Food intolerance?

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saddlesore

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I bought a sweet natured, quiet 4yo back in october, who has steadily turned in to an absolute stresshead and behaves like a total loon. He has regular t/o (out 24/7 atm), and is exercised regularly. I keep reading about potential food intolerances, is it possible that an intolerance would cause this sort of behaviour change?
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It is possible, does he have a skin rash, diarrhoea and itching?

It could be that he has extra energy from the spring grass and is going through a 'toddler' phase.
 
Food intolerance is relatively rare in horses although a lot of feed manufacturers would like to tell you different. Here is a site by Dengie giving information. The best thing to do is to gradually eliminate various food stuffs over a period of 4 or five weeks to get any real effect. I'd start cutting down on the sugar and protein levels of feeds first. http://www.dengie.com/pages/feed-advice/allergy-vs-intolerance.php
 
Thanks guys, no he has no diahorrea (sp), lumps or similar but it just behaving like a loon! Rearing, totally hypersensitive, overreacting to everything all the time. He genuinely looks scared stiff of things that i have been doing since october!
Will go look up the dengie website now - thanks very much. I'm always a tad sceptical of these things myself!
His behaviour is very odd though.......
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Out 24/7 and going mental usually means low magnesium levels. Spring grass growing rapidly is magnesium deficient. For the next couple of weeks try feeding him a level tablespoon Epsom Salts twice daily. It will rebalance the magnesium levels.

Try to keep feed simple, Meadow Chaff, Oats or Barley, Sugarbeet and a good equine balancer for vitamins and minerals. Add fresh ground Linseed for coat shine and joint care. I grind mine in a coffee grinder.
 
I used to feed my horse a feed by a manufacturer whose name begins with a B and ends with an N. There pasture mix used to send him crazy. Other wise you might find its good old Mother Nature and the grass x
 
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what is he feed vat the mo?

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He is now getting mollichaff calmer, high fibre cubes, pink powder and i started him on magnitude today. Up until a couple of weeks ago he was getting alfa a, pasture mix and kwik beet.
Any thoughts?
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what you have said is very good all high in fibre it just may take a little time for it to get in to the system. his he on hay or hayledge? Maybe try cutting his intake of grass down as well.
 
It sounds like he has a magnesium deficiency. Grass can cause this. I would limit his grass intake and feed a magnesium supplement.

My horse has a genuine intolerance to alfalfa and garlic. He is itchy, lumpy, grumpy and has diarrhoea when he eats these.
 
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