Saturday, February 21, 2009

UPDATE - Squirts

Yesterday I went to the feed store and got a bag of alfalfa pellets. This is what I fed all five horses with the runs.

This morning, EVERYONE had firmed up. I checked each run and each pile of poo. Squirrel and Thai both had place that looked like the squirts were returning, so I'm going to do something a little different tonight and see if that works.

I should also point out that all are holding their weight good and drinking like camels.

4 comments:

Drsgjunky said...

Karen...

Are you feeding Orchid grass? I haven't been following the "runs" blog, but this has been a common problem on the west side for many barns over the last couple of years. I suspect (as does my Vet) it's from really rich orchid grass (3rd/4th cutting).

Had the same problem with my OTTB when he was on this (last year), and he's never had the runs. Within 24 hours of putting on Timothy, it's never again cropped up.

Everyone I know who changed over to something other than Orchid had the runs disappear.

Karen V said...

It's a mix hay, grass/alfalfa. Probably Orchard. And of course, it's 4th cutting. I figured it was the hay when I fed only alfalfa pellets and it cleared up. It's all I can get. Pain in the butt, but I'm managing it. No flair ups since.

Drsgjunky said...

Most of the alfalfa mix I've seen over here is 80% orchid and 20% alfalfa. Comes from the Eastside.

Everyone I've checked with that changed over to grass, Timothy or alfalfa had the problem disappear.

I really think it's the fourth cutting of orchid and orchid mixes that's causing the runs. I could be wrong but that's what I've been seeing.

Want me to bring over some Timothy? Just give me an excuse to head over (raining the last 48 hours).

Karen V said...

Do you really NEED an excuse? There's a barrel race here on Saturday...you could drive over and see how the other (dry) side lives. Just leave the rain THERE, thank you very much.

Everybody is still ok. It's like it gets started and you can't just peck away at it, you have to hit it hard! One feeding of pellets and three days of probiotic and all is well.

By the way, my horses won't eat Timothy. AT ALL!