Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> So my questions: What's the difference between a "horse mineral block" and
a "trace mineral block?" Which is better?

"Better depends on what you wanted it for.  The darker rose colored block is
almost entirely sodium chloride salt, with a few fairly neglible amounts of
copper, etc thrown in.  Good source of salt and that's about it.

The darker block you got provides a broader and more variable range of other
vitamins and minerals, theoretically to balance minerals otherwise missing
in your existing ration.  It's dark because it has a high molasses content,
and usually some sort of alfalfa base to hold it all together, plus to make
it tasty enough for the horses to voluntarily eat it and thus get the other
nutrients included.  The good news is that it *can* be a fairly decent
source of "other" nutrients.  The bad news is that there's virtually no way
to control how much your horse is getting (no, they don't just "eat what
their body needs").  If the horse likes the taste of molasses, they might
chomp up the whole thing in a day.  If they don't, they'll let it rot (or
let the deer eat it and at least you get the benefit of bucks next season
with humongous antlers).

Anyway, there's really no "best" between the two because they're apples and
oranges.  If you were looking for a salt source, better to stick with the
salt block (or loose salt) and provide any extra minerals or vitamins via
another method.

Susan G




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