Feeding a mini with EMS

[HollyWoozle]

We have a lovely British spotted mini, Domino, who was diagnosed with EMS shortly after arrival with us (he arrived with 13 rugs, just to give you a glimpse of his former home ). My parents, who bought him, work hard at managing him and he is sound and hasn’t had lami in years now. He isn’t quite as trim as I would like but I can find a rib and he is in good form. The farrier is thrilled and said his feet are transformed.

Currently he lives on soaked hay (weighed) and spillers lite and lean balancer with top chop lite and a little linseed. From around 8.30 - 6.30 he is alone on a track (very little grazing) around the field, with other horses in, and then overnight he is in a pretty bare paddock with a companion. He has access to a salt lick as well and he never touches that.

My question is whether it would be madness to give him a little speedibeet instead of the chaff? He really doesn’t enjoy the top chop lite and it sounds silly but I just feel like he is so miserable about his bucket. Of course we could just switch to another type but I was reading an article about EMS which suggested beet as a suitable option and I think he would be so thrilled!

Also, should I really be adding salt? We’ve never fed our horses salt but they’ve always had salt licks of different types and have no interest in them at all. We have 5 horses and ponies, none in work, and none of them touch it.

Thank you!

 

[Highmileagecob]

You are basically dealing with type 2 diabetes, so as long as you can stop him stuffing himself, and get him to trickle feed, then his blood sugar won't shoot up causing a massive dump of insulin - which triggers laminitis. Think of the gut as a slow conveyor belt that needs a very small amount at regular intervals. Speedi Beet has had most of the sugar extracted, and my vet recommends it. I feed it to my borderline EMS mixed with damp Graze On as a forage replacer now that his teeth are starting to go. Fast Fibre is another food that is suitable, and I have grated a small carrot and mixed that in to give him something to hunt for. One small carrot once a week as a treat appears to do no harm. I've never fed salt, so can't help you there I'm afraid.

 

[IrishMilo]

What are you trying to achieve with the feed? Gut health, more protein, boredom breaking? Linseed in really high in fats so I'd probably knock that on the head if you want to watch his waistline. Unless he has some specific need if he were mine he'd get hay, a mineral balancer with a handful of chaff and added salt. I feed extra salt to everything I have - there's a lot of research to show that horses don't take in enough salt from licks and any excess they just wee out. I give a tablespoon a day.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

I’d bin that balancer, he could just have a powdered one like forage plus or Equimins instead. A lot less calories than the Spillers, if you want something with less in.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

As long as its unmolassed sugar beet it won't hurt him it's just fibre but I would consider changing the balancer to a powder one.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Thanks all! I just want him to be happy and healthy really, he just loathes chaff and I figured if I could give him a little helping of a small mash instead he would be so delighted. The linseed he gets is a small helping and I added it for omega goodness as he gets no grass, having read about EMS diets on a laminitis site, but perhaps I should just scrap that and change to a powdered balancer as suggested (which is what our others have anyway). I’ve seen the forageplus laminaeplus one but it works out so expensive

 

[P.forpony]

I'd keep the linseed in
Yes it's high in calories but it's calories from fats not sugars so very unlikely to provoke any metabolic issues.

And speedi beet has a very low combined starch sugar % and so perfect for those with EMS or lami. Go on make his day!

None of mine will touch a salt lick so they all get it added to their feeds as well.

 

[Widgeon]

I'd keep the linseed in
Yes it's high in calories but it's calories from fats not sugars so very unlikely to provoke any metabolic issues.

I'm glad you said that because that's my reasoning for continuing to give linseed oil to my EMS horse! To be honest I've never found that a basic (no sugary processed foods) bucket feed makes much difference to his EMS anyway.....grass is the main culprit. I guess that's largely because he can shovel so much more of it in.

 

[HollyWoozle]

The little diva says thank you! Pic from summer, he is very fluffy now of course!

 

[meleeka]

How about something like Fast Fibre or Spillers Daily Mash Fibre? I think they have speedibeet and linseed in anyway so you could simplify things. I have a mini that doesn’t like chaff either (although he likes Happy Hoof).

 

[P.forpony]

I'm glad you said that because that's my reasoning for continuing to give linseed oil to my EMS horse! To be honest I've never found that a basic (no sugary processed foods) bucket feed makes much difference to his EMS anyway.....grass is the main culprit. I guess that's largely because he can shovel so much more of it in.

Exactly this, the vast majority of the starch and sugar in most horses diets comes from the thing that is the the majority of their diets... and unless you're feeding hard feed by the bucket full that's probably their forage.

If you're feeding linseed or a pelleted balancer by the cup and the amount is measuring in grams then its total % of feed intake is a much less significant contributor than the kgs worth of grass of hay they're consuming.

Quick maths for a 100kg mini

Analysed meadow hay from forage plus @ 2.5% of bodyweight per day = 2.5kg
Combined starch and sugar content 8.9%
Provides 222.5g starch and sugar

Lite and lean 100g
S&S content 10%
Provides 10g starch and sugar

Speedibeet 250g (dry weight!)
S&S content 5%
Provides 12.5g starch and sugar

So even added together a feed of speedibeet and balancer only represents 9% of the total starch and sugar content of this hypothetical diet.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Thank you, that’s very helpful.