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Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition

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Here you will find more than 6 years of questions and my answers. It is searchable and offers a great deal of information. 

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 Dr. Getty 

 



Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition
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Re: Vit & mineral supplement

Hi Julie,

The Mega Cell is pelleted and for some reason I thought you were needing a pelleted supplement. It is very low in starch, however, since middlings are grain by-products, not the actual grain.

But, to get even more aggressive, it would be best to go with Glanzen Lite Complete. This is flaxseed (Nutra Flax) based with the added vitamins and minerals to fill in nutritional gaps. You can feed this along with MSM and your pain reliever, as well as Quiessence.

Regarding your hay analysis, did it actually have a
%NSC on the report? Most reports require that you add the %WSC to %Starch to obtain %NSC. And did you quote on a dry matter or an as fed basis? NSC of over 19% is on the high side and it would be best to either soak it (which is difficult to do this time of year) or dilute it with a lower NSC hay.

About magnesium... your hay has .24% Mg and .89% Ca. So, if your horse consumes, let's say, 20 lbs of this hay, that provides 21.8 grams of magnesium and 80.8 grams of calcium. Assume that only 50% of the magnesium is absorbed, so they are getting 11 grams of Magnesium (half of 21.8). You'll want to bring the total magnesium level up to 20 grams per day (5 g per 250 lbs of body weight). So, your horses get 11 grams from the hay, and therefore, you would supplement Quiessence to provide an additional 9 grams (two scoops). The calcium will still be higher than the magnesium content.

I hope this is helpful. So bottom line... Glanzen Lite Complete -- 2 scoops per day, along with 2 scoops of Quiessence.

All the best,

Dr. Getty
Author of Feed Your Horse Like A Horse

Julie Sandstedt
I have a few more questions, I quess I am confused on a few things. I printed the Product labels for Mega
Cell and Quissence. Mega-Cell has wheat middling, dried grains and molasses. Would this still be ok to
feed to horses that are 18yrs, cresty with fat pads. I also found my hay analysis these are a few of the
resutls-Crude Protein 7.3, Acid fiber 36.5, Neut fiber
46.6, NSC 19.2, Phosphorus 0.16, Calcium 0.89, Potassium 0.27 and Magnesium 0.24%. My next question is on the magnesium, I know magnesium should not exceed calcium. Would I be over in my magnesium with
my hay and the two products you suggested. I just want
to be sure I am not doing more harm than good.
Thank You for your help.
Julie

Where are you from? Bayfield, CO