Maybe a really embarrassing dumb question

[poiuytrewq]

I’m on a head shaking page on fb and have been reading through a thread this evening.
Someone asking about feeding magnesium to a head shaker.
Now I believe it’s fairly widely known/thought that magnesium can help with head shaking and so that’s not my question.
It was said that it helps, as with many other things that supplementing anything only works if the diet it lacking in that item.
Fair enough, I get that.
My fuzzy head wonder is…
1- how do you know for sure what exactly a horse may be lacking mineral or otherwise

There is a phase 2 to my question
But that first please

 

[lizziebell]

By analysing the mineral and nutritional values of your forage (grass/ hay/ haylage) and additional feed. Lots of companies available to send samples to for this.

 

[meleeka]

In the case of magnesium, it’s usually trial and error. If adding it makes a difference, then it was probably deficient. You can obviously have hay and grazing analysed too.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I have no real queries myself. So am not wondering about one particular thing. Just in general. So I’d have to have my grass, my hay and all feeds tested?
I guess not feed as that’s probably easy enough (I say lightly) to work out.

 

[SEL]

Even if you have everything tested bloods can show differently. Very, very low in selenium around me but blood tests show horses are ok.

 

[Art Nouveau]

Are blood tests accurate for everything though? I think they're not for magnesium, as magnesium will get pulled from the bones if there's a deficiency, so blood levels might still look ok.

 

[Highmileagecob]

The Equibiome people have launched a test to check head shakers. Haven't looked into it, as it's not relevant to my old boy, but it might be of interest?

 

[little_critter]

Even if you have everything tested bloods can show differently. Very, very low in selenium around me but blood tests show horses are ok.

Agreed, you’d need to blood test for accurate results.
I know humans can be anaemic due to a) diet deficient in iron b) body not correctly utilising the iron they are consuming or c) body losing excessive iron (eg bleeding stomach ulcer)
So your feed and forage might be spot on, but if your horse has an issue utilising the minerals in it, or is somehow losing those minerals excessively then your forage test will show all is fine when the blood test would say there is a deficiency.

 

[poiuytrewq]

@little_critter thats a good point and answers my next question which was if someone like me who has a few horses kept together, same forage etc managed to perfectly balance a diet would that diet be perfectly balanced for all horses.
So I suppose maybe in theory but quite possibly not in reality.

 

[Lina2023]

Have you looked at Shakeaze? I haven’t used it myself but our vet designed it for her head shaker and it seems to have excellent reviews. http://www.shakeaze.com/?

 

[Pinkvboots]

Those nets don't look that different to any others that are currently on the market and for half the money.

I've tried several nets on my shaker and they actually make him worse.

 

[Lina2023]

That’s a shame - I’ve never looked into it as I don’t have a head shaker, just thought I’d suggest in case it was an option! All the best

 

[EventingMum]

I think a lot would depend on the cause of the headshaking. My horse didn't show any symptoms until he had uveitis, supplements, medication and PENS treatment made no difference to him so I firmly believe that was his trigger whereas others can be traced to allergies and other factors.