Pro-Dosa BOOST: Trusted nutritional support backed by quality and security
Pro-Dosa BOOST is an oral paste comprised only of pure, nutritional elements, including vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, in doses reflective of the requirements for a 400-500kg horse in hard work as established by NRC and other researchers. Pro-Dosa BOOST contains no banned substances under FEI rules or under those in any racing jurisdiction, to the best of our knowledge. It is important, however, that horsemen consider any rules of competition that apply to them before using Pro-Dosa BOOST according to label directions.
Pro-Dosa BOOST is manufactured in a New Zealand Government, Ministry of Primary Industries inspected and approved GMP facility following a comprehensive quality management program to ensure the reliability, security, and quality of the finished product.
Raw ingredients used in the making of premixes are sourced from carefully selected suppliers with established quality management programs in place. Materials are of the highest standards we can source, and the vitamins, mineral, and amino acids are all highly refined chemicals that conform to the EP and USP for purity. (They are specified to be highly purified, human pharmaceutical grade materials.) These specifications minimize the chances raw ingredients will be contaminated before receipt at Pro-Dosa. Quantitative analysis, culture, and other appropriate tests are conducted on raw materials to demonstrate that they meet Pro-Dosa’s strict specifications.
All finished product is submitted for culture and quantitative analysis prior to release, and all batches are submitted for analysis for naturally occurring prohibited substances. Laboratories contracted to do analyses are accredited.
Numerous in vivo clearance tests have been conducted at the New Zealand racing laboratory and at racecourses throughout Asia. In all cases, Pro-Dosa BOOST has been found to safe and reliable to use.
For more than 15 years, Pro-Dosa BOOST has been used in FEI competition, during FEI endurance races, and in racehorses in more than 30 countries. Pro Dosa BOOST has never been implicated in a positive test.
Behind the Scenes
at Pro-dosa
A brief summary of Pro-Dosa BOOST
Dr. Corinne Hills giving a summary of Pro-Dosa BOOST
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A brief summary of Pro-Dosa BOOST
Pro-Dosa BOOST is a comprehensive, 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 well enough on their own, to support optimal metabolism, performance, recovery, and health. It contains a broad spectrum of 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 which safely support normal thirst, neuromuscular function, and fluid balance.
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 oral source of vitamin C, all the B vitamins, folic acid, copper, iron and amino acids, all of which are important for red blood cell production. Traditionally, veterinarians supplied these nutrients by injection. In countries where Pro-Dosa BOOST is well established, many veterinarians now recommend feeding it for two weeks instead, as a practical, oral way to deliver those nutrients.
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 difference to their appetite and supporting normal appetite can make a difference to muscle cell recovery.
In horses that aren’t eating well or have rough haircoats, it can be worthwhile to supplement with B vitamins. They are known to play a role in maintaining normal skin and coat health, appetite, and body condition. Feed half a syringe of PRO-DOSA, 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 mouth 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 microbial counts are below detectable limits of the laboratory. 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.
THINK ALL “BOOST” PASTES ARE THE SAME?
THINK AGAIN! – BY DR CORINNE HILLS
MAY 15, 2019
The composition and balance of nutrients included as well as the safety and quality of each product is different, so buyer beware!
Recently, we have noticed a number of copy-cat “boost” products appearing in the marketplace. Some have chosen the same colours and package appearance or promotional text, and all have chosen a similar name and appear to have copied part of our formulation (the less expensive parts, anyway). None of these products have included the complete formulation contained in a Pro-Dosa BOOST, but they think you will be fooled by an only partially complete product that looks and sounds similar and sells at a lower price. I think, horsemen should think about why someone would do that.
