EMS Horse and Rainfall

[Myotto]

Hi. Does anyone else find that their EMS horse gets a painful gut after rainfall in warm weather? My horse only goes out in the morning but we have had heavy rain the last couple of days and he has been grumpy and had a bad gut. I do wonder whether I should keen him in after heavy rain. He just seems to sensitive to even the smallest change in grass or hay. I soak his hay for an hour before feeding it and give him a Thunderbrook prebiotic mash, sometimes with some activated charcoal.

 

[visa_bot]

My EMS horse is out all day but wears a muzzle, but she never gets a bad gut. It’s probably just that there is a flush of grass after rain which is causing the horse to get a bit gassy. I think it is unlikely to be directly related to EMS, just that up your horse is susceptible. Will be interesting what others with EMS horses say as I have only ever owned this one.

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

My mare (although undiagnosed) I strongly suspect she could be an EMS candidate so I treat her as such. I don’t notice that she is gassy but her poo turns green as soon as some new grass comes through. She is kept in a bare paddock, and I put soaked hay out if we have a very long dry spell and nothing grows, otherwise she just lives on the grass and has a haynet when she comes in for a few hours which is most days.
The hay has been soaked for 12 hours though to remove all of the sugar.

 

[Fransurrey]

I had to be careful with grass during spring or wet summers with my EMS boy. If necessary I muzzled and left soaked hay on the floor, which he ate through the muzzle (he found it easier than the short grass). The gut microbiome plays a huge part in metabolism and grass flushes will result in an insulin spike in even the most healthy of horses.

 

[GinaGeo]

Mine doesn’t get gutty with the rainfall but he has never been a ‘gutty’ horse.

However, I do know that if I feed oily herbs and prebiotics he copes with fluctuations in the grass better metabolically.

 

[Widgeon]

Mine doesn’t get gutty with the rainfall but he has never been a ‘gutty’ horse.

Same here. He bloats a bit with the grass growth (as any horse would), and of course I have to be careful with the sugars, but no other problems. I'd agree with @visa_bot