Help with Diet Please .............sorry long

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Joyous70

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Please help, suggestions & ideas welcome.

I have had the vet out to my itchy scabby boy today, she told me she couldn't prescribe the steriod tablets she wanted to as he is too fat :eek:

So far he has demolished a stable with his constant rubbing/itching and i cannot bring him in until it calms down, hopefully the cream, antibiotics & shampoos will help, and I have my other pony, who is turned out 24/7, and there are no other pony's in the paddocks next door to them, so unfortunately i cannot leave him out alone as will fret without this mate.

I need a realistic diet/management regime, which will have to incorporate both of them, unfortunately funds are limited, so paying YM every morning to turn them both out is a BIG no and im unable to T/O in the mornings myself. I was thinking that if i sectioned part of the paddock off for itchy boy & let the other one have the rest, and then bring them in at night Friday, Saturday, Monday & Wednesday, to reduce his grass intake and also how much hay do i feed him when he does come in?
 
You could try a muzzle, mine has one on when turned out, if you need tips on customising it let me know. I use the shires pink one but have a centre strap and some other stuff to keep it on, he rarely gets it off, he has to have it on and thats it.

Soak the hay so the goodness is out of it and double or triple net it if you have to so it takes longer to eat. Mine had lami a few years back and was allowed 6lb of hay, its not much when you actually weigh it out, I was following my vets advice to the letter and its worked touch wood. I'm not saying just give your horse 6lb just saying thats what I had to do, I'd just fill net not too jam packed and do as I've said double triple netting and see how that goes.

OR just do as you say, split the field, giving him the section with less grass, muzzle him til the grass goes down then if he's not laminitic you could take it off for a bit more freedom.

Hopefully the other meds will kick in soon
 
Exercise exercise exercise....your horse is not going to lose weight with dietary changes only. He needs to be ridden AT LEAST once a day. Muzzles are good as not only do they restrict amount of grass but they also move around more looking for grass. Can you arrange a sort of 'paddock paradise' to encourange more movement when out in the field? Might be difficult on a livery yard.

In terms of diet, don't give up the fibre - soak his hay for at least 12 hours or even better replace some of his hay ration with good quality oat or barley straw. Feed in small holed haynets doubled or trippled. How big is he and how much does he weigh? We can then give you weights of hay. Starving him overnight will only lead to him gauging himself on the grass the next day so this is no good.

I would give him a high fibre, low sugar/starch diet, something like Spillers Happy Hoof at the recommended levels so he gets his vits and mins as well.
 
I have a muzzle for him, but at the moment cannot use it, as he has scabs under his chin, and am concerned this will rub him more - just out of interest how long do you leave yours on for?

The vet has said, apart from a bit of his Saracen Slim Chaff to get his antibiotics down, not to feed him anything, as grass is enough, as we do not want him to become laminitic, hence not being able to have the steriods.

He is a 14.2hh appy X type not a cob as such but chunky and weights around 460/470kgs on the weigh tape.
 
My lad started itching quite bad but I did not want to put steroids into him. My farrier suggested a liver de-tox which the vet agreed with especially as it would not hurt him.

Within a day the itching eased and now he does not itch at all. The de-tox I used was Remount.
 
PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE don't leave your horse in with nothing to eat...use soaked hay and straw but you HAVE to give him some fibre to munch on, pretty much the whole time. Read up re how a horse's digestive system works and you will understand why! The trick is to maximise eating time whilst keeping calories as low as possible.

I used to work as a nutritional advisor and had a call from a lady who had a laminitic pony - kept in and not fed on advice of her vet. I think the vet actually meant 'do not feed' as in hard feed, but this lady took it literally and the horse had been standing in for 6 days with nothing to eat....you can imagine what a sorry state the horse was in! What im trying to say here is, perhaps clarify with your vet as not giving it anything to eat whilst in IMO is dangerous not to mention downright cruel!
 
kittykatcat

Honestly i wouldn't leave him in without any hay, and yes i believe the vet means no hard feed!!

Im used to having my boys out 24/7, and giving them 2 slices of hay each at night once the grass has stopped growing, this however still seems with turnout to be too much for him, vet did say grass & fresh air was all he needed!
 
kittykatcat

Dont be sorry ;) im a bit stressed by todays visit, and have a stinking cold, and probably haven't explained myself properly :rolleyes:

So how much soaked hay would you feed, i can go and buy some scales thats not an issue, at present if they come in i tend to give them both 2 slices each off a small bale, is this too much or not enough? ive got a small holed haylage net, which does slow him down
 
Has he always been itchy scratchy? I've heard of quite a few horses suffering from sweet itch and the like who have dramatically improved when removed from the grass, just a thought, keeping him out could be making it worse?
 
No he has not been an itchy scratchy boy like this before, unfortunately, by the time it itch/scratch had started he was actually better off out as he throws himself around like a baby rhino and doesn't just rub, but pushes all his weight against whatever he can and then rubs! so much so he has literally demolished the wall to his stable after just being brought in for feed & grooming etc., so to keep him in was & is at present quite dangerous in my opinion

The vets not convinced its sweet itch but more an allergic reaction to something having to wait for skin scrapes to come back - fingers crossed they can find something.
 
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