Sweet Feeds too much?

I am doing Parelli and I was backing my horse and as soon as I did phase three he reared and struck out at me but he didn't have fear in his eye which is what made me think he was being snotty. SO I kept doing it so that way it didn't become a habit, soon he calmed down some and then I stopped, pet him and moved on.

I recently switched his feeds only a half scoop of grain daily and a half scoop of oats twice daily to lessen the sugar since he gets so hyper off of the grain, which I suspected to cause his rearing and he seems to have calmed a bit and doesn't rear or anything but now he is getting diarrhea or extremely soft and loose feces. I did an extremely gradual change, I did it over a two month period.

I also have him on Horseshoers secret hoof supplement for maintenance. What could be causing this? He has been wormed already, so I know its not worms nor the wormer causing this. He has been drinking and eating regularly. I'm nervous, and I don't know of anything to help sooth his diarrhea. His guts sound horrible and then he will defecate what appears to be water and very bright green feces and he's obviously uncomfortable. Before the diarrhea started, he was having rather foul smelling feces and when he passed gas it was extremely unpleasant, compared to his normal that is.

I can't get the vet out until next week because someone vandalized our car and I had to dip into my savings to take care of it on account I had to have the care repainted since they were so kind to spray paint it gold and break all our windows. I would rather self medicate if I can.

I don't think I can be much of a help...

I really wouldn't think it is the supplement, unless you got a bad batch...or it 'really' didn't agree with him...

What kind of hay are you feeding? Did he get into bad hay maybe?

My horse got nasty runs when she ate certain weeds, but I am guessing your horse isn't on pasture?


This makes it sound all serious and all...but perhaps you can pick through it and see if there is anything to help you... http://www.ctba.com/01magazine/jul01/hthomas.pdf

Also, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to give him some probiotics/electrolytes?

He is turned out to pasture during the day but we have about 4ft of snow so grass doesn't exist yet. He gets fed two flakes of grass hay and a half a flake of alfalfa and that works extremely well for him.

I'm sorry but probiotics/electrolytes??

Hmm...no, he probably wouldn't be eating weeds in 4ft of winter snow.


Electrolytes are important for many things...especially for an animal that is losing a lot of fluid (like having diarrhea) or is under stress. They should be found in any feedstore and they come in the form of paste (like wormer paste) or a soulable powder that you put in the horse's water.

http://www.jeffersequine.com/ssc/sea...w=electrolytes

Proboitics are for the gut! They do a lot too! Especially, for a sick animal. Usually in paste as well.

http://www.jeffersequine.com/ssc/sea...mkw=probiotics

Over the years, I've fed a lot of horses sweet-feed without a single problem. But nowdays, I much prefer a pelleted feed because I've found that it is much easier on their system.
I've had several horses which couldn't tolerate oats or alfalfa hay at all. By that I mean that at best, oats don't digest well and that alfalfa has caused diareha in some of my horses.

Several months ago, my mare had the same green-diareha as you are describing and in her case, it turned out to be a lack of "good" bacteria in her system. My Vet put her on a 3-day treatment of Probios paste and within a week, she was fine.

I'm also thinking that you need to increase the amount of grass-hay that your's is getting. Mine get a half-bale (each) daily, during the months that my grass is gone....which in my experience, is about right for a 1000# horse.
Because of my work schedule, both the hay and their feed is split-up into two feedings a day, 12 hours apart.

Hope this helps. If nothing else, maybe it'll give you some ideas to discuss with your Vet.

Good luck.
DGW

Ooh do you think I'm underfeeding him? He seems to be maintaining weight okay, he's nice and round and not ribby at all, in fact you have to kind of push to feel them but he may be underfed since we changed feeds. It is hard to tell since I've recently switched his foods and such. He was getting about three flakes of alfalfa and one grass hay and I was upset. My horse came from a kind of bad home where he wasn't fed anything BUT grass hay and he got fed two flakes a day, one morning and one night, and that was his winter feed so he was kinda thin! My barn manager's daughter didn't know that and just kinda assumed and was only trying to help him fatten up but really upset his stomach. She doesn't feed horses without a feed chart now. We got him transitioned from that to all grass hay and since its winter we are trying to reincorporate a bit of extra in his feed to keep him a healthy weight so we've been slowly adding in bits of alfalfa and once we got to half-flake we leveled off there and he was doing great but then his sweet feed was too much, I'm sure exactly what kind it is, I'll ask when I head out today.

I'm not saying that he is under-fed.
I'm just saying that some horses can't tolerate Alfalfa. And that horses need a lot of roughage....aka....hay or grass. By that I mean that feeds are an excellent way to furnish protien, fat, vitamins and minerals....but even the best feed can't make up for a loss of needed roughage.

Or to put all this another way....
If my horse had recently started getting alfalfa and if my horse recently developed diareha, that would be the first thing that I'd look into changing.
Second thing I'd do is slowly cut out the grains and slowly replace both with a good pelleted feed.
Somewhere during the transition, I'd get a Vet out to check him over and confirm whether or not he might need his bacteria increased.

Hope this helps.
DGW

Oh alright. I get what you are saying. The vet is coming out later this week for vaccines and the likes so I'll have him check out my horse while he's out (save me a house call bill!) Honestly though, do you think I should increase his feed a little? He gets three flakes in the morning, with a scoop grain in then he gets a scoop at night with his hoof supplement and dinner of three flakes.

I don't know what amount of your particular feed is being provided by your particular scoop.
In other words, feed should be measured by weight and the amount given daily should be according to the recomendations on the bag..... but adjusted to your horse's individual requirements.

Just as a point of reference......
Mine were (each) getting 10 pounds of 14% (pelleted) feed daily, plus 1/2 bale of hay (each) this past winter and both were gaining weight. I've since cut their feed down to 8 pounds (each).
By mid-May, when my grass is back, I'll be able to cut their hay in half. And being's how they won't be needing the extra calories to keep warm, I'll be able to reduce their feed even more.

Hope this helps.
DGW