Nutrition

["Lysane Cree" <cree_l@LSA.Lan.McGill.CA>]

I have a couple of questions about nutrition: 
1)How much selenium is 
too much? And what does too much selenium do exactly?
I just bought a bag of pre-mixed grain (like Omolene -oats, 
corn, molasses, and other goodies) and noticed that there is 
selenium in it. The vitamin/mineral supplement which my horse gets 
about twice a week [in the winter-such as now-he always eats all that I give, in 
the summer he sometimes leaves the supplement] 
also has selenium in it. The amounts which are indicated on the bags 
(I can't remember how much exactly offhand) are calculated as "per 
kg". Of course my horse is not getting a kg of the stuff, but only a 
scoop at feeding time twice a week, which would be no more than a 
couple of ounces. So how much selenium is he actually getting in 
those few ounces/week, I have no idea! Which is why I am wondering 
about this and whether I am creating a problem here..

2)I have purchased some Farrier's Magic (same idea as Farrier's 
Formula) to add some biotin in my horse's diet. There is also copper 
and zinc in Farrier's Magic. Now, my regular vitamin/mineral supplement 
also has copper and zinc in it. I have read that copper and zinc need 
to be balanced (in a similar fashion as calcium and phosphorous need 
to be balanced). Again, numbers are calculated as to what is in the 
entire container of Farrier's Magic (an 11 pound container). 
The scoop in that case has written on it 60 cc and you are supposed to 
feed 4 of those scoops/day. My question is whether I should be 
feeding both the Farrier's Magic and the vitamin/mineral supplement 
at the same time?  or should I not feed the vitamin/mineral supplement 
when I feed Farrier's Magic (or vice versa)? 
Help!  

I am finally back on track and back in school, here in Quebec, with the electricity 
being back on for a couple of days now and the freezing rain over with. It was an 
adventure trying to get water to the horses when there is no running 
water and everything outside is sheer ice so the horses are stuck 
inside (can't even get out there to lick some snow! :)). Everyone in my 
community has wells (no water system like in the cities) and the water 
pumps all run on electricity, so when the power goes there is absolutely no 
water. Luckily one place nearby had a generator and we were able to cart 
some water over to the barn from that place for about five days until 
the power came back. Perhaps this was some typeof "endurance" test :)
Well, apart from all that I hope that you all had a great holiday and all the best for 
the new year and the new endurance season. I am glad to be back on 
ridecamp and able to read the fountain of knowledge it contains!
P.S. The weather people seem to think that El Nino 
may have something to do with the freezing rain (I thought it didn't affect us this 
far East!), so I say...damn you El Nino! Sorry Monika, it just isn't 
treating us as well as you!

Lysane (I wish the rain outside didn't turn the trails into ice so 
that I could get out there and ride! Sniffle, sniffle)
and Buck (I wish the rain outside didn't turn my field into a 
skating rink and my fur into ice, so that I could get out there and 
play!!!! Sniffle, sniffle)