I’m at the local pharmacy looking at vitamins for myself, and just had a thought. They sell magnesium 400mg, and I was wondering if I could give my horse 10-15 a day instead of buying the Magnesium 5,000 supplement. I didn’t know if there was any difference or not. Tried searching, but nothing.
what type of magnesium is it? citrate? sulfate? oxide?
Horses actually absorb oxide well and citrate and sulfate can cause the runs.
what type of magnesium is it? citrate? sulfate? oxide?
Horses actually absorb oxide well and citrate and sulfate can case the runs.
It’s magnesium oxide. I went ahead and bought it since it was only 8$. Figured if I couldn’t use it, it wasn’t a huge loss.
Mag Ox is really cheap if you buy it by the bag. This was the first thing I pulled up on google - http://www.lancasterag.com/Mag-Ox-54-50-lb-Bag/item/093005050
50 pounds for $20. Shipping is usually the expensive part - so check in your local ag store, feed store, or where cattle supplies are sold, they are the ones who use MagOx in quantity.
Mag Ox is 54% Magnesium oxide, so if you want to feed 5,000 mg of Magnesium, give 1 gram, just over half of that will be Magnesium.
Here’s an article that explains it better - http://www.understanding-horse-nutrition.com/magnesium.html
You can use it if you want to feed magnesium oxide, but be aware that the stuff you buy is for human consumption and is therefore more expensive than the stuff made for livestock consumption. It’s higher quality (fit for human consumption so manufactured at a higher standard) and likely a heck of a lot closer to the concentration listed on the label than the livestock version. Cattle-level supplements do not compare to human-level supplements in quality or bioavailabilty, so do your homework as you make decisions. If you are bent on supplementing Magnesium, the bioavailability and quality of the compounds are worth noting because they don’t digest the same way. Look at the research. You have many options and I would research them, if I were you.
[QUOTE=J-Lu;8174350]
You can use it if you want to feed magnesium oxide, but be aware that the stuff you buy is for human consumption and is therefore more expensive than the stuff made for livestock consumption. It’s higher quality (fit for human consumption so manufactured at a higher standard) and likely a heck of a lot closer to the concentration listed on the label than the livestock version. Cattle-level supplements do not compare to human-level supplements in quality or bioavailabilty, so do your homework as you make decisions. If you are bent on supplementing Magnesium, the bioavailability and quality of the compounds are worth noting because they don’t digest the same way. Look at the research. You have many options and I would research them, if I were you.[/QUOTE]
Isn’t oxide what is used in the horse supplements? If it’s safe to feed, it’s actually cheaper to feed the human vitamin vs. the supplement. It’s 8-9$ a bottle and by my math it should last 20-25 days. That’s way cheaper than 30$ a month for the same amount.
Are you saying since it’s a higher quality it might not digest as easy? I don’t want to feed the horse something that will make it sick all for the sake of 10$ or so. I figured people fed Epsom salts so this couldn’t be much different.
OP, I’ve bought the 2 pack of people mag from Walmart and used for my horse. Personally, I felt better giving him a human quality than a bag from a farm supply store.
Horse magnesium supplements are quiet inexpensive, but I needed some and it was faster and easier to run into Walmart. The results were noticeable.
Oxide is one of the least bioavailable forms of a mineral. Citrate is one of the more bioavailable forms. Gluconate is the highest.
Too much of either can cause diarrhea.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2407766
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14596323
Target has 60ct 400mg MgOx for $3.40. If you were to use just 10 of them, that lasts 6 days at $.57/day. That’s only 4gm, which is really not a lot if you’re looking to supplement Mg, which is typically at least 5gm, and for bigger issues like IR, 10-15 or even 2gm
Valley Vet has Magnesium 5000 (also mag ox) for $63 for 160 days at 5000gm. That’s $.39/day.
You decide 
Or you can talk to your local CoOp or cattle feed provider and they can get you a big honking bag of MagOx for cheap.
I bought a 40 or 50 pound bad of Mag-O-Min from Southern States. Per my vet’s instructions, I feed 1 tablespoon per day. VERY Affordable…
I feed him 5 tables a day soaked in his beet pulp at a daily cost of 25 cents (5 cents per tablet.)
It is either working well or my super sensitive 9 year old rescue TB is responding to the daily, training, riding and interaction with me. It could be a combination of all the above…
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’ve actually tried getting MagOx from
my feed store and they won’t order it. I guess I could try SS but it’s far away. I’m going to try the vitamins and see if they change anything. It’s only 8$ every 25 days - seems cheap to me.
I have him on it because he has ADD - not hot or spooky, just likes to not pay attention to me - and the magnesium helps.
I use magnesium proteinate from Gateway:
https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=2e87bf2f-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5
I had MUCH better results compared with another product that contained mag oxide. Meaning, the Mag Ox did nothing and the mag proteinate has made a dramatic difference in helping my retired neurologic, neurotic TB cope with life.
I think you’ve misplaced a decimal point there somewhere.
[QUOTE=bjd2013;8175177]
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’ve actually tried getting MagOx from
my feed store and they won’t order it. I guess I could try SS but it’s far away. I’m going to try the vitamins and see if they change anything. It’s only 8$ every 25 days - seems cheap to me.
I have him on it because he has ADD - not hot or spooky, just likes to not pay attention to me - and the magnesium helps.[/QUOTE]
Southern States has it. I got a 50lb bag for $30 in my area. I feed 2 tbsp a day (15-16g) and at that rate it would take me 1417.5 days to finish the whole bag ($0.02 a serving).
If it works, I would suggest going this route, you can’t beat the price.
Yep, it should be 10 grams of Mag Ox (I grew up with slide rules - decimals were always my bane!)
It is so worth the drive to Southern States. One bag will literally last more than a year.
