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[RC] Magnesium as a calming agent - k s swigart

Elizabeth walker said:


Well, dang ... yet another vet bill. Guess I'll
?have to have Caisson's blood tested ... I'm assuming
?that hypomagnesium will show up in a blood test.

?
Not reliably, no, it doesn't "show up in a blood test.'
?
A blood test only tells you the magnesium status at the time the blood is 
drawn, and the body is designed to try to maintain consistent magensium levels 
in the blood even if there isn't enough in the body.? 
?
Vets could probably tell you more about magnesium, how it is metabolized, and 
how it is regulated...I just know that it isn't a simple thing and that blood 
tests aren't a really good way of determining a horses magnesium status.
?
I have been told that unrinanalysis can be informative, but that a muscle 
biopsy is more reliable.
?
Me??I have taken the "try it and see if it helps" approach.
?

I put Caisson on a Magnesium/B1 supplement a couple of
?months ago - ... We have both noticed a difference -
?he quit spooking at nothing, and began making some real
?progress.

?
And it would seem that it has; although, it might be the vitamin B1 that is 
having the effect rather than the magnesium.? You would have to separate the 
two substances to see which of them (if either) is having an effect.? 
?
But it may also be a "placebo" as _I_ have found that the best way to get a 
horse to quit "spooking at nothing" is to expect it not to. Or more accurately, 
the best way to get a horse to spook at "nothing" is to expect it to, and the 
recent study about horse's heart rates going up because the rider's heart rate 
went up rather suggests that this is the case (for those of you who have not 
read the report on the study, they found that simply warning a rider that a 
person on the side lines was going to open an umbrella at a particular place 
caused anxiety in both rider AND horse...even though the person on the side 
lines DIDN'T open the umbrella).
?
A "calming supplement" may not have to actually have any physiological effect 
on a horse for a rider that is expecting improvement to get improvement simply 
by expecting it.
?
kat
Orange County, Calif.
:)

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