Feed for a Cushings/EMS oldie

N

NinjaPony

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 March 2011
Messages
3,121
Visit site
This has probably been done before but never hurts to get some new suggestions!

My Welsh A is 22 coming up to 23 and this is the first winter where he has dropped off more weight than I’d like (I’ve had him 16 years).

He’s medicated for his cushings and his levels have been checked very recently and medication adjusted accordingly. He’s got a history of laminitis (one serious episode two years ago, and one almost near miss over the summer) and has EMS.

Normally, he gets soaked hay, muzzled on grass over the summer and a handful of feed and looks great on this.

This winter he’s dropped off, where I could see ribs at rest which is very unusual for him. Obviously I don’t want him to be overweight, but I also don’t want him looking poor. Teeth have been checked, he gets them done every 6 months, and he worm tested 0.

At the moment, I’ve got him on ad-lib unsoaked hay (it’s homegrown meadow hay), and two feeds a day. AM he gets a big handful of hi fi molasses free, a handful of soaked alfalfa pellets, a spoon of linseed oil, vit E and balancer powder. PM he’s getting another big handful of chaff, soaked pellets, two spoons of oil and his medication.

He’s looking better on this, ribs are less visible now and he’s very glossy. My concern is whether I ought to swap out the hi fi for something a little more useful for maintaining weight, as at the moment he’s getting quite a large amount twice a day and it doesn’t seem to be the most cost effective way of keeping his weight up, and it is creating quite large volume feeds (not that he minds…)

He’s been on hi fi molasses free for a long time now, as I’m very aware we need to keep sugar/starch as low as possible, and my thinking was is there something else I can add in alongside to help his condition so I can reduce the chaff to just a small handful. Or possibly to swap the alfalfa pellets out for something else? He gets them in a nutball to make sure he gets a good source of low sugar protein.

I’ve got no personal experience of trying to maintain weight on a laminitis/EMS/Cushings pony, and I don’t want to go too much the other way or feed him anything that might trigger off laminitis or insulin spike. So thoughts gratefully received!
 
This year my 29 yr old cushings pony started to drop off.
He’s on pracsend and his bloods were good. He also had Hifi molasses free.
I swapped him onto Allan and Page Veteran vitality mash and he loves it and has really picked up again.
It’s molasses free, you soak it for 3 minutes so easy enough to use and doesn't require remembering to prepare in advance!
 
Last edited:
Hi there I have an old mini Shetland around 30 years he has been on prascend for Cushings for years and tested positive for EMS a few years ago his teeth are not great with hay these days and he was looking thin I’ve started feeding spillers super mash for veterans no molasses and ready in 2 minutes using warm water and this fussy eater absolutely loves it it smells of apples ? I bought in online after reading great reviews and now on our second bag ?
 
Rowen Barbary do a solution mash which is 1% sugar and 4.5% starch which is well under the advised 10% total. I like their products as every ingredient is there for you to see and it hasn't got any hidden nasties. My Connie loves their carrot mash as an occasional treat.
 
poiuytrewq said:
This year my 29 yr old cushings pony started to drop off.
He’s on pracsend and his bloods were good. He also had Hifi molasses free.
I swapped him onto Allan and Page Veteran vitality mash and he loves it and has really picked up again.
It’s molasses free, you soak it for 3 minutes so easy enough to use and first require remembering to prepare in advance!
Click to expand...
I could have written more or less the same thing, right down to age of horse and having cushings. I came to Veteran Vitality because mine is quite fussy and needs something "extra" to maintain her weight. She really likes this feed and looks great on it.

The only other thing I would wonder OP is tapeworm. Have you tested for it? Mine dropped quite a lot of weight a few years ago and although I didn't test for tapeworm, I did worm for it, and she picked up again very quickly afterwards.
 
micronised linseed is my go to when I just need a bit extra. Either that or Fibrebeet

My cushings pony is a poor doer and on Spillers Senior mash and Cushcare and is looking fab at the moment.
 
Another big fan of Veteran Vitality, it made a huge difference to my older poor doer, and she just loves it. It was recommended to me by my childhood trainer, who is now in her 80s. Unfortunately it is impossible to buy here, but it made such a difference to my girl that I now have an arrangement with a friend whose business regularly exports to the UK, I get it delivered to his UK warehouse and they put it on a truck for me for the return journey.
 
Thanks all, some really helpful suggestions. I hadn't thought about tapeworm, he's due a pramox wormer, I was just waiting for the first frost which is yet to come.

On the website, it says Veteran Vitality isn't suitable for laminitics, presumably because it's 10% starch? Spillers is 8% starch. Rowan mash is 4% but my local feed shop doesn't stock it. Dodson and Horrell do a 'Cushcare condition' which is 7% starch and crumbled pellets rather than mash.

So much choice, it's baffling! He is looking much better at the moment so doesn't necessarily need to put lots of weight on, I jus want to prevent any further weightloss and maintain where he is without going the other way..

Has anyone used VV fora laminitic pony with no issues? I could go down the micronised linseed road too I guess, or something like rice bran?
 
NinjaPony said:
Thanks all, some really helpful suggestions. I hadn't thought about tapeworm, he's due a pramox wormer, I was just waiting for the first frost which is yet to come.

On the website, it says Veteran Vitality isn't suitable for laminitics, presumably because it's 10% starch? Spillers is 8% starch. Rowan mash is 4% but my local feed shop doesn't stock it. Dodson and Horrell do a 'Cushcare condition' which is 7% starch and crumbled pellets rather than mash.

So much choice, it's baffling! He is looking much better at the moment so doesn't necessarily need to put lots of weight on, I jus want to prevent any further weightloss and maintain where he is without going the other way..

Has anyone used VV fora laminitic pony with no issues? I could go down the micronised linseed road too I guess, or something like rice bran?
Click to expand...
They do a Veteran Light which is suitable for laminitics.
 
Linseed is very safe for ems/cushings types and often is all that’s needed.

Depending on what he has, there’s an advisory that certain EMS type’s shouldn’t go above 2% starch. I can’t remember which fall under that category though I’m afraid.

eta- I want to say it applies to those with extreme cases of insulin resistance but I may be wrong.
 
Thanks all, the forum is such a useful information hub!

I’m going to order him some micronised linseed to add into his usual feed I think. I’m wary of changing too much as his laminitis/EMS is well-controlled at the moment. I’ll reduce the volume of chaff and add in micronised linseed alongside his soaked alfalfa pellets as he really likes this combination of feed and it’s proven to be ‘safe’ protein for him. If this doesn’t work, I’ll think about spillers senior mash or VV, but hopefully this will do the trick.
 
31 year old welshie lives out 24/7 and has been diagnosed with ppid for 11 years. He's medicated and bloods all good. He started dropping off a few winters back so I use veteran vitality from about Nov to when the grass comes back around March time and he does well on it. I am also conscious that I DO let him drop off a fair bit in winter so he has a buffer for spring fatness! He had a bout of laminitis last spring but that was down to a massive and thankfully short term change of grazing and he's been fine since.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top