Orchardbeck
Well-Known Member
I would like to review my veteran mare's feed regime to make sure she's getting the best she can, but also to remove anything that I don't need as it's costing a fortune! If anyone would like to make any recommendations I would be very grateful.
Background: She is 23, 14hh, Arab x Welsh B and is normally stabled at night. She had a colic episode about 2 months ago and whilst was thin to start with (she had a one off laminitis episode a year or so back been on restricted grazing and was probably overmanaged), dropped an awful lot of weight.
We still aren't 100% as to the cause of the colic, but we suspect was poor quality hay that she probably either wasn't eating enough of, causing an ulcer (she had evidence of internal bleeding, but no tumour or blockage - we had two lots of blood tests done afterwards) or just the hay quality itself was the cause.
Anyway she recovered well and the priority was to build up her condition. We switched her to a nice haylage which she gobbles up, and I am really happy with this as forage was so important. The vets advised that a good quality source of forage was also the most important aspect, to the point that she has been on box rest (on their advice) to encourage her not to choose the poor quality grass in the paddock over hay. I hope to increase her turnout from now.
The vet and her farrier have told me to forget the laminitis, and just treat her as a non laminitic which has taken a bit of getting used to (so forget grass muzzles and timing turnout to avoid frosty grass, 4 hours max per day on poor grazing which is what I was doing).
He main feed is Calm and Condition - I gave her 4 mugs (before soaking) with a Stubbs scoop of Alpha A molasses free chaff, and a mug of micronized linseed, all twice a day. I have gradually reduced this to two mugs of C&C twice a day with the same amount of chaff and linseed, as she has started to put weight on and her condition has really picked up so we can come out of 'emergency measures' now! I prefer a sloppy feed to get more water in and prevent colic again.
In the evening she gets a scoop of Equimins Advanced Complete for the probiotics and b vits, a scoop of Horse First My Joints, a good measure of Mag Ox (really as she is barefoot but I also thought it would help if she had ulcers?) and a scoop of Dodson and Horrell pure Devils Claw.
Can anyone offer any advice - is there something I could change (albeit gradually) that would reduce the number of supplements - perhaps a veteran specific feed? I would prefer to stick to a forage and oil based plan if possible as I believe this is better for her, but am open to suggestions. Sorry, this has ended up being really long!
Background: She is 23, 14hh, Arab x Welsh B and is normally stabled at night. She had a colic episode about 2 months ago and whilst was thin to start with (she had a one off laminitis episode a year or so back been on restricted grazing and was probably overmanaged), dropped an awful lot of weight.
We still aren't 100% as to the cause of the colic, but we suspect was poor quality hay that she probably either wasn't eating enough of, causing an ulcer (she had evidence of internal bleeding, but no tumour or blockage - we had two lots of blood tests done afterwards) or just the hay quality itself was the cause.
Anyway she recovered well and the priority was to build up her condition. We switched her to a nice haylage which she gobbles up, and I am really happy with this as forage was so important. The vets advised that a good quality source of forage was also the most important aspect, to the point that she has been on box rest (on their advice) to encourage her not to choose the poor quality grass in the paddock over hay. I hope to increase her turnout from now.
The vet and her farrier have told me to forget the laminitis, and just treat her as a non laminitic which has taken a bit of getting used to (so forget grass muzzles and timing turnout to avoid frosty grass, 4 hours max per day on poor grazing which is what I was doing).
He main feed is Calm and Condition - I gave her 4 mugs (before soaking) with a Stubbs scoop of Alpha A molasses free chaff, and a mug of micronized linseed, all twice a day. I have gradually reduced this to two mugs of C&C twice a day with the same amount of chaff and linseed, as she has started to put weight on and her condition has really picked up so we can come out of 'emergency measures' now! I prefer a sloppy feed to get more water in and prevent colic again.
In the evening she gets a scoop of Equimins Advanced Complete for the probiotics and b vits, a scoop of Horse First My Joints, a good measure of Mag Ox (really as she is barefoot but I also thought it would help if she had ulcers?) and a scoop of Dodson and Horrell pure Devils Claw.
Can anyone offer any advice - is there something I could change (albeit gradually) that would reduce the number of supplements - perhaps a veteran specific feed? I would prefer to stick to a forage and oil based plan if possible as I believe this is better for her, but am open to suggestions. Sorry, this has ended up being really long!
If she's getting the full amount of C&C then you can cut out the vitamin supplement.