Feed for a laminitic pony

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superpony

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My 14.1hh rising 14 year old gelding has EMS and is therefore prone to laminitis and he has to have 10 metaformin tablets a day.

He is currently fed 1 scoop of Hi Fi Lite and 1/4 scoop of High Fibre Cubes morning and night. This seems to work well for him but I am having the problem now that he is going off his feed, picking at it and not eating his tablets. I think it is mainly to avoid eating his tablets, which he has got less keen on over time!!

I am now really struggling to get him to eat it and was wondering what I can add to his feed to tempt him without adding lots of sugar. I was wondering about trying the L Mix by Allen and Paige as this is low in sugar but I was thinking that this could be more tempting?

Has anyone got any suggestions?

He won't even eat his tablets hidden in treats now as he has got wise to this. I've tried speedibeat in the past but it sends him mad and I prefer not to feed things that need to be soaked first as my Dad and friend often does him and my other horse when I am at uni so try to keep things as simple as possible!
 
Hi, I have two cushings ponies who have to have prascend in their feeds (formerly pergolide).

I actually squash the tablet with the back of the knife so that it crumbles in to more of a pwd rather than in tablet form. Less likely for them to sniff it out and avoid eating it.

I currently feed Hi-fi Lite and Baileys Lo-cal balancer and mix it up with a drop of water and they eat this fine.

I have tried allen page both fast fibre and the L-mix. My fussy mare didn't like the L-mix after a few days and it takes quite a long time to soak. Equally, the fast fibre is really lo in sugar and starch and soaks really quickly.

My fussy mare will eat this providing their is a good handful of Hi-fi mixed in.

But for now I prefer to just feed the lo-cal balancer as it has all the right vit and minerals and I only have to feed a mug ful whereas the other feeds I know I was underfeeding.

However, the allen & page fast fibre you only need to feed 1kg to feed the correct amount of vit & mins but still seemed alot for my 13.2hh's.

Hope this helps.
 
If you want to try a balancer, try Hickstead Leisure Balancer. If you look them up on the internet and quote "YHL11" you can get 2 bags delivered for £30. I know a couple of people who have been rung about the offer, and have been pleased with the feed. It's low starch, sugar etc so suitable for laminitics and fed in small amounts.
 
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Fast Fibre as a base with a handful of something tasty, either sugar beet pellets, hi-fi lite or a mix if its around. But I swop around the tasty element to keep the horse interested!!

I manage to hide all sorts in this - Prascend, copper, zinc, magnesium, etc.

Also, if your horse is a good doers, you can use Fast Fibre as a hay replacer and I like the fact that it is moisture rich.

By the way, have you had your horse cushings tested. On vet instructions I did the boring getting Metformin down the horse thing for months, only to find it was all for nothing as the horse had cushings. (Only symptons puffy area above and below eye). For me the Metformin was a complete waste of time and a lot of effort and I really would recommend ruling cushings out before getting those *** tablets down your horse takes over your whole life!!!!
 
I have to crush my metformin tablets (7). I use a pestel and mortar. My pony has also gone off hif-fi, so I give him a small handful of hi-fi and a small handful of D&H Safe and Sound, which he thinks is the best food ever, so he will actually eats his medication.
 
I had the same problem problem with mine when he was on 15 2x a day! he just started putting them in his water bucket and i used to find them dotted across the yard, i started putting garlic in his feed to distract him and also cinnamon powder is good for horses with EMS!
 
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