, PERFORMANCE & RECOVERY

The Development of Pro-Dosa Boost

​The development of Pro-Dosa BOOST came about after discussions Dr. Hills had with various horsemen, veterinarians, nutritionists, and sports physiologists about the pitfalls associated with common treatments used in the pre-, mid-, and post–competition management of racehorses, sport horses, and endurance horses.

Horsemen competing at an elite level are generally very conscientious about preparing their horses for optimal performance and recovery. They routinely administer electrolytes by stomach tube along with various amino acid, vitamin, trace mineral, and iron solutions by injection. These practices, however, are relatively expensive, can be stressful for horses, and may even cause trauma and inflammation in the throat and nasal mucosa when horses are not very co-operative about nasogastric intubation. Additionally, supplementation with individual nutrients often results in imbalances that impair their absorption and usefulness.

Dr. Hills wanted to find a safe, efficient, effective, and inexpensive alternative that would better support optimal health, performance, and recovery.  She began considering the idea of a scientifically formulated, complete, balanced, rapidly absorbable, and bioavailable nutrient paste that horsemen could administer themselves, with minimal stress for the horse and cost for the owner.  As nothing was available internationally that met these requirements, she began work on the development of Pro-Dosa BOOST.

Why was it Developed?

By explaining why I developed Pro-Dosa BOOST, I am hoping to give you a better idea of how it might be used in your stable.

I started off in equine veterinary practice in Canada in 1994.  The typical pre-race treatment that all racetrack veterinarians used to administer, me included, was a loaded amino acid jug. It was an amino acid and electrolyte solution (an Amino Plus or Duphalyte), into which we would add multiple vitamin and mineral injections, usually Caco Copper, Hemo 15, Hippiron, B vitamins, and vitamin C. We would run that mixture in IV and then give folic acid in the muscle. 

I developed Pro-Dosa BOOST to replace that treatment.   When I moved to New Zealand, I found that pharmaceuticals were very expensive compared to North America, and horses were stabled all around the countryside, unlike Canadian racehorses that, especially in winter, are nearly all at the racetrack. In Canada, I had been able to charge $35 for that treatment, but in New Zealand, with travel included, I was having to charge $125 for the same thing.  I didn’t think it was worth what I had to charge or worth my time. It wasn’t really complete and balanced, and it was invasive. So instead, I told my clients that I would look for a paste, I could recommend, that they could give themselves. 

Unfortunately, when I looked at the products that were already available on the market, I found that they weren’t very complete or balanced and that the doses of nutrients included often didn’t meet the requirements of a horse under stress or in intense work. Sometimes there would be a nutrient or two provided in an appropriate dose, but the cofactors required for absorption and function weren’t present.   I couldn’t really recommend anything, so I ended up making Pro-Dosa BOOST.

What viatl nutrients does Pro-Dosa Boost contai??

I included all of the water-soluble vitamins (C and B group) in significant doses, based on scientific literature that defines the requirements and maximum amounts of water soluble vitamins that can be absorbed and utilized by horses under stress, as well as the ideal ratios between water soluble vitamins and cofactors necessary for their absorption and function.   

Vitamin C can be deficient in the equine diet. The main source is fresh, growing, grass, and in many parts of the world, horses have very limited access to pasture.  While more prepared feeds are made with vitamin C than when I started making Pro-Dosa BOOST, it isn’t always very stable.  When feed is fresh, levels might be good, but as little as a few months later, there might be little vitamin C activity left.
I included 2 grams of vitamin C in Pro-Dosa BOOST for a number of reasons.

Firstly, vitamin C is vital for iron absorption from the gut. If you give Vitamin C without iron, then horses (and people) can’t absorb it or use it. 

Secondly, vitamin C is thought to be useful for bleeders as it plays a role in stabilizing cell membranes, including those in the respiratory tract. When I first started making Pro-Dosa BOOST, there were a number of herbal or nutritional “bleeder” preparations available internationally, and most of them had as their active ingredient, 2 grams of vitamin C. That is specifically why I choose that dose. 

