Nope, nothing bad has happened to me WRT “natural” remedies, etc. I would argue that feeding a horse baking soda is highly unnatural, though.
It’s not just this thread that shapes my response. Yes indeed people DO insist that feeding baking soda alters blood pH. ALL THE TIME. People freely and liberally interchange belief, knowledge, fact, anecdote, personal experience and the putative wisdom of old-time horsemen on a very regular basis. I simply like to sort those things into their respective categories. Starting with good, solid, facts and working on down the line.
The plural of anecdote is not data. Nobody bothers to respond to the “it didn’t work for me” statements (see above) because that’s sort of “no news”. Yet they pounce on an anecdote where someone swears “remedy X” has instantaneous and miraculous effect. Human nature? Of course.
I’ve seen a good number of gassy, uncomfortable horses get better “poof, good as new” with no intervention whatsoever. BORING. Ever had a bad bout of gas? Hurts like the devil, and 100% of the time it gets better.
Having said that, for the umpteenth time I’ll reiterate my opinion that people really ought to do what they think is best, and sift opinions from other people according to their own personal system of weights and measures. It’s a free country.
Geez, I dunno but if I had a bloated gasey horse, the last thing I’d want to feed is something that is going to produce more gas. It would take a lot of bicarb to have an effect on the pH in the stomach I would think…stomach is going to produce more acid isn’t it?
Deltawave, providing a choice of baking soda-laced water and plain water for my very aged mare during times of sudden crisis that happened every few months in her last year (per my very educated and experience equine vet’s instructions)as she battled late stage Cushing’s as well as suspected cancer (simultaneously),was a life-saver when acidosis occured.
She was not a candidate for a hospital trip for IV therapy.
Unfortunately, I did not read this whole thread, just the last few posts before mine. I’m not a bonafide scientist as you are…but simply jumped on the bandwagon with my experience about how baking soda in MY situation helped my horse when she became severely compromised from her conditions.
Obviously, apples and oranges. I’ve only used it in an emergency situation for an aged and very compromised horse to get them through critical periods where acidosis became a big problem.
And it worked. NOT 2 TBS per day added to her diet, but 2 TBS in water…and I’ll bet she sucked down obsessively at least 4 buckets within 4 hours as she sought what she needed in times of crisis.
I always like reading your threads and your posts. I’m a science-head by nature, always have been, but alas was never able to exploit that in a science-based career. Regardless, am very careful to observe objectively and do what “makes sense” from a science-based standpoint first when dealing with any illness/anomoly in behavior.
Horses, because they cannot talk and tell you how they feel, provide a great venue to pit soley textbook science whether it be a medical issue or a training issue (what “should happen” by doing such and such) vs. owner placebo effect (of “trying something” they may have heard about from anecdotal evidence, including snake oil remedies and the newest fashion in training) vs. what is acutually helpful to that individual (“something in-between” which often spawns more research and eventually real knowledge).
Chemist, not biologist or MD here, but it seems like the sodium bicarbonate would all get consumed by the HCl in the stomach before it had a chance to get absorbed elsewhere (bloodstream or muscles). But, hey, if it makes people and horses happy and doesn’t hurt the horses, it’s OK by me.
Just keep in mind that it’s pH, not Ph, which means something altogether different in the world of chemistry;).
Hi
I have a few comments that people might be interested in or not as the case may be.
Fist my experience level is with a broad spectrum of horses, both as a rider, and as a standardbred trainer. Currently I have two horses, both stbs. Both are race horses, with future carreers as eventers. Both of my horses suffer from asidosis. With one being a horse prone to tie-up, and the other a severe colic horse that became that way due to sand colic and heavy metal poisoning. The tie-up horse became that way to the severe abuse he saw before I owned him, lack of care, and a naturally ‘delicate’ system that couldn’t take the heavy load of pre-race and yes baking soda that was pushed down his gut. He suffered from kidney failure when I got him, beans, and was emaciated, he had little chance to live, so it has been long road back.
