Another hay question.?

Question

Have always fed oat hay. Believe my 20 y/o mare is insulin resistant. Has not be tested yet. She gets just enough has to keep her pooping and still is not loosing weight. Any suggestions for a hay with less starch?

Answer 1

I have 2 insulin resistant horses.  Just good grass hay is recommended.  One of mine gets Purina Senior and balanced mineral rice bran, since he is hard to keep weight on.  My mare is an easy keeper and just gets mineral supplementation, pasture and grass hay.  She also wears a grazing muzzle whenever she starts putting on a few pounds.  My gelding also gets Evitex, which is a chasteberry extract that balances hormones.  Both are doing exceptionally well...they are 21 and 22 years old, healthy and good coats.  So, both get grass hay and pasture, and the rest is individualized.

Answer 2

Well, if you want to keep them on their current hay and just want to eliminate some starch and sugars you can soak the hay in cold water for 60 minutes or 30 minutes in hot.  Just dont give them the water they hay was soaked in, otherwise they will just be drinking all the starch and sugar you pulled out of the hay.  

The only way to find out how much starch and sugar is in a hay is to have it tested, even then it will vary from bale to bale.

A grazing muzzle would be a great idea if she is that overweight.  They are a great option for horses with special needs who are out in pasture.  Just remember that grasses are lowest in sugars in the morning and highest at night.  So if you have to put her in pasture try to take her out mid day.

A grain option is WellSolve L/S.

About WellSolve L/S

In my opinion, the best high quality low starch and sugar feed is the new WellSolve L/S (L/S meaning low starch) by Purina. It has been researched for 6 years now. It GUARANTEES the starch and sugars to be less then 11%. NO OTHER feed guarantees their starches and sugars. Sure they say they are low starch or even safe starch but you can not find any guarenteed analysis of that on the bag.

It contains no grains and no molasses. Digestible/ fermentable fibers are used as an alternative energy source instead of carbohydrates. The vitamins and minerals that are added to this feed are formulated for the special needs horses. There is also added biotin as well. The feed is designed to meet the nutritional requirements of a special needs horse (with forage being fed too.) so that you don't need to supplement. The only supplement that is not added to the feed is a joint supplement. Its extremely expensive to put it in a feed and if not feed properly (according to weight) it wont do anything or you will be overdosing your horse with too much. The feed is highly palatable too.

When fed properly to a horse, this feed showed no spikes in the insulin and glucose response. For the insulin and glucose response in the horse, its as if they did not even eat anything. They even researched what feed form gave the lowest response too. The pellet form its in now is what gave the least amount of change. While a horse was eating they took blood every hour to monitor how it was affecting the horse. Thousands of vials of blood were drawn to research how it affected the horse.

Just remember this is NOT a perscription diet so it should be available at your local feed store as long as they are certified to carry it. The feed will not cure your horse, it will provide balanced nutrition for a horse with specail needs. Its also ideal for horses with laminitis and cushings.

You can check out the full research on it here:

http://www.wellsolveequine.com/

For forage you will still want to feed 1-1.5% of the horses body weight. The back of the bag has a table that reccomends the amount of feed to be fed and you adjust accordingly depending on how much roughage youre feeding your horse.

The clients who use these feeds love them and so do their horses.

Answer 3

Your issue may not be so much hay but the feed she is getting. I know purina makes a feed specifically for insulin resistance, I can't think of the name of it right now. If you have a decent feedstore, you can ask them about it. My mother owned an older horse who was insulin resistant, and after discovering this got her on the correct diet and she FLOURISHED! It was unbelievable how much she changed. She fed her mostly alfalfa hay, but couldn't eat too much because it is higher in protein and would make her mare a little roudy. The best thing to do is give your horse access to green grass and good grain designed for insulin resistant horses.

Answer 4

I've never personally had an insulin resistant horse. But the barn where I work, had one and he was on Tifton 44. He seemed to do fine, he gained weight quickly when the grass came in and only got limited time in the pasture. For grain, he was getting Safechoice and was fed beet pulp. I don't know their entire reasoning behind this all, but it could be something to look into. Good luck.

Answer 5

I assume you don't have her on any grain.  Are you able to exercise her at all? Is her neck cresty? (just wondering). If she is insulin resistant, then she's not metabolizing sugars (complex carbs in the forage) properly.  Look into a product called ReStore.  Ask your vet about it, as it may  not be available at feed stores where you live.  Email me if you want  more info.

EDIT what Matt said about the grass is true, it IS quite a bit higher in sugars than the dried hays (sorry, don't know the exact numbers offhand).  You didn't say whether or not she's on pasture, but if so, you really need to watch out for that starch (ie NSC) consumption, and go to a grazing muzzle if necessary.   :-(

Another note:  Regarding your question about hay types - - It's not going to be so much the type of hay your feed, but the conditions under which it was grown and when cut. Alfalfa grown in the UK is much different than alfalfa grown in the US, as the weather there is so different.  It tends to be safe to feed laminitic/IR horses over there, but often not good for horses over here.   What you need to do is have hay analyzed or ask the feed dealer if he knows the NSC levels of the particular hays he's selling.  It will vary from shipment to shipment, even same hay type from the same field.  The lower the NSC level (non-structural carbohydrate) the better.  It's actually the fructan that causes the problem.  Hay can retain high levels of fructan.  And as for pasture,  the fructan levels in  grass also vary from early morning to evening (it's related to sunlight and photosynthesis).  Sugar levels tend to be lower in the AM, and peak in mid afternoon.

You can lower the level of NSC level quite a bit ( up to 19%? don't quote me on that) in your hay by soaking for 30 minutes in hot water or 60 minutes in cold.  Otherwise, monitor the NSC levels in purchased hay, and get the lowest possible.  Do you have a vet nearby who specializes in nutrition?  Since she's overweight you are right to skip the grain.  Not all IR horses are overweight, but being overweight will push a genetically predisposed horse closer to becoming IR.

Also, be careful limiting the amount of forage she's getting, as she still needs a good amount of forage in her diet (15 to 20% bw) - it is a catch 22 as she's overweight, but I think you'll have to experiment as some other owners have done to find the balance.  I'm currently training 2 horses who are IR, and am trying to help the owners manage the problem, but have not owned an IR horse.  Best of luck to you.

Answer 6

Look into soaking your hay.  It usually has to be soaked for at least 20 minutes I think.  Check out the link below for a lot of good information.  I would definitely keep her off grass during times when it was stressed, such as in the morning as it starts to warm up and in the evenings when it starts to cool down.  Studies show that when grass is stressed it has more starch.  I don't understand it all but have a friend that has a few IR horses.  Best thing is probably turn her out in a dry lot with no grass if her condition is that bad.  Good luck.