I wrote to Purina about this food because I liked everything about it
except that Rice Bran seems to be a major ingredient. It doesn't say so,
it's just listed as one of the first few. I take care of a friends horse
who has had numerous hormonal colic problems and was finally diagnosed with
ulcers. We were told by the treating vets that we should stop the rice
bran. However in my never ending search for the perfect food I wanted to
try Ultium, because this nervous horse needs a source of even energy food
besides just the beet pulp. Mainly because the beet pulp we get isn't very
consistent as far as molasses content, and sometimes she won't eat it, and we're
always doctoring it up. Also, we'd like to cut down on some of supplements
we give her, and it would be great to find the right food with everything in it
except for the daily wormer.
Anyway, thought you'd be interested in the response:
I have read one article that mentioned
veterinarians thinking that horses on rice bran had a higher incidence of
ulcers, however, it wasn't based on any scientific research or investigation,
just impressions. There is a great deal of other information that
indicates that rice bran may actually be beneficial in helping reduce the
incidence of ulcers. I don't have enough information from either direction
to make a sound conclusion regarding rice bran and it's impact on ulcers in
horses. I do know that there are pretty consistent findings that when
horses are fed large, high grain meals that they may tend to have a higher risk
for developing ulcers. A product like Ultium that is low in starchy grains
while at the same time is very nutrient and calorie dense, such that smaller
amounts of feed are required to support a horse's condition work, certainly
wouldn't increase a horse's risk of developing ulcers and may help
reduce that risk. We have had several customers use Ultium as
part of a management program to help reduce the recurrence of gastric
ulcers in their horses due to the low starch and good fat content of the
product. We have had no feedback that it was anything other than a
beneficial component of that type of program. We saw no ulcers
develop in our research horses, nor reports in any of the horses that were fed
Ultium during our field trials, so I feel confident that the level of rice bran
or any other ingredient in Ultium shouldn't contribute to a higher risk of
ulcers.
Thanks,
Karen
Karen E. Davison, Ph.D.
Manager - Equine Technical
Service
Land O'Lakes Purina Feed LLC
Office: 830-997-7135
Fax: 830-990-4446
I'm looking into finding your Purina
Ultium for my friends horse (although it's hard to find in my area). My one
question hasn't been answered anywhere that I've seen. How much Rice Bran is in
this food? Her mare has been diagnosed with gastric ulcers, and while she has a
clean bill of health now, I was told that rice bran sets the stomach up for
ulcers. In every other way, this feed would be perfect for this mare, but I've
cut out all rice bran from her diet. The other feeds seem like they're too high
energy for this very high energy horse. What do your research people say about
this?