With the colic horse, we have found that high fiber, small amounts of whole western oats-- and no feed with fillers, or processed feed are his best answer, with all the hay he wants, at the highest quality-- and grass in the summer are his best options, b vit. injected not by mouth as anything put in his stomach can set him off-- and a tub of yogurt a day (he would die without it) and we are trying him on equishure, which seems to be helping so far. What we have found is that if your horse has a hind gut problem that treating him with most things does not get past the main gut, and in fact while it will treat the first part of their stomach, the hind gut remains in trouble. PH level is certianly what the issue seems to be with both of mine. So that is why we are trying Equishure, it is costly at best (at least in Canada), but we shall see, I have so far seen a huge improvement with my tie-up horse. We also give Tattoo Tie-Free, but with Soda, and for 48 hours leading up to it we give him the non-testing soda free Tie-Free. We DO NOT give him the ‘pre-race’ dose at all, just the usual dose of Tie-Free. I would say both products with the soda do help as soda will lower PH levels, small doses are good, high doses detrimental!!! That is the lesson that any stb trainer must learn!!! and the one that they seem to never get, they seem to think that more is better, and if more is good, than even more and so on.
I would say that Tie-Free does help, as does the so far the Equishure, but for my tie up horse I had to first look at why he ties up, also I have come to the conclusion that tie up horses are often gut troubled horses??? hot excitible horses often have tie-up issues, and what does hot and excitable mean to the stomach??? acid, and gut trouble, skinny horses often, and stress, more stomach trouble. If your horse has an issue with tie-up I would suggest looking at injectible phosphorus, feed grade is alright, but injectible workes beter, of coarse it is tied with Calcium to keep the ratio. This is what saved Tattoo’s life when he started tieing up he was in serious trouble, and he nearly did die. As time has gone by we have given him less and less, and now only do before a race to keep him up on it, as it is depleted very quickly, or if it is very hot, or he becomes really stressed, but we don’t give it more than once every two weeks at this point, just a orral supllement. We fast learned that Tattoo was not just a tie-up horse, and that we had to treat the whole horse, stomach, and mucels, and system.
Che my colic horse is the hardest horse, as he has so many problems from the auto immune dif. from heavy metal poisoining. At this point he is a horse that cannot regulate his PH levels, and therefore his ben. bacteria do not florish, he is not ‘hot’ per say, but high anxiety, by breeding, so this agravates his condition. We have learned not to give him anything orrally unless it is very ‘easy’ on the gut, so no iron rich supliments, no liquid supliments, and mostly B supliments, with no preservities/fillers that bother him, Purina products of any kind will cause him to colic within hours… no Equine Choice products or thier like, as this causes the reverse effects due to the ingredients that keep the bactieria ‘fed’, and some of the types of bacteria that are in it also bother his gut and cause gas and more dihareah. (spelled wrong sorry). Although these products helped a little at first, they agravated the problem in the end… so while I don’t know all the answers, I do know some of the helps, and I have learned the hard way a lot of what NOT to do!!!
Take care from Che, Tattoo, and me.
ps. sorry for any spelling errors, it’s early Sunday morn. and my head is not up to good grammar and spelling
[QUOTE=pintopiaffe;3601838]
why is it illegal at the track? What would it gain you besides soothing the tummy?
