Sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium are essential minerals in your horse’s diet. However, in New Zealand, our ever-changing climate can create mineral imbalances in your horse’s pasture, most notably in Autumn and Spring.

In our new series, we examine each of these minerals to highlight their importance in your horse’s diet and minimise potential health problems.

For many horse owners, what appears at first glance to be healthy, nutritious pasture, suitable for horses, is actually numerous grass and legume species that are deficient in some minerals and overloaded with others, leading to harmful health consequences.

Unless your pasture is organically farmed and completely free of fertilisers, your pasture will be imbalanced. Most often, Spring and Autumn grasses are high in potassium and low in sodium, and many New Zealand pastures are simply deficient in calcium and magnesium.

In Part One, we started with sodium and in Part Two, we continued with potassium. Now, let’s explore calcium…

Your Horse’s Need for Calcium

Just like magnesium, when calcium is deficient in the diet, your horse’s body has to continuously steal this indispensable mineral from the bones, the muscles, the nerves and the brain. But, you may be asking, why is this so?

For all mammals, including horses and humans, body pH must be remain at 7.365 - slightly alkaline. When the body pH drops to lower than 7, as a result of mineral imbalances, it becomes acidic. In this state of acidosis, your horse is susceptible to numerous health problems.

Spring Grass and Calcium

In New Zealand, many pasture soils sustaining horses are actually deficient in calcium. In fact, it’s not uncommon for pastures to contain less than half the recommended calcium levels.

In Spring, calcium deficiencies are worsened by increases in potassium and nitrogen, giving rise to potentially harmful mineral imbalances. In addition, as potassium nitrate is highly toxic, your horse’s body will excrete it via urine, losing calcium and magnesium in the process.

In addition, oxalate grasses, such as Kikuyu, bind calcium, reducing your horse’s ability to absorb it. As such, horses grazing oxalate grasses at any time of year, including Spring, need to be supplemented with calcium.

Horses and Calcium Supplementation

Calcium and magnesium work together in your horse’s body to excite and relax both nerves and muscles. For horses, which are comprised of 80% muscle, the importance of calcium and magnesium cannot be underestimated, but a careful balance is imperative.

When imbalanced, calcium and magnesium deficiencies may cause:

• Tying up
• Muscle cramps
• Muscle spasticity

In addition, low calcium levels in the blood can also result in poor gut health, leg splints, facial crests on young, growing horses, bone demineralisation and enlargement of the thyroid gland.

When supplementing your horse with calcium, there are several other minerals that must also be present, including magnesium, boron and copper. Boron, in particular, is a synergist for calcium and magnesium. Without boron, up to 40% of calcium and magnesium is lost in urine.

In regions of high rainfall, boron is often lacking in pasture soils. Calcium, magnesium and boron are vital for bone and joint health, and proper bone formation. Liming your pastures is an effective way to meet your horse’s daily calcium requirements, in partnership with Placide M & Ca.

Placide M & Ca is a safe, proven and fast-acting equine calming supplement that contains organic chelated magnesium, with calcium and boron, for horses on Spring or oxalate grasses. Within just one week, your grass-affected horse is able to restore magnesium and calcium levels in the body.

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Placide is the number one equine calming supplement in New Zealand. Containing organic, chelated magnesium, Placide works to relax muscles, reduce stress and support your horse’s health for improved performance in less than one week. Click here to find out more.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended as veterinary advice. At Placide, we encourage you to make health care decisions for your horse based on your own research and in partnership with a qualified veterinarian.