Feed for wild/spanish type horses

[sbutter]

I will be printing this thread out! Mojito has a nice little fat pocket on his back right before his hind end. Where do you get your sea kelp and do you do anything to it? Our morgan Latte has something that just seems a little "off" about him. He can be pretty anti-social, but Hawk thinks the world of him (probably more than all the mares he is with). He is pretty itchy, but doesn't ever rub down to the skin. We were thinking along the lines of Thyroid, but am wondering if anything mentioned above could help sort out his internal issue. I don't remember him always being like this, so it could have built up over the past couple of years. He is also a very easy keeper and can get fat quickly.

[Michelle Clarke]

Allergies always get back to diet - something the body is taking in that it does not agree with; even if it shows up seasonally or little things here and there. For example, I have been doing studying on human blood types and diets and found I should not be eating chicken - one of my fav foods and something I eat maybe once per day. I quit eating it and it was almost immediate that I stopped having bloated, painful stomach aches. If I forget and have some soup that has a chicken broth base, I get sick within an hour. I've cut out some other things and my joints (which are starting to feed old!) are even feeling better. I am continuing to cut things out and I it is amazing what that has changed.

I would love to do that with the horses but I've found out they have like 14 different blood types, so I am sticking to backgrounds and breeds for now (which have a lot to do with blood type anyway).

With the bad hay situation here in Texas, we've had to bring hay in from all over and mostly from different states so it has been tough on the horses to adjust. We do 200 squares and 20 rounds per month so sometimes there are like three or four different hay sources. What I have found most interesting, is the QH's or QH crosses are having the most issue. That is funny to me because I've been told be many nutritionalists that they are the easiest to feed because of their being such a mix of different breeds that they can eat plastic and do well...a big reason they are used by many feed companies to "test" their products - they almost always look good!

At one point, some hay we were getting, that was very pretty and coastal which they are used to, was causing them to eat the hay then go directly to a pile of poop and consume it. I tried everything I could think of: probiotics, more trace minerals, enzymes, amino acids, etc. When I bumped protein along with the hay, they stopped; however, they began loosing topline and getting a big hay belly and soon, muscle wastage.

Recently, I began getting phone calls from local clients that they are having weight loss with their horses, even though diet has not really changes. When they would bring them in or send me picts - they were looking just like some of the ones here. There they were, standing right along side a pasture mate who looked wonderful (just like was happening here). We began to discern it was the same hay from the same supplier! So, something in his fertilizer must have changed or he went to something cheap and some horses are reacting to it. Many have some gas and it is very metallic smelling, so it has got to be chemical.

It just goes to show that not all horses can be fed or treated the same when it comes to diet and their individual needs.

I order my kelp from an odd distributor locally by the 50 lb bag but here are a few companies that have great products that I have used and recommend:

www.abcplus.biz/Home1.aspx?Id=Home

uckele.com/

This one does not have kelp but has good vit/min supps and you can get custom formulas:

www.horsetech.com/default.htm#HorseTech.com

There yeast product is superb!

Is Latte red based? Red based horses are prone to allergies, especially skin stuff - which is an inherent lack of copper (back to something lacking in the diet!). One main way to tell is that if the hair in his coat comes up in a little fish hook at the end and does not lay flat. Sea kelp will always help a thyroid horse but you may look at the Chaste Berry also in case it is a little more than that. Are his legs looked heavier and/or his joints appearing thicker? If so, Chaste Berry could help. I get all my herbs (and super teas!!) here:

www.mountainroseherbs.com/index2.html

[toni]

I'm Late in jumping in on this thread. I haven't even finished reading it. However, I have noticed that my mustangs will eat almost anything that grows from the ground, tress, (green or brow. Things that domesticated horse would not touch.

[Michelle Clarke]

Yes, the mustangs are much more in touch with what they need - that is a big reason I keep 2 or 3 wild mares out with the Wild Bunch herd; they teach the young ones what to eat and when.

[DianneC]

Blue is busy stripping bark from the alder trees, even when he has hay uneaten. Must be the sap rising making it attractive as its been warm the last week. I remember reading that the plains Indians used to feed cottonwood bark to war ponies that were tied near the tents. Alder is somewhat similar. He just strips one side so I doubt they will die. We have quite a few plants the horses won't touch tough. Buttercups especially but they have an irritant in them so no surprise.

[Michelle Clarke]

If I remember right, bark supplies fat...but I am sure different bark gives them different nutrients. I know oak is parasite related.

[lindad]

Mine were chewing bark and plain wood in the winter. I started adding more minerals to balance grassy hay and they backed off the wood chewing. I now give them the elm and maple, birch branches that come down for them to knaw on.

[DianneC]

Bark has a cambium layer under the bark that the sap moves through when the temperatures rise. It is that that I imagine he's after. Here is what it does for people
Biological Name: Alnus rubra
Other Names: red alder; Oregon alder
Elements Applied: Leaves and bark are commonly applied in herbal medicine.
Used For: The herb is known to relieve diarrhea, induce vomiting and reduce bleeding. It acts as a bitter principle.
Taken fresh, alder bark induces vomiting, thus, dried bark should be applied for other purposes.
Glad he's not eating a ton of it! Got to trust his instincts as I sure can't cut down all the alder in his pasture. He did it when he was over at my friend's and on alfalfa so I thought it might be that he wasn't getting enough to eat and was hungry between feedings, but he has plenty now. He's got a complete good vitamin with probiotics and minerals. We'll see if the kelp makes any difference.

[Michelle Clarke]

Having bitter properties is stomach and parasite, so who knows! Good info, thanks for sharing.