Feed advice for a horse recovering from colic surgery

[_jetset_]

Grace was on Healthy Hoof before she went to Leahurst for surgery, but she is quite a fussy eater and last night completely turned her nose up at it. I added some Alfa A and she had a bit of a munch on that, but nothing particularly exciting

The vets at Leahurst said she should go back onto her normal feeds and give her little and often. However, Grace never finishes her breakfast or dinner and she is not the type of horse who gorges on haylage. She tends to have a little bit, have a snooze, have another little bit and then have another snooze. There is always some left in the morning and in the afternoon...

So, she has been getting two 6kg nets of good quality haylage a day (one in the morning and one at night) and half a scoop of Healthy Hoof twice a day too with all of her supplements in. The problem is, I need to get these supplements into her (MSM, Cortaflex and Coligone) but while she is not really interested in her feed this is difficult.

She has dropped quite a bit of weight, and you can see her spine and a faint outline of her ribs... she is in no way 'thin' and looks great in my opinion seeing as she has just had surgery.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Ideally, I would like her on Alfa A and TopSpec Balancer... but she is fussy with feed and likes 'sweeter' feeds. The only one she used to finish was her Endurance Mix, and she is certainly not having that

 

[dianchi]

Have u tried Alfalfa blend from Baileys, very yummy for fussy ponies! Also if you put mollass's in feed or black trecle can help too.

Worse case syringing supplemts in warm water is last resort!

 

[Moggy]

Naff do powdered mint or grated carrot normally work. Condition will come back fairly quickly, but I agree you need to get pre/pro biotics into her.

 

[Stacie_and_Jed]

I think DublinBay would have some good info for you due to her horse recovering from colic as we speak. He came out of hospital just before xmas and is doing better by the day.

PM her she will be very happy to help you.

 

[_jetset_]

Thanks... I will PM her as she sent me a message the other day too

I have spoken to Dengie and they are sending me a sample of the Alfa Beat to try... has anyone had any experiences with this? Hannah used to be on it a few years ago but it has changed since then I believe.

I would like to get some condition on her, but also to get her enjoying what she eats too... Hannah will eat anything you put in front of her (except antibiotics) so Grace has been a bit of a strange one for me

 

[Stacie_and_Jed]

Bless her. Hope you get all the info you need and she makes a very quick recovery.

Keep us updated with progress reports and dont forget the piccies!

 

[_jetset_]

Thanks... of course I will keep everyone updated.

You have all been brilliant throughout this entire nightmare

 

[Shilasdair]

My girl had colic too last spring...but she is as greedy as they come (from being a very hungry orphan when little) so I didn't have this problem.
Most horses quite like sugar beet...so you could try that..
S

 

[lisan]

May really likes the taste of Calm and Condition, she is a fussy eater! Just trying to remember what I gave my extremely fussy TB, really struggled to keep weight on her! Think she was on Alpha Oil, sugar Beet and Baileys outshine.

 

[Alibear]

Probably no use at all but with Brooke we had her on sloppy mash feeds post op.

Nearly any horse feed will mash up if you add some boiled water to it and let it steep a bit, then add the suppliments as necessary.

Apparently (all though was told this arghh 15 years ago now) by making it into a mash it also makes it easier to digest as the food has already begun to break down.

Good luck.

 

[GTs]

I would be careful about changing her feed too much - I would recommend mash, or adding apple sauce to what you currently have. If you can mix all the suppliments together in a 100cc syringe I would be tempted to squirt it on her toncils.

 

[mrdarcy]

Pink Powder by NAF is fabulous stuff for horses recovering from stressful situations. And plenty of showing folk I know use it to put on condition in readiness for the start of the showing season.

 

[TayloredEq]

I fed my boy alfa beet from dengie after his surgery.

It worked really well, as it is wet and full of fibre it helps to keep the gut moving. It is also really good for mixing your supplements into.

When I needed to put more weight on I also added in Baileys Stud Balancer - small pellets so easy to digest, for all vitamins and mineral he needed. When he needed still more condition I added Baileys outshine, This is again a small circular type pellet and very easily digestable.

Both the stud balancer and the outshine are very easy to alter for the amounts they eat.

Whatever you decide just make sure you introduce it very slowly to allow the gut chance to make the change.

For info on Baileys feeds give them a call and they will recommend quantities etc.

I also fed my boy on 4 small feeds a day. 3 years on he still has 3 or 4 feeds a day, and not a hint of colic since his 2nd surgery.

 

[_jetset_]

Thanks...

Well, we have a very strange situation now

I gave her the feed with all the supplements in (Coligone, Cortaflex and MSM) and she just sniffed it, picked at it a little and then went back to her haylage

I then put a couple of handfuls of Alfa A into a separate bucket and she ate the lot, even licked out the bucket

The feed was her Healthy Hoof mixed in with a small amount of Alfa A... but I am wondering whether it is one of the supplements that is causing her to be funny about it. The Coligone smells absolute gorgeous and minty, so I doubt it would be that

Horses eh?! I'll try some Alfa Beat in when the sample comes tomorrow and see if that helps at all...

On a brighter note, she is VERY bright and alert

She was whickering at me constantly while I was mucking out Hannah and she does this gorgeous deep neigh. Then my husband took her for 20 minutes of grass and she was as good as gold (whereas she was a monster with me this morning

)

 

[H's mum]

Becki I've PM'd you!

Kate x