[/QUOTE]
Hi it is supposed to help the oxygen levels in blood, and while I find this science hard to believe other in a few horses, I think that really what they are trying to do is keep the mucels working longer by allowing them to use their oxyegen better, and have a greater suply. I have known a lot of people to do this, and have seen little positive results with it. What I have seen is a huge amount of ‘ruined’ horses, with horrible guts, that end up worse tie-up horses than when they started. With more lactic acid problems not less in the long run. STB horsemen seem to be of the mind that more is better, so the amounts that they gave these horses was astounding, ie boxes at a time of it, with gatoraide, and other crap into their guts. There have been horses in the past that have died from this, as their guts just couldn’t handle the load, and they ended up with salt ‘poisoning’ and many had heart attacks, both at the track, and back at ‘home’ after the races. Many suffered from kidney and liver failure and died slow deaths, or were simply shiped as they were no longer useful. This practice has slowed now due to the somewhat effective testing, but not completely died. I currently have one of this horses, and while soda caused some of his problems, we have found that small doses are still a help for him… I suspect that he was not one of these boxes and boxes of horses, due to his age, but saw more than his fair share of tubing for the race, due to his health and behaviour problems.
The treatment of these horses makes me so angry I could do the same to the ones that do this to this great creatures!!! :mad: I love all horses, but after having stbs for many years I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing for me as awesome as a stb, they are versitile, and corageous, brilliant, athletic, and they have the desire to please and to learn that makes them stand above other horses.
So hats off to these horses who have suffered so much, and are still around today… including the practice of ‘shaking’.
take care Deb McDaid, Che and Tattoo
[QUOTE=shakeytails;3601993]
Hey sk pacer, since you’re probably more familiar with tying up than the average horseperson…
I have a STB mare (former racehorse, former Amish horse) that had one mild tying-up episode shortly after we got her and put her in training to be a show horse. We tend to be very cautious with her, expecially when it’s hot out, since she gets so excited about work. She currently gets a supplement called Tie-free. Do you think a bit of baking soda might also be a good addition to her diet?[/QUOTE]
They have a version with soda in it, 24 hour tie free, you could also try injectable phosphorous/calcium, and feeding it as well, I have had stbs for years, and they are my breed of choice, for showing as well as I race, our current race horse Tattoo (Da Plane Boss), is a bad tie up horse, and he is on this, but 48 hours out he is cut off, and given the non soda version, as horses like these can retain substances, and can result in a positive test. Phosphourous is a supliment that horses must have in some form for thier muscel function, there is info on the net that explains this more. It has been found that hard working breeds use it up even more quickly, as do hot excitible horses. Any horse that ‘pulls’ also uses it up quickly, and so many stbs that are hot and excitable, (or beaten) often use up their phosphorous supply very rapidly, and therefore tie up. It is important to know whey your horse ties up, as each case can be a little different, but knowing your horse is stb, this is a possible phosphourous problem as this is typical of the breed (as it is in tbs) never forget that although these horses are not raced on the gallop, they are race horses first and foremost, with pedagrees that date a long time back, gone are the days when they were only part anything, so with this lack of hybrid vigour, we are seeing some draw backs tie up is one of them as it is more and more common with these horses. We started Tattoo on Tie-Free about a week after he started tieing up on us, and it helped, somewhat by lessining the symptoms, but what made the difference was after still suffering for 4 more weeks with daily tie up, a friend suggested the phosphourous conncetion, we resareched that night, started him on it, and never looked back. He also gets high doeses of b vit. ameno acids, and normal suppliment like Nutriquine, yogurt for his stomach, we keep the barn calm for his nerves, and now is on equishure. Hope this helps a little, and all the best.
[QUOTE=woops;3602027]
When I first started using baking soda I thought I was treating him for tying up. Turns out it was still an acid thing. The sping grass disturbs his ph and that produces very similar reactions as tying up. I will say that for tying up – check into a product called DMG it is an amino acid. This helps with the reduction of lactic acid in the muscles. Now I use this also. Since I have dinked around with baking soda and DMG I deal with less problems.[/QUOTE]
I will look this up thanks, also look into Phosphours for these horses. In my case it was tieing up for my horse Tattoo, but also many of these horses have terrible stomachs that need a lot of care.
But my other horse has many of the same symptoms, and is a colic horse, and it is an acid thing for him to, we treat them both for stomach, and for acid in particular.
[QUOTE=Blinkers On;3602139]
LOL, no, you’d get the runs… you’d be running down the hall faster.
