Sandy soil and psyllium

[Candice]

We live in Central Florida on what is called the "Ridge". We basically have 5 acres of sugar sand. Not ideal for horses. For over 11 yrs We've been very lucky and blessed as we've never had a colic. Not until last Tuesday night. It was our first really "cold for us" night. It got down into the 40's. One mare colicked and one mare just cramped. Doc figured she was a little dehydrated because her water got too cold for her. (go figure). Rony is not the "Brightest Mare".

What I learned though is that I've been giving my minis too little psyllium. I use equi-aid and have done the once a month treatment religiously. Doc said on heavy sandy soil to give them 3/4 of a scoop for 3 days on and 3 days off and continuously repeat until we're not seeing any in the stools. I was blown away. I felt really negligent. I'm just Thankful and Glad my Clair Bear is ok.

I just wanted to share. I know I'm not the only one on sandy soil and thought this might be helpful.

 

[debbiesshelties]

Thanks for the info. I use Sand Clear. They are due now but I am worried about giving it to my pregnant mares. Do you know if it is safe?

Debbie

 

[CKC]

I used to feed equi-aid, but had a horse colic back in May. Not from sand, but from having a severe leg injury on a very hot day and was unable to get to water during the day. My vet requested that we give him wet wheat bran. After his recovery we started feeding all of our miniatures the soaked wheat bran and soaked beet pulp.

I have found that I no longer have any of the loose stool problems that I had which I attributed to the sand colic. I don't live on sandy soil like you have, but our horses are on dry lots.

Just thought I would mention that.

 

[love_casper]

thanks for the reminder! i also use sand clear. i have so far not had any colic.

Thanks for the info. I use Sand Clear. They are due now but I am worried about giving it to my pregnant mares. Do you know if it is safe?

Debbie

i wondered this too. it says on the package it is "not tested" for animals under 6 months of age, or broodmares...or something like that. i really don't know. until i know for sure, miss princess is just going to have to try not to eat sand!

i used it on my broodmare last year, and we did get a stillborn, but i have no way to find out if this was the cause. i believe he was stuck in the sack, or maybe just aborted for some other reason. i don't know, but just in case...princess can't have it yet.

 

[Marty]

When I lived in Florida, I used Sandblast. The initial 10 day flush out is most important and then to follow through each month as directed. I did use Sand Clear from time to time too. Both good products.

Be sure to provide plenty of warm water for your girl too during winter. They don't like to drink cold water and they will tend to colic if they aren't drinking enough.

 

[Candice]

All of my mares are bred. The mare that colicked is 6 mos along. Doc looked over the equi-aid bucket and said it was good and safe to use. I used to use Sandblast but can no longer find it. Equi aid works along the same lines though.

 

[Hosscrazy]

I use Equi-Aid powder as I am also in a sandy soil area. A lot of people do 1 week on, 3 weeks off - I do it a little differently I feed the psyllium powder twice a week (Mondays and Fridays) every week. Not that one way is better than the other - just a different way to do it. My feeling is that I don't want to wait for the sand to build up over 3 weeks, so I keep this schedule as a weekly routine.

Liz R.

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

I use a generic brand of Metamucil( usually the CVS brand) It has ornage flavoring I give eachthree heaping tablespoons a day for a week, then a week off and repeat. Works like a charm. Was recomended by U of Pa, New Bolten center

 

[Becky]

Per an equine surgeons recommendations, I give one large dose to each horse generally once a week. He told me that psyllium works better that way to remove sand than a smaller dose over several days time. Since I started doing that some years back, I rarely have a colic case here. However, I would follow your vets recommendations and I do believe a larger dose works better than a smaller one.

 

[whitney]

Yep thats what I did too.

It took me a month testing turds twice a day to get my mini mare cleaned out. But I did the pure psyllium from Ukele everyday at 1/2 scoop. She was testing a tablespoon EVERYTIME, until about the 3 week mark.

 

[MiniforFaith]

I was wondering if I should give some sand clear to my mini's as they are on a dry lot. I think our TSC has it, but how much exactly do you use on a mini and how often? I have never used it before. But I would rather try it and prevent a colic. SO how much would I use and how often? And it wouldn't hurt just giving as a preventiative(SP is off, bad head cold sorry)..Thanks, Jodie

 

[MiniforFaith]

I just wanted to bump this up.. No one gave me an answer on how much to give my mini's. :no: I got the Sand clear and just wanted to start them on it since they are on a dry lot. So how much do you give your mini's?? Thanks, I hope someone will answer me...

:

 

[Candice]

Hi Jodie, I use the Equi-Aid psyllum product and what I did was look at the dosing for a full sized horse and scale the dose down. Say the full scoop is for a 1000lb animal, A half scoop would cover a 500 lb animal and thus a 1/4 scoop a 250lb animal and so on. One thing the vet taught me is that you cannot overdose psyllium, but it is very easy to underdose which is what I was doing to begin with.

Depending on your soil you may want to stool check your hoses and see if they even need it. Get a clean stool sample and check for Sand. In my case my poor guys are all in a literal sand pit at the moment. We never imagined the little termites would strip mine their "once pasture" so badly. We're in the process of correcting this but it takes time.

 

[MiniforFaith]

:saludando: Thanks alot Candice. I was thinking that but I wanted to check. I didn't know if anything would hapeen if I gave them to much! Thanks again,

:

Jodie

 

[Charlotte]

Well, I'm thanking everyone for this information. :saludando:

We live in a 'sand box' too. I use a psyllium product every month, but I have been unsure as to what is the best method for dosing. Y'all have answered my questions.

Now I have another question......how do you test fecal samples for sand? I have tried dissolving the fecal ball in water, but could never tell if there was sand in it. How do you do it?????? and what do you expect to find????? I need step by step insturctions :lol:

Oh, and someone said to use 3 heaping tablespoons when dosing a mini with a human product........was that the human product with sugar or an artificial sweetner? I know the sugar products have a much higher ratio of sugar to psyllium than the artificially sweetened products.