The Laminitis & Magnesium Connection

Well the grass has been in full flow, and have been very careful with the horses.

Giddy's pulse was uo very briefly for a couple of days, so pulled them in off the grass, but it passed very quickly

whilst trawling the web, i found a product for laminitis in america that includes Zeolite, makes perfect sense as it is to do with removing toxins and the like, it is available here in the UK from this company, this is a human grade Zeolite

Well, here goes, a new project that I hope can help my horses and others.

I didnt have any problems with laminitis until 2006, who knows why both of my horses went down that year. More and more, I do think climate change is playing a part in the increased incidence

Anyway, as a natural horse owner, I have always tried to keep things as close to a natural environment as possible, but this proves tricky with only limited space.

Last year Giddy was managed with pads fitted by the farrier in her feet, both horses were kept in for quite some time, and later with grazing muzzles.

This year, I took the plunge and took giddy barefoot, Lightning being a companion had of course never been shod. She has taken to it well, and I firmly believe she is happier, and moving better, and so far this year, laminitis free. This is despite her carrying a lot of weight, as my work committments have meant I have had very little time, and also had my confidence knocked by a fall. Anyway, we are back on track and onto a fitness programme

So the magnesium seems to be helping. I give them both a maintainance amount daily. About a week ago, Lightning looked somewhat touchy and had a pulse, doubled his dose and the next day he was fine, and has been ok since. Now I cant say this was entirely the magnesium, and perhaps he wasnt truly laminitic, but is is certainly promising

I am using Magnesium Citrate which is the best form in terms of digestibilty and uptake

I am keen for people to post their experiences, please do use the comments box, and you can also sign up for an rss feed / email subscription to hear other peoples experiences.

I will post info here on my horses and info i can collate