Re: Too much snake oil!!!

On 30 Mar 2006 23:11:39 -0800, "Kim" <craftykimmer@xxxxxxx> wrote:

I just got the latest horse catalog and am just amazed at all the
potions and lotions and feeds claiming to fix whatever you could come
up with. Pages and pages of joint supplements alone.
Here's my problem, I have a 20 year old gelding with chronic diarrhea.
I have tried switching his feed, worming him 2 days in a row, having
his teeth floated, blood tests, vet visits, etc. Not all at the same
time but over the course of a year or so.
Nothing seems to work. He doesn't seem bothered by the diarrhea, but
what a mess it is!
Last night as I was giving his rear end a bath for the hundredth time,
I was wondering if any of the diarrhea supplements in this catalog
might actually work.
I usually don't believe in this stuff, but am getting desperate.
Have any of you tried any of this and had any good results?
Kim

I can't speak about the topic of supplements, but I can tell you a
story about a horse that had a similar problem and what fixed it.

This horse was stabled next to my horses, and as those things go one
gets friend with the neighboring horse's owner. One day as she's
cleaning his stall (rough-board, they feed for you but you do your own
mucking) she whined about how he was always making a big mess of his
water by getting hay in it. I commented that maybe he needed his hay
moistened and that instead of fighting it she should try soaking his
hay before feeding it to him.

Due to the rough-board situation, soaking and then feeding didn't work
very well but what did work was to get a muck bucket and fill it 1/2
full of water and then have the feeder put the hay in the bucket.

Within 2 days this horse's chronic diarrhea which he had suffered from
for ~15 years stopped. His stool became normal and firm, his tail was
no longer a gross mess, he no longer had streaks of manure on his
haunches and hocks.

My theory is that he wasn't getting the right ratio of water to hay
when his hay was fed dry and this was messing up his bowels, and that
once the hay was provided soaking wet then the water ratio was correct
and his bowel worked properly.

So, my suggestion to you is to try soaking his hay. Who knows, it
might help your horse too and it can't hurt and doesn't cost you
anything to try.

jc
--

"The nice thing about a mare is you get to ride a lot of different horses without having to own that many."
~ Eileen Morgan of The Mare's Nest, PA
.

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