Settlelex and wind sucking

[bbcrystal]

I have just moved yards and one of the people on there is complaining because my horse windsucks slightly. she only does it after tit-bits or a feed. Has anyone any experience of Settlelex? My vet has poo pooed it and said I would be better cutting out all hard feed and just giving ad lib haylege and hope that this cures her. Anyone got any other advice?

 

[Charlie007]

Hi, my boy cribs after tit bits and feed. I tried settlex and coligone etc, but nothing really worked. He is on ad lib hay, hi-original and a few nuts, but even with this hi fibre diet he still does it. Fortunately i'm at a yard where no one minds and I don't mind either. I don;t try to stop him. Plenty of turn out with company is recommended as is a high fibre diet. Are ulcers a possibilty? If so might be worth checking that out? Its a shame that people are annoyed by this habit as it is usually caused by us anyway!! Hope you find something that helps xx

 

[L&M]

As the above post - I have a mild cribber/windsucker with a history of ulcers, but have not found a supplement that has helped, so just ensure he is turned out as much as possible, has a non cereal diet, and has access to forage at all times. I had my lad scoped a few weeks ago and he was clear on the ulcer front but do manage him carefully, so hopefully the hard work is paying off.
Do you know what triggers off the behaviour? For example mine will do it if he sees another horse being fed before him, so always make sure he gets fed first.

 

[SpottedCat]

Settlex is excellent - my horse had grade 4 ulcers which were treated by the leading ulcer vet in the country. He suggested neighlox (which is excellent as a supplement but megabucks) - research showed that Settlex was identical ingredients bar one, and the main difference was it is powder not pellets. I put my horse onto it and vet was so impressed at how text-book perfect his stomach was that he insisted on seeing the tub and agreed it was doing a great job as a preventative. I highly recommend it and they do 50% off codes all the time.

I mentioned it to someone on my yard as her horse windsucks/cribs and has a collar - she tried some of mine, then ended up buying some and we reckon it has reduced the cribbing and windsucking - though not eliminated it alltogether.

 

[teddyt]

OP- do you feed any cereals? if so, stop- only feed fibre feeds. I also agree with your vet re ad lib haylage. I dont know the ingredients of settlex but some research has shown that antacids can make things worse because they reduce the acidity in the gut for a short time before the body produces even more acid to re-balance the pH.

 

[bbcrystal]

Thanks for all your replies... she has been having some pasture mix and now thinking about it has windsucked more since giving her this... I will knock it off and stick with a bit of chaff and no tit-bits and see how she goes.