Vitamin C supports the immune system and is also a very good antioxidant.  Oxidative muscle cell damage is just one type of muscle cell damage that occurs during transport as well as during exercise.  Studies have shown that if you put your horse in a truck and take it down the road, even as little as half an hour or an hour, they’ll suffer some degree of muscle cell fatigue and muscle cell damage, similar to what they might experience in a race. If you’re traveling long distances with your horses, therefore, they will undoubtedly suffer some degree of muscle cell damage and fatigue, resulting in performance below their best. There were also studies done a few years ago, in eventers, that demonstrated a 40% reduction in oxidative muscle cell damage when they were given vitamin C.  Vitamin C scavenges the free-radicals, produced in muscles while horses are exercising or balancing in a transport, before they can create oxidative damage to muscle cells, helping your horses to get to where they’re going in better condition so they can perform closer to your expectations.

Want to know more about B Vitamins?

Pro-Dosa BOOST contains all of the B group vitamins in reasonable doses. It’s important to keep in mind that water soluble vitamins are not stored, so requirements must be met daily.  When horses are under stress, their requirements for B vitamins increase tremendously and Pro-Dosa BOOST contains between 20 and 200 times the level of B vitamins that you would find in your daily ration.  Pro-Dosa BOOST is intended to fill the gap between good daily nutrition and the increased requirements of horses at times of stress. 

The doses I included, directly reflect what researchers have established as the maximum absorbable levels of B vitamins and also the appropriate ratios between the B vitamins and with their cofactors necessary for absorption and function. It’s important to know that B vitamins have limited affect when given individually, but when given as a group, they are important for many things. 

First of all, they are important for coat and skin condition. If you’re preparing yearlings for a yearling sale, for instance, you might choose to give half a syringe of Pro-Dosa BOOST every other day for 2 weeks to help ensure healthy skin and a haircoat that gleams. 

B vitamins are important for nerve cell function, so nervous horses fed appropriate levels, will relax more normally and focus better on their work. Conversely, B vitamins are also important for energy production so, a lethargic horse, deficient in B vitamins, might get a lift. Pro-Dosa BOOST provides a good balance between the B vitamins that are necessary to sustain normal energy levels and those that are important for relaxation and mental focus.   

B vitamins play important roles in red blood cell production.  Ask your veterinarian for advice, but if injectable iron, B vitamins, and folic acid are prescribed, the nutrients provided in Pro-Dosa BOOST are in similar quantities and can be given as a less expensive and less invasive alternative source.

Most importantly, to my way of thinking, B vitamins are necessary to support normal appetite. If a horse has a hard run or they travel, they often don’t eat that well.   If they don’t eat, when they get where they’re going, then they aren’t going to perform very well. Similarly, if they’ve raced and don’t clean up their feed when they get home, then they aren’t going to recover very well or race well the following week. If your horse isn’t eating well when travelling or after work, racing, or competition, you can give them a syringe of Pro-Dosa BOOST.   Typically, sufficient doses of B vitamins will have them back at their feed bucket within about half an hour. 

Want to know more about the electrolytes in Pro-Dosa Boost?

Pro-Dosa BOOST contains the electrolytes calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, and chloride. Generally, sodium, potassium and chloride are the main electrolytes lost in sweat, but as I have included 21.5 grams of electrolytes, and had I included all of them as sodium, potassium and chloride, a dose may have produced a significant osmotic draw. What that means is this.  If you put salt into the gut, it draws fluid first from the blood stream into the gut and dehydrates the system in the short term.  If you’re going to tube a horse with electrolytes prior to racing or travel, you do it a couple of days out because it takes that long to re-balance fluid and electrolyte levels. In order to provide 21.5 grams of electrolytes then, I felt it would be safer to include part of them as calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. They are also electrolytes, but they don’t produce the same degree of osmotic draw and should be safe to use in traveling horses that might be dehydrated, or for an endurance horse, in between loops when they are a bit precarious, metabolically speaking. 

In addition, the calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus perform other vital functions. They’re important for muscle cell contractility and energy production. Studies have demonstrated improved performance in both speed and endurance athletes, supplemented with extra calcium.  The doses I included in Pro-Dosa nutritional BOOST are comparable to those I used to administer by injection in the “calcium-magnesium jug” I provided as a pre-race treatment, especially for fillies that struggled with tying-up.

For endurance horses, who sustain higher sodium losses when racing in hot and humid conditions, add an additional 15g of table salt (sodium chloride) to water or molasses water, shake it up, and squirt it over the tongue after you have given a full syringe of Pro-Dosa BOOST each loop.

Can Pro-Dosa Boost help with horses that tie-up?

