I have a gelding who seems to be getting impactions. Does anyone have experience with the feeds listed above? these are the ones available close by and I am wondering which one is best. He can receive it either dry or soaked.
Where is he getting impactions, intestine or hind gut?
Lifeline and HiPro both manufacture a range of feeds for different needs, including high fat and ration balancers, and feed for mares and weanlings and seniors. So you need to specify which product you are comparing.
In general I would suggest a feed that is based on forage rather than grain. You will need to e-mail both Hi Pro and Otter Co-op for Lifeline to get the ingredients and NSC of the feeds. IME, Lifeline is more forage based than Hi Pro.
You want to look for feeds that have alfalfa, soy husks, beet pulp, as their first ingredients rather than oats, corn, barley, wheat. Wheat middlings are different from wheat.
I am not familiar with Nutrena but Safechoice online looks more conmprehensively fortified than anything in the Lifeline or Hi Pro range. I don’t however see any ingredients listed for Safechoice either.
I say low grain content just on the off chance that undigested grain in the hind gut is causing problems.
But IME the big thing about impaction is getting water into them. So choose something that can make a nice soupy mash, and feed that at least twice a day. If you want to give him multiple mashes, you might want to use hay cubes or beet pulp as a less nutrient dense ingredient that will make a bigger mash without adding too many calories.
You might also want to soak his hay. And add salt to his mashes.
Make sure his water is clean and fresh at all times.
You might also want to check if there is a reason he is not drinking enough, like ulcers or gas.
Get his teeth checked by a vet willing to do a good job both examining and fixing any troubled teeth. Horse is likely not chewing properly or not drinking enough water, or both, if it’s having repeat impaction colics. Do that before throwing a supplement in there. But soaking anything he gets can’t hurt.
What and how much are you feeding now? Possible just tweaking that besides the teeth will save you extra trips to the feed store. And where are you located? Sandy soil? Has a vet determined it is impaction colic? If not, what are you seeing that leads to assuming it’s impaction?
He is getting hind gut impactions and is not terribly dehydrated. He will be going on to soaked cubes and a slow feed net also when he leaves the vet but he is typically a hard keeper so that alone will not keep weight on him.
First step is email the companies and get the ingredients and nsc for their lines of product. Then you can decide which ones meet your horse’s needs, and if you want more feedback on narrowing the choice between the two, then you can post your runners-up here. Most of the posters on this board are American, and they don’t get Lifeline or the Hi Pro Step formulas. On the other hand, in Canada we don’t get many of the American brands!
I feed molasses free, soupy beet pulp to all my horses in addition to a ration balancer. One horse is prone to choke and her serving has standing water in it which she drinks when finished with beet pulp. They are kept on a large dry lot with hay rations so I use the beet pulp to replace the lack of full time succulent grass.
Some of the things that can contribute to impaction colics are dehydration, fasting and grains. As earlier posters mentioned, try to keep him hydrated and make sure he has clean water available 24/7. Break up his meals (grain) into several smaller meals. Finally give him access to forage 24/7 or as close to that as possible. Horses’ digestive systems are not designed to fast for long periods. Even 8 hours without forage can be disruptive to some horses. Hanging a slow feeder hay net and keeping it full, should be helpful.