Baking soda has it’s uses. Not just for cheaters. It is a very useful thing. Horses with stinky poop often benefit as do the horses that tye up… Feeding it is not a badthing[/QUOTE]
It helps the "stinky poop’ :eek: becuase it helps regulate the PH level, which is why there is a strong smell when a horse has stomach upset. The bacteria are not able to surivive, or do their job, so there is a problem digesting, and often gas trouble as well. There is breakdown of many of the systems that reg. a horses mucels as well, so these horses often tie up as well and or suffer colic, often gas colic, but also impact colic. I have currently one tie up horse, and one gas colic type horse, so I’ve been working at the problem for a couple of years now, and have come to the conlcusion that you can help them both by many of the same things, due to the likely underlying problem of asidosis for both types. This is a tough probem to ‘solve’ but baking soda is a help, but I am finding that buffered baking soda seems to work better, as well, yogurt, and high fiber diets help both of these horses.
Soda has been used by many people for years to HELP horses, it was the race world that took it to the level that ended up causing harm, so a little is a huge help, and a lot can really kill!
[QUOTE=sk_pacer;3602261]
It looks almost a dead ringer for Blood and Kidney powder, with Vit E and selenium added. I’ve read bits and pieces about it, comments from assorted trainers on harness boards - reviews are mixed as they seem to love it or hate it. Honestly, from the label that i found on line, it could probably stand a teaspoon of soda added to the mix, more if needed, but if you compete with her, pull her off all 48 hours before the event if they run the black box (TCO2) because it will test. You do have to experiment to get the right level of bicarb for each horse - Mr Fussy would inhale a whole box over a week’s time when he got home from the track, but his partner in crime rarely touched it - so experiment, it wont hurt her
What are you feeding her? And do you know how she is bred? Some lines can’t take certain feeds without some kind of problems; problems range from RER to mild ataxia to personality changes and while it sounds like pssm, it may not be anymore than feed intolerance, generally soy, sometimes corn. Just a bit of gathering from the years spent with Standardbreds - they can and will tolerate, and sometimes need far more grain than other breeds - what you have to feed a Standardbred in grain would make the feet fall off a lesser animal :)[/QUOTE]
Hi
from someone who also has spent a lifetime with stbs!
Yes they can take what other horses would cringe and run away from in many ways, but I am finding that the longer they are breed mother to son is it were, they are getting more and more delicate. I have found that if they have no stomach issues you can feed them whatever you pretty much want, but if they do! look out… it can be tough as all get out, we have found that changing from mostly whole western oats (all the hay they can eat has always been our motto), to (same type of) oats with beet pulp has helped this ‘newer’ breed of stb. We have always limited the corn, with it’s problems that it can cause the feet, and we mix our own grain with some mollassas, (always freshly added, and with water-- for taste but to keep the sugars down), I have also found out the hard way that while I used to be a huge bran feeder, that they causes it’s own problems, and now use beet pulp instead and have had better luck. Soy will colic my 4 year old quicker than you can blink, as can any preservative, or any type of pre-mixed feed, or pelleted suppliments, or the ‘special’ stomach type feeds that are all the rage (ie TriFecta, or even foods such as Comptitive Choice), the less it looks like food I have found the more these stomach delicate stbs can hack it.
Glad to hear from a stb savey person.
Take care from Deb, Che (Tiocfaidh Ar La), and Tattoo (Da Plane Boss)
My vet has a gas colic remedy that she makes sure all her clients keep a copy of. 2 gram bute, 2 tbs Baking Soda, and top off a 20 cc oral syringe with Mylanta (or water if in a pinch).
Hi to ranchAdobe:
Your box was full so i sent this here instead, hope this helps.
