Low sugar feeds?

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Annagain

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Well my Alfalfa theory was wrong. My share horse has had a dermatitis type rash on his back legs on and off for a few years. We've tried all sorts with it but never got to the bottom of it It's always been worse in winter. This summer he was pretty fat so had no hard feed at all for the first time ever and it went completely. As soon as he started being fed again it started to come back. We thought it could be an Alfalfa allergy as, to begin with, he was just having some Happy Hoof so thought that was the only thing it could be. I thought Happy Hoof was sugar free but have since found it does have some sugar in it, albeit less than most feeds. When he started having 'proper' feed we switched off Hi Fi to readigrass and his normal cool mix to see if it stopped the itchy, scabby rash on his back legs. I thought it was working in that the rash was still there, but much less severe than it had been. Then he was clipped and went onto winter rations which included sugar beet (owner has always insisted on feeding it, I'm not so keen on it) and it's worse than it's ever been. He's even kicking the walls of his stable as his legs are so itchy and if you start to scratch his legs for him his lip goes all quivery and he pins you against the wall to make you carry on, bless him.

As soon as I made the link, we stopped his sugar beet and his legs have improved. He's now on the readigrass and fast fibre with some cool mix, but I'm very aware there's molasses in the cool mix (which is probably the reason why the rash was still there before) so want to switch to something molasses free and as low sugar as poss. He's a good doer, but needs a little something for a bit of oomph. He's not a fussy eater as such but can get a bit bored of chaff / fast fibre without something interesting on it. He's very laid back and can't be bothered with the effort of eating if the reward isn't to his liking! Any recomendations please?
 
My boy appears to be allergic to molasses and alfalfa and we spent most of the summer trying different foods. Have now settled on plain grass nuts soaked with a low cal balancer (and some magnesium). His itchiness has gone. He stuffs it down, although to be fair he is a pig at the best of times.
 
Was it mollased sugar beet that was being fed? Unmollased is very low in sugar (I feed it to my natives) and I believe that fast fibre has sugar beet in it too?
 
Barefooters have to be super careful with sugar in the feed - so searching for 'barefoot diet' might yield some interesting results for you.
If its not an Alpha A thing, but a sugar thing - I would say to try Alpha A pellets. Plain and simple feed, low sugar. :)
 
My 29 yr old is exactly like this. I have her on fast fibre and took her off molasses free hi Fi a months ago. Thinking it was that but she's not much better. She harasses me in the field. Walking over and placing her butt in my face in hope I will scratch her. No idea what it is

She had it last Winter too

She does have cushings. Does yours?
 
No he doesn't have cushings that we're aware of - he's 19 but has no signs of it and has been itchy for about 6 years on and off.

It could be both Alfalfa and sugar for all we know. Cutting out the alfalfa seemed to help, but introducing the sugar beet definitely seems to have coinicided with it getting a lot worse.

It is molassed sugar beet, I know from a friend whose horse goes a bit skittish on it that sourcing pure unmolassed sugar beet is nigh on impossible in our area but the Fast Fibre does contain unmolassed sugar beet so hoping it will be ok. It's 2.5% sugar as opposed to 19% in the sugar beet.
 
i don't have anything amazing to add except loads of horses can't tolerate Alfalfa, i'd like to thank you for this thread tho it's really interesting and i have a friend with a similar problem who won't except that sugarbeet may be a problem, i can show her this, thank you and i hope your horse stays itch free.
 
allen and page cool and collected. I feed that along with the mollichaff calmer and it's made a big difference to my fizzy horses attitude. He's also a good doer but needs something to provide energy for the work he is in.
 
Shady said:
i don't have anything amazing to add except loads of horses can't tolerate Alfalfa, i'd like to thank you for this thread tho it's really interesting and i have a friend with a similar problem who won't except that sugarbeet may be a problem, i can show her this, thank you and i hope your horse stays itch free.
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Yes, I discovered this earlier this year when I asked about it on here - which is why I was convinced it was the alfalfa. It was only when I then read something about lots of horses who are believed to be suffering from Sweet Itch actually having a sugar intolerance (and welshies in particular - our boy is 1/4 welsh) that I thought it might be sugar instead - which seems to have been shown by the co-incidence of the scabs returning withing 10 days of going onto sugar beet.

