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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
 
Location: Duvall, WA | Let me start by saying I live in Washington, we have REALLY nice hay. I have always fed about 70% orchard grass and 30% nice second cutting alfalfa, my two ten year old mares have always looked and felt great on that. I now have two fillies, one two and one four, and they both have loose stools. Not constantly but regularly, like maybe one in every three piles. My vet thought it was probably the orchard grass as it has too much sugar. I upped their alfalfa to 50% and bought some rather stemmy, crappy-looking first cutting grass at the suggestion of my hay guy, and now maybe one in four piles are loose. And of course they don't like the new hay much and waste lots of it. Any ideas? They also get 1 1/2 lbs of Renew Gold and some probiotics.
Edited by NipntuckLR 2016-11-10 8:03 PM
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
  
Location: Florida.. | you might check for sand in gut to.. |
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Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | back off the rg for a week and check a fecal the grass is shorter and they may have picked up some worms fall/spring are tough on the babies |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
Location: Duvall, WA | They were wormed twice in Aug. because we had bots. Waiting for a hard frost to do it again, 67 degrees today so still waiting. . . And we don't have any sand.
Edited by NipntuckLR 2016-11-10 9:41 PM
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | I would stop with the alfalfa for a week to see if that would help, sometimes the alfalfa is just to rich for some bellies.  |
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Veteran
Posts: 111
| My feeling too - i feed similar to you but if horses get loose poop, i pull back on alfalfa - our alfalfa in central OR is high in protein - yours may be too. |
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Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | Then I agree with the others pull back on the alfalfa. I feed alfalfa to my feeder calves and I have to be very careful as I introduce them to the rich nutritious forage. Or else... |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
Location: Duvall, WA | They both got 100% alfalfa before I bought them. I would have thought alfalfa, too, but it just doesn't make sense. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| I would try Animal Element or Forco. I have had success with both. There is obviously something going on with their gut. Cur Ost Stomach and Adapt have also worked for me, too. But the first 2 are cheaper. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
Location: Duvall, WA | I am feeding a probiotic but I don't think it is very good. Thank you for the specific suggestions, I'll try one of those. They both have white tails so I'd really like to get this fixed! Ugg. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| NipntuckLR - 2016-11-11 11:21 AM
I am feeding a probiotic but I don't think it is very good. Thank you for the specific suggestions, I'll try one of those. They both have white tails so I'd really like to get this fixed! Ugg.
I really liked Animal Element. I had a horse get into the show cattle feed and he ate ALOT of it. I tripled the AE dose and he survived. He had to have AE after that to keep from having loose stools and to keep weight on. I am convinced it saved his life. |
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Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | NipntuckLR - 2016-11-10 10:39 PM They were wormed twice in Aug. because we had bots. Waiting for a hard frost to do it again, 67 degrees today so still waiting. . . And we don't have any sand.
3 months ago wormed..id redo it...
your alfalfa might be richer then prior alfalfa.. what grain do they get? mine get loose if they get to much alfalfa to..
they pick up sand when they graze to not just sand in their area.. or do you mean you all dont have sand at all? like clay instead.lol.. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | How long have you had them on the Renew Gold. Fat can sure make one loose until they get used to it.
Really rich protein can too (or a combo of both).
When the tumbleweeds and kochia weeds come out in this country the horses all get real loose, due to the high protein.
I think you made the wrong move on going to a low quality hay.
Edited by Tdove 2016-11-11 9:56 PM
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Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | Tdove - 2016-11-11 10:50 PM How long have you had them on the Renew Gold. Fat can sure make one loose until they get used to it. Really rich protein can too (or a combo of both). When the tumbleweeds and kochia weeds come out in this country the horses all get real loose, due to the high protein. I think you made the wrong move on going to a low quality hay.
good point |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 824
Location: Duvall, WA | I was told while the first cutting grass has stems and seed heads and looks crappy, there is actually lots of nutritional value to it. And both of them have been on the RG for months. What do you all think of Timothy? Everyone around here seems to feed it, I always thought it was expensive for not such great stuff but maybe I should try timothy and a less rich alfalfa.
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