Metabolic syndrome how do you manage yours and has it got any better

[ticobay831]

as in title, im struggling with my old lad at the moment, hes on next to nothing i bring him in during the day for a few hours to keep him off the grass, but he dosnt like being on his own so have to bring other horse in as well which isnt fair on him.
Dont know what to do anymore, got vet coming out tomorow.. :-/
also posted in .NL......

 

[Birker2020]

as in title, im struggling with my old lad at the moment, hes on next to nothing i bring him in during the day for a few hours to keep him off the grass, but he dosnt like being on his own so have to bring other horse in as well which isnt fair on him.
Dont know what to do anymore, got vet coming out tomorow.. :-/
also posted in .NL......

My friend is struggling with this with her WB gelding. He has had EMS for months and months and had had laminitis, and colic through it. She pays £140 for her farrier and he has to be stabled at the moment along with his companion who also has to be stabled otherwise he flips.

Such a shame as he is a lovely horse but she is gradually fighting the battle and winning.

 

[DuckToller]

How long has he had it? Mine is only 10 and diagnosed earlier this year. It's a damn nuisance!

I have bought some marksway blue haylage, which has sugar of less than 3%, the lowest I have found. But it is too expensive to feed all the time so I tend to swap about and soak hay for about 6 hours for a night net, and give the expensive stuff only in double netted 1kg amounts during the day.

I am still experimenting with turnout. I tried out over night, when sugar levels are lowest, but he came in with a digital pulse which lasted half the day and I was panicking a bit.

Now just turning him out first thing in the morning - grass sugar levels are supposedly at their lowest from 3am until 10am and although I am not intending to get up at dawn, I have tried just turning him out from 7am until 11am, which isn't very long, but is the most I will risk at the moment.

I have got a starvation paddock, which is mainly for the old ponies, so I have put him in there but it really is bare earth since the lack of rain, so I feel that's a bit extreme! I end up giving them hay to compensate, so as he is bigger than them I think he probably eats more of the hay than he should.

Can you fence off a smaller part of your field, and have them both out together, one in the smaller part of the field? You need to graze it down first ideally, or start off with short sessions in there. It's all about avoiding a sugar high so I feed D&H Safe and Sound with speedibeet, and if I am turning out I only give him a tiny breakfast so he doesn't get a sudden rush of sugar.

I think I am going to try a grazing muzzle next, as I have the same problem with having to have someone else in with him. Have resisted the muzzle as he headshakes and I think it will seriously annoy him, but better than being in all day.

Have you tried the Yahoo Metabolic Horse group? It's a really informative group set up by people who know quite a lot. I signed up and got loads of info from them. I have eventually turned off the daily emails because it gets a bit repetitive, with new people joining and asking the same questions, but I learnt loads about things to try, medication options etc. Give it a try - it helped me make some better decisions about how I manage it.

 

[ticobay831]

Im having him blood tested later just to see how bad hes got it, he went down with it so the vet thought last year during the winter months he could hardly walk vet says probably a bit of lami and arthritis but wasnt reacting like he should to the pain tests, so just kept him in and cut everything down fitted with heart bars, he was fine after a few weeks and have tried to manage him since then, but hes slowly getting fat pockets again and his neck is quite cresty, hes 26 and dosnt do much at all now as he is a bit stiff and can be a bit pottery from time to time, i try to lunge him in school every other day just walk and gentle trot unless hes feeling well and starts doing walk to canter transitions :-/

Hes in during the day and out from about 8 at night tryingnto get him in early was 5.30 this morning was told to graze at night between 10pm and 6am grazing during the day was bad as the sun increases the sugar levels in the grass,,, god help me when it does eventually rain..

So ill see how he goes with that, ive read so many conflicting articles about when and when not to graze its all rather confussing :-/ read one last week saying morning grass is worse because of the dew and grazingduring the day is fine because the suns on the grass!!!!!! :-/ :-/ totally confussed.com