Hi Jenny ~ I have a yearling Pre.Andalusian that has just come down with a condition that looks very much like Stringhalt the vet is saying that it’s an intoxication i.e. poisoning which I’m assuming is from the plant Catsear! This year we have had an extremely hot summer and although I’ve been feeding my horses my youngster seems to have gone down with this condition and as you can imagine I’m extremely upset for him as he’s such a beautiful young horse please can you give me any help regarding this condition and is it curable ? Karen
Stringhalt is absolutely curable, although you will get some vets saying “no it’s not” – so do not worry (except to use that worry to change what needs to be changed!)
Bobby himself (the star of the book Bobby’s Diaries) had very, very bad stringhalt and completely recovered. I’ve worked with numerous other cases too.
What your vet is correct in though, is in calling it an intoxication/poisoning/toxicity of the grasses that he’s on.
This is such a big picture environmental issue. We tend to keep horses on the same ground year after year (I did too!) and then wonder why all these damn weeds come up. Even the grass itself becomes toxic under certain circumstances.
Well the weeds come up as the earth’s last ditch effort to heal itself, because bare dirt is exactly what the earth doesn’t want. Thus the big picture solution is to look into big picture ways to help the earth cover herself.
I am talking about a pasture management to fixing stringhalt forever, because I have recently done a very exciting farm regeneration course with an Australian agricultural scientist called Graeme Hand.
I’ve started the big changes on our property and can already see some changes happening – it doesn’t take very long and I am excited about the long term benefits. It means that I am grazing MUCH MUCH longer grass and resting each paddock for much longer than I had before.
Graze it hard, get them off and don’t come back to that paddock til the horses are just about hip deep in dry grass – which I can ususally manage. I am apparently sequestering more carbon than trees with this grazing management. Very exciting environmentally and very healthy for the horses.
I am happy to talk about it more if anyone is interested.
However, you may not be in a position to fix it by these big picture preventative measures, so getting the right minerals into your horse is the next best option. All the minerals and trace elements that are in seaweed, dolomite for calcium and magnesium where they are deficient in the soil, copper pipe in water for copper deficiencies or products like livermole, sulphur where that is deficient – yellow sulphur powder, garlic has sulphur in it, apple cider vinegar, vitamin C in forms such as sodium ascorbate or fresh garlic.
I haven’t put definite products or dosages because it depends on what your land and feed is deficient in.
A key ingredient is magnesium, because stringhalt in every form is a magesium deficiency caused by something.
You can supplement magnesium in the form of magnesium orotate (comes in tablet form), which I know from first hand experience works, or I have heard of high quality forms of magnesium oxide working (it comes in powder form and is cheaper). I do not have any first hand experience of magnesium oxide working yet, I am about to try it soon. There are many other forms of magnesium out there that DO NOT work with horses and lots of them are sold in horse feed supplements!
The horse’s ability to absorb the magnesium and use it properly in their bones, muscles and nervous system, depends on their other minerals being adequate though. So you need to do a bit of research amongst farmers in your area, about mineral deficiencies in your area. The best ones to ask are organic farmers, they tend to concern themselves about that sort of thing more (not that other kinds of farmers don’t ever!)
I can do some testing around that if you prefer to do it with a healing session. (for more information about what I do, see my profile on About Us at the top of this page.)
Vets will often recommend getting the horse off the paddock, locking them up and feeding them hay until the danger time is over. This is not my first choice of action because it doesn’t solve the problem in the long term.
And then, there is the nervous system issue. Because that is what stringhalt is, damage to the nervous system. Just like the name suggests, nervousness and nervous system go together. Nervousness is just another name for fear and horses carry much more fear than we ever believed. – but we CAN help them get rid of that.
It seriously helps a horse to recover from the stringhalt damage to the nervous system, if we help them live their life without fear, in every aspect that we can control.
You may possibly think that me telling you to get the book and CD set Zen Connection with Horses, is a self serving act. It may well be, but it is the BEST way that I know, to help your horse get rid of their fear – old fears, new fears and everything in between. And if it doesn’t, I’ll give you your money back. I give every one of my books a “love this book or get your money back” personal guarantee.
