[Arabians4ME]

I don't know if anyone remembers but a mare of mine Gabby used to have chronic abscessses. Every six weeks one would blow out in her toe in both feet. She has very thin soles and no heel and lots of toe, naturally. She has been with a very qualified certified farrier since June and her feet have improved greatly. However, that's beside the point.

Gabby was on Strategy or Born to Win from 04-early07 with the chronic abscesses. I tried every hoof supplement known, Bio-Meth had the best results it helped the quality of her hoof and lessened the severity of the abscess but that was about it.

From February till late September Gabby was on Safe Choice by Nutrena. The feed rep assured me this would stop her foot issues. I didn't believe it. I looked today she hasnt' had an abscess since mid February. She blew a MAJOR abscess Monday. Get this.... EXACTLY 6 weeks after going off Safe Choice just like it used to be.

I don't know if it's coincidental or not but I just found it odd.

She went from 4lbs Safe Choice to 3lbs TC Lite. That was the only thing that changed.

Anyone else find that interesting?

[PeggySue]

Thinking maybe I am not the only one that was not happy with what I seen from TC

[allopez]

That is interesting Sounds like you found the feed that works on that particuliar horse It can be so hard to find something to actually work My friend and I have had a similiar situation lately We started on a new feed about 2 1/2 months ago The horses did extremely well on it We decided to let them have a short period of time off to see how much difference it made From there the horses all started to go downhill I dont think well ever change feeds We found one that works and were only giving 1lb a day It comes in good for my friend vecause she has 5 horses so it doesnt get that expensive Horses never cease to amaze us!
Amanda

[JBandRio]

Safe Choice is not that low in starch - in the 25% range. IIRC, TC Lite is in the 15-16% range. Not likely a coincidence

[Sue B]

Originally Posted by Arabians4ME

She has been with a very qualified certified farrier since June and her feet have improved greatly. However, that's beside the point.

No, not beside the point! Imbalances can be the primary cause of abscessing. If they occurred e3very 6 weeks,,,,the same cycle in which most hooves are in need of trimming....then that would be a red flag to me that it is perhaps related to a trim issue.

I tried every hoof supplement known, Bio-Meth had the best results it helped the quality of her hoof and lessened the severity of the abscess but that was about it.

Abscesses are not the result of poor quality hooves....and horses in good health produce more than adequate amounts of biotin. Hoof suppplements that address only the hoof and not other nutritional deficits will do nothing to help abscessing. In general abscesses are the result of 2 primary causes: 1)bruising from hoof imbalances, stones...or other pressure points, or 2)a metabolic disorder or other "disease" insult to the body that results in laminitis....generally low grade and chronic.

From February till late September Gabby was on Safe Choice by Nutrena. The feed rep assured me this would stop her foot issues.

That seems a bold assumption for a rep to make about a feed. i would be interested in know more about what this was based on....lower NSC, better nutrition to improve hoof...or what?

I don't know if it's coincidental or not but I just found it odd.

I doubt it, but it would be interesting to know exactly what the underlying issue is.

She went from 4lbs Safe Choice to 3lbs TC Lite. That was the only thing that changed.

From my experience, I don't recommend either product for what might be a metabolic case. However, I have to admit that I have not had much personal experience with SafeChoice in metabolic diets...but I have had with TC Lite and found it unsatisfactory.

Thanks for sharing this interesting observation.

[Arabians4ME]

I would agree Sue but the care of this horses hooves has increased significantly from her last abscess and especially previous ones. Her feet are far from perfect due to some neglect as a foal until I got her in late 03. I can't rule out a Metabolic issue with her that's for sure. Considering her dam's health issues and her own. However we have still been able to pinpoint a Metabolic issue with her. I swear there is one the vet doesn't think so. Anyway I feel if she was going to have abscesses it would still have been occuring when her feet weren't properly cared for vs. what they are now.

Maybe I can convince Adam to take pictures for me. It's killing me to not be able to care for her, she has to wait on Adam to do everything with her feet, he'd be really ticked if I even considered even picking them up for pics.

Let me see if I can find some old pics of her feet.

As I said it's just an observation. However if she has one 6 weeks from now and back on her schedule I'd be very tempted to switch her back on to Safe Choice and see what happened.

[Dawn]

I think it's very interesting. But I have to agree with what's been said, there's nothing about SafeChoice that would address an abcess situation. If anything (depending on what feed you were switching from), it could actually make it worse.

Have you changed the farrier schedule going into winter?

Could it maybe be something to do with the recent cold snaps and weather changes we've had? Maybe nibbling on overly stressed grass because of the season.

Considering that Lite is no grain and low NSC, the Safe Choice is not...those are the first two nutritional things you would look at in a abcessing situation (aside from overall nutritional quality).

Then again though, there could be a specific ingredient in the Lite that she might have a sensitivity to? Perhaps something that was in the Strategy, BtW, and Lite, but not the Safe Choice.

[Arabians4ME]

Originally Posted by Dawn

I think it's very interesting. But I have to agree with what's been said, there's nothing about SafeChoice that would address an abcess situation. If anything (depending on what feed you were switching from), it could actually make it worse.

Have you changed the farrier schedule going into winter?

Could it maybe be something to do with the recent cold snaps and weather changes we've had? Maybe nibbling on overly stressed grass because of the season.

Considering that Lite is no grain and low NSC, the Safe Choice is not...those are the first two nutritional things you would look at in a abcessing situation (aside from overall nutritional quality).

Then again though, there could be a specific ingredient in the Lite that she might have a sensitivity to? Perhaps something that was in the Strategy, BtW, and Lite, but not the Safe Choice.

I agree I am not saying that it's the feed. I just thought it was weird for it to be back to normal abscesses. You are the only one that knows what I am talking about, you've seen them and know how are wicked feet looked. Should I say pancakes maybe? They look so much better now.

Farrier schedule has not changed.

They aren't on pasture right now they are only allowed access to a round bale and dry lot, they are turned out for a while during the evening but they spend most of the time hauling tail around the field.

I'm going to do some checking into ingredients. Good thought!

[Dawn]

With the colder weather maybe the ground is getting harder? It's either mushy mud or hard as a rock where I am. If it's mostly hard, you could be looking at increased bruising as well.

[Arabians4ME]

Originally Posted by Dawn

With the colder weather maybe the ground is getting harder? It's either mushy mud or hard as a rock where I am. If it's mostly hard, you could be looking at increased bruising as well.

Nope ground hasn't changed. It's still hard as it's been all summer due to this lack of rain.

She's very off today. I figured she'd be over it by now. Adam is going to rewrap it later, it's going to be interesting to see how it looks.