Feed with calories but won’t cause excitability……

[AppyLover1996]

Good Morning guys,

So I have finally found a joint supplement for His Lordship that works and he is happy to eat in his feed (the latter is a miracle as for a part native he is the fussiest sod ever!) so thank you all for your help and advice x

I’ve been thinking ahead to the colder months where he doesn’t tend to do very well and looses more weight than the average equine, despite the copious amounts of feed and hay I pump into him, so as advised by my vet I need to find something quite calorific, with a feed rate that I can bring down for the warmer months of the year (when he ends up looking like he is going to drop twins ?), but something that is tasty and doesn’t have a large portion size attached to it. He has gone through a thorough vet exam and check over, and nothing sinister is at play with regards to his health - he just really struggles in the colder months.

I usually use Fibre Beet as I can make it quite sloppy and His Lordship approves of the taste, however the downside is that to get the calories out of it, I’m guessing you have to feed a ton, which would put him off his bucket completely…..

I did try a sample of Pink Mash (which I loved the sound of) however, it did not get the Royal Seal of Approval with the bucket and its contents being flung across the yard in utter disgust (I thought mares were supposed to have attitude not geldings, but hey ho ?), so that is a no go.

He is also a weirdo in the sense that Micronised Linseed makes him turn into a dragon, produce some lovely airs above the ground that would make the Spanish Riding School of Vienna envious and ultimately ends with him then doing damage to himself or being a menace till it is out of his system…..I’ve tried with varying amounts and they all produce the same result sadly ?

In terms of health, as previously mentioned he does have PSSM Type 1, so starch and sugar levels need to be as low as possible as he is more symptomatic in the colder months and I don’t want to risk a tying up episode, however I need the calories there to help him keep weight on. It would be handy to be able to vary the feed quantities so I could feed him less of it in the warmer months and simply up it come the colder months, as I understand it is never good to do sudden adjustments in and out of the diet and I’d like to keep to the same things each time I go to the feed store. He does also have quite a sensitive tummy and is prone to Gastric Ulcers, so that is another reason why the feed suggestions need to be low in sugar and starch.

His feed at the moment (and as advised by an independent equine nutritionist) is as follows :

Bailey’s No 21 Ease and Excel Mix - fed 1 Stubbs scoop a day which is the recommended feeding rate for him to get everything he needs out of it
NAF Devil’s Relief - for his joints
NAF Profeet Pellets - for his feet as we are transitioning to barefoot and he wouldn’t touch any of the recommended things from Progressive Earth/Forage Plus
NAF GastriAid - for his tummy

I am open to trying anything with him as I don’t want to go through what happened last winter and him loose a ton of weight and look dreadful ? He won’t touch Agrobs feeds, Thunderbrooks didn’t keep the weight on him even when fed at more than the recommended amount, Pure Feed was alright but his coat went all dull/ lacklustre, and he had mood swings when on it, anything that needs feeding in large amounts is a no go as he is easily over faced with large feeds.

If anyone has any suggestions - please do throw them my way and I will try them with His Lordship x

 

[I'm Dun]

Ease and Excel wouldnt be recomended for PSSM type 1. It has too much starch and sugar. You really do need to keep this as low as possible. Combined starch and sugar of 10% max. I think you are going to find it really difficult to find feed for him if hes that fussy. Has he been scoped for ulcers? They are so common with PSSM and can make them fussy and drop weight.

Otherwise you need high oil, linseed is out, rice bran is going to be too high in starch, so your only option would be to feed him the beet and add normal oil. Its not something Id want to do ideally but if you have no choice then I guess you need to do it. You'd need to up the vitamin e though. How much is he on now?

 

[AppyLover1996]

Ease and Excel wouldnt be recomended for PSSM type 1. It has too much starch and sugar. You really do need to keep this as low as possible. Combined starch and sugar of 10% max. I think you are going to find it really difficult to find feed for him if hes that fussy. Has he been scoped for ulcers? They are so common with PSSM and can make them fussy and drop weight.

Otherwise you need high oil, linseed is out, rice bran is going to be too high in starch, so your only option would be to feed him the beet and add normal oil. Its not something Id want to do ideally but if you have no choice then I guess you need to do it. You'd need to up the vitamin e though. How much is he on now?

Hiya,

I explained to the nutritionist that he has PSSM Type 1 and explained my concerns about feeding it to him, she explained that she has a PSSM Type 1 horse who is very much like my lad and he does perfectly fine on it. Obviously if there were any drastic changes then she told me to remove it immediately, but otherwise to keep him on it and monitor him closely which I always do x He’s been on it now for a while and nothing bad has happened with it, so for the moment I am happy to stick to it, but I do have a plan in the pipeline if I notice some changes happening that aren’t to my liking and that will allow me to intervene quickly x

I understand where you are coming from and totally respect what you are saying, but as you’ve probably gathered, he is a nightmare to feed, so it is a case of finding a feed he likes with as little bad things as possible x I tried the usual Fast Fibre, Micronised Linseed and keeping him off grass route when he was first diagnosed, but he got so depressed and lost his spark for life that after a conversation with the vet (who knows some things about PSSM due to him having a horse with it himself) that he told me to make the best of a bad situation in terms of feed and if there are a few bad things, try not to get too hung up on them, as providing that he is managed well enough (which he is), they shouldn’t cause any issues x

He has indeed been scoped for ulcers (one of the many things done when he went for his vet check to find out what was going on originally) and he is closely monitored for ulcer signs along with regular check ups from my vet. When he was scoped he had some minor Grade 1’s which were treated and picked up a bit, but still lost the weight in the colder months even after scoping clear, being rugged correctly and making sure that as many controllable factors were controlled, which the vet has said that he is simply a poorer doer in the colder months x

Vitamin E wise (knew I’d forget to put something on the list!), he is on 2500 IU per day as this is the most I can get into him before he starts kicking up about it being in his feed x

 

[milliepops]

as he's doing OK on it, can you up the E&E?
I fed my TB a scoop in each feed without him going batty, it doesn't seem to be a particularly whizzy feed.

 

[AppyLover1996]

as he's doing OK on it, can you up the E&E?
I fed my TB a scoop in each feed without him going batty, it doesn't seem to be a particularly whizzy feed.

Hiya,

Ooohhh that sounds like a good idea! He inhales the Ease and Excel like it is going out of fashion bless him x He is currently fed the recommended amount for his weight (1 Stubbs scoop a day), but I don’t think there would be any harm in upping the Ease and Excel for him x I’ll trawl through my emails and see if there are any adverse effects of feeding too much Ease and Excel, but I am loving the sound of your suggestion! Also means I potentially won’t have a ton of things to remember to buy when going to the feed store - which is heaven to my brain and probably heaven to the poor lad who ends up serving me all the time and probably dreads seeing my car pull up ??

 

[windand rain]

I would try Soothe and gain it is described as low starch and sugar although think it might be slightly over 10%

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

My arabs can react to feed but they were ok with copra and Equijewel is good for putting on weight and you don't need to feed loads of it.

 

[windand rain]

love the feel of the ponies coats when fed copra you can almost feel which ones have been fed it I just find mine gain a bit too much on it so sadly had to stop feeding it

 

[Ample Prosecco]

I love Pink mash but Toby was unconvinced to start with. So I fed him ease n excel with a bit of pink mash and over time just adjusted the amounts till it was pink mash with a bit of ease n excel then finally just pink mash. I like Ease n Excel and had Amber on it. But if you do want a lower sugar/starch option then that might be a way to achieve it. It then also allows you a blank slate for whatever supplements you want without the risk of doubling up. And I like the protexin in pink mash for a horse who has had ulcers x