Mineral Deficiency?

[dallastheo]

My mare is a 23 year old Welsh Sec D, iv owned her for 8 years, she is fed on TopSpec Lite Balancer, TopSpec Lite Chaff, Cortaflex and Linseed. also ad-lib haylege at the moment. I Have noticed her on an odd occasion chewing/licking mud in the field and paws at it to get (the decent mud!! .... i no this means she has a mineral deficiency but on the topspec it has alot of vitamins/minerals included so i wouldnt want to over do her on them... of course i need to ring feed company up and see what they suggest but i just wondered what you guys may think or have a good recomendation ? and why do u think she still is lacking in something when she is supposedly getting everything she needs in her feed? she wont touch a salt lick of any type in her stable either. She isnt keen at all on Vits & Mins supplements especially the amount u have to give them,only things she likes is Equi-bites but not seen them around for a while!!

Sorry long post.. so yeah point of it is why do you think she may still be lacking !! :s

Thanks everybody !! xx

 

[Miss L Toe]

Mine does this too, especially if he has been housed for a while, and he get plenty of vits and mins and salt in his feed [he won't touch salt lick], as long as it is not too frantic, I would live with it.

 

[dallastheo]

Yeah, thanks, i no, cant be too bad as she gets everything she needs, maybe she just sometimes needs a bit extra and finds that best in the soil!! spose its the natural stuff in the dirt and thats what she prefers!

 

[contestdancer]

It think the supplement needed when licking/eating mud is selenium.