Dr. Elleanor Kellon is one of the Dr.s who feels that all horses are lacking. It doesn't really seem to matter about the area of the country. I think I've read somewhere that the soil is now defficient because of acid rain over the past century.
Wasn't really speaking of evaluating magnesium in the blood panels. I was curious if supplementing adequate amounts (after determining through lab tests on the food intake) would affect the blood panel for other values. I don't feed any alfalfa or legumes. But, my pasture does have quite a lot of clover which ups the calcium (I believe......it's been a while). My horses get 24/7 pasture (Pacific NW, so much of the year it's pretty rich), Timothy hay, Vits/Mins and Flax Seed (more calcium there, too). I came across the mag. defficiency thoughts last year when my horses got very cresty on their pasture. Dr. Kellon suggested making sure the calcium/magnesium was balanced for my horse's food intake. I did that and the crestiness went away. The, I started reading more about calcium and have started supplementing myself. I notice a big difference in several areas of my life after trying to balance my intake, also. My boyfriend, who is a marathon runner, has also noticed a HUGE difference in his performance as well as alleviating muscle cramps that he use to experience, since upping his magnesium to match his calcium (men have different requirements than women). I do believe there is a pretty strong downside of feeding too much magnesium. It does cause greater calcium absorption and *can* cause the soft tissues (blood vessels and organs) to calcify. Although, it does take quite a lot to do that. Sorry for the sloppy paraphrasing below. I was in a bit of a hurry :-) Karen --- Susan Garlinghouse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I know most horses are deffecient in Magnesium > (many, > > severely). > > There are certainly some horses that would be, > depending on the ration and > area of the country, but why do you feel most are? > And, just out of > curiousity, what would you consider to be severely > deficient? > > > Since ATP bonds to magnesium and ATP is > > what supplies energy to the muscles, I'm wondering > if > > supplementing magnesium on a daily basis would > help, > > in anyway, to improving blood panels on horses at > > endurance rides. > > Well, blood is actually a fairly poor indicator of > magnesium status. Hair > analysis only works even halfway reliably for a very > few heavy metals, and > is also a poor indicator for magnesium. Tissue > biopsy is pretty much the > only *really* reliable method of evaluation and > understandably, most > endurance riders wouldn't be wild about someone > poking a harpoon into their > horse's liver or muscle during a ride. <g> So, it's > really kinda hard to > evaluate magnesium status other than by clinical > signs---primarily > neuromuscular signs that look alot like colic or > tying up. And yes, those > horses would certainly benefit from magnesium > supplementation, assuming the > colic/muscle problems really were caused by a > magnesium deficiency. > > > My suspiscion is that a horse with > > better mag. levels to begin with would be in a > much > > better situation to remain balanced in > electrolytes > > than a horse starting out with a mag. deffeciency. > > That's pretty much true of any electrolyte, although > there are variables > between individuals (kidney, thyroid and parathyroid > function, dietary > variables, vitamin D supplementation, etc) that can > affect magnesium > absorption and excretion. And that would make it a > little more difficult to > compare two horses straight across the board. But > certainly as a general > rule of thumb---yup, the horse that starts the ride > with better electrolyte > status **and has that electrolyte status maintained > throughout the ride** is > going to be in better shape than a horse that > doesn't and isn't. If that > makes sense. :-) > > > > I know, after doing the lab tests on my hay, > pasture > > and supplements, I have to supplement 1 tablespoon > a > > day of 58% magnesium oxide in order to maintaing a > 2:1 > > balance between Calcium and Magnesium for my > horse. > > That's a LOT. I don't remeber how many grams it > > ended up being, but seems like I remember it was > about > > 17g. > > That is a lot. Since a mature horse at intense > work's requirement is only > about 13 grams total, why so much? How much is your > horse's total daily > intake 9just curious here)? Are you feeding > alfalfa? Do your horses have > specific muscle problems that have responded to > additional magnesium? > > OTOH, there's no particular downside to feeding that > much, except it tastes > lousy (which is why it's usually mixed in with salt > or sugar or grain or > summat). Magnesium does increase calcium > absorption, which is a useful > thing. > > Susan G > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