Hi I have a huge amount of info for you, as I also have a horse that colics and each and ever day is a challenge for him and in turn us. Che has never been sent anywhere for it, as he is so difficult to work with (except for us) that we don’t allow vets near him-- stress will also make him colic, in fact if my husband whom he loves shows any signs of worry, stress, or even gets into a disagrement with Che-- than Che has been known to colic. He is a big tough stud, and while I can get grumpy with him and give him crap with no issues everyday (he gives me crap and bosses me around each and everyday in turn sort of a love you kill you mentality he’s got 1 :eek: ), my husband has to watch as this horse is ultra sensitive to his every mood their bond is that tight.
Also on Vets, no vet has ever been a help to us here, they don’t seem to get what is wrong, and all I have learned has been from my own research, and efforts online and talking to other horse people. In fact one vet here told me to give him Boragal (a good product but not for a bacteria problem hind gut horse!!!), and it nearly killed Che. Also I had some amazingly good advice as the problem, and good ideas from the people at Equine Choice, but their actual product while it helped at first and then became a detriment, also the products that they told me to feed (that were not their’s but suggested feed by them), made him much worse. I hope your vet history is better than mine!!!
His history (so you know where I am coming from) is that he got sand colic from a sandy paddock, but also at the same time this same soil was contaminated by heavy metals, and other toxins also water he drank in this paddock also had a problem. He also was a colt that was sperated at an extememly early age by the big stud farm he comes from, due to his late foaling date, and they fact that they are all treat the same due to numbers, he is a big horse for a stb, and needed more than the average stb colt to grow properly, he got only what they rest got. He also was then seperated at a very young age from is age mates, and left by himself. This harmed him in two ways, he became anxiety driven, and he did not get the bacteria that he needed from eating other horses leavings, nor we think enough good pasture time. When we got him he looked great, but he was mineral defficent, and he could get gassy easily, which is unsual for a young stb in what appeared to be good shape, couple this with the paddock we unknowningly put him in and we had huge trouble. So now we are left with a horse that has gas colic, and for one full year he coliced somewhat everyday, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little, he still has trouble, but overall has been managed. At least he is still alive! Plus he is anemic from being toxic.
I have a second horse that has a bad gut, but he instead is a tie up horse, but both horses have the same root from the problem, which is what I suspect your horses sufferes from. Hind gut trouble.
What I have found out: all those things you treat them with do not get to the hind gut, they only treat the first part of the stomach, if this is your problem than you have helped, if not-- than you are wasting your money and time. So than the problem come to be what do you do?
Things I have had luck with: yogurt is the key to keeping Che alive, without it he would die-- to date I am looking for a better source, as I have also found out that tub to tub differs as to how much good bacteria I am feeding him, and was told that bifido (can’t remember how to spell the whole bacteria name) is the hind gut bacteria and this is what should be fed-- am still exploring that.
Also he gets beet pulp, it is the pelleted kind, so there is less sugar, this is soaked in as much water as I can get it to take in with boiling water working best. Basically 1 1/2 yogurt tub with 2 1/2 large kettles of water split for the day, he is a big horse, but despite his troubles a great keeper… he also gets whole western oats (not a lot), he then has molassas drizzled on it, and a bit more water added to make it taste good. We have found that reducing his sugar helps, but he is race horse, so his need for calories is higher than a regular horse, so he gets his few oats, and a little molassas. We have found that any of the ‘stomach’ feeds make him far worse, that any feed that has been processed (other than the beat pulp pellets) bothers his stomach to the point of colicing usually by the next day. We have to watch what suppliments he gets, even Hoffman’s will hurt his gut, so we have tried him on accel, and nutriquine so far seem to be okay… this after lots of others have been tried and disgarded. Pur-a-Yeast will collic him faster than the speed of light, as will Equine Choice and Biotic 8 give him the runs and he looses weight on these (his normally hard to get weight off of !!!)
