Road to the Ring - May/June Goals

[goldhorse]

Teff is a grain hay and shouldn't be soaked, or so I've heard. Before the barn got teff, they would soak the grass hay for me. I have a Porta grazer that they would load with hay and water at the beginning of feeding time and then turn it upside down to drain and feed it to him. So maybe 30 minutes in water. That is my best suggestion unless you want to spring for a hay steamer

[khall]

Lsp I’ve not found weight to be a significant indicator of insulin levels. Only testing can give you the information.

Chex the pony is a stocky little dude plus pony yet his insulin is wnl of 20. Rip’s weight was perfect for him at 19 no fat pads or cresty neck at all Gaila same and yet without ertugliflozen their insulin was in the 90’s even on prascend.

Joplin has a big crest but she’s Iberian so that is really what they look like. She also has fat pads in the typical EMS areas. Testing next week to see where we are insulin wise with Joplin and Gaila who looks fabulous at 18 and is going well.

It’s my understanding with EMS we need to have the horses moving at least 30 minutes a day. I pretty much do this with Joplin sometimes it’s just hand walking in my pasture. And her work has increased in difficulty. She’s only getting about 2 hours of TO in a paddock with grass right now. That LH injury had us out of work and no TO for a long time.

Goldhorse have you tried eturgliflozen with Piggy? Insulin wise did nothing for mine and metformin ulcerated Joplin’s mouth

The E drug as I call it does help a good bit

[goldhorse]

My local vet is trying to get a hold of Dr. Magdesian at UC Davis for a phone consult before we proceed. I want to make sure that liver and kidney values are in check before we give it to him.

[blob]

Blob and Goldhorse- do you both soak your hay?
Obviously this is recommended for both the asthma and the metabolic concerns. But I don't think it's feasible with his living situation at the moment. I might be able to get them to spray down the hay (for asthma) but soaking would require moving and honestly a tough search. I'm pretty familiar with all the barns around and not many would be willing to do the soaking thing, sadly. Maybe a private place would be different.

Yes it seems that the omega 3's really could be a problem weight wise. Which is why the asthma is an urgent problem (besides comfort.) He really needs to get moving and exercised. I actually had the eventer at the barn hop on him last week because she's going to be taking him out weekly. One hour long trail rides at the walk. But then he started coughing so that was paused at the moment.

It's insanity right now.

I do not soak hay. Dust is not a real trigger for MM, but mold is. And while something like a hay steamer would eliminate the mold issue as well, wetting down hay does not seem like the best choice in this heat and humidity when I know mold is one of her bigger triggers. There is another asthmatic horse at our barn who does get wet hay and wet hay cubes. I think it has helped some with him, but not enough to fully eliminate the problem. MM is on the omegas both for the breathing and the anhidrosis. But tbh I don't think it's done that much. The only supplement that made a noticeable difference for us was spirulina. I used ukele's lung eq that has spirulina + msm and some other anti-inflammatory ingredients. And I do notice a difference when she's on that.

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Blob I'll look into the spirulina - does M.M eat it happily? Lynx is getting pickier lately (I think he's been getting so much medicine, he's kind of over it.) And with his weight I don't want to add molasses if can get away with it.

The hay is definitely not dusty to the human eye but everybody keeps recommending it so I thought spraying it down would be better than nothing... Although the smoke is clearing so I'll see how he is. Thankfully mold isn't an issue her with our intense sun, heat and lack of humidity. The hay drying out too quickly is actually more of a concern than anything else here.

My daughter also had mild asthma and while she hasn't used her inhaler yet- she definitely said the smoke was bothering her as well. Buy hopefully we are turning a corner on that. I fear that more fires are coming though. In fact, I can bet on it. It finally rained for a little bit yesterday though!

[blob]

lung EQ and smartpak's spirulina come in a pelletted format that she ate fairly easily. But to be safe i would still try to get a very small container/amount at first!

[Lipsmackerpony88]

Pellets are definitely easier. I'll look for a small container. I'll probably give it to him myself the first week to make sure that he's eating consistently.

We are looking into testing him for insulin resistance now. Seems like that would be good to get out of the way.

The smoke is clearing (probably briefly.) So I guess now we really see what we have. I'm going to hopefully have the barn wet down hay too. Lynx's pasture was coughing this morning. At first I thought maybe that was a sign it was actually like a mild cold that was flying under the radar (no fevers or signs in blood work) but someone said the halflinger breathes awfully hard when ridden so perhaps he too has asthma.