Warm Days, Chilly Nights and a Cold Snap Moving In - Salt is for Winter, Too!

Just another reminder that these conditions in the Southwest can set up your horse to easily become dehydrated which can lead to an impaction.

Your first line of defense? SALT!  An adult horse needs about an ounce of plain white salt a day added to feed for maintenance - about four teaspoons or a small handful. This will ensure an adequate "thirst response" as long as fresh clean water is available.  Most horses can't get enough salt solely from a block, although a plain white block or brick should always be kept available in their feeder and/or turn out area.

Next in our line of defense is monitoring water intake. My horses consistently are drinking ten to twelve gallons each now that the weather has cooled down, and a little more when daytime highs go up into the 80's (I just love living in Arizona!)  I long ago got rid of my automatic waterers and switched to large muck buckets for water, along with a 100 gallon tank in the turn out area. If you use automatic waterers, they need to be checked every day to ensure they are working properly and not freezing up during the night; providing a bucket of water also is good insurance but not always possible if you board. You should also do a hydration check on your horse daily - squeeze a fold of skin between your index finger and thumb, it should snap back flat in less than three seconds, and check that the gums are moist, not dry or sticky.

As horses age they make less saliva when they chew; this can be aggravated if water intake is inadequate. Combined with worn or missing teeth hay can become difficult to chew into digestible lengths which will pass easily through the digestive system leading up to an impaction.

Consider using a leaf mulcher to chop hay into finer lengths and/or wetting the hay down.  Getting the older horse used to accepting concentrates as a mash, with wetter and soupier consistency as it's accepted, is a good way to get more water into these older campaigners.  Hay pellets and beet pulp shreds will hold many times their weight in water and the fineness of the grind makes them a good option.

Caution with beet pulp pellets - unless they're soaked for several hours, beet pulp pellets can retain a hard center which may cause a problem for some horses.  I've been finding much more consistency in the beet pulp shreds I purchase now (cleaner, more consistent chop) than when I first started feeding beet pulp fifeen years ago, plus they soak up water quickly, eliminating the need for a long soak.

Feeding the mash in a large muck bucket will also encourage whoever is doing the feeding to add more water than if the feed is mixed up in a small bucket. I mix the beet pulp shreds, Timothy hay pellets, supplement (AZ Copper Complete), salt and any other add-ins in easy to carry buckets out to the stalls, then dump it into the large muck buckets and soak it all with a hard spray setting with a hose to thoroughly mix, using at least a gallon of water per horse.   The muck buckets are easy to keep clean and don't tip easily - at least not until they're down to licking up every last drop!


Bottom line - plain white salt is likely the most essential supplement you can provide to your horse - along with lots of clean, fresh water and quality forage.

Stay warm and enjoy your horses!

Patti
in warm sunny Vail AZ - until the weekend (Brrrrrr)

Links:
AZ Copper Complete - http://horsetech.com/arizona-copper-complete
Leaf Mulchers - http://www.bestreviews.guide/leaf-mulchers?
Large muck buckets -http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/muck%20bucket

Feed Naturally to Prevent Winter Colic - and Don't Forget the Salt!

Prevent Seasonal Colic and Ulcers Holistically by Joyce Harman, DVM from HolisticHorse.com

Not something we want to see in our barn!

“It’s no secret that horses have a finicky digestive system. By design, they should move and graze for up to 20 hours a day. This natural behavior keeps the hindgut full, which leads to a properly functioning digestive tract. Most horse owners aren’t able to provide this optimum environment and alter the horse’s patterns to fit into their lifestyles. At times, that means stalling horses or keeping them in small paddocks, while feeding them large amounts of processed feed. Whether we realize it or not, altering the natural behavior puts stress on the horse’s body.”

See entire article here.

Dehydration is often a primary cause of winter impaction colic. As the weather cools down, our horses may need to be encouraged to continue drinking adequate water - this is best done by adding salt daily to their feed. Most horses won’t get the one to two ounces (four to eight teaspoons) of salt they need to provide their sodiumrequirement (it's the sodium which triggers a thirst response) from a block. If your horses aren’t used to having salt added to their feed, you can start by “salting the environment” - literally sprinkling salt around their stall, on their hay, etc. the help them get used to the smell and taste.  Then gradually add up to at least one ounce per day for an average 900-1100 pound horse. If you provide free choice salt, make sure you monitor their intake.

It’s also important to monitor your horses’ water intake during the winter which can be difficult if you use automatic waterers - especially as they can be subject to freezing.

Old Camping Trick:  In my part of Arizona, we generally have only ten nights or less of hard freeze. I’ve found the easiest way to get fresh warm water to my horses on these days is to place a clean trash bag in muck buckets, fill them at the house then tie off the top of the bags.  I can then drive them to the barn in my truck or in a cart without sloshing or losing a drop. 

Warm regards from

Patti in sunny Vail AZ
 - where Fall has finally arrived

Links:

Winter Water Needs for Our Horses

http://www.desertequinebalance.com/articles/Winter-Water

Introducing New Feeds (or “salting the environment”)

http://www.desertequinebalance.com/articles/introducing-new-feeds

Prevent Seasonal Colic and Ulcers Holistically

http://holistichorse.com/health-care/%3A-prevent-seasonal-colic-and-ulcers-holistically/

Updating Vitamin E

This has been a busy and challenging summer for me and it's good to finally be back on line - though it will still be some time before I expect to be back in the saddle.