Click here to go look at Zen Connection with Horses
You can also make as serious start on understanding how to work with your horse’s fear with the free lessons that are our introduction to our simple, gentle and effective way of weaving happiness, healing and horses. If you’re on a mobile you’ll find the sidebar underneath each article.
Can you use Epsom salts on the pasture to add Mg to soil?
I had no idea Sue, so I googled it. It seems that IF your soil is magnesium deficient, then mixing Epsom Salts with water and using it as a spray onto the grass is a choice. “Magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) readily dissolves in water and is best used as a spray on the grass or where fertiliser can be applied by irrigation.” The same article for dairy farmers talked about other forms of supplementing magnesium in the soil.
What I know about Epsom Salts that would STOP me from using it on the soil is that eating too much of it can adversely affect the kidneys. It’s OK, even excellent as an emergency in the mouth when you’ve got nothing else, but to keep giving it stresses the kidneys. I personally would be questioning how long it took the spray on the grass to get rained into the soil. And dolomite is cheaper.
I have a mammoth jack with strinhalt and need to know how to cure… im in Tn, usa
Put stringhalt in the “search this site” and there’s a wealth of information here about the vitamin C and minerals that you need. Don’t forget the emotional side of it though – because it’s critical! https://www.jennypearce.com.au/?s=stringhalt
Hi,
My horse was diagnosed with Australian Stringhalt yesterday after falling backwards from a float. I have him on Mag-e and changed paddock with ample lucerne and oaten hay provided. He get’s a double dose of Khonke’s mag e daily in his morning and evening feeds. I have 2 questions:
1- My vet told me to cut out any sugary feeds. I did not realise this would make a difference?
2 – I am quite nervous about knowing when he is better? Like, do I back him up every couple of weeks to check his progress or how do you know? It came on so suddenly (like within a 3 hour float trip suddenly) that I am terrified it will flare up again when I am away from home and he falls off the float again.
I hope these questions make sense.
Thanks,
Sez
I thought I had already answered this Sez. I must have got interrupted and then had the answer drop out.
Lucerne hay is high in calcium which means he then requires even more magnesium when he is already magnesium deficient. So I would change that to good quality grass hay. I hadn’t heard of sugary foods specifically causing magnesium deficiency, but magnesium DOES help process sugars, so maybe that’s where the vet is coming from.
As for your question how do you know when he’s better? Gosh that’s a question that has many factors in the answer and first I need to ask some questions. Is he scared in the float? Because scared horses have to work a lot harder in the float and magnesium deficiency affects the nervous system and will make them even more nervous than usual. I’m trying to pin down the WHY he got stringhalt here, so I can better answer the question of how will you know when he’s better, because I suspect that if he had trouble backing him up, you wouldn’t have put him on the float last time, so I suspect the whole thing came on WHILE he was on the float – so I am trying to pin down the WHY that happened. Does that make sense?
The other thing that makes them have to work hard in the float is the way we drive the car. Braking hard, cornering fast, accelerating hard – all these things make a horse work hard in the back to keep his balance. This is not a criticism sunshine – we can only change what we know about – I know that I drove less than the best way in the past. 🙂 Or driving across the city for 3 hours stopping and starting for traffic lights and intersections and all those turns, would take a lot more work on the horse’s part than getting on the highway and going 3 hours.
Let me know the answer to these questions and I’ll have a feel again for the answer to your last question. 🙂
Hey! All good.
Australian stringhalt is caused by injesting flat weed or cape weed. It came up in his paddick without us realising and its now been sprayed and him moved to another paddock.
We were away on a 3 day show run so i assume he was tired hence the sudden break down.
Apparently my friend noticed him backing up weirdly on day 1 of show run but didnt know enough about him to comment.
I am a verrrrryyyy careful float driver- so i truly think he ate the weed before show run and was tired hence the episode.
Seems to be very minor – i.e. only affected when backing up and only a slightly high gait 🙂
The float trip home way mainly highway travel (3 hours).
Thanks again!