As to your question of soda, we are giving him EquiShure, as it is buffered, and we are following the instructions on the back. If you give soda straight, I would say it could help, but unless it is buffered I am not sure if it ever will reach the hind gut. If I give it like this I give it a small scoop (30 g) or so at a time, in the feed, or in a dose syringe with lots of water, or beter yet if they drink it in their water.
So far the equishure has been a huge help to Tattoo, but Che has improved, but not shown the benifits I had hoped, he had suffered a huge bout of colic (stress induced) just before we started, so that is likely why it has not helped as quickly as I had hoped-- we shall see.
I am not sure if you know what causes these horses this trouble, but if not my ‘fact finding’ lol, has lead me to learn that their pH levels in the hind gut get upset when their bacteria numbers are lowered or wiped out, due to antiboitics, drugs, stress, or food issues (and any numbe of other problems), then they do not absorb their water, so more bacteria die, and the pH levels are even farther from the 7 they should be, anything that adds bacteria to these horses (the right kind, the wrong can make it worse), is good, anything that keeps the pH levels at about 7 allows the hind gut bacteria to flourish, and so the more water you can get them to aborb the better, (hense the fiber soaked beet pulp). The problem these horses suffer with is that it is a vicious cycle, they loose bacteria, which in turn is not there to digest their food, they then develop impact problems (more often gas though), or gassy guts, their pH levels become more and more acidic, and they then get more gassy not less, and they don’t abosorb water, and then their bodies do not aborb their vit. either, which in turn (in the case of B vit) causes the bacteria to florish even less… and due to stomach upset the pH levels become more unbalaned more bacteria die off, and the cycle goes on and on…
Che’s Diet:
Morn- 1/2 large coffee can of Oats, with small amount of mollassas and water
Turned out after jogs for all the grass he can consume as long as possible (due to lake of shade/cover)
Afternoon- 1/2 can or less oats, 3/4 or so of beet pulp pelets (soaked with lots of water), small amount of molassas, 1 scoop of nutruquine, 1 accel, MINERAL OIL, alfalfa cubes soaked in water, with a small amount of electrolyes and some molassas for taste (when I am in the mood to get sticky once again with mollassas ! lol) We toss these on the grass (or hay in the winter), and they love this beter than if we left them dried (they get these as they are a natural ‘tums’ for horses and the water also helps the pH levels stay nutural
Equishure (already given mixed in his yogurt-- he loves yougurt by the syringe, although he will eat it anyway he can-! the syringe is a treat), and a syringe of Aloe Vera (a new thing that seems to be helping)-- which even my picky horse Tattoo loves :winkgrin:
We cut grass with our scyth for him in the good weather, so he would then eat this
Also he gets free choice of salt and mineral, it seems if you force feed this that it bothers them more and they get worse not better
Supper- 1/2 can of oats or less, 3/4 can of beet pulp soaked, small amount of molassas soaked alfalfa cubes, 2 scoops of Nutraquine, MINERAL OIL (about 1/2 cup- to a 1/4 depending on the day good or bad colic wise) and cut grass, in winter they get all the hay they want, always the best quality I can, never dusty hay as this can colic them faster than the speed of light, and this year I will be experimenting with steaming it. I also feed if I can alphalfa, despite claims of more colic, for the horses I and my husband have had we have found after 45 years for him, and 30 years experience for me, that this hay actually helps, as it acts like ‘tums’ for horses as one vet put it… but any good quality hay is great, I am careful about wetting my hay due to mold issues, but will if the horse will eat it. The only horses I would watch this on would be a really touchy sugar horse, while these horses do have to be watched for sugar, not all sugars are created equal.
Hense why we do not feed Che corn (Tattoo does see a little of this now and again-- he is skinny and thin and will not eat oils-- other than mineral), and we restrict Che’s oats, and while you see molassas a lot, we do not feed more than a taste each time, and he is a very big horse that works very hard.
