Off to training and feed

[Brittrad]

I am sending my gelding who is 3 and has pssm1 to training to get started in July. Yes still over month away but I want this to go smoothly. So I am thinking of doing a feed change now to give me enough time to evaluate how he handles it before he goes. I do not notice any issues with his pssm1. I know pssm1 is low nsc, high fat, exercise is important. With that, he lives in stall run, he doesn’t get pasture and he is in inconsistent work right now, such as one day could be a good work out and then not get worked for another 3-4 days and only be medium type work which according to pssm rule book lol, that is a no go. So being in training should actually be beneficial.

Right now he is getting same diet he has for almost 2 years. His diet consists of 1/2 cup of Vermont blend. Vit e 1000 iu capsule (natural) 1 scoop of elevate se, 1 cup of flax, and salt. I add this to Timothy pellets and fed once a day. I wet this and mix it. He gets free choice grass hay, usually grass hay. We make grass hay and cut first cut pretty mature so it helps getting low nsc. We ran out in February so needed to buy rounds. These are second cut. First two contain probably 2-5% alfalfa (hardly any alfalfa) and rest grass which he ate fine. This last one tho contains about 20-25% of alfalfa rest grass and he is fine with this too. Must of had a good alfalfa patch where this bale was cut. Anyways, moral to the hay information is he isn’t really effected by eating more alfalfa or second cut grass so this will also help when at training being im not going to supply my own hay.

Now reason why I want to make a feed change is because I am not making baggies or filling containers to have trainer feed. I am not going to have the trainer wet and mix his feed up bc if it’s not wet enough or not mixed enough, he won’t eat it bc he really doesn’t like the taste of the flax or Vermont blend but he will eat it if it’s mixed correctly. I want this to go smooth when he is there. So I am thinking of going to triple crown30. I do not plan to add anything but elevate se and will see how he does will just sprinkling it over top the dry tc30. I know flax is beneficial when they don’t get pasture and it does add fat but it needs to be wetted so he eats it and again, I’m not making the trainer do that. I will also bring a bag of alfalfa pellets incase they think he needs to be upped in calories while there and they can just then give a scoop with the balancer. He eats pellets dry just fine. I also know copper and zinc are important for hoof health but I will not be adding thar to tc30 while he is away. I figured he is only gone temporarily (30 days) and his feet won’t just go down drain in those 30 days. He has good feet.

So old diet- Vermont blend. Vit e capsules. Elevate se flax in Timothy pellets.

New diet? Tc30 I’ll prolly work up to 2 lbs I think? He is 16/16.1 and1100 lbs ish. And scoop of elevate se.

Trainer does know he is pssm1.

[candyappy]

Have you tried whole flax? Any horse I have fed it to eats whole just fine, no need to wet it . It is also cheaper. My horses would never touch ground flax. You could have the trainer easily mix it in with the other supplement at feed time.

[JB]

@Brittrad

I do not notice any issues with his pssm1.

Many times, PSSM1 symptoms don’t start appearing until they’re 5/6, when they’re pretty much done growing. Growing tends to take care of a lot of things that come to light when that’s done

@Brittrad

being in training should actually be beneficial.

A lot of that depends on what work he’s put into. If he goes from the routine listed, to 6 days of lots of work, for weeks, that could cause more problems.

@Brittrad

His diet consists of 1/2 cup of Vermont blend. Vit e 1000 iu capsule (natural) 1 scoop of elevate se, 1 cup of flax, and salt. I add this to Timothy pellets and fed once a day.

Have you tested his Vit E level recently? 1000IU with no grass isn’t a lot, especially for a PSSM horse. I would test his selenium as well, since Se can take over some low Vit E levels, which can then deplete Se

@Brittrad

I am thinking of going to triple crown30. I do not plan to add anything but elevate se

I would get his Vit E and Se levels tested asap. TC 30 is a good product, and shouldn’t cause problems.

I don’t see a problem not adding the flax, or additional cu/zn for the time he’s there

[Brittrad]

Yes I had his levels tested in November and they were both normal on this diet mentioned.

[Brittrad]

And that was with 2 mg of selenium in Vermont blend also. So he was getting 3 mg selenium, 2mg from Vermont blend and 1 mg elevate se and then not counting what he got in hay he ate or if there is any in flax. He got 2500 iu total vit e. 1500 from elevate and the 1000 iu capsule then not counting what was in the hay.

[Brittrad]

I have feed simply flax so ground and golden flax from tc. Doesn’t matter. Both need to be wetted for him to eat it. But as mentioned, it’s only temporary. So once he comes back he will be put back on flax for sure. Idk if I’m going to feed flax up until he leaves or not.

[JB]

@Brittrad

elevate se

Thanks, I forgot that the Elevate Se is actually an E-Se product with 1500IU of E.

Not all horses like flax, that’s for sure. But going 30 days isn’t a big deal, though yes, I would keep feeding it until he leaves. You COULD see if he likes Chia seeds, there’s almost as much Omega 3 as in flax.

[Brittrad]

I know tc30 has 1 lb for 1000 lb horse. Is it to much to assuming working up to 2 lbs would be to much considering he will be in work or would just stay at say 1.5 lbs

[JB]

1.5-2lb would be fine, especially if he’s much more than 1100lb or so