Glad to hear that you’re a careful driver! 🙂 Stringhalt nearly always has more than the capeweed or flatweed that causes it – that’s how you can have very many horses in the same paddock and only one gets stringhalt. It’s a nervous system disorder that usually has either flatweed or capeweed as a cause OR using up the magnesium by the muscles working hard without magniesium replacement AND nervous stress is almost always a contributing factor. In all the cases I have dealt with of stringhalt (many) that didn’t recover with just magnesium, it DID recover with our approach to reduce old emotional stress. Please know that old emotional stress may not even be due to current circumstances. So we have to attend to all kinds of stress as well. When it comes time to take him out again, keep your eye open for stresses at the show and fix those. The 9 keys to Happiness with Your Horse will help you do that, plus give oyu a simple technique to deal with old fears and old emotional stress. You can get those here https://www.jennypearce.com.au/the-nine-keys-to-happiness-with-your-horse-4/ Sorry I have made a very big explanation quite simplistic but the key is, if the stringhalt doesn’t recover for you with magnesium, then fixing stress – old and new – will make the difference to good health again.
hi jenny, your comment ‘ There are many other forms of magnesium out there that DO NOT work with horses and lots of them are sold in horse feed supplements!’ which are the types that dont work? We have just cured a horse with extreme SH by removing him from flat weed pasture and using mag-e . 4 months later and he’s great. lets hope it doesnt re-occur. cheers MAndi
Gosh that’s so long ago Mandy they probably don’t even sell those particular ones any more (even if I could remember them)! You’ve clearly used a right one. Well done you! 🙂 I must do a new article for this autumn with all the forms of magnesium that we know that DO work.
Hi Jenny, I have read your comments about stringhalt and magnesium deficiency, and I was hoping you could help me out a little. I live in WA, we agist on a property so a soil test is not really appropriate. We basically have poor pasture with alot of weeds. I would guess our soil would be deficient in everything as it has not been looked after for many years. We feed good quality oaten hay and small hard feeds to our horses to try and give them their minerals, protein, energy etc.
I think I should be supplementing with magnesium as we have Cape weed/Dandelion in some of our paddocks (we will spray it out in a few weeks hopefully). Can I feed Dolomite to assist with avoiding Stringhalt? What about Epsom Salt? I haven’t been able to source magnesium Chloride flakes as yet. I believe Kohnke’s Own Mag E will help, however i’m looking for a more cost effective solution.
Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Kindest regards, Bianca
Even on agistment, it’s still worth hand spreading a few bags of lime and dolomite around the paddock by hand, specially on that cape weed and flat weeds – it will reduce your feed bill AND your vet bills. 🙂 Spraying doesn’t work (and it’s more expensive)- either the capeweed will just keep coming back or you’ll get even more tenacious and worse weeds. For spraying to be effective, you need to have the horses off the pasture, and re-seed the bald spots and wait until that new grass is strong enough for horses to stand on it and graze it without wrecking it (almost a year). So as you can see, a few bags of dolomite and lime (the big bags, not the 5 kilo vegie garden size!) are a better option because it changes the condition of the ground itself.
I can’t find the email where I bought my magnesium (how ridiculous!) but have at times successfully used magnesium oxide as well as magnesium chloride. The one form of magnesium you DO NOT USE ON HORSES for anything other than a one off emergency- is magnesium sulfate, commonly called Epsom Salts. Apparently it has an adverse effect on the kidneys with repeated use.
Dolomite is a way of supplementing calcium AND magnesium at the same time. BUT!!!!!!!!!! It won’t fix an actual magnesium deficiency because the calcium and magnesium need to be in balance in a horse’s body. So if the horse is already getting enough calcium from lucerne chaff for example, or from the grass, then dolomite will not fix the deficiency, you’ll need a product that just has magnesium in it. Have I explained that well enough?
I live in Arizona and California, in Arizona especially there is a selenium deficiency, which shows up in muscles soreness that will not go away with treatment…including alternative. To those who do not know about this (a lot of vets are pretty unforthcoming in Arizona) it appears to be unsolvable , but each horse that has had the blood work completed has shown up lacking in selenium. This is a mineral which has to monitored as it can do be stored in the body and an overage can produce another series of problems
I’m very interested in finding out about your pasture management, as I perceived the pesticides and many other factors were causing a LOT of problems we’re now seeing in horses (and humans!) Also, due to several factors in Arizona, which is copper rich in some areas, copper come into the feed and water in large amounts…effecting most notably foals in many ways.
