Monday, December 22, 2014

Fighting for their supper

My poor horses, having to deal with this:






Handsome is wearing soaking boots because of THRUSH! Aaarrggh! I'm so frustrated about this, I would chalk it up to fall swampiness but he has thrush in the middle of summer when the ground is dry. Since the feed is always the same I'm wondering if it's the culprit. I swapped out their feed last weekend so I can see if the added sugar in it was causing the thrush. Not that I was feeding sweet feed, but there was molasses in it. I'm hoping that not having any molasses will have a positive effect. Fingers crossed!

10 comments:

  1. I've had very good luck supplementing zinc and copper using Biotin Z - here's a link:

    http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=f021cca7-3c3c-41b7-a523-a6753fa73cff

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    1. Hmm, just checked it out and it's alfalfa based which I try to avoid for my guy, too much potassium for his HYPP. Thanks for the thought though.

      I've got some Equi-Base Grass coming from Uckele, http://equine.uckele.com/vitamin-mineral/equi-base-grass.html, hopefully it'll work out.

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  2. Glove the pictures! Hope you have luck with the change in diet.
    Merry Christmas!

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  3. Uckele also carries Poly Copper and Poly Zinc for super cheap, so ya might want to try that. Each one is just the mineral with some kelp, and that's it.

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    1. I'll keep that in mind, I chose the Equi-base because it's a full vitamin/mineral supplement, right now I'm just feeding them oats, some corn, and timothy pellets. No added vitamins in that feed.

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  4. Mud here too- so far no thrush but I expect that will change soon. The horses don't seem to really mind all the fowl things in their dinner :0)

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  5. I agree with the copper and zinc supplements (I use Uckele), and of course make sure the heels are open. Have you used the cow mastitis treatment from Tractor Supply (Today or Tomorrow)?

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    1. I have not tried that yet, maybe I'll pick some up this weekend. Been soaking him in oxine and then dusting in No Thrush every other day. His heels have been widening since I started treating it more aggressively which is a good sign.

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