We've tried everything - first we thought it was mud fever as it looks like that, although it's not on parts of his legs that get muddy! It's normally around his hocks and just underneath on the insides of his leg. Then we thought his wet tail was iritating the skin so bought a tailbag - showed some improvement but didn't go. We've treated him for mites, we've plastered him in sweet itch solutions and never managed to get rid. It only occurred to me this years it could be feed related, so now we're trying to work out which feed!
 
Mine was allergic to soya oil and was so much better on simple system feeds. I feed him blue bag grass nuts, purabeet (unmollassed sugarbeet) I used graze on as cheaper than SS version and Charnwood milling linseed for the same reason.
 
Have you tried the Pure range? We feed one of our mares Pure Easy which has no molasses, low starch and low sugar. She comes up with bump and an itchy rash on some feeds, we finally got rid of it by using a homeopathic vet ( I was very sceptical but hey..it worked!) and now she lives on Pure and it's not returned..
 
I don't really know to be honest Wench, which is why I'm asking for recommendations. Given fast fibre is 2.5% sugar compared to 19% in molassed sugar beet I assume that is. It's the only comparison I've made so far as just starting to learn about all this!

Haven't tried any ranges yet Mariposa, just finding out about which ones to look for. I suspect I'll have to order them in as they're not readily available round by me.
 
Dodson and horrell equine sensitive is 3% sugar. My horse is fed on this, allergic to soya and molasses and suits her very well
 
Oats. And hay, soaked. Commercial mixes have god-knows-what in them, and loads of sugar in several different forms. If he is fat, then I really don't see why he has to have anything extra. If he needs energy, try getting him fitter.
 
Cortez said:
Oats. And hay, soaked. Commercial mixes have god-knows-what in them, and loads of sugar in several different forms. If he is fat, then I really don't see why he has to have anything extra. If he needs energy, try getting him fitter.
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He isn't fat now - he was this summer as had lots of very good grass due to weather and he is very prone to putting on weight on grass. Now that he's in overnight he's back to fighting weight and doesn't need much to help him maintain it. He's also pretty fit, just incredibly laid back so needs a little bit of fizz. He's the sort who'll just give every job just enough energy to get it done (pretty well, usually) and not an ounce more - and then go back to sleep. With the correct levels of feed it makes the difference between asking once and having to constantly nag.

If he was human he'd be the kid who sailed throught GCSEs with straight As having done no work, struggled a bit with A Levels but got them and now he's at uni he's sleeping all day instead of going to lectures!
 
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annagain said:
He isn't fat now - he was this summer as had lots of very good grass due to weather and he is very prone to putting on weight on grass. Now that he's in overnight he's back to fighting weight and doesn't need much to help him maintain it. He's also pretty fit, just incredibly laid back so needs a little bit of fizz. He's the sort who'll just give every job just enough energy to get it done (pretty well, usually) and not an ounce more - and then go back to sleep. With the correct levels of feed it makes the difference between asking once and having to constantly nag.

If he was human he'd be the kid who sailed throught GCSEs with straight As having done no work, struggled a bit with A Levels but got them and now he's at uni he's sleeping all day instead of going to lectures!
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I’d avoid beet, alfa A, all processed additives, molasses. Most chaffs contain a preservative.

Feed low starch, low sugar, unprocessed.

e.g.

Copra - low starch and sugar, conditioning
Micronised Linseed – for coat, joints, and weight
Grass nuts – as a base feet
Oats for extra sparkle
Oil if need extra condition
As much high quality hay / haylage as can eat
 
Thanks all, looking into all the feeds mentioned and will pop to my local countrywide tonight to see if they have any in stock, may as well try what's easy to get hold of first!
 
I think lowest sugar feed I have found is Allen and Page L Mix which sugar being only 1.5% so even less than fast fibre however the DE is also very low too at 7 so if you are looking for a high energy feed this may not be the one for you.

It does contain Alfalfa so if you are wanting to avoid that then not suitable.
 
I might be wrong here so if someone knows please put me straight but I always thought ready grass and the northern crop chop was high in sugar as its just freeze dried grass?
 
wench said:
What is classed as low sugar?
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I used to have a mare who could not tolerate any sugar in her diet, we fed her on grassnuts, dried grass, alfalfa (which was fine for her) and Speedibeet or Alfabeet. If yours needs a bit more oomph, you could feed oats, if you are sure that he can tolerate cereals - mine couldn't.

ETA, our problem was refined sugar, she was absolutely fine with grass, even in Spring.
 
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