Bloated Gassy Horse

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Ponio_lover

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Ever since I moved yards about 3 years ago my mare has produced a tremendous amount of gas, earning her all kinds of awful nicknames! She has always seemed happy in her work, never been off her food or similar so I just got used to it.
This summer however, as well as the constant wind, we now also have bloating. This worried me a bit so I put her on a popular digestive supplement with a pre and pro biotic. After 2 weeks of this I thought I saw a small improvement but in the last few days that seems to have vanished.
She's on big bale haylage, a handful of chop and a balancer. Out most days at the moment on small paddocks but in at night.
So my questions are:
Has anyone had similar issues that they have managed to sort?
How long realistically would you expect it to take for a digestive supplement to help, if at all?
Have I been too blasé about this and could it be something that needs vet intervention?

Any assistance appreciated.
 
Was she on haylage at your other old yard (before the gassiness started)? It could be the haylage, or it could be the grazing.

My mare is awful on some fields at my yard, and last summer would come in quite uncomfortable at times after being in one particular field. Although I didn't use any particular supplement, the gassiness and bloating disappeared when I changed the field she was in.

I had a bit of a head scratch last night as she was a complete moose to ride - very sluggish and not wanting to bring her hind legs under properly, and generally feeling quite uncomfortable, except nothing has changed in her feed for the past 8 weeks except I've run out of brewers yeast. If I get the same response tonight, I'll go and buy some more to see if that sorts the problem, otherwise I'm really scratching my head!
 
FLF bloats and can be very gassy.
She is worse on haylage, so has hay. Worse if on good grass, so has a bare big paddock and a small strip into the adjacent paddock with good grass, added overnight.
She comes in for breakfast (v small feed!) and will stand in for a good hour before I ride, to let gasses go down.
Activated charcoal is also fed twice daily to her all year round, this also helps settle things.

Hope you find what works for her OP.
 
Thanks for replies.
Casey76 She was on big bale haylage at her old yard too. I wondered if there was something in this specific haylage that could be doing it but as its been 3 years in a row (minus the bloating) i didn't know if it'd be likely.

Fuzzy Fury do you think the charcoal makes a noticeable difference? I saw one called Gas Ease for horses that was charcoal and was considering it, however I've just bought the other stuff I'm using (Protexin). Maybe it's targeting the wrong thing though as it is aimed at firming them up (so to say) and she doesn't have that problem!
 
I would also suspect the forage at your new yard. Before spending too much money on supplements, I think I'd do a trial of buying a few bales of small-bale hay and/or good quality haylage, and see if feeding a different type or source of forage for a week or so will make a difference. Compared to most supplements, a couple bales of hay/haylage will be cheap.
 
I would be getting her off the haylage. You mention in post 4 that her droppings don't need firming up, does she have hard or black droppings ?

Having lost a horse who came off a field bloated and gassy I am probably not the best person to comment, but I would be keeping a very close eye on your mare and speak to your vet if the gassiness continues.
 
AdorableAlice I'm sorry to hear about your horse. My mares droppings seem pretty ok. Not too hard or dark, just not sloppy as you may imagine. I will certainly taken supsups advice though and look at getting some bales and see if that makes a difference. Will also speak to the vet if it continues. Especially given what Alice said.
 
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