Probiotics

When Dee got here, the first week her poop was a dark black color and rather hard for what I like to see in a horse. Just my experience (with no scientific justification to support this), but this seems to happen with horses that have poor hay/grass or those on popular sweet feeds.

This may have been too due to the trailer ride and move stressing her out. I also suspect she is a horse who internalizes her stress so not surprising if she does have a susceptible and sensitive gut.

In about a week the poop color changed to the nice green I like but now it was more cow-patty then apple in form. Not diarrhia but certainly not the right consistency indicative of optimum health.

I also would have expected her to have gained more weight by now, especially considering what she is packing away. I usually have no problem in turning a hard keeper to an easy keeper. The general prescription that works for me is change the environment to one as natural as possible (and Dee came from a home similar to what she has now – run-in shed with pasture attachment); free choice hay and grass (if not Insulin Resitant or Cushings); and quality food. If need be add flaxseed for fat.

However, though Dee has started to flesh out, her ribs are still quite without any layer of fat at all. With this in mind, as well as her poop indicaters, I’ve added a probiotic to her supplement line up, Opti-zyme. Primarily I picked this brand because it was easily available and was fed in a granulated state making it easy to top dress.

In the past I’ve used Probios feed granules but the dry powder is like talc, and it is easy to shift out of feed dumped from a bucket into a tub.

My favorite product, especially if it was an emergency would be Ration Plus. RationPlus score highly in Horse Journal consumer product testing. However, it’s always difficult when others feed to use supplements that are liquid and which need to be top dressed.

Another I have used is Fastrack, which seems to be popular in my part of the country and has a devoted fan following online. I’ve used it in the past and will probably be switching to it once the Opti-zyme is gone as I am not a huge fan of Manna Pro products (they seem to be made out of cheap grades JMO).

Though this CRS Equine Gold formula sounds good…well I guess I have some more research and reading to do…

Book review: A Modern Horse Herbal

A Modern Horse Herbal written by the founder of Hilton Herbs, Hilary Page Self goes into an alphabetical list of herbs (part 1) and then common medical problems that may benefit from herbal treatment (part 2).

My personal feeling is that the Part 3, covering Alternate Therapies was a throw-away chapter that should have been deleted from the book, while the other two chapters could have used more in-depth, discussion.

Part 1 – the Materia Medica gives an overview of common herbs used for horses. Where this book is a standout is that there is simply not enough data out there in book form written by knowledgeable people about this subject as it pertains to horses.

For that reason alone, I feel this is a worthwhile addition to the horse owners’ library, especially if you are dealing with a horse condition that is not responding to traditional modern medicine (though of course, a vet should always be consulted FIRST!).

Each herb description gives scientific name, dosage amount and how it can be used. I feel that this section could have been improved with even more details, color photos of the herb in question, and better cross-referencing to the Ailments section.

Also, a sub-topic such as contraindications or warnings should have been clearly italicized and noted on each entry. You can never be too careful with the wide variety of people who will read this and self-medicate, perhaps even over-medicate to illness or death.

Where I feel the book gets dicey is too much is expressed as “fact”: “this XYZ herb does this medical miracle and has been used since the 1800′s etc.. etc…” The simple truth is that there is not enough scientific evidence that certain herbs heal or influence healing. While I do believe they are helpful in certain situations, I know that herbs take more time to make an impact then say, prescription pharmaceutials. Sometimes what works for one horse will not for another, even if they have the same condition.

Most of what Self writes is from folklore beliefs without scientific validity to back up her claims. This probably makes the book go down well with devout herbalists and natural alternative aficionados but further infuriates the traditionalist medical community. As I sit in the middle of this, I would simply have liked to have seen less wild claims of medical healing, and more cautions and testing.

Part 2 – Common Ailments gives descriptions of common problems that your horse may show: asthma, skin conditions, coughing, fertility etc… and what herbs would be most likely to heal or correct the problem. The herbs are marked in bold, and are to be referenced back to Part 1 for dosage and in-depth details. This cross-referencing gets a bit clunky, especially when it is repeated in the back of the book index.

Part 3 – is a brief sojourn into other Alternative Therapies i.e. Bach, Homeopathy, Chiropractic etc… and with only 11 pages of it, it”s too little to explore these themes and mainly comes across as a foot note. This throw-away chapter should have been deleted from the book, while the other two chapters could have used more in-depth, discussion.

The addition of Homeopathy and Bach Flower Essences next to Chiropractic work, just struck me as a bit odd too as I certainly do not lump these “alternative therapies” together in terms of treatment use, scientific validity or proven efficacy.

While I feel this book has standout points and is a worthwile addition to the horse owners’ library I would like to have seen some of the things I felt lacked in another book I reviewed on horse herbs:

1.) A section on how to evaulate if the herb is helping your horse by doing a food trial.

2.) Less folklore and more footnotes to support the authors’ claims.

3.) Perhaps a short section about how to find and work with a Herbalist and/or Vet for Holistic care of your horse.

For a complete list of what is currently in my Horse Library, check out the Horse Media page.

Book review: Guide to Medications, Herbs and Supplements

I’ve been going through some of my reference books, looking up information on herbal supplements…

Concise Guide to Medications, Herbs, and Supplements for the Horse, by David W. Ramey, DVM.

This book is really problematic for me due to the author’s tone. It’s obvious that he is against alternative medicine and any sort of herbal supplementation.

My belief is he wrote this book specifically to decry any horse owner from using these forms of alternative therapy and is, in no way, an exploration of these treatments so it baffles me why he titled the book in the manner that he did.

