Kentucky Equine Research Offers Long-Chain Omega-3 Supplement to Support Broodmares

Year-round high-quality nutrition serves as the bedrock for the health of all broodmares. In addition to forage and a source of essential vitamins and minerals, many breeding mares benefit from strategic supplementation. Kentucky Equine Research offers several science-backed supplements that may take your breeding program to another level, and EO-3 is one of them.

EO-3 is a marine-derived source of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosapentaenoic acid (DHA). In one research study, Jacobs and colleagues mentioned that “supplementation of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids improves reproductive, metabolic, and inflammatory health across species.”^*

Due to the dearth of data demonstrating similar reproductive benefits of omega-3s in horses, the researchers fed mares a diet supplemented with a marine-derived omega-3 starting 60 days before breeding. Key findings of the study included:

• Omega-3 supplementation resulted in better “endometrial scores,” which are indicators of uterine health, compared with unsupplemented mares; and
• The expression of certain genes important in the development of the embryo in pregnant mares was significantly different between supplemented and unsupplemented mares.

Another recent study demonstrated that mares supplemented with EPA and DHA had higher levels of progesterone, faster involution of the nonpregnant horn after foaling, and reduced post-breeding inflammatory responses. In this study, Buist and coworkers confirmed that mares supplemented with a product providing both EPA and DHA had higher levels of those omega-3 fatty acids in their bloodstream as well as their nursing foals compared to mares and their foals that were not supplemented for the 60 days prior to estimated foaling date.^**

All products in the KERx Targeted Nutrition Breeding Collection, including EO-3, are 15% off during the month of November with the code BREED23.

^*Jacobs, R.D., A.D. Ealy, P.M. Pennington, et al. 2015. Effect of dietary omega-3 supplementation on equine endometrial and embryonic gene expression. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 35(5):438-439.

^**Buist, S.E., J.M. Kouba, J.D. Lillich, et al. 2015. Peripartum maternal DHA/EPA supplementation and the effect on mare reproductive parameters and foal bone metabolism. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 35(5):441.