​​​​​I’d like to start by saying that Pro-Dosa BOOST is not going to be the answer for tying-up. Really, I would encourage you to have a look at your daily ration. The soluble carbohydrate in the daily ration is really the culprit for the vast majority of horses that struggle with tying-up.  If you can replace some of that soluble carbohydrate with fat, as the energy source, you can reduce the incidence or eliminate tying-up. If your daily ration is very high in soluble carbohydrate, you’re going to struggle to control tying-up in some of your horses, and no supplement, Pro-Dosa BOOST included, will fix that problem. 

However, if you have adjusted your diet as far as you can, and you have 1 or 2 horses in your stable that are particularly good horses and struggle with tying-up, then you can feed Pro-Dosa BOOST to strategically provide essential nutrients to help manage those horses.  Probably, the best way to use it in those individuals is to give one full syringe the night before they gallop, and then another half immediately post gallop.  (This is more than you might give to normal horses that need only a full or half a syringe after galloping and nothing prior.)  

As I said earlier, the nutrients that are most important for muscle cell contractility and energy production are the calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, along with sodium, potassium, chloride, and B-group vitamins. The quantities of Calcium, Magnesium, and Phosphorus are equivalent to the doses of those nutrients included in the Calcium/Magnesium jug I used to administer IV as a pre-race treatment, especially to fillies that struggled with tying-up.  

B-group vitamins support normal appetite and electrolytes support normal thirst, both required for optimal recovery from work.

Vitamin C is an efficient antioxidant that scavenges free-radicals, produced in exercising muscle, before muscle cells sustain oxidative damage.  

Amino acids can all accept and donate protons, so they all act as buffers.  In fact, amino acids are the body’s most efficient buffering system and may reduce the muscle cell damage that occurs from lactic acid accumulation.  Unassembled amino acids, provided in optimal rations and given right after hard work, when amino acids are taken up by muscle cells most efficiently, can support protein synthesis, muscle cell repair, and muscle development.  Delayed muscle pain and stiffness may be reduced.

I would recommend that you also look into supplementing chromium. It must be fed on a daily basis for several weeks before effect is seen, so it isn’t included in Pro-Dosa BOOST, which I designed to be fed only on days of increased stress. I think it is a valuable nutrient, and yeast-based chromium supplements are readily available in many markets.  Ask your veterinarian or feed supplier for advice.

What are all the amino acids for?

​​​The last group of nutrients that are important for muscle cell function are the amino acids. Pro-Dosa BOOST contains 22 amino acids in free, unassembled form. 

I included those for a number of reasons; not just for horses that struggle with tying-up. 

First of all, amino acids serve as the body’s most efficient buffering system for lactic acid, and I think most horsemen are familiar with the branch chain amino acids, isoleucine, leucine, and valine, and their capacity to buffer. The reason I just didn’t include the familiar, branch chain amino acids in the Pro-Dosa BOOST formulation, is that, while all amino acids have the capacity to accept and donate protons, so they all have the ability to buffer, three branch-chain amino acids will not support muscle cell repair and recovery. You really require all of the amino acids, in appropriate proportions and in unassembled form in order for the horse to make proteins and repair muscle cells.  

Muscle cells take up amino acids, really efficiently, for only about an hour, right after hard work. If you can get amino acids into them, during that little window of opportunity, you can prevent a lot of the delayed muscle pain and stiffness that occurs from hard work, and you can help horses build and maintain muscle mass more efficiently. If you fed your horses the moment they came of the track, it would take longer than an hour for them to eat their feed and digest the proteins down to amino acids.  You would miss that little window of opportunity where you can influence muscle cell recovery.  For optimal protein synthesis, therefore, all the amino acids must be provided, and not just a few.   I provided 10% of the essential amino acid requirements, for a day, in a single syringe of Pro-Dosa BOOST, and the ratios are ideal for protein synthesis and muscle cell repair in horses.    

The last reason I included the amino acids in free unassembled form is that they may support thirst more effectively than electrolytes in dehydrated horses.

Want to know more about trace minerals?

​The trace minerals in Pro-Dosa BOOST are all in very bioavailable forms. They’re largely in bioplexes, which means that trace minerals are bound to organic molecules that the body is really good at absorbing and using, and I’ve included them in doses that directly reflect NRC requirements. I’ve included zinc and manganese, important for bone and joint health, and I’ve included iron and copper because they work together to support normal red blood cell formation, along with B vitamins, vitamin C and the amino acids.

