My mare came to me on depo, she is not super hot/sensitive but without it is a bit unfocused and tense. Since I can not continue to give it to her I am considering trying magnesium and/or vitamin E as her muscles seem to be sensitive to cold and she does best with a nice long walk before doing any work. She doesn’t get much grass so I am sure the vitamin E would be beneficial to her regardless.
I have been out of the supplement game for awhile and wondering what my best options are?
Being sensitive to cold, I would get her tested for PSSM. Both 1 and 2.
I would also do a blood test for selenium and vitamin E - see where you are. Both of those affect muscle health.
Magnesium 5000 from MVP is a great economical place to start for that.
UltraCruz Natural E from Santa Cruz is a very economical E source, powder or pellet.
you can have her tested to see if her vitamin levels in her blood (E and mag) are in the normal range.
Elevate liquid Vitamin E seems to be most easily absorbed. I’ve had great results for one that tested low on E. I think some people eventually switched to powdered E which is more cost effective. I haven’t done that yet/not sure if I will.
Nupafeed magnesium is a great mag supplement that is also liquid. It can result in runny poop. It’s also pretty pricey.
I’m pretty sure smartpak as a vitamin E supplement. not sure about magnesium.
I cant remember as I have not had to personally deal with it but does PSSM run in TB’s? I didn’t know that cold sensitivity was part of that. She has been quite angry (more sensitive being brushed and tense being ridden) the few times I didnt sheet her or she wore her sheet instead of her mid weight blanket, and it has not been terribly cold (we live in Tucson, AZ) and she is not clipped but doesnt have a super thick coat. I have only had her since June so still figuring out things with her as the seasons change.
Do you guys have Lyme disease, or did she come from somewhere that does? That crabby don’t touch me thing can be a sign of Lyme. Might be worth testing when you have the vet out to look at her vit e/selenium status.
Sounds like you’re on a good track with the magnesium and vit e–I also like the MVP stuff and the Santa Cruz product JB mentions–but I’ll also drop a recommendation for Uckele’s Seroquine. It’s just great for those reactive horses, and has made a much bigger difference than just magnesium for my touchy ones.
I do not believe so and she has lived here or southern cali her whole life. She is just a little weird about her skin-like she doesn’t like the feeling of water evaporating off of her. Just small things. She is really very well behaved just has a few quirks here and there. She isn’t terribly spooky or anything just can be unfocused under saddle at times. I have been very patient with her as we have increased her flatwork skills, she was previously a jumper and I am working on bringing her along as an event horse and I don’t think her previous owners really focused on her flat work. She is greatly improved but still plenty of room for improvement!
While not necessarily common in TBs, TBs absolutely have PSSM - Type 2 in all but rare instances where they have Type 1. And Type 2 seems to be more sensitive to cold.
JB-interesting I will have to do some reading on this as that didn’t really cross my mind as being a possibility of course it has only been “cold” recently and it took a few times to notice a correlation to her attitude and the sheet/blanket thing. She wore her blanket last night when it was barely down to 50 and I had the best dressage lesson ive had on her this morning (of course it could just be some of our hard work paying off as well, but she was also way less sensitive to groom).
I’d say you’re onto something 
Hopefully she is just one of those who simply needs more frequent and/or heavier blanketing. I think a lot of people don’t realize that a horse can maintain weight well, not turn into a hard keeper during Winter, but be cold enough at night that their muscles get sore after a while (sometimes not long), especially if they don’t ride in the morning. That same horse might have all day to move around and limber up before being asked to work, so it doesn’t start to click. But I was in your boat - I ride in the morning, and I found blanketing my WB at higher temps just made him happier to work in the morning.
She is really a nice horse and perfect for me. She is a chestnut TB mare and a bit opinionated, but I am willing to deal with these little quirks so far because she is so fun to ride and saves my butt constantly!
Keep us updated if you end up pulling blood and/or testing for PSSM. I have one that sounds almost identical to your mare.
I have one who is unhappy when he’s been cold the night before. I actually can see it in how he moves on the longe, even late afternoon, and can see it disappear as he loosens up with the work. There is no point in getting on before that happens. I just blanket heavier sooner than my other horses. Tonight he’s got 200g plus a neck rug, while my other horse has a Wug with no fill. He lets me know when I got his blankets wrong.
I do supplement both vitamin E and magnesium with him. The vitamin E started after a summer spent chasing a case of mud fever around one leg. The test showed he was at the bottom end of the normal range - still IN range just at the bottom. After six months of 2000iu/day his value had gone down, but the mud fever was gone. He’s now at 3000iu/day via Elevate powder and his general skin health has improved a lot, with test results showing mid range values.
The magnesium was honestly a what have I got to lose by trying act of desperation to reduce his reactivity to what he perceived as scary. It helped noticably within two weeks despite me accidentally under dosing because I didn’t read the package properly. My vet said when it works, magnesium keeps on working without needing progressively higher doses - which makes sense as it is addressing an insufficient supply in the horse’s diet. I started with Quiessence as my test run, and now use Pureform Magnesium.
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