Best Magnesium

[xQHDQ]

I just started feeding Mag5000 (Med Vet Pharmaceuticals) on Sunday - feeding 4oz/d. When should I expect to see a response? Being fed for its calming properties.

I had been feeding MagRestore. Ran out. Horse became a nervous wreck. Don’t know exactly how long he wasn’t getting the MagRestore but thinking that’s why he’s been a good boy until now. Bought Mag5000 because much cheaper. When do I make decision to go back to MagRestore?

[polkadotedpony]

@Libby2563

Uckele is about half the cost, assuming you have Amazon Prime. If you order from Uckele there’s shipping to factor in.

Here is cost per gram of elemental magnesium for the ones I looked at:

Uckele Mag Oxide 58% (powder): 1 cent/gram (10 lb bag on Amazon)
Horsetech Mag Oxide 60% (powder): 2 cents/gram (10 lb bag on Horsetech)
Quiessence (pellets): 5 cents/gram (14 lb bucket on Amazon)
Magnesium 5000 (pellets): 9 cents/gram (10 lb bag from SmartPak with USEF discount)
SU-PER Mag Pro (powder): 24 cents/gram (4 lb bucket, plus shipping)
MagRestore (powder): 28 cents/gram (135 servings on PEN, plus shipping)
MagRestore (pellets): 35 cents/gram (135 servings on PEN, plus shipping)

There could be cheaper sellers for each out there. I prefer to buy from known sellers like Amazon, SmartPak, Riding Warehouse, Valley Vet, etc so those are the prices I used.

I found that you really have to look at cost/gram because the different brands use different forms of mag and recommend a really wide range of doses. Quissence supplies 16 grams in one oz and recommends 1/2 oz as the maintenance dose, so 7 g. SU-PER Mag only supplies 2.1 grams per ounce so you would have to feed a high volume of powder to get the same amount of elemental mag. Uckele is a similar amount per scoop/serving (2.3 grams) but the scoop is much smaller than an ounce (only 4 grams) so you can feed a much smaller volume, which is important for powders I think.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the calculations and the tip about Quiessence being on amazon. 14lb bucket here I come!

[Periwinkle]

@Libby2563

I found that you really have to look at cost/gram because the different brands use different forms of mag and recommend a really wide range of doses. Quissence supplies 16 grams in one oz and recommends 1/2 oz as the maintenance dose, so 7 g. SU-PER Mag only supplies 2.1 grams per ounce so you would have to feed a high volume of powder to get the same amount of elemental mag. Uckele is a similar amount per scoop/serving (2.3 grams) but the scoop is much smaller than an ounce (only 4 grams) so you can feed a much smaller volume, which is important for powders I think.

I’m confused about your calculations. I currently feed my guy Uckele Magnesium Oxide, but would prefer a pellet, so I’ve also been swimming in magnesium. 1 scoop of Uckele is 4 grams of magnesium oxide, which is 2.32 grams of magnesium, per the label. So 2.32 grams of ‘elemental’ magnesium, yes?

Looking at the Quiessence label, 1 scoop is 1 oz and has 7 grams mag ox and 1 gram magnesium proteinate, so 8 grams of magnesium “stuff” total - but applying the Uckele calculation – 58% of mag ox is elemental mag – that’s 4.06 grams elemental magnesium in 1 oz of Quiessence from mag ox alone.

According to Google, magnesium proteinate is 10% magnesium, so 1 gm of that would provide .1gm elemental mag. The maintenance dose would provide .05gm elemental mag.

So the maintenance dose of Quiessence, 1/2 oz, would provide 2.08 grams of elemental magnesium; less than a full serving of Uckele mag ox.

Of course, this doesn’t consider the bioavailability of mag ox vs mag proteinate, or whether your horse will eat any of it, but comparing elemental magnesium might be more useful when comparing across different types of magnesium.

[polkadotedpony]

@Periwinkle

I’m confused about your calculations. I currently feed my guy Uckele Magnesium Oxide, but would prefer a pellet, so I’ve also been swimming in magnesium. 1 scoop of Uckele is 4 grams of magnesium oxide, which is 2.32 grams of magnesium, per the label. So 2.32 grams of ‘elemental’ magnesium, yes?

Looking at the Quiessence label, 1 scoop is 1 oz and has 7 grams mag ox and 1 gram magnesium proteinate, so 8 grams of magnesium “stuff” total - but applying the Uckele calculation – 58% of mag ox is elemental mag – that’s 4.06 grams elemental magnesium in 1 oz of Quiessence from mag ox alone.

According to Google, magnesium proteinate is 10% magnesium, so 1 gm of that would provide .1gm elemental mag. The maintenance dose would provide .05gm elemental mag.

So the maintenance dose of Quiessence, 1/2 oz, would provide 2.08 grams of elemental magnesium; less than a full serving of Uckele mag ox.

Of course, this doesn’t consider the bioavailability of mag ox vs mag proteinate, or whether your horse will eat any of it, but comparing elemental magnesium might be more useful when comparing across different types of magnesium.

Not quibbling with your math but the dosing of Quiessence is 1oz per 250 lb of body weigh loading and 1/2 oz per 250lb of body weight for maintenance so the average horse is going to get 4oz loading and 2 oz maintenance daily. Never used Uckele but if 1 scoop is a recommended daily dose then it would make sense that it had less than 1 scoop Quiessence since a recommended dose is going to be closer to 2 scoops unless it’s a small pony of huge draft/warmblood.

[Libby2563]

@Periwinkle: I’m sorry, I think I messed up the Quiessence calculations. I was more interested in powders so I might not have been as careful. Let me see if I can figure it out. The manufacturer’s website says: “Quiessence provides 4g Magnesium (3.9g from Magnesium Oxide and .1g from Magnesium Proteinate) per 1oz serving.” You have to click “Read More” and then scroll all the way down here: https://www.foxdenequine.com/products/quiessence.

