EPSM

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lk89

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My horse was diagnosed last year with EPSM - vet diagnosed by symptoms only said biopsy very invasive and treatment the same whether confirmed or not i.e., change diet to a hi oil diet. I feed Alpha A oil, Releve, Equijewel, 2 cups of oil, Vit E, Selenium & Oilivite.

Until recently everything was going fine but now she seems to be showing more signs of the sticky gait and she is also losing weight. I've upped her feed/oil intake recently so she's getting more oil than ever yet she's still losing weight and has days where she seems lacking in energy.

She's ID x TB 12 years old always been a good doer and picture of health. Worked 4 to 5 times a week (not intense - happy hacker level with the odd bit of competing although that is reducing more lately!) I am worried it's deteriorating rapidly and that maybe she's in pain so wonder whether I should continue to ride - although they suggest MORE exercise with this condition as opposed to less.

I'm just about on the limit of getting any more oil into her as she hates the oil and have now had to add garlic to disguise the flavour but I'm sure she'll tire of that soon.

Can anybody offer any suggestions/solutions?
 
Email Beth.Valentine@oregonstate.edu and explain everything. She does research inti this. Have you tried changeing her diet? We have an EPSM horse. When we tried Saracen feeds he went right off. We currently feed Dodson &Horrell 16+, Alpha and Rice bran oil. D&H Equine sensitive is also good with added oil. He got bored of it thats why we changed. He went right down hill on Equi Jewel and Releve. I find these feeds are more foe tyeing up than EPSM.
 
I had an epsm horse and he was fed alfa oil along with unmollassed sugar beet and his supplements plus extra oil, i found the sugar beet great for keeping the weight on him!
 
it may be worth checking you aren't over dosing on selenium?

i don't know which of the supplements you listed contain it, but i know too much of it is poisonous

i add the amount my lad gets through his whole diet to try to make sure he doesn't get too much
 
I have an EPSM mare on the high oil diet too. My mare was having 600 mls of oil a day at one stage but when her condition stabilised I reduced this gradually to half the amount as she was carrying more weight than I wanted. She went off her oil and I found that "hiding" it in her Alfa-Beet when it was soaked worked and haven't had any problems since. I have found with my mare that she will have a few months when she is relatively good and then there will be a bit like a flare up which we work through and come out the other side again. At this time of year there is also a definite difference if she is on the spring grass owing to the sugar in it which makes her struggle a bit more, for this reason she is treated much like a laminitic would be on the grazing to help her cope.

I hope your horse improves.
 
Thanks for this. I have contacted Beth last year and as I say we were doing fine. I contacted her again recently when things went downhill and she said to up the oil which seemed okay for a bit but now we've gone downhill again.

Where do you get the Alpha and Rice bran oil from?

I tried the Saracen supershine with mint and my mare hated to taste so changed to Corn Oil like Beth says in her articles. My mare is managing to eat more now as it hasn't got such a strong flavour so was expecting better results - instead we've had this downturn which is worrying.

Will also park the idea of the D&H equine sensitive.

Must admit like you say it seems as though most feed target the tying up side of things.

Thanks once again.
 
I'm interested that you say this because I sometimes worry that I might be giving too much Selenium but it's very difficult to determine with all the other bits how much exactly she should be getting. Do you have any suggestions for how much is enough - I think I've got so bogged down with this I've lost the plot!

Thanks very much
 
when i asked the same question Haniki told me this
[ QUOTE ]
All I can find (in a Sarah Pilliner book - Horse Nutirion and feeding) is Selenium 0.2mg per kg of diet (2.5mg per day for 16hh 500kg horse) and for Vitamin E the supplement should provide 100mg per kg.



[/ QUOTE ]

and YorkshireLass told me this
[ QUOTE ]

Selenium is one mineral that y ou can overdose a horse on. It is poisonous in high quantities.

It is also a tricky one because selenium is found in grass. Some areas have higher quantities of selenium in the soil, and hence the grazing than others. Most areas of the UK are not deficientin selenium.

it also depends upon whatthe horse is being fed. High cerial diets (feeding straights) can mean the diet is lacking in selenium and vitamin e.

if you are feeding more than 1/4 a pint of oil a day then you need to suplement selenium because the oil interferes with the horses absorbtion of vitamin E.

Selenium fed to horses to aid muscle problems. The dose on the pack is the recomended guide to the daily amount. However, you are quite correct to be aware of all sources of selenium in your horses diet. As with most things, the RDA and the dangerous dose are probably very different. There is usualy a large margin of error with these things.

The best course of action, to put your mind at is to get your vet to run a blood test for selenium levels.

So, in answer to your question... the safe dose would depend upon the size and weight of the horse, the other sorces of selenium in the diet, the dietitself, and any underlying medical conditions!


[/ QUOTE ]
 
Thanks very much for this. I'm hoping that we're going through a "flare up" situation and as you say things will settle soon. I'm also looking into the possibility of maybe too much selenium which is a worry but also hadn't realised that Alpha beet was okay to feed so will investigate that further as an option. I feel a bit more optimistic now.

Thanks again
 
It may also be due to the time of year!! I dont think the grass this time of year helps with EPSM as it has quite a high level of sugar in it!!

I was told to restrict my horses grazing when we thought he had it a few years ago!!
 
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