Re: Re: Sand (+ feed/laminitis questions)

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

>Do you think beet pulp is better than >using psyllium in all cases? (My riding >instructor does but she also thinks I >should feed plain whole oats + beet >pulp.)

 

Actually, beet pulp, whole oats, free-choice grass hay and a little salt comes pretty close to a perfect diet for most horses, so I'd agree with your riding instructor.  As for comparison with psyllium, I think beet pulp is better, because it provides pretty much the same effect; because the overall nutrition is better; and because beet pulp doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

 

I live in sandy So Fla so I've been using a brand of psyllium that has some beet pulp & some bran in it,

 

Wheat bran doesn't do a doggone thing for moving sand, preventing colic or otherwise increasing gut motility, so any sand treatment that includes wheat bran is just diluting out what you're really paying for.

 

 

 it's used 2X per week instead of the one week a month ritual.

 

I don't think exactly what days you feed matters a helluva lot.  There's alot of theory that in dissection doesn't quite pan out, hypothesizing that the psyllium gel surrounds sand particles in the hindgut and so floats it out of the colon, and so on.  But in all likelihood what is really happening is that the horse eats a dry substance that swells and occupies a larger volume of space in the stomach before it moves on to the small intestine.  When the stomach gets full, stretch receptors in the wall of the stomach trigger the release of a hormone called motilin, which in turn triggers peristalsis in the colon.  And that increased motility is really what gets the sand moving, and hopefully expelled in a subsequent bowel movement.

 

So if that's the case, all you need to produce the same effect is a feed that swells up in the stomach to some extent and thus triggers the guts to get a move on.  Almost any feed does that to one extent or another, but because of the soluble fiber content, both psyllium and beet pulp do it more.  So what I would do (and do myself) is feed some beet pulp either dry or only semi-soaked, so that it continues to swell in the stomach after it's eaten.  You'll get a much better motility response that way.

 

For that matter, regular exercise does a lot for gut motility as well, so just getting out and riding will do wonders for preventing sand build-up.

 

Of course, I also have to include the disclaimer that sand prevention works alot better than sand treatment.  Feeding off the ground, providing free choice hay so they're not nibbling on the ground for every last blade, plenty of exercise and checking to make sure the bale of hay itself isn't full of sand (which it often is, at least in California).

 

 

I used to feed beet pulp as well, but quit since the brand of feed I use also has beet pulp in it & figured I was overdoing it.

 

Nah.  Pretty much no such thing when it comes to beet pulp. 

 

 Also, have you any information on a relationship between barley & laminitis? I read that some say there may be a link... also how about MSM & glucosamine for laminitis?

 

I haven't heard of any relationship betwen glucosamine and laminitis, and can't think of any particular physiological relationship (since glucosamine supports the production of synovial fluid and the proteins that produce its viscosity; and laminitis is an inflammation of the laminar tissues in the hoof, a non-synovial area).  If you've read anything supporting a conncetion, I'd be pretty careful to read where the source of the information was coming from---ie, if it was quoted from an article in the Journal of Veterinary Surgery, yeah, I'm paying attention.  If it was from the Whole Horse Journal....don't count on it.

 

MSM is purported to be an anti-inflammatory, but the research hasn't been able to demonstrate any clear benefits from its use.  However, MSM is molecularly similar to DMSO, which is used in IV solutions (very, very carefully) to decrease edema and inflammation in some clinical applications, including laminitis.  If I had a horse that was foundering, you better believe I'd be going for the big guns to decrease inflammation, not just a maybe-does-maybe-doesn't nutritional supplement.

 

As for barley and laminitis, which relationship in particular are you referring to?  Sure, barley can produce laminitis if too much is fed, just as any starch can.  Baley is probably a little less likely to cause a problem than corn is, and a little more likely to cause a problem than oats are (based on their relative starch content). 

 

Long story... She wound up with laminitis, no rotation, a few days before

 

I would tend to think it was more a road founder than a feed-based problem.  Hard to pinpoint, though.

 

I have considered switching to whole oats/beet pulp but I think right now it's more imprtant to leave things alone - too many changes already this year for this mare, & the all-natural feed I'm using is basically just that - oats/beet pulp with some probiotics & vitamins thrown in.

 

As you've already figured out, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what the cause was.  Barley does have a higher starch content than oats, and there's some recent research indicating that oats have higher digestibility so that their overall feeding value is higher than barley (actually, right up there with corn, but with a lot less starch).  So if they were *my* horses, I would probably lean towards the beet pulp and oats mix, it sounds pretty good.  Make changes slowly and increases amounts no more than about a half pound a day.

 

BTW, it looks like I'll be speaking at the upcoming SEDRA convention next May, so I'd be happy to chat with you a bit then if you're still having concerns.  Good luck at your ride in February!

 

Susan G