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Expert
Posts: 1694
   
Location: Willows, CA | Tdove - 2016-08-20 1:28 AM
The vast majority of horses are not PSSM. A PSSM horse by definition is an unnatural condition. I would think the breeding practices should be looked at rather than the feeding practices. If you have a PSSM horse, that is one thing. But for MOST horses fat is not a normal source of energy and every horse's digestive system must adapt in order to use it as ernergy. There are very few natural fat sources a horse would come across in the evolution of their digestive system. The amounts and sources for fat additives in modern horse feed are at levels and origins that horses have never utilized in the eons of digestive evolution. High quality, protein rich forage, natural highly digestible grains, and small amounts of fat rich seeds are. That is why the overwhelming majority of horses thrive so much on that diet. It works for the youngest to the oldest. I think that is what Rachel is saying.
Sorry, this statement is quite simply not true. Almost all roughage sources have 1% to as much as 1.5% or more natural vegetable fat. When you multiply that times 15 to 20 pounds, that is a significant natural energy source that a horses digestive system has always used naturally. Added fats in their natural state, not refined liquid oils, fed at reasonable rates, are easily used without adaption by the horses digestive system. This has always been in the evolving horses diet. Starch and sugar from grain concentrates, on the other hand, is completely unnatural for horses. There was no place in nature where a horse could stop to eat at the grain pile. Grains at more than several pounds are disruptive to hind gut function and the root cause of many inefficiencies in digestive health today. Roughage that contains 1.5% natural fat, when fed at 15 pounds per day provide over 100 grams of fat. A horse has no problem with double that. This is the most efficient energy source in the system. Should you add two pounds of straight fat? Of course not. But, replacing high grain inclusions with an additional 100 - 150 grams of natural vegetable fat is a much healthier choice.
Edited by winwillows 2016-08-21 1:25 AM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | My statement is true, if you look at the context of what I am talking about. It is a fact that the horse's digestive system is efficient at using starch as energy, while fat must have a timeframe upwards to a month to adapt to concentrated fat sources, for energy use.
The context was high fat rations (at high feeding rates) that is the overwhelming trend in performance feed and the negative marketing efforts of avoiding healthy levels of starches. A controlled but elevated highly digestible starch level is beneficial, when derived from oats, instead of corn.
Additionally, I am not really disagreeing with what you are saying, nor am I advocating high grain and starch rations or extremely low fat levels. 2-4% fat (of the right kinds) in the entire ration is plenty, but how many people out there are looking for more, 5-10% in the total diet? I believe that 15-25% NSC in the entire ration (of the right starch sources) is also perfectly acceptable, and I think more apropriate for a performance horse than a low starch diet, with a few metabolic disorders of course.
Edited by Tdove 2016-08-21 7:30 AM
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Go Get Em!
Posts: 13502
 
Location: OH. IO | Bumping up ONE MORE TIME to see if anyone cares to clear up the final verdict and also just to keep people aware :))))))))) | |
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 World 4D Champ
Posts: 28264
Location: PA | This is all so frustrating. I currently feed TC Senior. When I first heard about this issue last year, I asked the store I buy from where it is milled, and if it is a horse only mill. I was assured it was. That the SOuthern States Mill they used for their feed was horse only. Great..yay...took their word, and continued feeding. Then....more issues pop up online, lawsuits, more horses dying, etc.
Last week, I again asked my feed store. Explained my issue to them...surprisingly..."they've not heard anything about any issues with horses dying from contaminated feed". Huh. They could not guarentee it was a horse only mill this time...what? How has it changed?! They took my name and number and were going to find out and let me know. Anyone shocked I haven't heard anything?? Yeah, me neither.
So, I sent an email to Southern States to find out if this mill is horse only. Shocker...I got their generic "we do everything we can to ensure safe fee" email response. That isn't good enough for me!! So now i'm stuck and have no clue what to do, or what to switch too.
I DO have a PSSM gelding...he has to be on a low starch high fat diet. Ive fed TC Senoir for YEARS...what im feeding now is what has kept my gelding symptom free. So, now i find myself between a rock and a hard place. He needs a special diet, and I have no guarentee what im feeding won't kill him. Lovely.... | |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Bumping this thread back up so others can read this that was asking about this feed {Tribute feeds}  | |
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