Help with getting allergic horse to eat vitamin/mineral mix

[stb]

So, my gelding has recently been diagnosed with equine asthma. After kicking him out of the barn entirely he has had dramatic improvement and at this time is asymptomatic except for a couple of coughs at the start of exercise. Late summer/early fall are going to be the most problematic times for him, so we are slightly past that now.

I had serum allergy tests done ( I do realize that they are not as definitive as intradermal tests but you’ve gotta start somewhere). One of the things he is allergic to is Bahia grass, which is what my farm is planted in (as are most farms around here). So, my aim is to remove every allergen that I possibly can and hope that will lower his inflammatory threshold enough that the Bahia won’t cause him to flare next summer.

My problem is that he is also allergic to flax, oats, rice bran, and soy. He was previously on a ration balancer and about a pound a day of senior feed. He is really not feeling his new meal plan, which is a bit of beet pulp with Timothy pellets and a vit/min mix. I have tried alfalfa pellets on him in the past and he isn’t crazy about them either.

Does anybody have any ideas for something yummy that doesn’t include flax, oats, rice bran, or soy? I don’t need to feed a lot, so I’m not really worried about cost - just want something that he will enjoy so that I can get his goodies into him.

Thanks in advance.

[ChocoMare]

How about the lunch-size cups of sugar-free applesauce? Pop the top, add, mix and add to feed.

[JB]

What were the actual results? Generally blood testing is unreliable, and anything under 200 is generally ignored.
https://ker.com/equinews/food-allergy-testing-horses/

[SusanO]

Having had a pony with SEVERE pasture heaves I can tell you it is not what they are eating, it is what they are breathing in. It got progressively worse during the summer until early Fall when he could barely breathe. When frost came it was gone. I tried all the meds which did not help much. So I took the ultimate holistic approach - I moved him to a different area that was a lot drier and less dank. He went off all meds and was better in a few weeks.

If you are feeding round bales - that needs to stop for this horse. I personally hate round bales but I can see where they may be OK in a drier, colder environment than in the South where I live. If I stuck my nose in a round bale with the damp moldy outer layers my hay fever would be going into overdrive. Plus I would wheeze too. Horses with allergies are no different.

I am not an expert on allergy testing ( except my own which involved scratch tests on my back and was accurate for my problems). Generally for horses they seem to result in a lot of hits which might not actually be causing the asthma. It seems like the best way to test for that would be to put the suspected allergens in a nebulizer and let the horse breathe them in and monitor the horse’s reaction. I am not sure this is being done though.

[stb]

@ChocoMare The applesauce is a really good idea. Thanks!

@JB The results over 200 were flax 309, cottonseed 205, caddis fly 268 (no idea what that is), and storage mite mix 273. Bahia was 161. I have no doubt, however, that the grass was a big factor, as the horse really got into trouble when the grass got tall and seeded out. He is also positive to some molds and pretty much every insect except for gnats and stable flies.

@SusanO I agree that the inhaled allergens are far more problematic than what he is eating. I think that was proven when I took him out of the barn and he improved dramatically literally overnight. I do feel, though, that it is advantageous to remove all possible allergens since there are going to be some things that I can’t do much about. I do not feed round bales. I also live in the South, so heat and humidity are part of the issue here. I also feel like there may well be molds in my barn, as well as the ever present dust. I keep my barn really clean you can only do so much with a barn. His improvement was so swift and dramatic once I got him out of there that I have to believe that was a large part of his problem. Maybe I will get lucky and next summer he will be ok as long as he is out of the barn, fingers crossed. I am just trying to stack the deck in our favor wherever I can.

[SusanO]

Maybe if you can keep him out of the barn and keep the grass mowed short so the Bahia doesn’t seed out it will help. Short grass will also stay drier and be less likely to harbor mold. I have Bahia too and it sends up flower stalks fast.

[stb]

Agreed. We had so much rain this year that the grass grew like crazy. I let it get longer than usual this year as well, which was a mistake in retrospect. Probably had mold growing down in the depths of the grass. Hopefully next year I can do better.

[Pally]

Have you ever tried hay cubes with him? I know that to us, it’s theoretically the same thing as the timothy or alfalfa pellets, but I think to the odd horse there might be some kind of “mouth-feel” preference or something.

Similar to the suggestion of applesauce, you could try soaking your beep/pellets in apple juice.

I’ve never tried it, but I’ve heard that Fenugreek can be an enticing flavour for horses.

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a commercial feed base that excludes all your trouble ingredients. Maybe some of the fibre chunk type products might fit the bill (not that I’ve recently checked ingredient lists), but IME, they don’t tend to inspire excited voracious eating in general. Worth a try if they fit the ingredients though… soaked they are a fine supplement vehicle.

[lenapesadie]

@stb

He is really not feeling his new meal plan, which is a bit of beet pulp with Timothy pellets and a vit/min mix. I have tried alfalfa pellets on him in the past and he isn’t crazy about them either.

Try straight alfalfa cubes. Or straight beet pulp. Can you toss a bit of barley or something in it to make him think it’s grain?

My horse detests beet pulp.

[walkinthewalk]

I feed a condensed vit/min supplement and mix it with straight Timothy pellets and some apple juice/water.

You can try mixing the vit/min supplement in just timothy pellets with a mix of water and pure apple juice. I buy Walmart brand pure apple juice and mix about 60:40 with water:)

I live in Middle Tennessee and one of my horses has developed environmental allergies after moving here. Upping his Vitamin E (no added selenium) by another 3,000 IU daily has helped.

Ditch the beet pulp - that is really an unfriendly flavor, lol. My neighbor’s goats got a full bag minus four cups and thanked my horses for being so picky:)

[JB]

@walkinthewalk

Ditch the beet pulp - that is really an unfriendly flavor, lol.

My horses LOVE it! But I know it can be an acquired taste for some, and a “hell to the NEVER” for some others.

[lenapesadie]

Ever seen someone feed a little kid and then the kid decides the food is gross? The kid just lets the offending food fall limply from their mouth.

That’s my horse if he takes a bite of beet pulp. Or pear.

[PaddockWood]

My horses were blah about my one cup soaked hay pellets plus hay balancer etc UNTIL I started sprinkling in 1/2 cup Enrich Plus and stirring in right before feeding. They lick their bowls now.

[stb]

@PaddockWood that is really interesting about the Enrich Plus. I actually bought some of that yesterday, since my horse reacted very minimally to soy but quite strongly to flax. Enrich Plus is the only RB I have found that has no flax. I fed it yesterday with alfalfa pellets (which he had previously not been excited to eat) and he licked his bowl clean.

After reading everything I can get my hands on the consensus seems to be that low positive results on blood serum testing may not be significant. I decided that I might unnecessarily limiting my horse’s diet by keeping him away from soy. We will see how it goes. Fingers crossed that the Enrich works for him. According to my vet, a positive result is over 100, with over 200 being clinically significant. My boy was only 106 on soybeans, but 309 on flax.

As an aside, finding any kind of horse feed that does not contain flax is a job.

[JB]

@stb

According to my vet, a positive result is over 100, with over 200 being clinically significant.

Even that “positive” has to be approached with skepticism, as results are pretty much extrapolated from other species, and horses can react positive (even low) to things they aren’t actually allergic to.

But yes, >200 is generally considered likely problematic

[Peggy]

If the Enrich doesn’t work, maybe try CoolStance? It’s coconut fiber.

You can get it from Chewy with free shipping if you add about $5 worth of cat toys. Which they will then ship separately.