Feeding a poss EPSM / PSSM type 2 horse

[Blondie73]

Just wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom, I have a poss type 2 mare who struggles to keep weight on. I have tried most combinations of low sugar / starch feed but haven't found the magic yet! I have taken her off grass completely having tried to manage her with a muzzle. She is currently eating speedibeet, dengie hi fi molasses free, linseed, salt, equinox gastro u (she has had hind gut issues too), equinox muscle, salt, vit E - ad lib hay which I have to do a mix of soaked ad non soaked as she will not eat soaked hay. She will now go forward but what else to I need to do or change to make her more relaxed over her back. I work her 5 days out of 7. We have tried alfalfa but this affects her hormones! I know she is better with more oil than not but I struggle to get her to eat her food. Any ideas please?

 

[be positive]

If she is not getting turned out, to my mind a pen is not the same to get them moving about unless it is huge, they live in it 24/7 and they have company to interact with, then I would be exercising twice a day every day in some way to get the muscles working fully.

Our PSSM mare gets normal daily turnout but in the early days of treating her last winter she needed some other exercise daily, sometimes she had 2 short sessions, to remain loose over her back and the difference was obvious if she had a day of just being out, now she is stable and we are far more aware of the subtle signs she has been fine with 1 day off in 10 and sometimes 2 but we are very careful what she does on her first day after a day off, normally a hack rather than schooling.

I think your key is to get more exercise into her and see how she goes, feed wise ours does well on grassnuts and an unmollased grass chaff along with the supplements, she is a fairly good doer, eats well and has ad lib haylage when in, I wonder if you are being too careful about the need to reduce sugars and if the work increased then the restricting could be limited so she could get time on grass or at least have unsoaked hay which may help her keep the weight on, don't forget the soaking will not only reduce sugars but also the value of the hay so she will require a balancer or general vit/ min supplement to make up for that.

 

[SEL]

Have you tested for type 1 PSSM?

The latest research from the US seems to indicate that type 2 horses need more protein in their diet rather than such tight controls over NSC. A number have had a lot of success adding whey protein, amino acids or straight lysine.

Are you on Facebook? If so, its worth joining the PSSM forum.

Have you had any sort of bodywork done on your horse? I need my symptomatic type 1 looked at every 6 weeks to loosen her muscles.

 

[Blondie73]

Thank you for your response, she has been tested type 1 and was negative but we suspect type 2 and have been on this journey for a while now and her diary is extensive in terms of what has worked or not. Be Positive, I think you may be right in terms of exercise and perhaps I have got to do more than 5 days out of 7. I have tried most supplements and the equinox combination she is on seems to have had the best results so far, the muscle supplement contains 22 amino acids, lysine and is protein rich. It is oil based and contains no dextrose. She has had various hind gut gastric issues, scoped clear for ulcers, seasons every ten days (another reason why I chose to take her off Alfa Alfa) and is currently on regumate even in winter! Yes, she has been scanned lots of times at great expense to check for abnormalities etc. My grazing is crap, but it is predominantly clover and and when she is grazed on this her urine is always much darker in colour. She regularly has her back checked. What I do know is that more oil works for her and vit e but I am struggling to get the oil down her in its current form and I struggled with copra too. Her turn out is a large school and she has company next to her. I will go away and aim to ride her more than 5 days a week and perhaps twice daily if doable around the school run. This is a nice mare and when she is good she feels amazing. Thank you both for your words of wisdom, much appreciated.

 

[SEL]

I found that if I soaked speedibeet overnight it became a cake mix texture. This soaked up vegetable oil pretty well and my horses didn't notice the oil in their feed. Mixing the oil in before it had soaked overnight didn't work - just produced a slimy mess.

Interestingly quite a few people with type 1 have had to take linseed out of the mix, so you could try knocking it out for a couple of weeks and seeing if there is any difference.

I also have to work my horse 7 days a week - and it has to be trot work because popping her on the horse walker just doesn't have the same effect.

 

[Blondie73]

Thank you that is really helpful, ill give that a go.