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Doggy Diaper Designer
Posts: 2322
 
Location: WI | I have a horse that is always been very difficult to keep an ice Topline on. The only way I can even think about making him look good is to put him on a fairly expensive protein supplement. I got to thinking about this and I'm wondering what makes him so much more difficult than every other horse? Are there certain diseases or illnesses that this would be a symptom of that perhaps I should research? I realize every animal is different just like people but this one is so much different than every other horse I've ever seen |
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 Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
 
Location: Bandera, TX | EPM did it to mine. Post treatment high fat and THE Muscle Mass helped to rebuild it. |
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 Saint Stacey
| Compromised immune system. It makes horses more likely to get worm infestations, anemia, EPM, etc. |
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Doggy Diaper Designer
Posts: 2322
Location: WI | Is there anyway to determine for sure the status of immune system? |
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Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
Location: Bandera, TX | stef73433 - 2017-05-24 7:38 PM Is there anyway to determine for sure the status of immune system?
CRP blood test. But it will only tell you if something is going on and not what... kind of frustrating. Once we finally had the EPM under control the CRP was still high... never figured it out. |
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| Lack of topline can be a symptom of neurological diseases and also some variants of PSSM.
What is your feed program like? Have you wormed for tapeworms? My nutritionist had me double dose Equimax (two full tubes at the same time) and repeat that after two weeks - a total of 4 tubes.
Is he hurting? On balanced diet with high quality protein plus getting worked in a way that will help strengthen his topline muscles? Does he have a good appetite?
Dependent on the answers to the above some suggestions are
FORCO - this product really allows the horse to maximize the nutrition from the feedstuff
Uckele Tri-Amino
Lysine - fed at 4+ times the amount listed on the container
T.H.E. Muscle Mass - I'm not a fan of feeding soy so I have them make it in a flax/chia base instead
ForeFront Colostrum - I have no personal experience with this product but have seen some impressive results amung my peers
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Expert
Posts: 1694
Location: Willows, CA | Funny that this came up today. I did a nutrition talk yesterday for Dena Kirkpatrick at her clinic here in California. The topic of relating nutrition to top line came up while we were looking at a young gelding that was at the clinic. While a horse with a poor topline can be that way for a number of reasons, basic conformation can also be a primary reason. Exercises that keep a horse collected will really help build the muscle that gives you an impressive topline as long as the nutrition is there to support it. However, some horses are simply made that way and you are never going to get to that strong topline if they do not have the genetic ability to be there. |
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| Could he possibly have ulcers? Are the accupressure points positive? That will make them hard to keep weight on resulting in a less than stellar topline. |
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Expert
Posts: 3514
| Epm or ulcers
Edited by readytorodeo 2017-05-25 6:19 PM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 509
| I feed pure alfalfa hay and renew gold mine have top lines now |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 618
| I'm not one to hit the panic button however we have a gelding that would not develop top line and as a matter of fact would look worse on some days than others. He had some issues cross firing. We injected bc he was sore, he'd be fine for a week then right back. So we scoped, he had a few ulcers. We also tested for EPM and sure enough he had elevated titers that put him at 60%. We've been treating for 30 days and he's already filling out in his top line. Prior to turning him out last month he'd been turned out all winter and never filled in. His riding this spring was inconsistent bc of mysterious lameness which is a result of EPM. I have done NOTHING different as far as feed program goes. He gets 2 flakes of alfalfa, 2 # rice bran, 1.5# of Enrich and pasture or coastal. He's looking significantly better even with the ulcers(they are mild, will treat once done w/EPM meds) |
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