Is there any other feed I can use for my pony??? It is making me itch like crazy!!

Okay so where do I start.
I have a number of allergies one of them Being to coconut.

My pony has a condition called EMS. (Equine metabolic disorder)
She has to have medication with her feed (Anti - inflammatory, and some medication thing that apparently makes her lose weight when she exersises)
She also gets another supplement that stabilises the sugars she gets from grass or feed.
And she also has a bunch of supplements and minrals (That tastes terrible for her )
She is in a nearly 100% Dry paddock with three strands of electric fencing.
She is not allowed any sugars or sweets or treats.

She is on a diet of

Omega three's with garlic (performer)
Minerals (Kelp,magnesium,copper sulphate, Sulpher,)
Medications and supplements that tast terrible for my poor pony :/
Oaten chaff.
And a little little bit of copra..
I used to give her just Chaff and Pat Colby's minerals that was all she got.
But no matter how much exercise she got she would never lose weight ever.
TIll she was diagnosed with EMS.
And the only trouble was she started to not eat her feed with the medication so I added Copra to her diet (Little bit) And then she ate everything and she has actually started to lose weight and lose her crest and I have actually had people say to me that they are actually starting to see the outline of her ribs!!

But problem comes when twice a day I Have to mix up there feed !
And If I mix it up my face and nose itches a little bit but if my pony eats it and then licks me on my arms or face or nuzzels me I come up in welts and itch like mad and I can only stop it by taking having a shower... or even sometimes having to take anti - histamines my self :/ And yes I know its Copra as I have had allergy tests and I have come up as allergic to coconut and Also I have once had Beauty on another feed that did not have coconut in it (But she can't have that feed anymore) And I never had any problem to her licking me ever and still don't if she has not eaten the copra..

So my Qestion is, What can I feed her that is complealty grain free (as she can not handle grain) and suitable for EMS horses?

And that is coconut free ?

Thank you so much !!

I don't know above EMS, so my suggestion may be worthless, but I have heard of rice-based horse feed. I had to research all sorts of options when I had to take my mare off grain products and I recall both coconut and rice options.

Sorry I can't recall the brand.

Try googling grain-free horse feeds?

Hi,

So she's just getting a little copra to make the meds go down? That is also high fat, so another reason you may want to find her an alternative. Also oaten chaff is also reasonably high in sugars & may also have a fair proportion of oats in it, so for EMS horses I'd be soaking/draining it before feeding, to leach out some of the sugar & also allow the oats to fall to the bottom & be sifted out.

I have fussy horses too, that are likely IR & so I'm concerned about any extra sugars or calories. I found that a very low dose, grain & sugar free 'ration balancer' such KER Gold Pellet was one way of getting good nutrition into them, that was palatable enough not to have to 'disguise' in a bucket of molasses or such. Also you can get powdered supps that are also palatable & I currently feed a Ranvet(western Aus) 'ration balancer' powder that I mix with literally a handful of Hygain Zero & a magnesium chloride solution(google 'Magnesium for horses'). Of course, part of the prob is finding good nutritional supps that are not only palatable but appropriate for my horses, given their overall diets. For that, if you don't have a private nutritionist to consult, a service like FeedXL.com is great value.

Just noticed no mention of hay. She does get that too doesn't she?

She lost weight by eating it and eating her meds.




And we had a 22 year old rescue Qh x ASH and we used to feed him Copra and it never put weight on him and he only put on weight when we gave him grain based feed.
So I figured Copra would be okay for her?

Loosie you made heaps of great suggestions and I'm going to look into the KER gold pellets and I'm going to start her on the magnusium cloride .
You where very helpfull thank you!!

Oh and also she sometimes gets hay (grassy)
And we used to have haylidge but stopped that as We where told that fermented food is not good for horses/ponies prone to laminites ???

Where are you at? If we have some idea of the country (UK, USA, Canada, etc) we may be able to give you a better idea? I'm guessing UK? I don't know if beet pulp is available over where you are, but most horses seem to love it, it's appropriate for IR/EMS horses, and makes it easy to mix meds and supplements in as it's a soaked feed.

Sounds like you just need to find an alternative to the Copra that your horse thinks is tasty enough to hide the extras in that you're not allergic to. Shouldn't be too hard! Sometimes just a nice handful or two of soaked alfalfa pellets can do the trick, and those wouldn't add too much sugar. Unless that's the ingredient you're allergic to, of course!

I would rather not give out my location on the internet if that's okay ?
And thank you very very much I will defiantly need to try the Beet pulp !
And no I'm not allergic to lucearn (thankfully ) :)
Thank you very very much !!

What about putting the medication in a handful of soaked hay cubes? Or you can maybe buy some empty syringes (or empty wormer tubes!) and mix with a little sugar free apple sauce. Here's the nutrition facts on Mott's. You probably wouldn't need more then 1/4 cup.

There are 50 calories in a 1 cup serving of Mott's Sugar Free Apple Sauce Cup. Fat: 0g (Saturated Fat: 0g). Carbs: 12g (Fiber: 1g, Sugar 11). Protein: 0g
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So I'm gathering she has grazing when she doesn't have hay? It's important for horses to eat high fibre, little & often.

Agree with you about giving too many personal details online, but I don't think telling us the country you're from would be anything to anyone, except helpful with regard to appropriate advice, etc. On that note, if you're in UK, you might find FeedXL.com are still giving free month trials of their service - not sure but they were not so long ago & well worth looking into.