Causes of stocking up?

Bondre · Jul 19, 2015

I am wondering how to discover the cause of both my mares having stocked up in their hind legs. My older mare had swollen hinds - mostly the cannon bone but also a bit stocked up in the pastern - for two days (Friday and Saturday). Today she is OK, but surprise surprise, this afternoon my 5 yo is stocked up instead (cannon bone and pastern).

Both of them are in a dry lot so they don't move as much as if they were pastured but do have total freedom of movement and sufficient space. The older mare has been a bit idle recently, but I have been riding my young horse regularly. Nothing has changed in their routine or workload, except the fodder in their diet.

I received a new load of green oat hay on Thursday, and I am 99% sure this is the cause. I have read that excess protein and excess sugar can both cause stocking up. And a ton of allergenic substances. But the odd thing is that this oat hay looks pretty poor nutritionally. It is absolutely clean, no mould or dust, but the hay has either been left too long before cutting, or cut and left unbaled, because it is bleached and shiny. Like straw. And very little grain on it. Oat hay should be oats cut green, but this has very few heads of grain and it's not green. I'm happy about the lack of grain, but not about the colour. The horses aren't happy with it at all (and neither are the goats). So I guess I have to make a scene with my provider :-(

Anyway, I'd be interested to hear anyone's related experiences. Could this fodder be sugar rich? I know straw can be surprisingly high in sugar, but seeing as this stuff has virtually no grain, I can't accept that it has higher sugar than the oat hay they were eating before. And ifit was high in sugar, guaranteed that Flamenca would be laminitic rather than stocked up.

Maybe there is an allergen present in it? Pesticides? God forbid.
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Saddlebag · Jul 19, 2015

If you are feeding from a feeder, the horses will move little. It's a bit more work but try using four small mesh hay nets for two horses. If hung in different places it will encourage them to move about. Also if feeding too much grain it seems TBs or those carrying a lot of TB are inclined to stock up if stalled. You didn't say if you feed grain/pellets. What's the salt situation, block or loose? Loose is best.

Bondre · Jul 20, 2015

They get a mix of beet pulp and alfalfa pellets, all soaked, once a day. Salt in a block. But the thing is, none of that has changed. The only change recently has been the bulk fodder. The stocking up seems to be a reaction to something in this fodder - but what?

I'm pretty p..... off about this. This is not just a bale or two of hay. This is 10Tns of "green " oat hay that none of the animals like. Returning a load of fodder isn't quite like returning a pair of jeans that are too tight. Who pays the transport? Who loads the darn bales onto the flatbed? Somebody's going to lose out if we insist on returning the stuff, but I just don't feel like grinning and bearing this. This is a year's supply for the horses, and I want their food up to standard - not potentially causing an allergic reaction from day one.
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natisha · Jul 20, 2015

Isn't oat hay essentially straw with a different name?

Bondre · Jul 20, 2015

Oat hay is whole oat plants cut green, so includes green seed heads. Worlds apart from oat straw which is pretty inedible stuff as dry oat stalks are long, fibrous and unappetising.
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walkinthewalk · Jul 20, 2015

Is it possible to locate and buy five or six small square bales of top grade horse hay?

Or do you have access to bagged forage like we do in the U.S.?

It would be worth the money and effort to get the horses off this new roll and put them on a different hay for several days.

If the stocking up issue disappears, you've got your answer.

If the oat hay was cut at the wrong time, I believe it's possible for it to have some sort of spores, which could cause stocking up. BUT don't take that to the bank, it's only what I think I remember someone telling me years ago. The oat field has to be cut at just the right time, and that also means allowing for frost conditions.

It could also be something as simple as these two horses systems not liking that much oat hay. Oat hay is pretty high in starch. It had been used to bring on laminitis in studies.

Nonstructural Carbohydrates in Oat Forage

Where the first paragraph says:

Nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC)4 fractions found in forage may play a role in equine diseases that involve carbohydrate intolerance, such as laminitis. Starch in seed grains such as oats (Avena sativa L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and corn (Zea mays L.) has been used to induce equine laminitis in clinical studies (1).

Your horses may be on search overload. Watch them closely for sudden and mild lameness, warm hooves, etc.

In other words the onset of laminitis, then going into founder.

Good luck with figuring this out

anndankev · Jul 20, 2015

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Causes of stocking up?

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