Can feed make a difference to a girth sensitive horse?

Porkie

Porkie

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Can changing feed help a girth sensitive horse?

my friends horse is terribly sensitive. He is fine with the saddle but as soon as the girth goes on even the loosest of holes he will hump his back etc. She's had him from a 3 yo and he's always been like it but seems to be getting worse as he is getting whiter! (he is a grey)

She now uses a string girth which is slightly better and also lunges to stretch the muscles before tacking up which really helps but he still has his very bad days.

I read somewhere that a change of feed might help but now can't find the info when I google it!! he gets fed Alfa A, Saracen Coolmix and Topspec.
 
Not heard that before. Maybe she coud try a nice thick wool girth sleeve e.g Nuumed. That used to help a mare that we owned who didnt like her girth being done up.
 
It sounds as if it is possible that the horse has feed sensetivity, which can increase with age. We had a TbxWelsh who was intolerant of cereal and refined sugar. She was sensetive to noise and touch, even the rain tickled her excessively until we found the cause of her problems. It would be worth looking into imo
 
Ulcers can make a horse very girthy, especially if tightened from the off side. They are also very much affected by food. So the answer to your question is certainly yes.
 
yorksG said:
It sounds as if it is possible that the horse has feed sensetivity, which can increase with age. We had a TbxWelsh who was intolerant of cereal and refined sugar. She was sensetive to noise and touch, even the rain tickled her excessively until we found the cause of her problems. It would be worth looking into imo
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I have one too. I recently took on an insulin resistant horse who has a serious problem with grass sugars. I keep him grass free with haylage. His severe girthiness (you could hear his pounding heartbeat) is definitely reducing. And I am having no problem whatsoever with benzyl benzoate, which I was told could not be used on his sweet itch because he was allergic to it. To be honest, I doubt if he has sweet itch when he isn't getting grass sugars, but I was trying the BB early to see if I could use it if he does.
 
I was also going to suggest Ulcers??

Changing the horses diet to a high fibre one could help. Perhaps try it (cut out the mix and replace with a high fibre cube) and see what happens? If there is a change then perhaps call the vet out to get the horse scoped?
 
yorksG said:
cptrayes what is your haylege made of, if not grass?
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It would be nice if you could ask for an explanation in a more pleasant way, but hey ho, here's the information that you need:

Haylage is baled wet and wrapped to make it ferment. Fermentation turns sugar to alcohol. Haylage will therefore be lower in sugar than the grass from which it was made. Sugar in green grass and in hay causes an insulin spike in the horse's blood. Haylage has a much smaller effect and is safe for many laminitic and insulin resistant horses (but not all, test before buying a year's supply! New ley ryegrass is not recommended either, just meadow haylage with multiple grass species from established grassland, preferably unfertilized.)

I hope that helps you understand why an insulin resistant horse can eat haylage and not the grass as it is growing or hay made from it in peak season.
 
My original question was not posed in any sort of rude manner, however your reply was, but as you say hey ho.
Most haylage has a higher calorific content than hay, so find this a surprising explanation, it is also my understanding that to prevent mould forming, an accelerant is added, which also increases the sugar content, if this is not correct I am surprised. It is also my understanding that most laminitic ponies and horses are better fed on soaked hay than on haylage.
 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess YorksG. Your question sounded aggressive, challenging and rude to me and I fail to see why suggesting that you could have asked your question more pleasantly sounds rude to you. For example, I would have phrased the question "Why doesn't haylage cause him a problem, since it's made of grass?". Much nicer, don't you think???

No accelerants are added to any haylage that I have ever bought or heard of. I can find no reference on google except your own post to the use of accelerants on haylage.

Calorie content of hay/haylage was not the issue we were discussing. Sugar content was the issue. It is sugar that is a problem to insulin resistant horses and leaky gut type laminitics, the ones who get foot problems when they are not overweight.

Many leaky gut laminitics and insulin resistant horses do just fine on haylage (I have personally had two) and it saves an awful lot of faff soaking hay.

Hay and haylage varies from field to field, by the time of year and the time of day it was cut, how dry it was baled, how high in hills it was grown, whether it's a second crop of a previously cut field, by how many species of grass it has in it, by whether and how much fertilizer it has had added. It is far, far too simplistic to say "Most haylage has a higher calorific content than hay".
 
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