Can you succeed where me and the vets have failed??

My old girl gets it in the winter as soon as I start introducing hay. My hay is ryegrass which I believe is quite bad for this, so I have her on simplesystems lucinuts which are soaked then she just has them at night and goes out in the day time. My friend got some soft hay which helped hers but it was too dusty for my old girl , I have thought of trying oat straw , if I could find some that is dust free but she is doing great on the lucinuts and staying out as much as possible on grass.
 
Hey Jane, havent seen you on here for a while! These blooming G horses
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We had a horse like this, he couldnt be fed hayledge as it is slightly acidic and this can exasperate the problem. He was put on soaked hay (works for COPD) and Protexin, and that did help him.

Coligone would be worth looking at as well, as it buffers th acid I believe and helps digestion. By the sounds of things the stress factor is probably to do with it (G is the same) and this can cause ulcers or problems with high acidity in the gut which causes the runs! How is he in his appetite? Is he grouchy around his tummy being brushed/being tacked up etc? Is he generally a bit "jumpy" and stressy or just in changes of circumstances?
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I'd want to be sure bloods have been taken before embarking on any other route. A call to your vets should answer it for you. My horse had really bad runs due to tumours in his bowel which were diagnosed by blood tests.

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Totally agree. Clarify what it is exactly that your vets have done and dont feel awkward about getting a second opinion. Prevention always better than cure and so you really need to find out more if at all possible - as various people have put on here there are more tests that can be done and then you may have a clearer picture of the problem / intolerances etc. Good luck
 
Hi, Yes we have been through all of that and he was on probalance for a considerable amoutn of time but eventually that stopped being effective :0(

I think I need to pursue the hay thing but his COPD thing includes an allergy to mould so it would have to be really high quality hay...

Thanks for responding to my post

J x
 
I had a horse that used to get like this when going to shows & he was palomino with white hinds - yuk !! Anyway a small amount of bran fed morning & night day before + morming of show day worked wonders - didn't need much as lived out.

Think the excitement of bathing / getting ready early in the morning clued him up as if we just dragged him in from field & put him on trailer it didn't happen !!
 
Hiya!!!
I haven't been on because I have 14 month old twin girls! Between them, working 4 days and Mr G I haven't usually got time to finaish a cup of tea, never mind a post! Just this thing is really starting to be a nuisance again. I will have a look at the coligone because I think it is very much stress related, and the metronidazole I think reduced inflammation and that always worked. His appetite is humungous, but he is stressed because he just moved home.

How is your Mr G??? I have had 3 summers off due to virus, pregnancy and then septic bronchitis (this year) so we are nowehere near where we should be but from your pics you are doing everything! Brilliant x
 
Hi Jane H,
Sorry if I missed it - but how old is your horse? I have a 4yr old and when I got him as a 2yr old he had to be washed down most days. His turnout was restricted as a youngster and I think this had something to do with the problem.

This horse is now only a bit squitty in the winter when he is on hay. When he is on only grass he is now 'normal'. Each winter there is an improvement and so far this winter I have not had to wash him. My vet said that haylage would make the problem worse so I have always fed soaked hay. I do not feed anything more than a small amount of chaff(nothing sweet) with a vit/min supplement. You could also try phsylium, - Global herbs. I am very careful about his diet - it is based almost entirely on fodder. Full turnout and keeping things as 'natural' as possible have worked for my horse, along with time / maturing. My vet said that provided my horse had plenty of fluids to compensate for the additional loss, that he looked healthy and well, then don't worry.

I have tried many other supplements and none of them made any difference - including pre/pro-biotics. I would say that the main cause for my horse was a development issue and as my horse has matured, the problem has greatly improved.
 
A horse on my yard sounds just like yours and might sound rather stupid but have you tried cutting everything with suger out?

Her owner found the cutting out things like apples/horse hage/anything really contaning suger she was back to normal!

Might be worth a try?
 
kalees_mum - you are right about the sugar - ANYTHING sweet is definitely a no - no. Keeping the diet natural seems to have given the gut chance to settle and sort itself - nothing I tried made any difference. As is so often the case, time and keeping things 'natural' have worked.
 
Another vote for bran! I've got two horses who had runny bums & half a scoop of bran in am & pm feeds totally resolved the problem in two days.
 
Thanks! My horse is 8 now, though he was just 3 when I got him (he was sold to me as a five year old) I think he had a tough start in life, and we think his problem is due to him having a really heavy worm burden at some point as a foal that has caused damage, he is also a real worrier, which makes it worse (not that he has anything to worry about!) A coupls of people have suggested bran and also phsylium but I am really confused because these are laxatives...? As he currently poos about twice as much as any other horse on the yard I'm not sure that this would do him any good?

Thanks again Jx
 
If fed dry (mixed with feed) then the bran has the ability to absorb moisture and therefore can dry up the horse - however if there is some sort of microbial imbalance/gastric imbalance causing him to scour then suddenly changing his diet to include bran can cause further problems (as any changes need to be made gradually) I think that there are better ways to stop a scour by assisting the problem direct.
Kate x
 
Another supporter here for John Chapman at http://www.gravenhorse.co.uk/ He has been very helpfull over ther years. I had two mares whose droppings were very runny and smelly. We put them on Equibuilda which seemed to sort the problem out. I suggest you look at his website and give him a ring. The best bit is that his feeds and supplements work without costing the earth.
 
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