Posting for a friend
She has a senior horse who has allergies to beet pulp and rice bran. Recently diagnosed with high blood sugars. Currently under a vets care but she’s looking for feed suggestion. I’ve looked everywhere, BUT have come up with almost nothing that would work. Triumph professional pellet is 16% NSC, which is what he is currently eating, but I’m hoping for suggestions with a lower NSC for her. Thanks in advance all.
Could you do alfalfa cubes/ pellets with a vit/min supplement?
Regional location? What brands do they have access to?
We have access to Southern States, Triple Crown, Nutrena, Purina, Blue Seal and Tribute. She is located in southern Maryland.
Alfalfa pellets with a vitamin/mineral supplement might work. She would have to add oil for the calories. Most ration balancers have rice bran, except for 1 or two.
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I just checked Tribute Essential K’s ingredients and didn’t see rice bran listed (at least not in the first several ingredients before my eyes went crossed…it’s too early to focus, lol).
That plus alfalfa pellets/cubes plus something like CocoSoya, Omega Horseshine, or another flax-based fat supplement could work well.
How much of the Triumph is the horse eating now?
Yes to the Tribute EK, also Triple Crown Balancer Gold (and if you’d be adding alfalfa pellets for calories that helps the protein).
You wouldn’t necessarily have to add oil, but it does depend how much Triump she’s eating. Coolstance is coconut meal and TSC carries that.
Flax-based supplements likely can’t be fed in a high enough amount to provide significant calories
He’s eating about 8lbs a day of triumph, plus about 2lbs of alfalfa pellets already. He definitely needs the calories and will need more now that the vet has recommended a muzzle.
Why a muzzle?
If “high blood sugars” means definitively the horse is IR, then that brings additional feeding challenges.
How are his teeth? Could he eat alfalfa hay?
The high blood sugar value, they believe, is coming from the grass. Everything else he eats is pretty low sugar.
Alfalfa hay is an option as teeth are good. Hard part is that he has to be locked in an outdoor pen away from the others to eat it so it’s not like he would have access overnight. Due to allergies, he can not be in a barn at all so leaving him in a stall for a few hours with alfalfa isn’t an option either really.
Triple Crown has Safe Starch Forage which is low NSC and doesn’t have any grain. I have used it in the past for my IR horse as a means to get his supplements and meds into him. I just don’t feed true grain much as all mine have been easy keepers and don’t need it. I also was able to do soaked timothy pellets that were low NSC in a similar fashion, and added ground flax as all my horses get that.
