Simple Systems Horse Feed - Please Be Careful

[vanrim]

I believe Simple Systems feed caused severe gastric ulcers in 3 horses on my yard for the following reasons. I have 5 horses - 3 were on the feed 2 were not. The 3 horses on the feed all got gastric ulcers at exactly the same time. The other 2 are completely unaffected. Also the mare was treated with Gastro Guard for a month while still on the feed (I had not put 2 and 2 together at that stage) and when rescoped she still had grade iv ulcers. When she was retreated with a month Gastro Guard and not on the feed she rescoped clear. Two of the 3 horses are so bad they cannot be ridden 4 months after the ulcers were treated. The specialist at Leahurst now thinks the ulcers have caused nerve damage. They are 4 and 6 years old and may never be ridden again. I have come across so many people that have had serious problems with this feed - I just wish someone had warned me.

 

[Scarlett]

Were you feeding the alfalfa based products?

Lots of horses are intolerant to too much of it, if your grazing is also high in legumes then you are asking for trouble unfortunately. I have 2 who can't touch alfalfa of any brand but who are ulcer free on SS grass nuts.

As with everything I would imagine it wold be a mixture of certain poor circumstances than just the feed itself, which doesn't help you out admittedly, but it isn't fair to single out the feed itself IMO without looking at every single aspect of the horses management.