Although NRC states that the requirements for iron for horses in hard work are approximately 383mg, I’ve included 500mg of iron in Pro-Dosa BOOST.  That’s because some researchers have reported improved performance, in racehorses in particular, fed iron in doses between 500 and 800mg.  If you look at your feed bag and calculate what you are giving your horses, you would conclude that dietary levels should be sufficient. However, your daily ration includes vitamin E, as it should, and vitamin E binds with iron, reducing its availability. Secondly, your daily ration may not contain sufficient levels of vitamin C, which is necessary for the absorption of iron from the gut.  The main source of vitamin C in the equine diet is fresh, growing grass, and not all horses have access to grass.  As a result, the iron in the daily ration may not be entirely available for metabolism.

The copper provided in Pro-Dosa BOOST is in a bioplex, in an amount directly related to the NRC requirements.

What has been left out of the Pro-Dosa Boost formulation and why?

Pro-Dosa BOOST is a mostly complete, balanced, bioavailable multi-nutrient paste, providing water soluble vitamins, electrolytes, trace minerals, and unassembled amino acids, required in greater doses when horses are under stress to support optimal metabolism, performance, recovery, and health.

There are a few nutrients I chose to leave out of Pro-Dosa BOOST.  To begin with, I left out the fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K. They are important for the health of the horse, but fat-soluble vitamins do not need to be administered at the time horses are under stress because they can be stored. They are generally present in the daily ration, in sufficient doses to meet requirements when horses are working hard.  Also, some of the fat-soluble vitamins bind with trace minerals and prevent their absorption. There is a particularly negative interaction between iron and vitamin E, and if you give them together, iron availability is greatly reduced. I really had to make a choice, then, between the fat-soluble vitamins and trace minerals. Because my Pro-Dosa BOOST paste was made to replace the injectable pre-race treatments I use to give, and since those treatments were designed to support normal red blood cell formation, I wanted to ensure iron availability.  As a result, I couldn’t put the fat-soluble vitamins in.  

There are also some toxicity issues with fat-soluble vitamins.  As they’re stored, they can accumulate. If horses are fed too much, therefore, they can have toxicity issues.   Pro-Dosa BOOST is used very frequently in some horses, such as endurance horses, who are typically fed a tube in-between each loop in their long races.   They could be getting a lot on a single day, and I didn’t want to have any toxicity issues, so I thought it would be much safer to leave them out. 

In addition to the fat-soluble vitamins, there are few other nutrients I left out.

I left out Selenium.  It’s a very important nutrient; it’s an important antioxidant; and it’s important for muscle cell function.  Selenium is one nutrient, though, that can pose serious toxicity issues. The amount that horses require for health and the amount that starts to produce toxicity symptoms aren’t all that different, so that means it has a very narrow therapeutic range. I didn’t want any horse, fed a lot of Pro-Dosa BOOST, to run any risk of toxicity issues. Also, selenium is administered with vitamin E, and as I explained, I couldn’t include vitamin E in the formulation if I wanted to have good iron availability. 

I left out Iodine. It’s another trace mineral, but the requirements for iodine are well met by what’s in the daily ration, and those requirements don’t increase when horses are under stress. So, if a horse is grazing in the back paddock, not doing anything, its requirements for Iodine are exactly the same as your race horse that’s in intense work and growing. 

I left out chromium. It’s a useful nutrient, especially if you have horses that struggle with tying-up.  It’s really something that has to be fed, on a daily basis, for 3 or 4 weeks before you get good benefit from it, though, and Pro-Dosa BOOST isn’t a daily supplement. It’s designed for use only on days when horses are under the added stress of hard work, travel, or illness. 

I left cobalt out of the formulation from 2016 onwards.  While it was included in my original formulation at a rate of 1mg, reflective of NRC requirements for young horses in hard work, the results of a cobalt clearance study demonstrated that while that dose was very safe for drug testing, it was unnecessary to include it in my formulation.  By providing all the other cofactors required for absorption and function, horses were able to more completely utilize the cobalt already provided in their daily rations.  Read our cobalt clearance study for more information.  It makes interesting reading.

