Anyone feed Badminton Ultra Grass to pony susceptible to laminitis?

[Sarah1]

Hi guys

As title really - does anyone safely feed Ultra Grass to a laminitic?

I'm assuming that the very nature of it means it would be unsuitable but I am honestly running out of ideas for our little old shetland - she won't eat hi-fi lite type products is going off her hi-fibre nuts, can't really eat hay very well and refuses to eat anything that you have to add water to!

I emailed Badminton feeds & they just said Easy Rider is better for laminitics and would send a sample of both Easy Rider & Ultra Grass but I doubt very much she'll eat the Easy Rider as she isn't a fan of chaff type feeds...

Thanks

 

[SirenaXVI]

I would not feed any dried grass product to a laminitic, it has the same feed value as spring grass. Easy Rider would be much better as it is only 6% starch, it is also very palatable and even my old fussy horse loves it, it is much softer than Hi-Fi and they just seem to like it.

You could also try Hi Fibre Complete Nuggets, very low starch levels and also great for laminitics. Speedibeet is another good source of fibre too.

 

[Sarah1]

Doesn't the Easy Rider have dried grass in it too tho? I was wondering about that and thought perhaps I could make my own version by mixing the Ultra Grass with hi-fi lite?
She's not overly fussed about chaff to be honest tho so would probably be a waste of money!
One thing with the Easy Rider is that we could perhaps feed it to the big boys if Madame doesn't like it! I wouldn't feed my boy the Ultra Grass cos it would send him doolally - alfalfa is bad enough with that one!

 

[TGM]

Have you tried Happy Hoof? My old dentally-challenged laminitic hated Hi Fi Lite, but loved Happy Hoof and I used to feed it to her instead of hay.

 

[SirenaXVI]

[ QUOTE ]
Doesn't the Easy Rider have dried grass in it too tho? I was wondering about that and thought perhaps I could make my own version by mixing the Ultra Grass with hi-fi lite?
She's not overly fussed about chaff to be honest tho so would probably be a waste of money!
One thing with the Easy Rider is that we could perhaps feed it to the big boys if Madame doesn't like it! I wouldn't feed my boy the Ultra Grass cos it would send him doolally - alfalfa is bad enough with that one!


[/ QUOTE ]
Yes it does have Timothy grass in it, this is much lower in sugars than say Rye Grass which I think most dried grasses are made up from. What you need to be checking is the starch levels, this will give you a good indication as to whether anything is OK for laminitics or not. Anything below 10% starch is considered 'safe'.

The other thing about the Easy Rider is that it has a much higher inclusion of biotin than Happy Hoof, biotin imho is a 'must have' for a laminitic.

 

[TGM]

[ QUOTE ]
What you need to be checking is the starch levels, this will give you a good indication as to whether anything is OK for laminitics or not. Anything below 10% starch is considered 'safe'.

[/ QUOTE ] You actually need to check the combined starch/sugar level, which should be below 10%. A feed could be 8% starch, but might also contain 5% sugar, so the total starch/sugar content (water soluble carbs) would be 13% and therefore too high for a laminitic.

 

[Sarah1]

Thanks guys - I'll definately bear all of this in mind when choosing a feed for her!!!! I have ordered some of the Rowen & Barbury ReadyFibre Mash (been advised that this is safe) as it's the only thing she's eaten over the last month that you add water to so it must score highly on the likeability meter!!!!! Plus I have also been concerned about her fluid intake since she started refusing to eat anything with water added...
I will try her with the Easy Rider and also Dodson & Horrell have been kind enough to send me some samples of Safe & Sound.
TGM - She did eat the Dengie Healthy Hooves stuff (dry of course!) for about a week then got a bit fussy with that too!
If it was my big lad I'd just think he'll eat it if he's hungry but because of her age & her being dentally challenged I'm giving in to her whims!

 

[mrdarcy]

Just be careful with the Ready Fibre Mash. I started feeding this in November thinking it was molasses free and low starch/sugar - it smells delish and the horses loved it. But one of my horses who had perfect barefoot hooves that could canter over rocks and stones was within three weeks footy and lost all the concavity in his soles, he started growing lots of extra sole and by January his feet were a mess. I was away most of December so didn't see this happening. As soon as I got back I stopped feeding him the Ready Fibre Mash and his feet are now recovering, regaining their concavity and he's lost the extra sole. He still needs hoof boots but hopefully not for much longer. And surprise surprise when you look closer at the ingredients of Ready Fibre Mash it contains Molglo i.e molasses

Will she eat Fast Fibre? If not have you tried adding mint to it as that can persuade fussy eaters that it's actually quite nice.