Natural Horse -

Vitamins and Minerals

Below is a list of vitamins and minerals with a short description of ways in which they can be beneficial to your horse.

Vitamins

• Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)

  Used to fight infection and help with snake bites.

  Available forms
  Powdered and injectable

  Dosage
  As a preventative: 20g twice a day for an adult horse
  With an active illness or infection: 20g four times a day for an adult horse

Minerals

• Magnesium

  Useful in horses and ponies with cresty necks and fat deposits as the magnesium helps break them down. In a normal diet the ratio of calcium to magnesium should be 2:1. Horses can suffer from a magnesium deficiency if the diet contains too much calcium in relation to the magnesium.

  Available forms
  Organic or chelated (those found in foods, such as magnesium gluconate and magnesium asparatate) and inorganic (found in the soil, such as magnesium sulfate and magnesium oxide). The organic forms are more readily absorbed.

  Dosage
  Start with approx 3 grams per day for a small pony and up to 12 grams for a large/heavy horse for the first three weeks when you should see signs of changes in the fat deposits. Then the dose can be halved for 6 - 8 weeks and once the fat has normalized then a maintenance dose should be calculated based on hay/grass analysis.

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