For a horse that is prone to founder, some grain is OK, just not a lot, and always introduce/increase slowly. I have found it very interesting and informative to follow the occassional updates on Horse.com regarding Elmer Bandit. This is a 37 year old still competitive endurance horse. I doubt that this horse has ever foundered, but his diet is sometimes discussed.
CJ Ewell
To: askavet@yahoogroups.com
From: hcquilter@yahoo.com
Date: Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:15:44 +0000
Subject: [AskAVet] Re: Foundered Horse
I would stay away from most senior feeds, as they are usually very high in sugars (molasses is added for flavor to entice older horses to eat), however, Triple Crown senior has a lower sugar/starch level at 12-13%. Triple Crown also makes Safe Starch, a balanced, chopped grass hay product. Ontario-Dehy makes a product called Timothy balance cubes, which are very low sugar/starch, they were produced for IR/Cushings horses (I'm not sure, but they may need to have vitamin/minerals added to balance them). Sterrett Bros (new name now, maybe its now Mid-Valley Milling) in WA state makes a low sugar/starch complete pellet. Many bagged forage products; grass hay cubes and pellets are lower in sugar/starch than long stem hay (just make sure that molasses isn't used as a binder), and they are already processed for easier chewing (although, they are not complete, so you'd need to add a vitamin/mineral supplement or ration balancer to them). The sugar/starch level that the Cushings/IR group recommends is below 10%, but some horses can tolerate slightly higher levels without issue. While not as low as some Purina Horse Chow 100 is about 16%, and its a complete feed. Plain beet pulp can be soaked and rinsed to remove any residual sugars; and it can be upto 40% of the horse's diet (its high in calcium, so must be balanced for phosphorus - 1 tsp monosodium phosphate is needed per 1# beet pulp to balance Ca:P). Hope this gives you a place to start, without adding any confusion.
Chanda
--- In askavet@yahoogroups.com, "Connie Hendrix" <bluemoon28@...> wrote:
>
> I have a 25+ horse that I was given a few years ago - he had been severely foundered a couple of years before that. I have always withheld grain from him because of his founder. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what I can give him to eat?
>
> >
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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