Food Hospital for Horses... ideas for my horse?

dominobrown

dominobrown

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I have been inspired by the TV programme, The Food Hospital (C4), but not for me, my horse.

I have a TB X WB. His weight is pretty much spot on and stable, as he is neither a poor doer or very good one. He is 16.3hh, in light to medium work. He is not particulary stressy or fizzy, though he is not a plod.

His problem....
He has had an ongoing rash over his body. Mostly on his back and rump, he has had it for a while. They are small scabs with a yelloish head, and he finds them quite itchy. He has despite rugs on/off, clipped or not and it is nothing to do with my washing powder (non-bio) as I have used the same washing powder for years and most of the spot aren't underneath his saddle pad anyways. He has had this rash for ages, maybe 9 months?

Also he has a cough, which comes about when he is asked to do faster work or harder work. He is fine walking out hacking but when schooling/ cantering he starts to cough. He is on dust free shavings and is turned out all day, everyday and his stable is well ventialed.
His coat is also starey and dull.

I got the vet out today, who thinks it could be an underlying virus, so he has had blood tests, and skin scrapings from the spots to see what it is. I lunged for the vet (he didn't cough though!) and the cough is only in the upper tracts near his throat and not his lungs.

His Diet:
Hard feed, once moring and night... 3/4 scoop of low energy course mix, 3/4 of mollased chaff (mollichop), small scoop of mollassed sugar beet, tiny bit of oil, garlic, Global Herbs Airways supplement (powder), and Naf Superflex powder.
Turned out during the day on a poorish pasture, with hayledge, and hayledge at night (more or less ad lib).

Obviously it will be interesting to see what his blood throw up, but I was thinking a radical change to his diet, or maybe adding something to boost his immune system, help him recover from a virus if that is the problem. Ideas?
 
I would cut out all the molassed feed from his diet, he is on a lot. Put on to a low sugar/starch feed.

The other thing I used for a skin condition this summer was Global Herbs Restore it got rid of a rash in a few days of using, NAF DEtox is another that helps.
The garlic may not be helping his immune system either.
 
Bless his little lamby chops. I hope he feels better soon. I'm not really a feeding guru so can't advise but wanted to wish him well :)
 
Have you tried cutting out the sugary feed like molassed chaff and beet? Sugar can make some horses react like this. I can' t feed one of mine anything with high sugar,as it gives him an upset gut. I have heard of some horses itching similar to how yours sounds,when fed diets with a quite high sugar content.
Hope this may help you and him.
 
He has always been fed on sugar beet, but I think I might try him on alfa-beet instead? Also he seemed better when he was on an unmollased chop, so I want to put him back on that, any suggestions for brands??
He is not on death's door, but isn't quite right and its bugging me! Thanks for advice :)
 
be positive said:
I would cut out all the molassed feed from his diet, he is on a lot. Put on to a low sugar/starch feed.

The other thing I used for a skin condition this summer was Global Herbs Restore it got rid of a rash in a few days of using, NAF DEtox is another that helps.
The garlic may not be helping his immune system either.
Click to expand...

just interested why you think garlic doesn't help? It is meant to help humans, though I have recently read some research on it, and said it could be doing more harm than good. thanks :)
 
It seems to over stimulate the immune system and is not recommended for horses with sweet itch for that reason, not that yours has sweet itch but it could be having a similar effect.
 
I would cut out all of the prepared feeds, they are just full of sugar. Maybe he has an allergy to the grain in them?

Personally I'd put him on Speedibeet as it's unmolassed, and I wouldn't bother with a chop. I feed Simple System pure alfalfa - it replaces chaff and because you have to soak it, it replaces the succulent (ie, beet), as well for me. Go right back to basics and introduce things slowly.
 
Its our own haylege, cut from mixed meadows and contains a variety of different grasses.
I am quite interested in the purefeeds, but I have an account with a local feed merchant, which is near to me, so something that they stock would be ideal. I will try Speedi beet. :)
 
It does sound to me like a reaction to something in the feed (& I have a LOT of experience of food sensitivities, not just in horses). Unless your horse is extremely thin, the best thing to do is to feed only on hay for about a week to see if his health improves. Then you can add ingredients gradually,monitoring what happens very carefully. My guess is that he can't digest sugar properly but the problem could be cereals or alfalfa, the only way to find out is an elimination diet.
 
Definitey lose the molasses - on anything. Top Spec do an unmolassed chaff - theirs has soya oil coating instead:)

Personally I would strip out all cereals and molasses from his diet and stick to a high fibre sugar free diet for a while. Agree the Global Herbs Restore is great - mine always have it post wormer as well. Horses guts are designed to extract nutrients from fibre not - so slow release foods not fast releasing foods like sugar (molasses) and cereals:) You can always add linseed - gives lots of slow release energy and will certainly perk up his coat.
 
I think the mollasses have to go, but I am bit worried where he will get his energy from? Esepically when he is hunting every weekend.
So far I am thinking... Speedi beet, Mollasses free Alfa-A, Global Herbs REstore, or Naf Pink Powder.
What about Blue Chip pro?
Its weird not to feed any cereals! :D
 
If he needs more energy feed oil or linseed - linseed oil contains omega oils so is good for their joints as well. Leave big trugs of feed for him to graze on in his stable overnight - will have enough energy :)

ETA - friend TB has a molasses allergy and hunted on alfalfa and unmolassed sugar beet - did just fine:)
 
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