I am doing soaked hay (mostly Timothy) but curious if anyone uses SafeStarch forage by Triple Crown or any other? He gets a tiny handful of Alam for his Metaboral supplement (very low NSC) This guy is soooo sensitive. He is on a dry lot except Dec-Feb. We are in VA. Weight is VERY good right now (best it’s ever been…I’d call him slim!) but hate that he gets a few flakes of soaked Timothy only. Looking for something else SAFE if that exists. He is a 10h Shetland.
Purina L/S. The pellets are fed wet so they increases in volume and it takes him about the same amount of time to eat as the other horses. (The stuff triples in volume when wet)
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It is available at several feed stores locally, so no worries about running out. Triple Crown and Seminole have excellent low starch feeds, but the feed store that stocks them does run out on occasion.
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If the barn workers should accidentally give my horse extra food ( :mad: He is such a talented beggar )… the L/S is safer than the Ration Balancer.
Have you looked at www.safergrass.org?
Your pony may need a vitamin and mineral supplement designed for a grass diet.
OP… Beware the trap that Food = Love. That sentiment has been the undoing of many ponies. If his weight is good and he is healthy and sound, don’t rock the boat!!!
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Hi OP, can you put his soaked hay into a slow feed net to make it last longer? I’ve found that it’s easiest to soak it in the net and then let it drain for a bit before hanging.
When my big guy was first diagnosed with PSSM, I used Triple Crown’s SafeStarch as part of his ration, he really liked it but ate it fast.
If your guy is at ideal weight now, I probably wouldn’t want to add more so much as I would be looking to make what he does get last longer. Nibble Nets are my favorite thing for that.
Best of luck, OP!!!
Thanks all - there is something in the Triple Crown feeds that does not agree with him. But I haven’t tried the forage. He has a hay net for the soaked hay. Interestingly he really likes soaked hay. His weight is good but he had a minor flair again on just a few hours of hardly any pasture a few weeks ago. Once the grass started really coming in we pulled him off. I have a completely “dry” paddock but it’s mud right now 
So yesterday the mud packed into his feet and he got sore again. I am thinking of getting him little boots for times like these. He tolerates being stalled fine and can see his buddies but I hate that he has to be in all the time. We are thinking of bluestoning our mud paddock this spring. It’s also the way in/out of our barn for my other horses for feeding. We have mats along the barn/dutch doors but the rest becomes ankle deep mud in very wet weather. That’s the best lot I have for him but it gets hard and pot-holey in dry times and sopping mud after heavy rains.
I fed TC safe starch forage to a pony who could no longer chew hay. He loved it. In your case, it seems kind of unnecessary since the pony eats hay. My current two ponies, who are NOT laminitis prone (yet) or especially sensitive, get TC 30 ration balancer and a handful of alfalfa pellets in addition to orchard grass hay and so-so pasture.
I have 2 ponies who’ve gone through laminitis, and a super sensitive pony who hasn’t. All are sensitive in their own ways, but the super sensitive one just reacts to everything. I had to cut out all grains/grain byproducts completely before I made progress with her.
They all get low NSC grass hay in slow feeders. A higher protein hay (10-12%) works well for my horses. That’s available 24/7 for them. Once you get the diet right, they do self regulate. I use FeedXL to make sure there aren’t any nutrient gaps in their diets. Then I fill in the gaps. I used to buy a vit/min supplement, but the formula changed on the one they could tolerate and would eat. Omega Horseshine is the only flax mine will eat, YMMV. So now I supplement individual vitamins & minerals. Its not ideal, but its what I have to do. As far as I know, HorseTech High Point Grass powder (not pellet) is the only grain free vitamin/mineral supplement available. You might try that.
I use TC Premium Chopped Grass Forage as a carrier. Its just tested low NSC grass hay. It works well for me. I just spray it with water, add salt and add the flax/vitamin/mineral mix. Two of mine will eat it that way. I have to add a bit more water and mix everything together for the other.
Personally, I’ve found the herbal remedies from Riva’s Remedies extremely useful. They do have metabolic/laminitis focused products, and they work really well IME.
Its taken me many, many years of constant experimenting to get to this point. When you make a diet change, stick with it for at least 6 months to see if its working or not (unless the horse is in active laminitis).
Legends Carb care balancer and soaked grass hay.
“We are thinking of bluestoning our mud paddock this spring. It’s also the way in/out of our barn for my other horses for feeding.”
I cant help with the feeding regimen, but would 100% say do this. Putting screenings in my little paddock attached to the barn was the best improvement! It was great for getting them out a bit (and safely) in bad weather, a safe place for the fatties, and just in general made life so much easier.
I feed TC Lite, as I think it’s ratios are better than TC:LC. However, he gets less than half a cup a day, more to carry his supplements (SmartFlexII, Smart metabolean, SmartBugoff and HylaRX.)
He’s out with some ‘hard keepers’ so he wears a grazing muzzle 24/7, since there are roundbales in the herd. The only exception is when we’re trying to get them to clean up the little skrids of hay left that are trampled down and won’t fit in the muzzle.
When he was on solo turnout at my last barn, he got 3 flakes of hay in a hay pillow through the night, and then shared a roundbale with a hay net on it with two other horses in the adjoining field
