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I've been using mag restore on Joey and the difference in his canter is miraculous. I am thrilled with how his back feels now but mag restore is a pain in the neck to get. Does it actually make a difference what you buy?

Yes, different types of mag are more bio available than others (absorbable). The cheap kind like magnesium oxide isn't very effective, while magnesium maleate (kind in MagRestore) is very absorbable hence the reason it works better.

It's true that different supplements use different forms of magnesium. But that doesn't mean it'll make a huge difference on every horse, depending on the horse and the particular need. Some horses do equally well on various supplements, others really do seem to need a particular one. You can read dozens of accounts for any of the supplements from people saying that particular version is the only one that works for their horse.

My suggestion would be to try a month or two on something else and see how your horse does. If he doesn't respond well, go back to magrestore.

blob wrote:
My suggestion would be to try a month or two on something else and see how your horse does. If he doesn't respond well, go back to magrestore.

Or better yet, get your BO or someone else to randomly feed the MgO for a couple of months, switch to another form of it, and take the horse off it without you knowing what the horse is getting. Keep records, and then check to see if there's any correlation between what he's been getting and what your perceptions of his behavior are.

I'd suspect that changes in mineral supplementation would be subtle enough that it would be difficult to perceive changes, which may be why some think they see changes when they switch between different brands/forms of minerals. Or not, but without at least some double blind effort there's likely a good deal of bias involved in evaluating whether or not something is "working".

If you're seeing such a great improvement with MagRestore, why mess with a good thing?

Yes, it does matter....I was on MR but saw a better result with Smart Calm ultra- for me its a better value. MR got expensive for the amt you get. When SP was selling 10,000 mg servings I switched, since I use 5000 a day and I can make the bag last longer.

Some people get mag ox from a feed store but I wasn't comfortable with that.

I use the Riva's Remedies Magnesium. Excellent quality.

It makes a big difference for my horse. MagRestore is expensive, but it is worth it for us.

I have tried other sources and I always go back to MagRestore. Always.