Best option for adding energy

[blob99]

My mare has had equine asthma for about 5 years now. Allergy testing has told us that primary triggers are mold and certain pollens. We manage with a mix of daily apoquel and steroids when there is a flare up. But it did necessitate the change from a show horse in a fairly heavy workload to a life where we do what she can when she can to keep her fit and happy. Effectively this means she is ridden 3-5x a week, sometimes this is ‘proper work’ other times it is a looong walk-only hack, sometimes it is something in between.

She is out 24/7 and has free choice access to both grass and orchard hay. She had been getting 1lb of the triple crown balancer a day. She also gets 1 flake of alfalfa a day because her pasture mate gets some and if she didn’t also, she would eat his. But over the winter she became chunkier than I’d like, and going to less than 1lb of balancer didn’t make sense nor did I want to limit forage. So, I pulled the balancer and switched her to 1lb of a hay stretcher pellet + vermont blend pro. Hay/grass set up unchanged. So far she’s done great with this switch and has slimed down a lot and is at a lean/healthy weight.

Interestingly an unexpected positive side effect has been that her breathing also seems much improved. This improvement started pretty instantly, so I don’t think it’s weight loss induced, though being a good weight certainly helps. It makes me think that her asthma might have been trigged by something in her feed.

The negative side effect is that when riding her energy has been low. When she was a performance horse, if her caloric intake was low, so was her energy and usually it meant she needed something upped. However, now I’m in a different situation. Normally I would just add back a bit of either the TC balancer or some of the TC senior my barn offers (1/4lb-1/2lb). But given the breathing improvement, I don’t want to do this. I don’t need her to be a fire breathing dragon or anything, but lack of energy when doing things she’s normally excited for, tells me something is not yet ideal in what she’s getting.

So, exploring some options and wanted to get thoughts from others.

Available at the barn: adding more hay stretcher (though i think this won’t necessarily get me what I need); adding beet pulp

Supplements (needs to be a dry/not liquid): finding a simple fat source (ground flax, etc); adding protein (tri-amino or something of the sort); something else???

[atlatl]

Rice bran might help. Just a heads up it made one of my horses very high; the others had no problem. I wouldn’t pull the balancer.

[RhythmNCruise]

Oats? My gelding can’t have them as he gets a little too “energetic” (wired and spooky), but many horses do fine on them.

If carbs are a no-no, I second the rice bran suggestion or any other form of fat. It doesn’t seem to give my gelding any extra energy, he just gets shiny and…well…fat…but every horse is different.

[lintesia]

Is she getting a magnesium supplement? Too much magnesium can make a horse “dull” or at least that has been my experience.

[Myta]

I’ve read great things about adding beet pulp for energy. I have a rather easy keeper who’s been on an RB for many years. He gets a handful of soaked beet pulp daily to get other supplements to stick, but I give him a couple of cups before a riding lesson or a competition to help boost his energy. The slight increase in dosage has never had any ill effects on his gi system and it helps him to get through an hour long jump lesson. I think there’s a difference in his energy levels with it, but that could always just be my rose colored lenses after adding it. He’s never been hot on it. But he’s not dragging at the end anymore unless it’s really humid out.

[PaddockWood]

Yeah, I’d order a container of Tri Amino and Santa Cruz’s BCAA’s and see if you notice a difference.

[blob99]

The TC balancer was already pulled, which is why she’s now on the vermont blend. And I won’t add it back in since it’s made a big difference in breathing.

Rice bran is a good idea, I will see if she’ll eat it, she can get fussy.

[blob99]

i could be very wrong here, but these two essentially do the same thing, right? So trying one or the other should work?

[Pehsness]

I recently added oats for this very reason. Nominal amount, 3 cups a day. Apparently that is a negligible amount and shouldn’t be having an impact, but his energy is noticeabley improved. No other changes to his diet.

Also have trouble with allergies, and spiraling really helps him.

[PaddockWood]

The BCAAs dont’ include the Tri Amino amino acids that are provided.

BCAA Horse Supplement – UltraCruz® | Santa Cruz Animal Health

They provide different ones.

[PaddockWood]

And I’d add the Vermont Blend provides the lysine, threonine and the other one so doing the Tri Amino would just be through one container to boost those. I wish I didn’t know this stuff but the universe decided I should have a PSSM2 horse.

Who is now going much better under saddle with a tight diet with all the amino acids etc AND exercise.