Woke up to colic this morning.

[HersheyMint]

lol. Which C word? We’ve got cushings and colic.

Both!

 

[slonewbt]

Hygain Zero is meant to be fed with pasture or hay, so he probably should have some hay in his diet (he's also getting a bit more than the recommended daily amount for a horse his size, so perhaps backing off to the recommended amount for his size and adding in some hay pellets or cubes, or long stem for the rest of his diet). Or perhaps hay pellets.
Do you soak his feed? Or feed it dry? If you don't mind soaking, Triple Crown Timothy Balance cubes are low carb fortified hay cube ( do feed some dry, but only the cubes that can be crumbled by hand).
screen shot from the Hygain website page discussing Zero (bottom paragraph).
View attachment 45006

Zero is a complete feed and, although it is best utilized in conjunction with forage, I was told it can be fed alone. My little guy quids and can’t/wont eat long stem hay. He does okay with soaked cubes. I was feeding alfalfa/teff cubes but that is when he got laminitic so was told to get him off of all alfalfa so switched to zero. I havent been able to find any cubes without alfalfa here and most of the pellets are high starch that I’ve found. Being that hes got cushings, I’m hesitant to allow him much grazing time but am planning to turn him out more with a grazing muzzle. What are the timothy balance cubes fortified with? The zero bag indicates not to supplement with anything without consulting a vet

 

[Taz]

Just wondering about plain beet pulp? Can you get it there without molasses added? I use it a lot to extend hay and for my oldies with bad teeth and my IR little one.

 

[slonewbt]

Just wondering about plain beet pulp? Can you get it there without molasses added? I use it a lot to extend hay and for my oldies with bad teeth and my IR little one.

When we first started battling the cushings/laminitis flare early this year, I tried beet pulp and he wouldn't touch it...he went off feed completely when I tried to add even a little bit to his normal ration. He's picky too. sigh....

 

[Taz]

That makes it so much harder.....

 

[slonewbt]

That makes it so much harder.....

Right? my other minis are no trouble at all but this guy has been a handful to take care of. Never a dull moment with this one! He's super sweet though.

 

[chandab]

Timothy Balance cubes have a little bit of beet pulp in them, but not enough to turn off a picky horse, and they are fortified to themselves, as far as I understand. They are guaranteed under 10% sugar/starch so should be safe for laminitics. If you add flax, vitamin E and flax to them, they are a complete diet in themselves. You might try Triple Crown's website and see if there is a dealer near you, and you can check if they carry the Balance cubes.
I'm feeding them without issue to some of my horses that get a vit/min supplement to balance our local hay.

 

[slonewbt]

Timothy Balance cubes have a little bit of beet pulp in them, but not enough to turn off a picky horse, and they are fortified to themselves, as far as I understand. They are guaranteed under 10% sugar/starch so should be safe for laminitics. If you add flax, vitamin E and flax to them, they are a complete diet in themselves. You might try Triple Crown's website and see if there is a dealer near you, and you can check if they carry the Balance cubes.
I'm feeding them without issue to some of my horses that get a vit/min supplement to balance our local hay.

I gave him a few soaked alfalfa/teff cubes this morning and reduced his zero by a bit to compensate. The zero is SOOOO low in starch I think using a few cubes that might be a little higher should still be overall well below the recommended level for a cushings horse (at least I hope so). You've given me some good things to think about. Thank you!

 

[Abby P]

Triple Crown also has a bagged chopped forage product that is low sugar/starch and balanced, that could be an option also.

 

[Cayuse]

I may have missed it but can he eat chopped hay? Some of the bagged chopped hay is made specifically for metabolic horses and is low in NSC (or what ever the term is now, I think it's changed) I think Triple Crown produces some and I know Lucerne Farms does but it may not be available in your area. My quidding pony can eat chopped hay easily ( he also has good teeth, but quids and he won't tell us why)

ETA: Kelly beat me to it . her post wasn't up yet as I was typing and cooking!

 

[slonewbt]

Triple Crown also has a bagged chopped forage product that is low sugar/starch and balanced, that could be an option also.

I might have to revisit triple crown. When I was looking for a balancer and complete feed, my guy wouldn’t touch any of their products. It was really frustrating!

 

[Abby P]

This is chopped hay - it's just tested and controlled for sugar/starch content, and then it's mineral-balanced somehow (not sure whether minerals are added, or they mix batches of hay to balance it, or what), so it's meant to be fed alone. I haven't seen it in person though so I have no idea how it smells or how horses typically like it! It was just on my list of "things to try if a track and 3/4" hole hay nets didn't work". Haven't had to go there yet, fingers crossed! I wonder if they'd send you a sample if you asked?

 

[slonewbt]

This is chopped hay - it's just tested and controlled for sugar/starch content, and then it's mineral-balanced somehow (not sure whether minerals are added, or they mix batches of hay to balance it, or what), so it's meant to be fed alone. I haven't seen it in person though so I have no idea how it smells or how horses typically like it! It was just on my list of "things to try if a track and 3/4" hole hay nets didn't work". Haven't had to go there yet, fingers crossed! I wonder if they'd send you a sample if you asked?

The only place who carries it here is Tractor Supply and they are terrible at keeping things in stock so I hesitate to go solely into something that may not be in ready supply. I'm going to go ahead and give him some soaked alfalfa/teff cubes along with the Zero. Zero is so low in starch, a few cubes shouldn't tip him over the edge with his cushings (at least I hope not!)

 

[Cayuse]

Can you get it from Chewy.com? Probably would be spendy, but I bet you'd only need a bag or so a month.

 

[chandab]

Teff/alfalfa mix cubes are probably likely to be lower sugar/starch, since alfalfa is generally lower carb and most Teff is lower carb. [You might be able to contact the company that makes the cubes and request the sugar/starch levels, they may have nothing to offer or only an average over several years, rather than something more specific, but would get you a ballpark.]
The Triple Crown chopped forage is called Safe Starch forage, it's a fortified chopped grass hay in a bag with vit/min added to balance (the vit/min are in a pellet mixed into the forage).

 

[Abby P]

(the vit/min are in a pellet mixed into the forage).

Cool! Thank you! I was picturing minerals spray-dried onto the hay or something. Pellets make a lot more sense.

 

[Kelly]

Haha! IDK ,so I’m just laughing WITH Abby

 

[slonewbt]

UPDATE: I started giving him some alfalfa/teff cubes and lowered the amount of Zero fed. He is wearing a grazing muzzle and I'm feeding on swept mats....also giving him more turnout time with his muzzle and so far he seems to be doing better!