The book is an alphabetical list of treatments/ingredients, with over 75 percent or more being man-made: Ceftiofur Sodium (Naxcel), Cyproheptadine, Doxycycline, Gentamycin Sulfate (Gentocin), Glyceryl Trinitrate (GTN), is just a few of the MANY examples in this book. Actually, I would feel pretty safe in writing that there are more descriptions of pharmaceuticals then herbs in this book.

In discussing herbs or supplements, Dr. Ramey often states “this has not been proven in horses” which I respect. I do feel herbs and supplements are given too many blanket, unproven statements and are seen as a cure-all for every problem.

However, he does not give any details on why scientific studies are so lacking (even when he cites ONE study that states XYZ herb is not effective). Instead of being self-righteous, it would have been beneficial for Dr. Ramey to explain the reality of testing treatments on horses. Let me enlighten you: many experiments done on horses are funded by drug or feed companies. These corporate funded experiments (which are usually very low in the number of subjects as horses, unlike rats, costs far more to house) are short-term, and done for a self-serving purpose.

Another area where the book is lacking is any chapter by the author on how you should approach in adding and testing herbs and supplements for your specific horse. For example, when I add something new to the horses’ diet, then I give it 90 days to see if it has any effect, while not making any other changes in the horses’ diet or regime. I keep track of it, as well as whatever symptoms I am looking to effect (for example, with Moody Mare, that would be the PMS behavior of my filly).

What I have discovered is that while one horse may have symptoms improved by ABC product, another horse shows no improvement. It truly is a case by case call and horse owners would do themselves a huge favor if they “tested” a product for it’s worth, before investing into its long term use.

The reality of Equine Medicine is that 90 percent of it is guess-work. I have over 25 years of experience with vets and horses, and half or more of the time the vet is wrong in the diagnosis. This is because horse medicine lags far behind small animal medicine; the diagnostic equipment and testing for horses is far more limited then for small animal practices. Dr. Ramey should have taken it upon himself to point this out.

The only group I know of that is doing any sort of short-term, low number of horses, trials is Horse Journal, a consumer product testing magazine. If you are truly interested in supplementation, you would be better off buying a subscription to Horse Journal then buying this book. If you want a slim volume on your shelf as a quick reference, then this book is adequate.

For a complete list of what is currently in my Horse Library, check out the Horse Media page.

Another Dee update

The next day after her bath with Aloe Advantage Iodine Shampoo, Dee flaked off a lot of dead skin cells. It was gray bits, much like what you see when you use an eraser. So I used a scrubby bath cloth (by Epona) to get that off today and then shampoo’d her again.

Through the month of August, I’m going to try to bathe her once every three days. This won’t end her sweet itch condition but hopefully will make her more comfortable. Overall, she doesn’t seem too bothered by the flies here – she is not swatting with her tail a lot or trying to rub.

Now that she is rooming with T-man she has calmed down a lot. She comes up to me in the field, and follows me about so “hard to catch” isn’t going to be a problem. The only difficulty is that once you try to halter her she moves off. I’ll work on that with clicker training; this shouldn’t be too hard to fix.

She’s still too thin for my liking – but it’s slow and steady on getting the weight back on. She should look quite a bit different by the end of August in terms of weight.

I’m hoping we will soon get a break in the weather and then we can RIDE! Woohoo!

For now though it’s still too hot to get anything done for long out there, so I think I’ll shop online for a nice Hunter Green Saddle Pad for Dee…

supplement and feed update

Feed

Triple Crown Low Starch
3/4 scoop 2x a day for Dee (will be scaled back once she is at weight)
1/2 scoop 2x a day for BigT
1/4 scoop 2x a day for LadyZ

Dee

Oats – 2 c. daily
fiber, mild nervine

Flaxseed - 2 c. daily. Omega Horseshine
improves taste, improves skin, coat and hooves, fat and omegas

Kelp – 3/4 tsp. daily – caution it is easy to overdose on kelp which can be dangerous – check the package  instructions and weigh the portion to determine amount.

Apple Cider Vinegar 30 ml per day until Buggzo can be ordered

Rose Hips (to be ordered) 15-20 grams daily (1 Tbsp daily?)
Vitamin C, boosts immune system, improves hooves and coat

Wendalls Calmer Herbs with Chamomile and Vervain (to be ordered) 20-30 grams daily, dried

Big Guy (T)

Arthroxigen for joints
Not sure how successful this stuff has been. Will re-order mid-month and try one more jar before deciding.

Oats – 2 c. daily
fiber, mild nervine

Flaxseed – 1 c. daily. Omega Horseshine
improves taste, improves skin, coat and hooves, fat and omegas

Zinpro – 7 g. daily. Includes zinc, copper, cobalt, manganese, selenium, iodine and iron. Hoof supplement.

Kelp – 3/4 tsp. daily

Order APF when I can afford it.

Lady Z

Moving to Wendals Herbs Moody Mare as she has about completed her quick-start liquid dosage of Easy Mare Gold liquid (Hilton Herbs). I switched to Wendals’ because if I run out and need it quickly, I can get it locally. The product seems to be helping Z’s level of reactive aggression related to hormones.

Figuerola AllergySaver
has shown some improvement with this – need to re-order. It’s just so expensive I don’t know if I can keep it up.

Oats – 1 c. daily

Flaxseed – 1/4 c. daily. Omega Horseshine
have reduced as she has gained too much weight