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RE: [RC] The Great Vitamin Debate - heidiTypically we are extremely magnesium and selenium defficient here in the NW as well as copper and iodine defficient. Your hay may have an acceptable ratio of Cal/Mag, but adding beet pulp and pasture will imbalance that ratio. Because most pastures in the NW have a high amount of calcium and are devoid of magnesium (rain washes it out) it is a strong possibility that your horses will need magnesium supplements (which should be 2:1 to the calcium intake). Actually, the Mg is much more of an issue on the west side in OR and WA where you DO actually have rain. The east side hay is much better, in my experience. The only way to know anything is to analyze. Even then it is a guessing game because it's difficult to know how much pasture they are getting. I agree. Also, if you're feeding extra beetpulp and nothing else then you're imbalancing your calcium/phosphorus ration. Rice bran is a good supplement to balance out the beetpulp. I'm just going by what Susan G says about beet pulp, but in my understanding, it isn't unbalanced with regard to Ca and P so much as it just doesn't HAVE a whole lot of it. But that usually isn't an issue with a good grass hay diet, which is generally balanced and has enough. Are you thinking of wheat bran which will unbalance the ratio? Heidi ============================================================ Far back, far back in our dark soul the horse prances... The horse, the horse! The symbol of surging potency and power of movement, of action... ~ DH Lawrence ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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