Considering putting my elder gelding on Succeed. He’s now on Probios, but not long enough to see any improvement in weight. Vet says weight loss is probably due to problems with nutrition absorption in the hindgut. Teeth are all there and okay.
And what exactly is the Succeed Conditioning Program?
Succeed was a mini-miracle for my older mare (17 years). She has always been a hard keeper and prone to ulcers. Started Succeed last spring after she had a bad bout of diarrhea and her weight dropped. The diarrhea was 80% better within 72 hours and she continued to improve and gain weight over the next 6-8 weeks.
Succeed is an (expensive!) digestive conditioning program that helps the hindgut. The company that makes it offers a 60-day risk-free trial (search for “take the SUCCEED challenge”). You have to keep a journal documenting your horse’s progress or lack thereof. If you are not pleased with the results after 60 days, the company will refund your money. I stopped keeping the journal after 3 weeks because my horse improved so much.
My horse was on Probios before starting Succeed and I continue to give her Probios. I plan on keeping her on Succeed for long term. As a bonus, she loves the stuff. If I turn my back, she takes the container out of her tack cupboard and tries to help herself to an extra serving.
Good luck with your gelding!
Thank you. I am very pleased that we can usually get “real” answers from Cothers. I’ll order some tomorrow.
If you search for threads on Suceed there is a recipe for a home made equivalent.
If your horse is metabolic i would be questioning the safety of this product. Being the ingredients are: Oat Flour, Oat oil Irradiated Dried Yeast,L-threonine.L-Glutamine & Guar Gum. Seems awful expensive for what it is,nothing real special there in my book.
I recently did a month of Succeed with some good results with a horse that has had chronic loose stools. His stools firmed up a bit intermittently, although the loose stools continued to come and go.
When I stopped the Succeed, lose stools returned. I then put him on SmartDigest Ultra with amazingly positive results. Within 48 hours, his stools were total normal, “apples,” which I had not seen previously at all.
I also gave a week of SandClear prior to the SmartDigest Ultra.
This is one horse, one owner, etc. So take it with a grain of salt. But I am a big fan of the SmartDigest Ultra for this horse and he is already gaining weight, after being on it for about a week.
What in particular concerns you for a metabolic horse?
Seems awful expensive for what it is,nothing real special there in my book.
Except that it works wonders for many horses. Oat flour and glutamine actually have science behind them for this purpose. I know others have tried making their own “poor man’s Succeed” with those 2 ingredients but I don’t know if they were particularly successful
My vet recommends Daily Start by equishine instead of Succeed. She sees the same results at a much lower cost. I have also used Equishure with good results but mostly for hind gut acidosis.
I did the Succeed challenge for a mare with persistent cow patty poops. It didn’t help her, but the refund process was painless, and I wouldn’t hesitate to try it again if I had a horse that I thought it might help. Highly recommend going through Succeed directly if you’d like to give it a try.
Different things work for different horses.
My Equine Metabolic Horse was on “Succeed” for 2-12 years. He had never colicked a day in his life, until he colicked nine times during his 25th year.
Succeed was the only thing that stopped his colics. He had hind gut issues that included strangulating lipomas. The vet said it was a miracle he had two more years of quality life. I attribute that, in a large way, to the Succeed and a very strict diet.
EquiSure works on a lot of horses for hind gut issues and is almost half the price of Succeed. It didn’t do anything for my horse so I sucked it up and spent the money on Succeed:)
If you do the Succeed challenge read the instructions first and keep all the packaging in case you want the refund. I did NOT read all the words and did not get my entire refund because I had tossed some packaging they want back… (Not their fault, the instructions are clear…).
Also, Succeed did not work for my horse, but for a barn mate it is the only thing that keeps her belly happy…
[QUOTE=JB;8923511]
What in particular concerns you for a metabolic horse?
Except that it works wonders for many horses. Oat flour and glutamine actually have science behind them for this purpose. I know others have tried making their own “poor man’s Succeed” with those 2 ingredients but I don’t know if they were particularly successful[/QUOTE]
Was just my thought it wouldn’t be safe for a metabolic horse being it has oat flour/oat oil. But i see one user here used it on a metabolic horse,so i’m wrong. I do know quite a few people who have used it and it didn’t do ANYTHING for their horses. They didn’t do the succeed challenge so wasted their money on it.
I used Succeed for several years on my mare. After she began having colic issues, Rood and Riddle did a scope. No ulcers, but she was having low gut motility. They suggested using EquiShure. It has been the answer for my, now, metabolic mare. Since my mare cannot have sugar, I have had to cut out the ProBios in her diet. I just give extra EquiShure. So far, so good. Of course, she is on Tyro-L and Prescend, too.
I did the 60 day Succeed Challenge on my OTTB last year. It absolutely helped him pack on a little bit of weight over the 60 days, but his chronic loose manure was untouched for the most part by the Succeed. I did like the positive results in his weight and overall condition, so I did not ask for my refund of $200, and I supplemented him with SmartDigest Ultra afterwards to stay on the trend (has some similar ingredients to Succeed). After 6 months on the Ultra and still seeing no improvement in manure, I dropped him down to the regular SmartDigest. It still supports his hindgut, but played no role in helping the loose manure. That took another almost year to control.
Obviously by the nature of the responses here, your mileage WILL vary. I recommend ordering through Succeed’s website using the 60 day challenge so you have the option to get your money back if you are unsatisfied. As I said, I couldn’t ask for my money back in good conscious because it did help with my horse’s weight.
Thanks to all who replied!!
I ordered a month’s supply of the granules last night from Allivet. (Lowest price & free shipping) So we’ll see.
His recent history does NOT include: diarrhea, loss of appetite, colic*, drastic changes in diet, or changes in environment. Teeth are checked whenever the vet comes & floated when necessary. Wormed twice a year (now). This year, blood work revealed a very early case of Cushings and IR (IR has been on and off for the past 10 years, dependent on who-knows-what). Has recurring rain rot. Needs to have his horse buddies in the very next stall to prevent anxiety.
Not exactly low maintenance. :rolleyes:
*A couple of years ago, he had several severe colics. Increased salt saved his life. Seems to have a higher salt requirement than other horses.
Resurrecting this thread as I just ordered "Take the Succeed Challenge " box for my guy that is having obvious signs of ulcers: biting at sides, weight loss, grinding teeth prior to riding, unusually spooky , My vet gave me 10 tubes of a compound omeprazole , he gets alfalfa twice a day and is on a lot of turnout.
He was in Aiken for training and came back looking fab. Within 3 weeks it became apparent he was having issues. He had meticulous management down there, always had hay in front of him and a mash at least 2 times a day. He came back to a boarding barn with bolus feeding and stalled for up to 5 days “because it rained last week”. I moved him to a barn 6 min from me so I could get ahead of this.
I am going to have a hay bag in front of him 24/7 when he is in the barn, we will do Outlast twice a day, his omeprazole and will do the Succeed Challenge which is 30 days of Succeed paste and then 30 days of the granules . I literally can’t do any more management wise. Wish me luck!
You ca do more–have him scoped, and if he shows signs of hind gut ulcers, your vet can prescribe drugs to help. Succeed will not necessarily clear up hind gut ulcers. They might give you a scrip for misoprostol without the scope…
I will look into that. Thanks.
Ulcers are the pits–its sounds like you’re determined to get to the bottom of it, though!
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