Horses on sandy soil-should I feed sand guard supplement?

[araba]

Hi. I have moved yards from one on clay soil to one on really sandy soil. Its great -no mud and less rich grass. However, Ive heard some horsey people say you need to feed a sand-guard supplement.
I think this is in case the horse in eating sand along with the grass and could get sand colic?
My question is - do you think it helps? does anyone feed a sand guard supplement - and what do you use please?

I feed haynets tied to a post and feed in a bowl twice a day (and they come in at night) but just thought they might pick up sand from eating the grass.
Any thoughts please?

 

[Archangel]

You can run a test, pick up a couple of lumps of a dropping and put them in a bucket of water, break up if necessary. Allow to settle and slowly pour off all the liquid (don't disturb the sand at the bottom). You will then see how much sand is left in the bottom. Of course this is the stuff that has passed through and you can get a huge build up left behind but it gives you an idea whether your horse is ingesting a huge amount.

By the sounds of things your horse is probably low risk but it would be a sensible precaution to feed Sand Out at intervals. Physillium husk is much cheaper and does the same thing. I have found that feeding soya oil helps as well, the sand seems to stick to it.

I have had a horse pass a huge amount of sand (equal to a whole dropping ) yet he had been clear on the sand test and showed no sign of discomfort.

In the summer when the grass is very short they can pick up a lot. I am OTT about rinsing feed bowls so no sand gets accidently picked up.

 

[MCTM]

I kept my old mare on very sandy soil for a while and fed Sand Out or Sand Ex religiously. Unfortunately she still developed sand colic and had to be operated on - luckily she came through fine with no after effects. The problem with doing the "sand test" is (as Rebel Reindeer says) it doesn't give a clear indication of how much sand is actually being retained in the gut.
I think the main problem was the grass was quite short and we had a period of very heavy rain where the sand splashed up the blades of grass and was ingested. I moved livery yards soon after to avoid a repeat but if I had to graze sandy soil again then I'd definitely use a supplement despite them not working 1st time - at least I'd know I'd done everything possible to avoid a problem.

 

[Suechoccy]

A friend of mine in Thetford Forest (sandy soil) has all her horses and her liveries on psyllium.

 

[Natch]

I'm really interested in this thread. How does psylium husks remove the sand any better than the normal fibre from forage in a horse's diet anyway?

 

[araba]

thanks everyone. I will do the horsepoo test to see if I can see any sand, and will try one of the sand supplements or the pysillium husks supplements just as a precaution!

 

[hest]

After one of our ponies had a bad bout of sand colic we put all ours on a pysillium husk supplement on the vet's advice, but were recommended to feed it every day for 5 days, then have a break, then repeat etc. It works like Fibergel does on humans.
The shorter the grass is the more frequent the course is repeated. So at this time of year we are really on our guard as the ponies are nibbling at really short grass and can obviously pick up more sand than they would perhaps in the summer when it's grown a bit. Sand colic is horrible

 

[mik]

I'm really interested in this thread. How does psylium husks remove the sand any better than the normal fibre from forage in a horse's diet anyway?

I am only aware of reports that state feeding fibre, oat straw, hay etc, removes as much sand as the sand out products do.
We live in Cadiz, on sand dunes. The horses here that are out, sometimes get compaction colic from the straw they are fed on, but sand colics are not common.
I was really concerned about this when we first moved here, oh about 7 years ago, but have had no problems so far. As the literature I have read is inconclusive I have not actively fed psyiium, except in mid summer when we are almost living on a beach. This is only as a precautionary measure.
I do monitor droppings etc.
There is a movement here to feed pro and prebiotic feeds to help prevent this but it is generally agreed that keeping things clean etc prevention of sand intake is extremely important.
I think it would be best to chat to a vet in the area and see what is suggested.
Hope that was of use.
PS I also feed for a week then leave it a few weeks before I repeat, in the summer.