Sugar Intolerance

[DellaMoon]

Does anyone have experience of horses with an intolerance to sugar? What are the symptoms and how do you manage it?

My mare gets very bloated on the slightest bit of grass. This goes down pretty much overnight when she's eating 12hr soaked hay.She's not fat, can just about see ribs and can feel them, just have this ongoing problem with her bloating. She's on a small handfull of Hi-Fi morning and night with protexin gut balancer pm and pink powder am. When I first got her she went through a stage of about a month with very runny poo. This is now totally under control with the supplements she is getting. I would just love to know what it is that bloats her so i can put a stop to it!! Thank you for your help.

 

[lochpearl]

Are you sure it is a sugar intolerance? Have you had her tested? The reason I ask is that we have a gelding on the yard that does have a sugar intolerance and he cannot graze on certain pastures either. The only feed she is able to feed him is Allen and Page ride and Relax and Redigrass as they have zero molasses. She also has to make sure that he doesn't have certain hay that has the grass he is allergic to.

He doesn't bloat which is why I am wondering if your horse is intolerant to sugar or something else. The gelding gets very itchy and scratches himself raw when he has been exposed to these sugars, they then get infected and it takes a long time to heal, he then has to have lots of piriton to help.

 

[jsr]

My cob was diagonised (sp) 2 years ago with this. He dropped 100kg in 2 weeks and I honestly thought he was going to die it was such a dramatic downturn!! Luckily he's on the most appauling grazing so grass doesn't cause him problems but I've had to spend alot of time and money researching the feeds he can have. Not saying this will suit your mare but this is what I feed him:

Split into 2 meals a day Fast Fibre 1kg, Calm & Condition 1kg (now just moved him on to Relax and Ride as his weight is back to normal) mixed with a big handful of Graze-on.

Also 1 large haynet of good grade hay soaked for 20mins.

To his feed I have to add Brewers Yeast, I tried every single digestive supplement and found this worked best...and luckily it's fairly cheap to buy compared to some supplements!! I also fed for a few months Milk Thistle seeds, these definately helped the scouring. I add mint to settle his stomach and Rosehip but that's for his joints and not related.

I don't know why my boy suddenly developed this problem, previously he'd been on very lush grazing at a farm and I'd never seen any signs of bloating, scouring or weight loss.


Lochpearl Just read your post, that's really interesting the cob sounds exactly like mine!! Good to know we've both found the best feeds in Allen & Page!! My boy doesn't bloat really either, only did if he got to the haylage!!

 

[lochpearl]

jsr - yes he's not mine and can only pass on what I have been told about him. He is a section D very strange markings, bought as a steel grey, went beautifully dappled and now white but has pink and spotty points around eyes and face, the rest of him is totally grey now. I believe that he only got sensitive when he moved to our yard, so there must be something at our yard/nearby that set it off. He cannot go into certain fields which have flooding or 'ponds' as they grow a lot of the grass that he is allergic to.

 

[DellaMoon]

Not at all sure it's a sugar intolerance, just trying to narrow down the possibilities. She had a rash early this summer but it wasn't very itchy and didn't last long. She hates molasses and won't touch field licks etc. Only other thing I can think of is grass intolerance but not sure of the symptoms for that either!!

 

[jsr]

Have you got paddocks to choose from or just one? If more than one I'd move her around and see if she gets the same reaction from each paddock. Even go to the extend of moving her to another grazing place if that's possible? Just to discount that specific grazing as being the problem.

 

[DellaMoon]

She's been on three paddocks at our yard with the same response. Don't have an option of moving her as have no transport.

 

[lochpearl]

Dellamoon, where are you based? Just wondering if it is the 'area' you might be in.This horse on the yard was moved only about 3 miles from the last and he went from being fine for 10 years and then getting these problems when he moved to the yard 6 years ago.

Could you not have your horse tested.

 

[DellaMoon]

We're north of Huntingdon on fairly clayey soil. The grass is fairly stressed, certainly not lush fen grass!!!

I'm going to give her a chance to settle into her winter routine before talking to the vet again. When I spoke to them earlier in the year he seemed to think it was just part of her putting condition on- she was VERY poor when I got her.

 

[lochpearl]

Ah right, I'm south cambs but the grass can be so different even at the same yards.

Maybe the bloating is because she was so poor when you got her and she is still climatising herself to take in proper food and forage. The other thing that might be causing the bloating is how long you soak the hay for. Is there any reason why you soak it for so long? I do notice the difference in water content when I give my boys 8 hours soaked hay to even 2.

Sounds like you are doing really well with her and well done x

 

[DellaMoon]

Thank you Lochpearl. I'm trying my best, just hope I'm getting it right! I soak it for so long because she is a very good doer now so I'm trying to get as much sugar out as pos. She was the same off hay and on dry so don't think it's that!!

 

[catdragon]

I had a similar situation with my mare. She's fine in winter, but as soon as spring grass starts to grow we'd have 6 to 7 months of the squits, in fact when I first got her her droppings were more like cow pats :-( as she's white her back end was plastered with what I could only call "poo juice" which my vet thought an apt description!

After trials and tribulations I now have her settled - her droppings are poo shaped and she seems less belly achey < apologies for that word, didn't know how else to put it !

She's on (morning and night) 1 scoop Hi-Fi good do-er. 200g Spiller hi fibre low calorie nuts, 1 scoop Biotal equine gold, 1 scoop garlic and 1/2 beaker (dry measurement) of SOAKED Speedi-beet. The equine gold naturally maintains her guts healthy bacteria, the speedi-beet helps with the sugar "spikes". And this year I stopped giving her carrots and she's just like a "normal" horse now in both her belly and her droppings.