I’d love to see your research and how exactly you go about documenting this into a great analysis of variables for your area.
Thank you!
cheryl casati
I am no expert in pasture management Cheryl – just in what is working here for me and my horses. The agricultural scientist who I learned from, was applying the basic big picture principles of Alan Savory’s work to practical farm management in a valiant attempt – hmmm attempt is not the right word – “mission” I think is a better one – in a a mission to save the earth with human beings still able to inhabit it. Apparently we sequester more carbon than trees with this land management – which has got to be a very good deal for climate change.
As for the variations in mineral levels in different areas, I suspect that when we not only allow, but encourage the native grasses and foliage and appropriate herbs, in as much diversity as possible – that those plants will provide a balance of minerals for the horses to selectively graze on that will provide a balance of minerals for them. That’s usually how the earth works.
In the mean time we have to supplement as carefully as possible with the big deal being that more minerals ARE NOT better and that overdoing minerals will often give you similar symptoms to a deficiency. I like to emphasize that because so many people think that if a little bit is good for you, then a lot should be better – and that is NOT the case with minerals!
A friend of mine had whopping damage done to her horses by super phosphating while they were in the paddock – they all ended up dying over the next two years with similar symptoms – which looked a little like selenium deficiency if my memory serves me correctly. The super phosphate company ended up changing the usage instructions on their bags thanks to her persistence on following through to the cause. And you are right, the big picture with pesticides is pretty scarey too.
When I see those stupid ads on TV for products that automatically spray pesticides into the air out on your patio to keep the flies and mosquitoes away I could just about spit. The people in these companies aren’t stupid, they must know that these chemicals are killing every insect within the same radius, including the beneficial insects and the bees… don’t get me started on what the agricultural companies are responsible for as far as the bees are concerned!
hello there. my horse has been lame and i got a vet out to have a look at him and was also told he has stringhalts.
i have never heard of this before nor have i ever had this problem with any of my horses. my grandfather said it was quite common in draught horses back in the olden days. im really worried because as you said some vets say its incurable. im absaloutely devistated this horse is only new i got him at christmas and i have just gotten him going and now for two things to go wrong and to be told one is incurable, im just lost. i spoke to a friend who is an equine nurse but for the mean time what do i do for a paddock or whats the best thing to do? please help 🙁
Taila – did you read the article here on my website about how minerals will fix stringhalt? If possible – fix the paddock itself by treating it with dolomite and changing your grazing management if you can, because it’s the short grass that is causing the weeds that is causing the stringhalt. It sounds like Grandad might be able to help you there. But RIGHT NOW, VERY IMPORTANTLY, you need to get some minerals into this horse – URGENTLY! If you can find out what kind of mineral deficiencies are in your area from a good local farmer – then I will give you a list of minerals and approximate quantities to give your horse. If you don’t know what mineral deficiencies exist then email me to organise a testing session for your horse so that we can get the minerals RIGHT, so that he can recover.
It is important to treat stringhalt URGENTLY. I have recovered a horse who had had stringhalt for a year, but it was a very long and expensive process. My horse Bobby had stringhalt and with the right minerals started form the very day that he came down with it, he was recovered in days. Email me jennyATjennypearceDOTcomDOTau if you would like the testing done. I charge $110 for a testing / healing session. But as I said, if you want the free advice you have to do your local research of mineral deficiencies in your area first so that I can help you.
Hi Jenny,
The best magnesium solution I have found is magnesium chloride flakes.We have been working extensively with this over past year or so with horses, it is absolutely brilliant.Much better, quicker & more effective than any other kind.The great part ( for ease & time saving) is we have been adding it to the water bowels and allowing them to take it as they need, a real eye opener ! Many success stories coming in since we started promoting this idea to our horse people,Australia wide.
Hope you are well , your horsies & other pets too 🙂
Raylene, what magnesium deficiency symptoms have been alleviated by mag chloride to your knowledge (can you give us some of the stories? and are there any side effects? Maybe you could send me a tiny bit in an envelope for me to use in kinesiology testing – that would help me figure out whether to recommend it or not.