One of the owners at our barn multiple gut products pre-emptively. None of us get it. Outlast in the feed, GutX, Equine Elixer, …and alfalfa pellets and chopped alfalfa. Along with a good mixed grass hay. The feed is primarily beet pulp and alfalfa. doesn’t this seem excessive? The horse also gets a calming supplement. Why not stop the extra alalfa? Horse is turned out half time and not actively showing. We are just wondering what others think. Thoughts?
A lot of horse owners overdo supplements. If it’s not harming the horse, why do you care?
I would never tell someone to stop “extra alfalfa” over nixing some of those other items. Alfalfa has a multitude of benefits, other than just for ulcers.
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Those are 3 pretty different supplements. I assume by “Equine Elixer” you mean Equine Elixir’s Ulcereraser?
The combination isn’t harming anything. Outlast is working on the stomach, maybe 2 hours at best. GutX is highly questionable, but might improve the integrity of the mucosal lining. The Ulcereraser might (!!!) also improve lining and hind gut health
Alfalfa is a long-standing go-to to help horses who have gastric issues, from the bit of extra chewing hay requires, to its calcium helping buffer the pH, so if anything, that’s what I’d KEEP
To me, it’s likely just a waste of money, nothing more harmful than that. And maybe, it’s some weird magic combination that keeps this horse comfortable.
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Yes, most likely a waste of money. There have not been signs of ulcers. The reason for reaching out was to ask from those who are more educated with the ulcer preventatives. We’ve all dealt with them before and had good success with each of the products.
Also not questioning that alfalfa is a good thing, but there definitely needs to be a balance to keep the Cal- phosphorous ratios. And if you’re feeding calming supplements, maybe not as much alfalfa is warranted. It is possible to overdo anything thinking you are helping. Unfortunately, most veterinarians do not receive training in nutrition and only believe in gastroguard
You missed the point. Everyone is always trying to learn. Some people just keep throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them thinking they are helping. Not my first rodeo, and was looking for trained, expert opinions.
Free choice grass hay can usually benefit from some reasonable amount of higher calcium alfalfa, as many grass forages are low to too low.
I get asking this question out of genuine curiosity, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. It’s their horse, their money, and their decision on what to feed.
As JB mentioned, it could be some weird magic combination that keeps this horse comfortable. It’s also not doing the horse any harm.
You can certainly feed alfalfa and a calming supplement. Alfalfa isn’t necessarily rocket fuel and usually doesn’t make horses hot unless they have some sensitivity of sorts to it.
It also depends on the calming supplement. Some might say that mine is on one because he gets magnesium oxide for metabolic benefits. I’ve experienced nothing negative from feeding it.
Out of all of the “issues” that I’ve seen at boarding barns over the year, this would hardly register on my radar. Nothing that harmful here.
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You are not invited to inspect my supplement list. It works. After more than 10 years of experimenting, it works so I don’t change it. Is it possible that maybe one or two things aren’t actually doing anything? Yup! Do I dare change it in case those are the things that are actually doing something? Nope!
Finding something/s that work/s for guts can be a long frustrating road. Once it seems dialed in, there is little reason to change unless something goes wrong.
If the horse had ever had ulcer flare ups previously, this may be the best way to go. Better to keep a lid on them than to allow a full-fledged flare up. This is the reason I always add actual drugs BEFORE, during, and after a stressful event - it’s a lot quicker and less painful for the horse to treat prophylactically and then carry on a few days or a couple of weeks than it is to allow a full flare up and then treat for month$
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I, and many other people, fed/feed free-choice alfalfa 24/7 in Florida. My horses never looked better, never felt better. I did not need to do anything special to balance ca:p ratios. I fed a ration balancer, that was it. They required no “grain” feed other than the balancer.
The only reason I ended that diet is because I moved to Georgia, where I can’t seem to find alfalfa in large quantities or large bales in any reasonably affordable capacity. I thought Florida was most expensive for hay - I was wrong. They don’t stop here on the way to Florida.
Not sure what the alfalfa has to do with the calming supplement. Alfalfa doesn’t inherently make horses hot.
Your OP comes across far more judgy than it does “trying to learn.” IMO.
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As someone with a horse on a bunch of different gut supplements, I’ll echo this. I would very much love to cut back on some of them, but once you find that combination that seems to do the trick it’s tough to figure out where to start cutting. I tried to drop one that I thought was doing nothing (1 tbsp chia seeds am/pm–I figured that small of an amount probably wasn’t making a big difference) and after a week we were back to FWS symptoms. Mine also gets a lot of alfalfa, but that’s because we had to take him off regular hay entirely to get the FWS under control. He can now eat some regular hay and we are reintroducing gradually and cutting back alfalfa to see how much his gut can handle.
As long as the supplements aren’t doing any harm, I say let them spend their money on their horse. Most supplements just end up as expensive pee if they aren’t really needed by the body–there are a few that you have to be careful of, but to my knowledge most of the gut focused ones don’t fall into that category.
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Someone cares about their horse and has found something that they feel works. The other owners at the barn are actively discussing it, passing judgement, and now you want a bunch of the internet strangers to also agree?
Gross. Go pet a pony and find some gratitude that you’ve managed to find the first world of first world problems to worry about how someone else “over cares” for their horse.
I spent thousands (and thousands and thousands) treating ulcers and failing with a heartbreaking horse. I do things people may find weird with my current horse but I’m so thankful to have been at places where people had the decency not to gossip.
All of the products listed sound great. Financial limitations aside, I’d happily adopt the same. No harm.
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