PSSM horse owners- feed question

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scats

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To those with PSSM, have you found any particular feeds cause your horse to be symptomatic or to struggle/be sluggish again?

I ask because my mare was doing really well, but the addition of a recommended feed has caused a notable backwards change in her. Obviously I have knocked this on the head and am back to what was working, but I am curious as to whether particular brands or feeds have caused this change in others. Feel free to PM me.
 
Mine can't tolerate loads of things including micronised linseed, and it would seem anything with msn in it. I wouldn't feed a complete feed to any PSSM horse as they nearly all contain something inappropriate - even the ones marketed for horses that tie up.
 
With ours we have never changed her feed, she was on the same before we knew about the PSSM and started the supplements, I think if it working, the horse looks and feels well there is no reason to risk a setback by changing the diet so have no idea what she could not tolerate, she is on the same as the rest of mine, grassnuts and thunderbrooks chaff in relatively small quantities as she looks rather well, adlib haylage and turned out every day, the only time she went backwards a bit was when her exercise was a bit limited due to the frozen ground.
 
One of mine can't do micronised linseed either. I thought she was fine with the small amount in her joint supplement, but she's got increasingly cranky so I've pulled her off it.

So far we seem (crossing fingers, touching wood etc) to tolerate kwik beet, copra and honeychop. Not too much kwik beet though otherwise she gets a dodgy tummy.
 
Thanks, this is really interesting. Mine can't seem to tolerate any cube/pellet type feed. I assume it must be something in it that creates the consistency? It doesn't matter whether it's a balancer, hi-fibre cube or working cube. Yet she is absolutely fine on mixes.
 
I think molasses is used as a binding agent for a lot of cubes and pellets. I'm also beginning to find micronised linseed is a filler in most powder balancers and joint supplements - frustrating!
 
FfionWinnie said:
Molasses usually. What sort of mixes? Straights are much safer.
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Straights didn't agree with her at all. What has made a significant difference to her is Saracens Shape- up balancer and then a cup of pasture mix in her snack ball. If she has hi fibre cubes or similar in her ball she goes symptomatic again.

There is molasses in saracens shape-up so I doubt it can be that.
 
FfionWinnie said:
Is she type 1 or 2. When I talk about straights I don't mean cereals.
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Type 2.

It's been a tough journey that largely began a year after I bought her. I've had horses for nearly 30 years, have come across numerous health and training issues, but just couldn't put my finger on why I was struggling to get her fit. The fitter she should have been getting, the worse she got. I have lupus and I even blamed myself, that I couldn't get her fit due to my own illness. It was when 2 separate instructors commented on how rock hard she holds herself and that there was something not right about her performance levels, and me having to tease her around an intro test last summer before she practically collapsed that I realised something serious was going on. A lot of vet investigations and we landed on PSSM type 2.

FFion- can I ask what feeds/feed combinations you have tried in the past that have been most successful? A bit about the mare- she is 9, 14.hh coloured cob, very good doer, I do dressage on her and farm/hunt rides, and she is in work 6 days a week- a combination of schooling and productive hacking (we don't dawdle).
 
Type 2 needs a higher protein diet and is less sensitive to sugar I believe. I feed my mare (who is type 1) dengie alfalfa pellets and coolstance copra. She has a Rockies chelated molasses free mineral lick.

You still want to feed a low sugar and starch diet but something Ike alfalfa pellets would provide a good source of protein but not too much sugar. They are much lower in sugar than most grass pellets hence they are preferred if they work for your horse.

I have not found any balancer or mineral supplement that doesn't contain something she cannot have.

Ps also read that type 2 work best on a day on day off regime where as type 1 work best on a same exercise daily regime. This is because type 2 causes muscle wastage. That said if she's in work and it's working I wouldn't get too hung up on changing her exercise.

Type 2 isn't my boring you to death specialist subject but that is what I've picked up about it.
 
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FfionWinnie said:
Type 2 needs a higher protein diet and is less sensitive to sugar I believe. I feed my mare (who is type 1) dengie alfalfa pellets and coolstance copra. She has a Rockies chelated molasses free mineral lick.

You still want to feed a low sugar and starch diet but something Ike alfalfa pellets would provide a good source of protein but not too much sugar. They are much lower in sugar than most grass pellets hence they are preferred if they work for your horse.

I have not found any balancer or mineral supplement that doesn't contain something she cannot have.

Ps also read that type 2 work best on a day on day off regime where as type 1 work best on a same exercise daily regime. This is because type 2 causes muscle wastage. That said if she's in work and it's working I wouldn't get too hung up on changing her exercise.

Type 2 isn't my boring you to death specialist subject but that is what I've picked up about it.
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Thank you. I've played around with exercise and found that she struggles doing 2 days in the school, so we tend to do 1 day in the school and the next out hacking. She didn't cope well with a day on and day off routine. A big breakthrough was realising she needs 20 minutes walking before we even go into trot. If I try to introduce trot work earlier than that, she starts to puff and struggle. It's been trial and error really.

She also won't eat Alfalfa pellets or grass pellets, nomatter how mushy they are. She is an extremely picky-eater so finding a feed that she will eat has been hard.
I tried micronised linseed also, on veterinary advice, but she won't touch that either.
 
I would suspect she prefers the nice molasses/chemical coated mixes for the simple reason they are coated with stuff. It's like us preferring junk food. The feeds I mention are very bland in comparison but most mixes contain those things with additives to make them moreish! You could add a few pellets to what she will eat and very gradually change the ratio. Fenugreek may also be worth trying or mint.
 
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