I'd like to invite you to check out some recent updates to my Vitamin E article, “Comparing the cost of providing Vitamin E for our horses” at my website. Thanks to Rob Stuart, Ph.D., President of Stuart Products, Inc. (supplier of EMCELLE TOCOPHEROL micellized alpha-tocopherol) for pointing out some changes which were needed.

If your horses' primary diet consists of cured hay during the winter, they should receive supplemental vitamin E.  Current NRC daily recommendations for vitamin E in horses are 1 -2 IU/kg body weight (250-500 IU)which is easily supplied by active pasture but is quickly lost when hay is cut and cured. This is a “minimum” level and may not be adequate for horses with neuromuscular disorders, pregnant or lactating mares and metabolically challenged horses. Vitamin E, although a fat-soluble vitamin, is not stored in the body as vitamins A and D are, so should be supplemented daily when not supplied by the diet.

Dr. Eleanor Kellon has suggested a minimum of 2 IU vitamin E per pound of body weight (or 2,000IU/day for an “average” horse)on a cured hay diet to ensure they receive adequate levels.

I hope you find the updated article interesting and helpful in selecting the most cost-effective vitamin E supplementation for your particular circumstance.

Best regards,

Patti
in sunny Vail, AZ

Links:

Vitamin E: Comparing the cost of providing Vitamin E for our horses
http://www.desertequinebalance.com/supplements/vitamin-e

University of Minnesota Equine Center, Neuromuscular Diagnostic Laboratory : Selecting a Vitamin E Supplement
http://www.cvm.umn.edu/umec/lab/vitE/home.html

NRC Plus - Eleanor Kellon, VMD’s introductory equine nutrition on-line course
http://www.drkellon.com/coursedescriptions/nrcplus.html

ECIR: Treatment of Insulin Resistance
http://ecirhorse.org/index.php/insulin-resistance/treatment-of-insulin-resistance

Figuring Out What Works - and What Doesn't

I frequently enjoy reading David Ramey, DVM's interesting articles on his website and the variety of 

 comments they evoke at his Facebook page. While I identify with Dr. Ramey's common sense approach and his feelings about the many costly yet ineffective treatments and interventions marketed to horse owners, I often can't agree with his blanket approach of throwing out any intervention which isn't totally based on published scientific study.
Equine research is expensive - ask any horse owner how quickly we can go through a huge portion of our income - and unless there is opportunity for a substantial financial return there is little incentive to run original research studies or seek FDA approval.
Unfortunately, this has led to many purveyors of products targeted to horse owners making unsubstantiated claims of effectiveness based on myth, inappropriate use of studies in other species with little or no bearing on equine health and inflation of prices on anything labeled for "equine".

Midas turns his daughter into gold

I once saw a claim by a mineral supplement manufacturer that the sodium (salt) in the supplement would be changed in the gut to potassium.  In alchemy, this is known as transmutation - and has also been known as the "Midas touch".  I would be very hesitant to purchase a supplement from a source which doesn't understand basic chemistry or digestion.
Another (well known and "trusted") manufacturer lists all the intrinsic elements of the base ingredient (flax) in their supplement. This grossly inflates the length of the "analysis" listing, even though these individual substances appear in insignificant amounts.  This makes it easier to justify their high cost and may falsely lead someone to believe they're actually providing all their horse needs. (I use HorseTech for all my custom supplement needs - they list "flax" as simply "flax", not a compendium of 18 or more substances that are intrinsic to flax and not added by them.)
Cross-species extrapolation can be a valuable research tool but needs to be validated in the target species, not just assumed that what is good for one is good for another.  Look at Xylitol - an artificial sweetener which can help reduce cavities in humans but can be a life-threatening toxin to dogs.

One way to validate is by extensive field trial, which has been successful in helping to establish the protocols used by the ECIR Group with Insulin Resistant and Cushing's horses.
Horse owners can objectively validate the usefulness and success of a supplement, feed, medical treatment or alternative intervention by tracking clinical signs, along with taking quality photographs and videos.  Some time ago I developed a simple Clinical Signs Tracker which you can use to observe and track changes in your horse.
You should be specific in defining what you're trying to fix (which requires a proper and specific diagnosis), tin understanding how the intervention (supplement, medicine, treatment, etc.) is supposed to address the issue and how quickly the intervention is expected to resolve or improve the issue. For example, an intervention for ulcers (medical treatment, stress management, changing feeding management) should take your horse from a "3" to an "7" or "8"on the Attitude scale fairly quickly - often within a week, while adjusting the diet for improved hoof quality can take upwards of three months to see significant results and a full hoof growth cycle or more to completely resolve hoof problems.
This won't work if you're looking for a magic bullet but can be very useful in determing if the medication or laser treatment or expensive supplement actually made a difference or just lined someone's pocket. Depending on the intervention, you might track and photograph only on a weekly basis, while for something like wound healing, daily photos - at least initially - might be helpful.
The best reward? Someone asking "When did you get a new horse?" and having the documentation and photos to show your hard work paid off.

With best regards,

Patti
in warm, wet, cloudy Vail AZ

Links
http://www.doctorramey.com/if-you-see-results-what-else-is-there-to-say/
https://www.facebook.com/DRRameyDVM
‪https://www.dropbox.com/.../Clinical%20Signs%20Tracker...‬
http://ecirhorse.org
http://www.horsetech.com