So let’s assume a maintenance dose, which like @polkadotedpony said is 1/2 oz per 250 lb of bodyweight (not 1/2 oz total per day). For a 1,000 lb horse you would feed 1/2 oz * 4 = 2 oz. That would be 2 oz x 4 g mag/oz = 8 g of elemental magnesium total. Loading dose would be twice as much (16 g elemental). The price on Amazon is different already but a 14-lb (14 lb x 16 oz/lb = 224 oz) tub is currently $79.80 on SmartPak with a USEF discount so the price per g of elemental magnesium would be $79.80 / 224 oz per tub / 4 g per oz = 9 cents/g. Not 5 like I said. I’ll edit my post although a couple people have quoted it by now.

Hopefully I didn’t mess anything else up too badly! The different recommended serving sizes and elemental mag vs. amount of mag oxide or whatever make everything really confusing.

[Satin_Filly]

Magnesium Oxide from Uckele hands down.

[polkadotedpony]

@Libby2563

@Periwinkle: I’m sorry, I think I messed up the Quiessence calculations. I was more interested in powders so I might not have been as careful. Let me see if I can figure it out. The manufacturer’s website says: “Quiessence provides 4g Magnesium (3.9g from Magnesium Oxide and .1g from Magnesium Proteinate) per 1oz serving.” You have to click “Read More” and then scroll all the way down here: https://www.foxdenequine.com/products/quiessence.

So let’s assume a maintenance dose, which like @polkadotedpony said is 1/2 oz per 250 lb of bodyweight (not 1/2 oz total per day). For a 1,000 lb horse you would feed 1/2 oz * 4 = 2 oz. That would be 2 oz x 4 g mag/oz = 8 g of elemental magnesium total. Loading dose would be twice as much (16 g elemental). The price on Amazon is different already but a 14-lb (14 lb x 16 oz/lb = 224 oz) tub is currently $79.80 on SmartPak with a USEF discount so the price per g of elemental magnesium would be $79.80 / 224 oz per tub / 4 g per oz = 9 cents/g. Not 5 like I said. I’ll edit my post although a couple people have quoted it by now.

Hopefully I didn’t mess anything else up too badly! The different recommended serving sizes and elemental mag vs. amount of mag oxide or whatever make everything really confusing.

Thanks for he update! Sounds like it’s still pretty competitively priced for a pellet option so for me to with a morgan on vitamin pellets and a ceremonial handful of rice bran daily it’s probably still the most affordable option that’s palatable.

[Libby2563]

@polkadotedpony

Thanks for he update! Sounds like it’s still pretty competitively priced for a pellet option so for me to with a morgan on vitamin pellets and a ceremonial handful of rice bran daily it’s probably still the most affordable option that’s palatable.

Yes I would agree! I’m feeding the Uckele powder and it works fine for my horse who gets about 2 lb of grain for each meal but it does coat all the grain in white powder so if you feed less than that I can’t imagine them eating it. (It’s not doing anything for him either but maybe he just doesn’t need magnesium…could have saved $30 I guess.)

[Periwinkle]

@Libby2563

The different recommended serving sizes and elemental mag vs. amount of mag oxide or whatever make everything really confusing.

Yep! And some labels list grams of “magnesium,” meaning elemental, vs grams of mag ox or mag proteinate, so they’re not necessarily uniform. Very confusing!

I feed a (generous) scoop of Uckele powder to my guy and he eats it – I was pleasantly surprised because he can be picky. (I have to mix his tri-amino with sweet feed for him to touch it.) I give it to him with a scoop of Mega-Cell, which is maybe around 1/8 cup of pellets, so next to nothing.

[Libby2563]

If anyone is interested, I have most of a 10 lb bag of Uckele 58% magnesium oxide powder that my horse doesn’t seem to need. If you want to pay postage I’ll send it to you. PM me.

https://www.amazon.com/Uckele-Magnes…/dp/B00UVKLXMS

[xQHDQ]

I wanted to provide an update regarding my experience with magnesium supplementation in order to help others who may be thinking about it. I have to admit that I was highly skeptical before starting and stopping and seeing the difference in my boy.

Horse was pretty reactive, particularly to sound. Started him on Magrestore pellets, which he was on for a couple of months. We made other changes (turnout, injections, weather was warming, etc) at the same time as starting the magnesium, so didn’t know if it was the magnesium or the something else. When I ran out, he got reactive again. Switched to Mag5000 (Med Vet Pharmaceuticals) from Smartpak (no other changes to environment made). It was cheaper than Magrestore. Was on for a few more months, and he was better again, but maybe not as better as with Magrestore. Ran out of Mag5000 and he got reactive again. Put him back on Magrestore, but this time the powder. Significantly better again (no other changes to environment made).

Problem with the powder is that he won’t eat it. I have to mix up a mash of peppermint (readily available this time of year, so I stocked up) and sweet feed and mix it with the powder he leaves at the bottom of his bucket - works well but PITA since I have to do it every day. Will order the pellets next time.

[sparkygrace]

Although this is a powder, I have been using this di-magnesium malate product. It has worked well for my gelding and is cost-effective. The percentage of magnesium is the same as MagRestore.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CGM1ZBN/ref=twister_B08R6JL5JQ?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

[xQHDQ]

Thanks for sharing this.

I did the math and they cost the same: ~$20/pound if you buy the 135 servings of Magrestore powder (3lb bag; $59.99) or the 2kg (4.4lb; $79.99) bag of the di-mag malate product on Amazon.

The Amazon product becomes significantly cheaper as you increase the size, so I may try it once I run out of Magrestore.