Balancers for magnesium intolerance

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coloredred

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As title really, horse can't have magnesium but does well on balancers (currently on spillers lite balancer). Any suggestions?
 
The body needs a certain amount of mag anyway and will get mag from the grass to a certain degree, lower mag in fast growing grass but its there. Would be interested to know more as iv never heard of this
 
Basically I started feeding magnesium about 5 years ago, his behaviour got worse and worse to the point where he would just explode. In none stressful situations he was fine but if something stressful happened that he'd normally cope with he'd either rear or have a broncing fit. Nothing like the sensible horse I'd known since a just backed 4 year old. Changed food around as couldn't believe it was the mag but nothing worked, horse checked over, nothing found. Ran out of magnesium way before pay day so just ended up cutting it out for a few weeks and I had my calm horse back. He's been fine ever since until I tried him on spillers lite balancer (which I love by the way, he looks great), he's been on it for a few months but the horrible behaviour is slowly creeping back in. I've had a read of equifeasts site who I've found do a mag free balancer and they describe him perfectly when talking about magnesium upsetting some horses.

This is from an email I got from them.
"Recent trials which we have been running suggest that too much magnesium can switch off nerve cells and can either worsen behavior or sedate horses, too little can prevent the horse from making the correct judgments so getting the balance right is extremely important. Magnesium is involved in providing the form of energy used to power cells. Insufficient energy will impair brain function and cause behavioural problems. So having enough magnesium is crucial. But magnesium is far harder to control (than calcium) within the cells and when too much is provided it floods the intra cellular fluids and sits on and blocks the calcium receptors. When calcium is pumped in to switch the cells on it cannot do its job. So magnesium sedates by switching nerve cells off. A sedated horse will behave badly when stressed so a clear symptom of too much magnesium is a horse that is very calm when not stressed but excitable in environments or situations it finds difficult (a Jekyll and Hyde character)."
 
Some horses are very intolerant to magnesium and a friends horse Is one of them he's a bit dangerous unless she really keeps on top of it.
It took them a while to work out that this was the issue but it's transformed the horse .
 
Goldenstar said:
Some horses are very intolerant to magnesium and a friends horse Is one of them he's a bit dangerous unless she really keeps on top of it.
It took them a while to work out that this was the issue but it's transformed the horse .
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Glad I'm not the only one with a slightly strange horse! Do you know what your friend feeds out of interest?
 
criso said:
Why not go down the forage analysis route and then you can just give the minerals you are short of while avoiding Magnesium.
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I'd thought about this although not in much detail as they swap fields so much from fertilised to unfertilised, would that make any difference?
 
coloredred said:
I'd thought about this although not in much detail as they swap fields so much from fertilised to unfertilised, would that make any difference?
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I have taken an average of different fields before or between grazing and hay fields.

It would give you a rough idea of what the fields contain and the advantage of doing it like that you can add or remove things one at a time to check for reactions.
 
criso said:
I have taken an average of different fields before or between grazing and hay fields.

It would give you a rough idea of what the fields contain and the advantage of doing it like that you can add or remove things one at a time to check for reactions.
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I'd definitely like to get this done to give me an idea of what he's getting and what he's not.
 
tallyho! said:
Sounds ike your horse is deficient in calcium not magnesium.
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I was pretty sure he wasn't deficient in the first place, I was feeding mag for barefoot benefits but stopped. His current balancer doesn't have much in but it's clearly affecting him. The equifeast balancer has a calcium based calmer included so that should help if he's lacking that.
 
Hiya just popped in to say I have my horse on Equifeast CCC and I am amazed at the effect too much or too little magnesium can have. It took me a little while to get the level right.
If you do try it you need to start on a loading dose and please make sure you keep in contact with them they are so helpful it has turned us around completely.
 
Magnesium exists in several different forms - chloride, sulphate, oxide, chelated etc... and each is absorbed to different amounts and each will have its own effects - for example too much magnesium sulphate and the horse has scours! Magnesium is an essential mineral and you will certainly get side effects and possible long term damage to the nervous system from a lack of magnesium. Commercially available calmers and min and vit supplements all use different forms of magnesium mainly because some are cheap, and not because they are better. It is far more likely that an unwanted side effect is due to using the 'wrong' type of magnesium. PLEASE read this link. http://www.gravelproofhoof.org/#!magnesium/c1dwe
As you will see, type of grass and time of day of feeding on it, as well as the weather makes a difference if you are going to try to rely on grass alone.
 
coloredred said:
I was pretty sure he wasn't deficient in the first place, I was feeding mag for barefoot benefits but stopped. His current balancer doesn't have much in but it's clearly affecting him. The equifeast balancer has a calcium based calmer included so that should help if he's lacking that.
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Yes but don't forget that some minerals use the same channels in cells so too much of one thing will affect the absorption of another.

Very complicated, I think you need a degree in microbiology to understand it all!! :D
 
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