Keeping weight on a veteran who had a recent mild attack of azatoria

[Kezza]

My 13hh 22 yr old welsh B had a mild attack of azatoria a few months ago due to too much sugar - we changed his feed to mollichaff, topline cubes and pasture mix from hifi original and pasture mix as we wanted to put more condition on him.

He's now on happy hoof and getting 2 heaped round scoops per day and around 150ml of soya oil and vit and min supplement and 2 wedges of hay at night and he lives out so has access to grass 24 hours.

He's rugged up to the eye balls and in great condition but you he could definitely do with a little more, especially over winter.

We plan to add speedibeet to his ration soon (he always used to have this over winter without any probs) but I wonder if he could do with something else to help him along now he's gettingolder? I was thinking of perhaps Slow Release Cubes?

He's naturally energetic and highly strung and in medium work so does need something to replace the energy he uses during exercise.

Thanks in advance.

x

 

[AmyMay]

I had Freddy on Spillers senior cubes - and he looked tremendous on them.

If your pony is prone to Azotoria then you want to keep the diet as sugerless as possible - so I would be cautious about conditioning feeds, and would consider a purely high fibre diet instead. If he is turned out 24/7 then I would be inclined to enusre that he has ad lib access to hay if you are concerned about his weight, as that will be far more beneficial to him in the long run than a lot of hard feed.

 

[eekmon]

Why don't you ring your feed nutritionist ( which ever brand you feed) As this sounds not that straight forward!

Don't know much about azatoria, but im sure there are some people on here who know all the ins and outs of this condition! But if in doubt pick up the phone

 

[Kezza]

already plan to but as always, they each push their own feeds so you never get a truly un-biased view!

Thanks

x

 

[UKa]

agree with Amymay, best is to ensure acces to ad lib forage and avoid sugar and starch in his diet - you can also up the oil quite dramatically (to 1ml per kg of horse weight some on here feed even more) after 300ml per day you should however supplement with Vitamin E and Selenium (which is advisable for horses that tye up in any case).
My girl has tied up before and in addition to Alfa A Oil I have now discovered Spillers High Fibre Cubes which were the lowest in starch cubes I could find; before she was on Calm & Condition for a while and the feed company said it was safe for azoturia prone horses but I personally don't like conditioning feeds so went back to basics now.
My girl however keeps weight on best as long as she has fibre intake day and night (hay and grass) ...(she is a fine built TB, very bad doer but don;t need any extra fizz).

 

[Kezza]

So you feed yours alfa a oil and slow release cubes? I love alfa a oil and feed it to my other veteran, I just wasn't sure if it would be safe for a horse with a history of azatoria.

He does get ad lib hay, he never eats both wedges as he's too bust scoffing grass all night! He's lucky enough to have another paddock with a stable for overnight so the grass is always quite good.

 

[UKa]

yes, the alfa a oil is good as it has mainly fibre and oil as ingredients but no molasses (as opposed to the original alfa A) - my vet recommended this feed and I have added high fibre, low starch cubes but you could also just use the Alfa A Oil as sole feed then you should just add a multi spec vitamin supplement.
Regarding the grass, some say you should watch their intake if they are prone to tyeing up (like laminitics) I personally have not cut back on grazing much but just am careful when exposed to new grass such as spring and autumn and slowly get them used to it. grass is about the only thing that really puts some weight on mine ...

 

[Marilyn]

High fibre is good, the Veteran Horse Society might be able to offer you some good advice as they specialise in the Veteran's needs...they also work very closely with Dodson and horrell so would be useful...

 

[Kezza]

What are the cubes you feed? how long has your horse been on alfa a oil since the azatoria attack? I am very interested in feeding alfa a oil. do you still need to feed a vit e and selenium supplement if feeding that? Thanks

 

[UKa]

Hi, the cubes are Spillers High Fibre Cubes (that’s what they are called) and my girl has been on the Alfa A Oil for about 10 months now, I am very happy feeding it; she had her first attack back in March 2005 and I fed her pure Alfalfa with cubes then through the summer because they did not sell Alfa A Oil at local feed shop where I was and there was not much choice (in London) – last year when I moved I put her on the Alfa A Oil instead and recently the cubes as above as I said I prefer to feed them to conditioning stuff; even though the Alfa A Oil has got Vitamin E in it you should feed the selenium and Vitamin E as it is suspected that azoturia can be caused by selenium deficiency I just would try to eliminate all possible reasons – I however, also feed mine around 450ml vegetable oil so she needs the extra supplement.