confuddled help

[siennamiller]

I thought I had my horses diet all sorted, but after he tied up last weekend I am not so sure.
I asked the advice of the head lad at a local racing yard, he said that the reason he tied up is because he is getting no carbs and high protein. Harley is trialling the epsm diet as the vert is convinced he has it. The head lad said to up his carbs and decrease the protein but this is against all the epsm advice - I don't know what to doooooo (whine whine)
please help someone

 

[vicijp]

I would have said the same.

 

[TGM]

What are you actually feeding him at the moment? Can you not decrease the protein without upping the carbs? I thought the EPSM diet was meant to be high fat and low carb, but not necessarily high protein

Electrolytes can also be useful in cases of tying up - have you tried using them? (Or even good old-fashioned salt!)

PS: Have you spoken to your vet about the tying-up?

 

[sqippa]

I think the saracen website has good advice on true tying up http://www.saracen-horse-feeds.co.uk/ like dodson and horrell, they do special feeds for tying up and all are low carbohydrates, not low protein. These are developed by top equine nutritionists and often in conjunction with well qualified researchers at universities etc. I think you are on the right lines so don't worry but have a look at their websites to reassure yourself.

How is your boy anyway?

Mine's being a little picky again...grrrr. Not as bad as normal but a lttle reluctant.

Sqip

 

[siennamiller]

well, he is on a low carb/starch feed ( alfafa/maize etc) vit e, selenium, oil and electrolytes.
The vet did say that a high protein diet is good for epsm horses, but having looked at what I am feeding I am not sure it is that high anyway. The person I spoke to said the oil and lack of carbs would cause tying up, but that is the opposite of everything I have read.
I did speak to vet about tying up but she has said I am doing the right thing

 

[siennamiller]

he is eating really well, I have added a bit of the saracen releve to the feed and that seems to keep him happy. He seems to be ok again now so have started very steady canter work again and he looks good! Has FAR too much energy so might reduce the oil a little bit anyway
thanks for the reassurance
xx

 

[siennamiller]

thanks for everyones help
xx

 

[TGM]

Is there a specific reason for feeding the maize? Maize is the starchiest of all the cereals (ie highest in carbs), plus I thought EPSM horses and those prone to tying-up were best to avoid cereals and get their energy mainly from fibre and oil? Also it is more likely to be the maize giving her too much energy rather than the oil.

I would suggest contacting a couple of the feedlines - perhaps Dengie if you want to stick to the alfafa based diet, or as others have suggested Saracen if you are thinking of feeding a specific compound feed.

 

[siennamiller]

sorry, I am talking rubbish ( no change there then

)
I thought it had maize in but I brought the fed label home last night, no maize.
with regards to the energy this is the duracell bunny of all horses we are talking about. I don't know why I said it was oil, it is just him.
had an email back from beth valentine this morning ( very quick!)
and she said it is unlikely to be tying up and more likely to be the epsm

 

[sqippa]

Beth Valentine is hugely supportive and a great person to contact whenever you have any doubts...she kept me going and was fantastic with help reading my boys biopsy...she did it all over Christmas!!!!

So much of what you have described is typical of epsm and I'm sure in another 2 months time you'll have a much more comfortable horse. What I still can't get over is that my horse hasn't got fat!!!! When I consider what he eats!!! Yet he is still the same stocky chap he's always been...never too fat...never too thin.

With the feed..I'm putting him back on sugar beet and dropping his mix a bit..he is going through a finicky stage and won't eat his feed if chaff is in it, but I can't allow him to eat as much mix as he'd need to soak up all the oil

. Fingers crossed this will be the last change needed and we will finally have a diet that he'll eat. If not..I'm down to asda to get sugar free apple juice.

Out of interest, hope you don't mind me asking which vet you use..only it seems rare to have one that accepts epsm (I have one of the few luckily) and wondered if we used the same practice.


Sqip