And finally, I left out biotin. It’s also important for hoof health, and for racehorses that are on a high grain diet, there is often benefit from supplementing biotin. However, you would have to feed that on a daily basis for 3 or 4 months before you would see results, and again, Pro-Dosa BOOST was never designed to be a daily supplement, so I left it out. 

Other than that. Pro-Dosa BOOST is really complete.

A Brief summary of Pro-Dosa Boost

​ Pro-Dosa BOOST is a complete, balanced, bioavailable multi-nutrient paste. It is designed to fill the gap between good daily nutrition and the increased requirements researchers have established horses are subject to when they are under the additional stresses of hard work, travel, racing, competition, or illness.  

Unlike people, who can often turn to food to help cope with stress (think chocolate), horses tend to go off feed.  Just as they require more nutrients, they are inclined to eat less.  Pro-Dosa BOOST provides a practical way to deliver essential nutrients to horses that may not be eating enough on their own, to support optimal metabolism, performance, recovery, and heath.  It contains all of the water-soluble vitamins, trace elements, electrolytes, and amino acids, in doses that reflect requirements established in scientific literature.  I have included them in readily usable forms, in good balance with each other, and in balance with the cofactors required for their absorption and function.  

Pro-Dosa BOOST provides balanced electrolytes and unassembled amino acids to safely support normal thirst and hydration, even in horses that may be slightly dehydrated already. 

Pro-Dosa BOOST includes the B-group of vitamins that play roles in supporting normal appetite, energy levels, nerve cell function and mental focus.  Important cofactors, including magnesium, tryptophan, and tyrosine, are included in proper balance. 

Pro-Dosa BOOST can be a useful dietary source of vitamin C, all the B vitamins, folic acid necessary to bind iron in the blood, copper, iron and amino acids, all of which are important for red blood cell production. Veterinarians, in many parts of the world, recommend feeding half a syringe of Pro-Dosa BOOST every other day for 2 weeks as an alternative to injectable treatments.

Pro-Dosa BOOST provides vitamin C, the B group vitamins, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and the unassembled amino acids, nutrients that, together, support normal muscle cell function, recovery, and development. 

If you are training a young horse down, and it’s working a bit flat or not eating very well, consider this.  It can take up to 96 hours for muscle cells to recover from hard work. Those horses, particularly standardbreds who will generally be training 3 times a week, don’t always have enough time to recover between fast-work days.   If they have some muscle pain and stiffness, they often don’t eat very well.  If they don’t eat very well, they will need longer to repair muscle tissue, and the pain and stiffness takes longer to resolve…so they don’t feel as much like eating… and so on.   Improving muscle cell recovery can make a big difference to their appetite and supporting normal appetite can make a big difference to muscle cell recovery. 

Pro-Dosa BOOST can be fed to provide the B vitamins that may be required in horses that look at bit off colour, aren’t eating well, or have rough haircoats.  Feed half a syringe, every other day for 2 weeks, though you might want to give one full syringe to begin with.

I would like to remind everyone that it is vitally important that, before feeding Pro-Dosa BOOST as recommended, you refer to your local rules of racing or competition.   In some places, you have to put it on the feed on race day so the horse can eat it voluntarily.  In some places, you may have to give it the night before, and in others, you have to ask permission before you can take it to the track for horses stabled on site. In many sports and countries, you are allowed to squirt it straight in the month on the day of competition. So again, please check your rules of competition before you administer it!  

Pro-Dosa BOOST is submitted for quantitative analysis, ensuring that what is on the label is exactly what is in each syringe.  It is submitted for microbial culture to confirm that it is sterile.  Finally, it is submitted for analysis for naturally occurring prohibited substances.  

Pro-Dosa BOOST is class determined to be a feed supplement and exempt from registration as a veterinary chemical.  It is, however, manufactured in a GMP registered facility from highly purified nutrients of USP or EP standard to ensure quality, safety, and security.  The balance and doses of nutrients provided, reflect requirements as established in scientific studies and published by NRC or other nutrition references.    
 

PRO-DOSA BOOST

The most complete & balanced multi-nutrient paste available on the International Market

ABOUT PRO-DOSA

Pro-Dosa is headed by Dr. Corinne Hills, a Canadian-born veterinarian with twenty years’ equine practice experience. The Pro-Dosa manufacturing plant is based in South Auckland, New Zealand.

CONTACT US

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New Zealand 2679.

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+64 27 238 8482

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info@pro-dosa.com

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