How to prevent magnesium deficiency in sport horses?

Magnesium has extremely important functions in metabolic processes in mammals. It is responsible, among other things, for the functioning of the muscles and the nervous system. It is of particular importance in maintaining the proper excitability of nerves and muscles. The decrease in the magnesium content in the muscles is the cause of glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. Glucose is the basic fuel for muscles, disturbances in its level lead to laminitis. Magnesium deficiencies may be one of the causes of gastric ulcers as well as reduced tolerance to stress.

Symptoms of magnesium deficiency in sport horses.

Diagnosing a magnesium deficiency is not easy. Plasma testing does not give unequivocal and conclusive results here. Similarly, the magnesium content in the urine can significantly falsify its actual level in the body. The most effective method of determining the level of magnesium is the study of muscle tissue obtained as a result of a biopsy. However, such a test requires appropriate laboratory facilities and cannot be widely used.

The clinical picture of magnesium deficiency syndrome is not uniform, but we can find some common features between individual cases. The basic symptom that always occurs with magnesium deficiency is reduced exercise tolerance due to rapid muscle fatigue. In addition, daily observation of the animal can provide other clues that can complete the picture and facilitate diagnosis, and these are, in addition to poor exercise tolerance:

• skin hypersensitivity,
• muscle tremors,
• hyperactivity
• severe lameness of the pelvic limbs,
• sudden and self-limiting paresis,
• lying down and trouble getting up.

Supplementation of the sports horse's diet with magnesium preparations.

Calcium and magnesium have very similar physical and chemical properties, therefore both of these elements use the same method of absorption and transport in the body. One can risk saying that this mechanism is based on competition. Calcium levels are regulated by hormones and vitamin D, so magnesium remains in a losing position. It will not be groundless to conclude that the administration of excessively high doses of calcium in relation to the demand with sufficient availability of magnesium in the diet may cause deficiencies of the latter due to the mechanism of displacement. Using the same method of absorption, calcium and magnesium compete for attention, and the favored calcium, using its dominant position, displaces magnesium from this mechanism, which, with disturbed proportions of both elements, leads to magnesium deficiency despite its availability in the diet.

Due to the fact that magnesium is used in over 300 different biochemical reactions in the horse's body, and many of them are directly related to muscle activity, the daily dose of magnesium will depend on the physical activity of the animal. Without a precise determination of the level of magnesium in the diet, one can risk saying that in Central and Eastern Europe, the dose covering 70% of the animal's daily demand for magnesium is from 13 to 15 g of feed magnesium oxide. The origin of the feed should be taken into account here, in our part of Europe the soils are particularly poor in magnesium, therefore its supplementation doses should be higher than those recommended in the USA or Northern European countries. The same applies to the calcium and magnesium duo. In the USA and northern European countries, the recommended ratio of calcium to magnesium in the diet of a sport horse is 2.6-2.7:1. Unfortunately, when using fodder of local origin, we must adopt the recommended ratio of calcium to magnesium in the horse's diet of 1.5-2.0:1. These values ​​​​depend on the planned physical activity of the animal in the coming period. Lower value for periods of increased activity and increased for the daily dose. So the more intensively the horse trains, the lower the dose of calcium and the higher the magnesium.

Magnesium overdose symptoms.

Like all good things, magnesium can also be overdosed, it can lead to a change in pH in the intestines, which results in the multiplication of undesirable bacterial cultures, serious metabolic problems, and even the formation of intestinal stones. The basic symptoms of magnesium overdose are inhibition of bone growth, decline in condition, lack of appetite, and diarrhoea.

Magnesium phosphate is an intolerable source of magnesium for equines and should therefore not be fed. The most suitable is magnesium in the form of an oxide. However, administration of its technical industrial variety to animals should be avoided due to the possibility of contamination, e.g. with heavy metals tolerated in production processes, but unacceptable in animal nutrition.

Feed magnesium oxide available at distripark.com

*This article is for informational purposes only. The presented description, in particular the use of the products, is exemplary and constitutes non-binding information about the characteristics and possibilities of their use/application. In any case, before using the product, consult a specialist whether the specific use is safe and justified. We do not bear any responsibility for the use of the proposed solutions, even in very similar situations.