My husband’s new horse, Diesel, is/has foundered. He’d foundered before we got him (he was a rescue, so little information was available). Took the grazing muzzle off too soon - well, now we know… We kept him on stall rest for 4 days per the vet and now has limited turnout on a dry lot. Moved my mare, his pal, because she was bored without grass and was entertaining herself by chasing him. He’s getting a handful of low starch grain and orchard grass (which we are about to start soaking, again on the advice of the vet. Is there anything we can give him as a treat - he’s pretty pathetic!
Pats and snuggles!
Massage or grooming.
Food is not love.
IS there always room for Jell-O?
[QUOTE=JanWeber;6014733]
Is there anything we can give him as a treat - he’s pretty pathetic![/QUOTE]
Lots of pats and scratches - on the chest, under the mane, scratch all of his really itchy areas and he’ll appreciate that no end!
If you really feel compelled to give treats, I remember one of my students, many years ago, who had a diabetic horse. The only “safe” treats her vet would allow her to feed her beloved horse were home-made, sugarless Jell-O Jigglers. She made them by the dozen, fed the horse one or two a day and he did seem to enjoy them, but for some reason they always seemed to be cherry flavour and the horse was an elderly grey, so old that he was almost pure white… After eating one of his “treats” he looked quite a lot like a vampire horse, or at least like what one might expect a vampire horse to look like, with a bloody mouth!
Jell-O isn’t something we have at home, so I don’t have a box handy and can’t investigate the ingredients. Whether those “treats” are actually low-carb enough to qualify as truly “safe” for a foundered horse, I don’t know. Sad but true: A lot of the “sugarless” items in the shops are actually very high in sugars of almost all kinds, with table sugar as such being the only form that’s missing from the label. Perhaps someone else knows whether sugarless Jell-O Jigglers would be safe? Anyone?
Massage or grooming.
Food is not love.
Tell that to my IR mare.
When I need to give her shots, or do something she hates, I give her a 1/4 inch piece of a really skinny carrot. She stands like a trooper on parade.
What Katy said.
I’ve never fed treats to my homebred horses. Touch and soothing connecting to them they seek. Don’t need treats for that. In fact, food can get in the way of real connection wtih them.
My horses come flying when I call just because they want my company as their caregiver – not because they expect food. We all do well that way.
You can’t buy a horses love with food, and unfortunately it can often be the death of them with metabolic problems. Tough love for those who have learned that friendship by “treating”/bribing – due to horses’ clever manipulation to make one think that’s all they want from you. Not so! 
You could try these as they should be fine for him:
http://stores.skodeshorsetreats.com/StoreFront.bok
Or a cheaper alternative if you have a Triple Crown feed dealer close by that carries them is a bag of Ontario Dehy Balanced Timothy Cubes (ODBT). It’ll last a very long time when fed as treats:
http://www.triplecrownfeed.com/forages/timothy-balance-cubes-equine-nutrition-equinenutrition
Make sure it’s the “balanced” cubes as Ontario Dehy makes other types - I think these have a lavender tag on the bag - as those are the safe ones for most IR and Cushings horses.
My IR mare loves the ODBT cubes. I don’t feed them to her as a feed but put them inside these:
http://www.nose-it.com/
Keeps her moving, busy, and happy.
Good luck to you and hubby with your new guy.
I give my horse Hilton Herballs, which are healthy treats made for IR horses. They smell great, like pizza, made with oregano. You get a decent amount in a small package, they don’t crumble, and all the horses I’ve given them to love them.
http://www.smartpakequine.com/hilton-herballs-5382p.aspx?cm_mmc=Google--AVG_Supplements_E--Herbal-_-hilton%20herballsiq_id=32545994
The latest review is mine.
A couple of grams if sugar aren’t going to hurt a horse. There’s more sugar in a flake of even the lowest-sugar hay than there are in a couple of carrots.
The horse already is groomed, brushed, massaged, and scratched in all the itchy spots. I see nothing wrong with an occasional treat - surprised it’s such a hot button for some of you. Thanks, pony baloney, for the suggestion. I’ll stop by Horseman’s Outlet tomorrow to pick some up.
I have no problems with the occasional treat. I know some people who think food = love and rarely snuggle/brush/kiss/love on their ponies, so was just offering that up. 
What’s wrong with a piece of apple or carrot? Not a bag load of course. Has he got plenty of dry fibrous food to nibble on? LIke grass seed straw? What is orchard grass? Not fresh green I hope. No grass, no processed feed. A handful of oaten chaff would be good. If you have grass hay, make sure you soak it for an hour before you feed it. Put a couple of slices in a hay net and dunk in an old barrel full of water. Bit of a pain though. I would find straw type of feed which doesn’t have much sugar but is great for his gut and good for his feet. Stand him in a creek too if you have one. I used to tie mine to the bridge and sit and read a book.
My treat of choice for the IR mare is alfalfa cubes. She gets two in her grazing muzzle every morning. You have never seen a horse more in love with her grazing muzzle.:lol:
Actually, the horse feed Nutritionist told me, NO GRAIN, NO GRASS. So get any type of straw fodder for him to eat - as much as he likes. A handful of oaten chaff should be ok as there should be very little oats in it. You are going to have to manage him all the time. No short treats of grass. No molassed feeds, No grain at all! soak meadow hay but also make sure it is very plain and older.
I buy sugar free mints at the drug store. My horse loves them.
I seem to recall a similar post ages ago that suggested celery slices as a good treat for a severely IR horse.
standlee (TSC) makes a small alfalfa and cranberry nugget too.
when my friend’s horse foundered we made sure he had no grain, not even a handful of low starch stuff, he got no molasses beet pulp shreds rinsed so he could feel part of the rest of the herd at breakfast and dinner.
[QUOTE=deltawave;6014953]
A couple of grams if sugar aren’t going to hurt a horse. There’s more sugar in a flake of even the lowest-sugar hay than there are in a couple of carrots.[/QUOTE]
This. Just don’t feed him the whole bag! I feed my IR pony sugar free lifesavers.
jan
i’ve given kip skodes treats in the past. she LOVED them!
sweet potatoes are also a very good treat for metabolic horses. again, kip, and every other horse at crosswinds, loved them, too.
Peanuts (in shell) and celery are recommended on the ECIR list. All the horses like both, altho it took them a few times to get used to the celery pieces. I give my IR boy a few alfalfa/bermuda pellets as his regular feed is the ODTBcubes. He occasionally gets a few carrot pieces.
I give the IR horse alfalfa cubes, sun flower seeds and Hilton Herb Balls as treats. For special occasions he gets sugar free peppermints.