Tattoo sees more calories in a day, but is a different horse than Che in that his is not a good keeper due to his gentics, and his poor care in his early life. He sees all the same foods, except that he gets more of everything, and he can tollerate more supliments than can Che. Tattoo is not a gassy horse, but is the Asidosis horse that then runs to Tie up. We have found that treating them both the same food wise helps both as it is a hind gut issue for both.
Also Che never sees any iron products (save for a little in Nutriquine and Accel) by stomach, and never in a liquid form, as this will cause collic in about a day or less-- he is anemic, so we give him injectable iron at low doses, with vit C to absorb it, we will be experiementing with more B vit, in the future since they say this will help the Bacteria process, also he never sees antibotics as this will kill him both his stomach, and now he has become allergic and intollerant to them.
I hope this helps, it is a long hard process we have found both frustrating, and expencive both finacially and mentally as we really do love both these horses. Che is our forever horse, and each time he sufferes we die a little more along with him… while he does alright with our program, we are always looking for ways to get him truly beter, if he didn’t have to race, (in order for me to pay the bills) I would suspect he would be a lot better as well, as stress really hurts him.
Diet, turn out and lots of exercize are the things that keep Che alive, and NOT doing the things that bother him is just as important. We have found that if he does not get out everyday, at the bare min. to jog, than he will get very gassy, so we are out everyday with him, and if he has suffered a bout of colic, than for a few days we will jog him twice a day which sounds harsh, but is the only way to keep his guts moving, when we tried the other way of resting him through it is when we came closest to loosing him, it is a fine line though, and we are super careful, we allow him to stop each time for a dump, and he walks a good way each day before he jogs, to allow him to rid himself of as much gass as he can before we start.
Good luck, if you want to ask anything else I would be more than happy to help, hope this helps you, I feel for you and your horse.
If you don’t mind what do you feed your horse, and how much turn out, excercize to do you give it? It sounds like you are on a slippery slope as I have been one time to often!!!
take care
Deb McDaid, Tiocfaidh Ar La Stable
also from Che and Tattoo
Ps. don’t mind the spelling, no spell checker and it’s way early for me on a sunday morn! :winkgrin:
[QUOTE=deltawave;3603126]
Nope, nothing bad has happened to me WRT “natural” remedies, etc. I would argue that feeding a horse baking soda is highly unnatural, though.
It’s not just this thread that shapes my response. Yes indeed people DO insist that feeding baking soda alters blood pH. ALL THE TIME. People freely and liberally interchange belief, knowledge, fact, anecdote, personal experience and the putative wisdom of old-time horsemen on a very regular basis. I simply like to sort those things into their respective categories. Starting with good, solid, facts and working on down the line.
The plural of anecdote is not data. Nobody bothers to respond to the “it didn’t work for me” statements (see above) because that’s sort of “no news”. Yet they pounce on an anecdote where someone swears “remedy X” has instantaneous and miraculous effect. Human nature? Of course.
I’ve seen a good number of gassy, uncomfortable horses get better “poof, good as new” with no intervention whatsoever. BORING. Ever had a bad bout of gas? Hurts like the devil, and 100% of the time it gets better.
Having said that, for the umpteenth time I’ll reiterate my opinion that people really ought to do what they think is best, and sift opinions from other people according to their own personal system of weights and measures. It’s a free country. :)[/QUOTE]
Oral Bicarb supplementation is often used for horses with renal tubular acidosis. Have used it with good results backed up by stable blood gas analysis.
[QUOTE=seeuatx;5818509]
My vet has a gas colic remedy that she makes sure all her clients keep a copy of. 2 gram bute, 2 tbs Baking Soda, and top off a 20 cc oral syringe with Mylanta (or water if in a pinch).[/QUOTE]
My former Vet had almost the same remedy…2 Tbs baking soda and 6 oz of whiskey in a long neck beer bottle. Seriously worked and fast!
This is a tough probem to ‘solve’ but baking soda is a help, but I am finding that buffered baking soda seems to work better, as well, yogurt, and high fiber diets help both of these horses.
