Ponies fed not much more than double the RDA of magnesium had blood magnesium levels that we would these days regard as “above the normal range”. The more magnesium you feed, the more is retained in the body and specifically in the blood. Hintz & Schryver looked at this too and it is clear from their work that whilst excretion increases as the diet level increases, it doesn’t do so enough.
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Excess magnesium ingested is simply excreted in the droppings or the urine. Some Dutchmen working with foals had a 16 week time frame, an Australian, Jess Dodd, looked at a few hours or days and in our own work we have horses entering our trials having been on high magnesium diets for months or years.Ģ. Other researchers have done similar work over different periods - all with the same results. In this work the ponies were fed the different magnesium diets for a month each. In fact the diet they tested that had the most calcium actually resulted in the highest amount of magnesium retained in the horse. If diets are high in calcium, magnesium absorption is impaired leading to a risk of deficiency.Įxperiments carried out by the Americans Hintz & Schryver way back in 19 make it very clear that the balance between calcium and magnesium in the diet of horses does not affect the absorption of magnesium. There are generally two arguments put forward for this:ġ. So, if we believe the NRC, there is no reason to add magnesium to formulated feeds. Yet when we look at the reports, even low magnesium pastures and hay contain the RDA comfortably as far as horses are concerned. Some people have their grass and hay analysed and sometimes they show magnesium levels that are described as “low”. Of the 103 listed ingredients only corn cobs, bread waste and oils don’t provide the RDA for magnesium and most feed ingredients provide multiples of the RDA. In this book are tables of the recommended levels of many different nutrients in horse diets and the amounts of to be found in various forages, grains etc. That seems like a controversial statement, but the National Research Council of America (NRC) publishes a book called the “Nutrient Requirements of Horses”. Such firms do exist but the major players still add magnesium in contradiction of the science. Instead, the only firms that are actually following the science, are the ones that add no magnesium to their feed products at all. But grass and hay, even from low magnesium soils, almost always provides far more than the recommended level of magnesium. Most feed companies will be offended by this statement, as they will probably say that they "only use scientifically proven levels of nutrients in their formulations". The feed company consensus seems to be that magnesium is a harmless additive - yet the science says "the more you feed the more builds up in the horse".
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Yet it has been overlooked what excess magnesium does inside cells. It would appear that many feed and supplement companies have been adding and selling increasing amounts of magnesium in the hope that it will improve behaviour. Why do feed and supplements firms add magnesium to their products? Surely there must be something more effective or could this be a case of "the earth is flat until someone tells us otherwise"? But do they achieve the effect you want? Perhaps they are simply an example of hope over experience! Millions of pounds are effectively being poured down the drain each year with the purchases of these calmers. So, why are magnesium calmers the market leaders? Probably because they appear to affect the horse more than the other technologies on the market such as tryptophan, B group vitamins and herbs.
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#Best form of magnesium for equine trial
A small trial we conducted in 2008 suggested that magnesium calmers will only work in approximately 25% of horses – a pretty poor success rate! Magnesium based calmers are by far the most common in the equine supplements market, yet experience from client feedback tells us that magnesium fails in far more horses than they help.
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The added magnesium in your formulated feeds, supplements and calmers could be doing far more harm than good.
#Best form of magnesium for equine download
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