{"id":5916,"date":"2025-11-18T01:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T06:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/?p=5916"},"modified":"2025-11-18T02:01:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T07:01:26","slug":"selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms, causes &amp; treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<strong>Selenium is a crucial element in more than 30 metabolic processes in horses. We explain the topic of selenium deficiency in horses and reveal not only the symptoms and causes but also how to treat it.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2>Selenium in horses \u2014 what is meant by it?<\/h2>\n<p>Before we can discuss selenium deficiency, we first have to explain what selenium is. Selenium is a <strong>trace element<\/strong> and vital for the body. It <strong>protects the cell membranes<\/strong> from harmful influences and helps the horse form <strong>antibodies and messenger substances<\/strong>. Furthermore, selenium <strong>affects numerous metabolic processes<\/strong> such as fertility, liver detoxification, thyroid function and hair and coat growth.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>daily selenium requirement<\/strong> of a horse is 0.1 to 0.2 mg per kilogram of ingested dry matter. For example, a horse weighing 600 kilograms and consuming approximately nine to eleven kilograms of dry matter needs 0.9 to 2 mg of selenium per day.<\/p>\n<h2>Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms<\/h2>\n<p>It is not easy to recognise a lack of selenium in a horse. A slight deficiency often leads to an impaired immune response to infections or an increased tendency to allergies. In addition, a<strong> drop in performance<\/strong> is also often noticed. Some horses may develop <strong>diarrhea<\/strong> or watery stools too. Selenium deficiency can also cause <strong>stiffness, even mild lameness,<\/strong> and disturbances of the entire metabolism.<\/p>\n<p>If a <strong>zinc<\/strong> deficiency is also present, this has a strong effect on the horse&#8217;s skin or hair. If your four-legged friend suddenly develops sweet itch, hair breakage or hair loss, this could indicate either a zinc deficiency, a selenium deficiency or a combination of both.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Foals<\/strong>, in particular, are often affected and can suffer from muscle loss as a result. Selenium deficiency in foals is often caused by an undersupply in the womb, either due to a disorder in the umbilical cord or due to a selenium deficiency in the pregnant mare. The foal then appears weak, wobbles and, in the worst case, goes lame.<\/p>\n<p>If you suspect that your horse has a selenium deficiency, you can easily verify this by taking a <strong>blood sample<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Causes \u2014 these may be the reasons<\/h2>\n<p>There is <strong>too little selenium in the soil<\/strong>, for examle, in Germany, which means that the selenium content in hay or haylage is also insufficient. Within Germany, the content in the soil decreases from north to south, so there can be high regional differences. Other causes are high levels of protein and sulphate in the feed and the increased need for antagonism such as sulphur.<\/p>\n<h2>Correcting selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 treatment options<\/h2>\n<p>If your horse lacks selenium or you want to provide sufficient trace elements as a preventative measure, you can opt for a specially enriched <strong>mineral feed<\/strong>. This way, you ensure your horse gets a balanced micronutrient supply and the essential supply of trace elements is given. <strong>Beetroots or nuts<\/strong>, for example, have a high selenium content.<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, the pasture can be enriched accordingly, as there are special fertilisers with sodium selenate.<\/p>\n<p>It is important to feed selenium responsibly so that there is neither a deficiency nor an <strong>oversupply<\/strong>, which can also be dangerous. It is best to discuss the matter with an expert who is familiar with the subject before the first dose.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Selenium is a crucial element in more than 30 metabolic processes in horses. We explain&hellip;","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":5917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[170,162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-horse-knowledge"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms, causes &amp; treatment - ehorses Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Selenium is a crucial element in more than 30 metabolic processes in horses. We explain the topic of selenium deficiency in horses and reveal not only the symptoms and causes but also how to treat it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms, causes &amp; treatment - ehorses Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Selenium is a crucial element in more than 30 metabolic processes in horses. We explain the topic of selenium deficiency in horses and reveal not only the symptoms and causes but also how to treat it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ehorses Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-18T06:58:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-18T07:01:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/selenium.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marlen Fischer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marlen Fischer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marlen Fischer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2807c2579e963cad2b2f18d8cb9e9e7b\"},\"headline\":\"Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms, causes &amp; treatment\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-18T06:58:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-18T07:01:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":557,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/selenium.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"Horse knowledge\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/\",\"name\":\"Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms, causes &amp; treatment - ehorses Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/selenium.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-18T06:58:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-18T07:01:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2807c2579e963cad2b2f18d8cb9e9e7b\"},\"description\":\"Selenium is a crucial element in more than 30 metabolic processes in horses. We explain the topic of selenium deficiency in horses and reveal not only the symptoms and causes but also how to treat it.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/selenium.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/selenium.png\",\"width\":1170,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms, causes &amp; treatment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/\",\"name\":\"ehorses Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2807c2579e963cad2b2f18d8cb9e9e7b\",\"name\":\"Marlen Fischer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Marlen Fischer\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ehorses.com\\\/magazine\\\/author\\\/marlen-fischer\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms, causes &amp; treatment - ehorses Magazine","description":"Selenium is a crucial element in more than 30 metabolic processes in horses. We explain the topic of selenium deficiency in horses and reveal not only the symptoms and causes but also how to treat it.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms, causes &amp; treatment - ehorses Magazine","og_description":"Selenium is a crucial element in more than 30 metabolic processes in horses. We explain the topic of selenium deficiency in horses and reveal not only the symptoms and causes but also how to treat it.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/","og_site_name":"ehorses Magazine","article_published_time":"2025-11-18T06:58:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-18T07:01:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1170,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/selenium.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Marlen Fischer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marlen Fischer","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/"},"author":{"name":"Marlen Fischer","@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/2807c2579e963cad2b2f18d8cb9e9e7b"},"headline":"Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms, causes &amp; treatment","datePublished":"2025-11-18T06:58:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-18T07:01:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/"},"wordCount":557,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/selenium.png","articleSection":["Health","Horse knowledge"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/","name":"Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms, causes &amp; treatment - ehorses Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/selenium.png","datePublished":"2025-11-18T06:58:10+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-18T07:01:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/2807c2579e963cad2b2f18d8cb9e9e7b"},"description":"Selenium is a crucial element in more than 30 metabolic processes in horses. We explain the topic of selenium deficiency in horses and reveal not only the symptoms and causes but also how to treat it.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/selenium.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/selenium.png","width":1170,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/selenium-deficiency-in-horses-symptoms-causes-treatment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Selenium deficiency in horses \u2014 symptoms, causes &amp; treatment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/","name":"ehorses Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/#\/schema\/person\/2807c2579e963cad2b2f18d8cb9e9e7b","name":"Marlen Fischer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Marlen Fischer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/author\/marlen-fischer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48988,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5916\/revisions\/48988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehorses.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}