[SpiritSaddle]

Mm k, my boss just bought(well, for free) a 25+ year old arabian gelding. It appears that he has cushings, because he has long curly hair. Apparently they thing he has "mild stringhalt" but i don't know much about that yet. Anyways, he's got no teeth. Only front teeth, but he doesn't get any hay because he can't chew it and will apparently choke on it. So the lady was feeding him soaked beet pulp, with "a scoop" of alfalfa pellets.

I don't know how much a "scoop" is in her terms though. But anyways, so now my boss took him off of beet pulp and alfalfa pellets. Instead she put him on grass hay pellets, and something called "cool calories" which I'm assuming helps them put on weight..?

Anyways, what do you think of this new diet, i know it's hard since I don't know how much he gets of each, but I think they should have kept him on the beet pulp, since he's starting to lose a little bit of weight. He gets fed twice a day. I believe each feeding weighs probably about 1-2 pounds. He doesn't get very much. I don't think this is enough, since he does get hay or grass. Should I mention this to boss? I told her I think she should keep him on beet pulp, especially going into winter!

[Dawn]

Not enough at all. Taking away the beet pulp (assuming it was shreds) took away his only source of long stem fiber. If you can intake it, then beet pulp is definately the way to go in his situation.

I would be interested to know how much he's getting weight wise. I'd say that it's more than 1-2 lbs as that's such a ridiculously small amount that (depending on how long she's had him) he'd be a rack of bones by now.

[SpiritSaddle]

Well she's only had him for... a week i believe. No, maybe a week and a half. I went with her to get him the weekend before this.

It doesn't seem like enough to me either. Thunder gets more food then that, plus his regular half a bale of hay!

I told her about the long stem fiber, and also mentioned alfalfa cubes (since they've got the long stem fiber, right? Or i could be wrong!) but then remembered he can't chew. But I wondered if soaking it would allow him to chew it, or if he could still choke on the little pieces.

But I really don't think he's getting very much, it really only seems like it's 1-2 pounds each feeding. My horse Shana alfalfa pellets which are similar in size and weight, and she gets 2 pounds a day of those. And when i compare it, he gets half the amount of pellets as she does. But he gets fed twice. So that would put him to about 2 pounds a day. That's considering that it's unsoaked, not sure how much it would weigh soaked.

I'm not sure why they decided to switch this feed, I know they were supposed to have a vet out last week to look at him, but never heard anything else about that so not sure if she came out or not. You don't think a vet would recommend getting rid of beet pulp, do you?

[Sue B]

People seem to have a misconception about how much one has to feed in pellets, beet pulp and/or cubes in order to replace the hay/grass a horse would noramally eat. Just because the pellets/cubes are compressed...they are not any different in weight than hay. IOW...a pound of hay = a pound of hay pellets/cubes. However, there is the consideration of calories from these alternative forage sources. For example beet pulp shreds can be fed at a rate of 1.5 lbs hay = 1 lb beet pulp. For alfalfa...there could also be a sligght decrease over normal amounts of hay (grass hay ~750-800 cal/lb, alfalfa ~1000 cal/lb.

You are correct about the long-stem fiber...either beet pulp shreds or forage cubes...can be hay or alfalfa or a mix.

In addition to the forage...older horses also develop inadequate nutrient intake. With the addition of the Cushings, the immune system is compromised. To boost it and address the lack of proper absorption/utilization of nutrients...a nutrient dense feed is also needed. With Cushings...unless it is clear via dx that the horse has no other metabolic disorders (such as insulin resistance) that make it carb intolerant...then typical feeds such as sweet feeds, some senior feeds and the average pelleted feeds should be avioided to prevent risk of colic and espeically laminitis.

The best approach that I have found at this time is to use a ration balancer at the upper level (generally 2 lbs) per day and an appropriate amount of forage (2% of body weight). If supplemental calories are needed to keep weight and/or muscle tone (an issue with Cushings horses), then the addition of 1/2-2 lbs/day of rice bran (pelleted type seems best from my experience) works the best to address both of these issues without further compromising the immune or digestive systems.

This horse should also be fed several small meals a day...or given free choice to alternative forages...which is sometimes not an option. But, since it relies on total human intervention in order to eat....it is important that it e given the same opportunities that it would if it could eat on its own (nearly continual intake of forage).


With the effects of the Cushings and without an appropriate amoutn of nutrients and forage, this horse will deteriorate rapidly and secondary issues such as thyroid, chronic infections, insulin resistance and numerous other issues will begin to appear and eventually the horse will be in a losing battle.

[pantha11]

For the stringhalt I would recommend Vitamin E, B, C.
How bad is the stringhalt?
If you would like more info on it, I would be happy to help.

[SpiritSaddle]

I don't really know how bad the stringhalt is, I haven't seen him walk around too much. Plus I don't know much about stringhalt. When I saw walk, he lift his back legs up a little bit more then usual, but you could see it more when he's backing.
I will let them know about the vitamins, what is stringhalt exactly and what is it caused from? I was reading a bit about it on here, but am still alittle unclear what causes it.

So are beet pulp shreds different then beet pulp pellets?

[Sue B]

There are symptoms that are "look alike" to stringhalt that are the result of carb intolerances (generally referred to as EPSM/PPSM). You can read more about that at Draft horse, mule, and oxen power - Rural Heritage online in the vet section. In the case of EPSM, the cause is a disorder that prevents the horse from utilizing glucose to fuel/maintain the muscles. It generally exhibits as an issue in the hindquarters and often a lack of muscling in the hindquarters. The recommended diet for EPSM is to decrease the carb intake (starches/sugars from grain based feeds) and increase the forage and fat intake. I have also found that horses lacking or having limited access to fresh pasture might develop some of these symptoms (probably not true EPSM)...but they appear to be related to a lack of amino acids and more importantly omega-3 fatty acids. Horses get the bulk of these nutrients from fresh grass...in the case of omega-3s...there is no other source without supplementation. Flax is the best source for omega-3s for horses...you can also use fish oils high in omega-3s. Amino acids are generally found in supplements such as rice bran, BOSS and flax....however, not in high enough amounts in flax to be a sole source. Some higher level feeds...generally those that are nutrient dense (designed for performance horses) have supplemental amino acids...ration balancers generally contain them too.

[SweetSavannah]

cool calories is good but it doesnt replace a proper feed.

copra is a good feed for older horses. its a coconut meal based product and has lots of protein. it must be fed WET it swells to 3x its size when wet and after leaving it for half an hour you will find that you can come back and still add more water to it.

i looked up this great website which has some suggestions on feeding, mainly with their products of course but it'll give you an understanding at least.

Dengie Horse Feeds - Feeding Horses with Cushing's

[Dawn]

I don't believe we have access to copra over here. If we do, I'm not aware of it.

Beet pulp pellets are ground and compressed (just like hay pellets) and no longer provide long stem fiber.

[ryu2832]

Also, be very careful about trying to put weight on a Cushings horse. They tend to look ribby because of the muscle wasting associated with the disease. Supplementing with Chaste tree berry can help with the long coat, muscle wasting, and water drinking.