It is said that the sincerest form of flattery is imitation. It does appear that some of our new competitors have recognised Pro-Dosa BOOST is of exceptional quality and composition, and they can’t compete with that. Instead, they hope to be mistaken for the same thing at a lower price. Since I didn’t make Pro-Dosa BOOST to be a cheap product with a large profit margin, I know they can’t make a similar quality product, any less expensive. They have to make a less-complete, poorer-quality supplement instead. While I suppose I should be flattered, instead, I am concerned about how many horsemen will think they are feeding my product, when they’ve bought a “copy-cat” by mistake. How many horses will be fed supplements that aren’t complete, balanced, or safe enough? How many people, feeding a copy-cat they think is ours, will think our product isn’t as good as it used to be when they don’t get the observable effects they have been accustomed to when feeding the original, tried and tested, Pro-Dosa BOOST, established in 2001?
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOUT PRO-DOSA BOOST?
In order to achieve optimal metabolism, performance, recovery, and health, it is necessary to provide a broad spectrum of nutrients, in bioavailable forms, in ideal balance with each other and with the cofactors necessary for their absorption and function. The doses provided
must reflect the requirements of horses under stress due to travel, hard work, racing, competition, and illness, as the administration of only some of the nutrients required or feeding quantities below or above requirements may result in imbalances that actually impair absorption and function. With this in mind, I developed Pro-Dosa BOOST to provide complete, balanced, and bioavailable nutritional support.
Because I made Pro-Dosa BOOST for the stables I had worked for in my veterinary practice, for years, I didn’t make it with profit margins or easy marketing in mind. I made it to make a difference to my patients and to make things easier and less expensive for my clients, who were my friends and not just face-less consumers, I didn’t know. I looked up the nutrient requirements published by NRC, and then I looked up other nutrition research and texts to fill in requirements not available through NRC. I compared those to what I had been providing for my patients in injectable form, and I referred to veterinary pharmacology texts and talked to exercise physiologists. I came up with a profile and doses of nutrients that, I believed, would be the most scientific and practical for competitive horses in my veterinary practice. I didn’t worry about whether or not horsemen would immediately understand the formulation or recognise the importance of some of the less familiar sounding nutrients. I focused on making a difference to equine health and welfare.
As a veterinarian, my clients trust me to provide safe, secure, efficacious, and ethical treatments for my patients. Product quality, therefore, had to be of paramount importance. I decided to make Pro-Dosa BOOST out of human food or pharmaceutical grade nutrients that would meet much higher purity standards than animal feed grade nutrients.
I thought it was important to measure the concentration of nutrients in the final product, because I wanted to be confident that I would be providing my patients the correct doses of each nutrient, not more or less, for best effect, and for their health and safety. If insufficient
doses are given, then no impact or a negative impact on the overall health of horses may result. If you are buying a supplement that doesn’t contain what the label says, then at best, it’s a waste of money. At worst, it could be detrimental to your horses’ health. At the same time, giving too much of some nutrients is dangerous. Many horsemen will recall the tragic story from a few years ago about the group of polo ponies who died as a result of eating a feed supplement that contained ten times the amount of selenium that it was meant to, when an error was made in production of the product. I wanted to make sure that would never happen to a horse fed Pro-Dosa BOOST.
Finally, I wanted to be certain that I would not inadvertently cause harm though contaminants. I made my production and product tracking procedures as safe as possible by registering my facility in the NZ government inspected and certified GMP program. I used hazard analysis principles (HACCP) in developing methods of raw materials procurement, manufacturing, and finished product quality and safety assurance. I decided to submit all finished product for analysis for naturally occurring prohibited substances that may contaminate feed grade nutritional products and cause positive drug tests, and I submit all finished product for microbial culture to ensure it is sterile. Finally, I validated (proved) that my processes were consistently effective in producing a quality, sterile, and safe product that horsemen could feel confident and secure feeding to their horses. I wanted them to know that they could trust Pro-Dosa BOOST to be providing exactly what they were paying for and what their horses actually need to perform and recover at their best.
Think about what you are spending your money on and learn to read labels critically. Read my series of blog articles on “Reading Labels”, and please do contact me if you’d like help with general nutrition or comparing supplements and feeds.
