feeding magnesium to a laminitic

odd1

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 June 2010
Messages
306
Visit site
i have been doing some reading up on supplements etc for the laminitic horse and magnesium seems to be popping up all over saying how good it is to help reduce fatty deposits and crests etc and also that its good for the feet
i used to use nupafeed as a calmer but haven't used it for 2 or so years, which is the best "magnesium" supplement to get to have a calming and also supplement benifit for the laminitic
 
thanks - is it as good as the nupafeed and branded, nupafeed is Magnesium aspartate-hydrochloride
i wish i had studied better at school and in sience now:rolleyes:
 
I use calcined magnesium (calmag) and I buy it from a farm animal feed store - 25kg for £13 - lasts me forever (I am on my second bag and I've been feeding it for years!).

I find it every bit as effective as the branded magnesium supplements.

I also feed cinnamon as its supposed to help with insulin resistance type issues - whether it really does or not I dont know but I do feel mine do better on it.
 
I failed miserably to get my pony to eat either magnesium or cinnamon. I know people say magnesium has no flavour, but he wouldn't have it.
 
I went to a lecture at the RVC earlier in the week and they said that there was still so much about laminitis that the vet profession did not know yet. They also said that feeding magnesium to a laminitic horse was not proven to help (but they said that it would not do any harm).
 
Herts05 - i have been talking to a vet at a referal centre who was treating my other horse for totally different thing and asked him about shoeing for the laminitic he also said that no one knows much about it yet and it was trial and error
i think i will get some nupafeed i know it works on him for calming and he could be doing with being a bit more chilled out just now anyway
 
Everyone seems to talk about magnesium as some kind of new additive and I'm sick of people telling me that I give it to my mare as a calmer!

Magnesium is in fact an essential mineral and should be found the in grass, but due to dairy farming, overgrazing and poor management of it these days, it's often low or even missing alltogether. All you are doing when you give it, is replaceing an essential mineral.

Google it and take a good look at what it actually does and you'll see that it's just not a calmer or healer, but a lot, lot more. It's quite an eye opener and my mare will always have it regardless.
 
Most of the pasture in this country is not suitable for horses as it contains far too much potassium which causes an electrolyte imbalance of too much potassium and not enough sodium, calcium and magnesium. Removing all grass, Lucerne and other high potassium feeds like kelp and molasses from the diet gets potassium DOWN and adding salt, organic calcium and organic magnesium to the rations gets these essential minerals UP.

Horses do not get adequate sodium from salt-licks. A good starting guide for feeding salt is 10gms per 100Kg of body weight to their feed. Salt is very important.

It is the three minerals together which tackle the imbalance. One of my ponies was saved from being PTS by addressing this balance.
 
Top