IF YOU are feeding a draft horse or Draft X -Read!

[atticus]

I want to highlight this and not let these ressources get lost in other threads, so I am pulling them out into their own thread. I had no idea before last week that drafts had very specifc food needs, so if you are feeding one you may want to take a peek at these links:

Thank you Dean and QHflicka for the links!!

PER QHflicka:
Below is a link to 6 diets recommended for ALL draft and draft X horses. I read that 50% of all draft horses show signs of EPSM due to incorrect diets!!

I rescued a 12 year old Percheron with advanced EPSM, and he is doing a lot better on an approved EPSM diet, E-Se shots (Vit E and Selenium), chiropractor adjustments, Next Level Hoof fluid and Next Level Joint fluid.

Recommended diets - www.draftresource.com/EPSM/Draft_EPSM_DIets.html

Symptoms of EPSM - www.draftresource.com/EPSM/Draft_EPSM_Report.html

More info on EPSM - www.draftresource.com/EPSM/Draft_EPSM.html

Any horse can get EPSM, but Drafts, Draft X, and Racehorses are most at risk. It is something that can be AVOIDED by correct diet.


Per Dean:

Please read these articles about drafts! Very Important !!!

www.ruralheritage.com/vet_clinic/epsm.htm

www.ruralheritage.com/vet_clinic/index.htm

[atticus]

I like this page

My Particular Favorite!
RECIPE FOR A HAPPY DRAFT HORSE

2-6 scoops alfalfa pellets (can substitute or mix with Purina Strategy)
3-4 cups soy oil (can also use canola or corn oil)
1-2 ounces vitamin E and selenium supplement
Heaps of good forage
Buckets of water
Lots of respect and love


Note: Feeds one 1500-2000 lb draft horse for one day



Dr. Beth A. Valentine
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]

[mkgbuegel]

So, at what age do you generally begin adding the oil to a young draft/draft crosses diet? I have not been able to find an answer to this question, I need some assitance. Thanks for any input.

[ebo]

Let me encourage you to take it very carefully if you decide to add oil to the horses' diets.

Dr. Valentine used to encourage feeding of oil no matter what. It's my understanding that she now says it's necessary only if a horse is underweight, as sort of a grain replacement. This is second hand information, though, so be sure to check it out. Above all use common sense.

Dr. Eleanor Kellon is death on adding oil to a fat horse's diet. She believes it can lead to diabetes. She also cautions on letting any horse get too heavy for their frame, lest they go into insulin resistance (although some insulin resistant horses are not overweight at all). The epsm diet is not very different from the diet recommended for insulin resistant horses, except for the oil. She adds fat with rice bran and flax seed.

A muscle biopsy will determine whether or not your horse does have epsm--as far as I know, that's the only test.

[galaxy]

I appreciate the information.
When I purchased my Clydesdale from a breeder that has been over 30 years in the business, the one thing they said is "DO NOT EVER FEED ALFALFA" to the Clydesdale.
He is fifeteen years old and looks and acts great. We also got a 3 year old somewhere else.
They eat orchard grass and are doing fine.

[Admin]

EPSM—Muscle Disease in Draft Horses

by Beth A. Valentine, DVM, PhD

The muscle disease Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy (EPSM) has been confirmed or suspected in virtually every draft horse breed, including Belgian, Percheron, Clydesdale, Shire, Haflinger, Norwegian Fjord, Irish Draught, Friesian, Gypsy Vanner, draft cross, and a draft mule. This newly-recognized disease, under research at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Oregon State University, has likely been around for hundreds of years. It has been identified in many breeds of horse, but appears to be particularly common, severe, and difficult to detect in the draft breeds. In fact, approximately two-thirds of all draft related horses show evidence of EPSM, if you look at their muscles microscopically.

In drafts EPSM has been identified as a cause of severe muscle wasting and weakness in both young and older horses, of "tying up" (Monday Morning Disease) in older horses, as a cause of poor performance, "shivers," and other abnormal hind limb gaits. Affected horses may easily be misdiagnosed as having foaling complications, colic, or other diseases. Most devastating of all, this disease has been identified as causing recumbency ("down horses") due to weakness during work, associated with foaling, at rest, or following general anesthesia.

EPSM and Other Conditions
"Monday morning disease" is most often described in hard-working draft horses that are given a day off with full grain feed. When they are asked to work the next day, these horses show severe signs of the condition known as "tying up" in saddle horses—muscles become stiff and begin to degenerate; the horse stops moving and may go down.

Massive muscle injury results in release of the pigment myoglobin from damaged muscle, and the urine becomes a dark red-brown (myoglobinuria). Because of this reddish color, the disease is also called "azoturia" ("azo" from the red clothing dye + "t" from who knows where + "uria," referring to urine). Other names include "set fast," "exertional myopathy," and "exertional rhabdomyolysis."

We believe the massive muscle damage in EPSM drafts is due to lack of muscle energy. The common occurrence of slightly increased levels of muscle enzymes in the blood of apparently normal or only mildly affected horses suggests that these horses have low-level muscle injury during exercise. We don't yet understand what puts them over the edge into massive muscle injury, but studies of muscle from horses with signs of Monday morning disease show that EPSM is a common underlying condition, and we believe EPSM is the cause of the disease. Whether or not all horses with Monday morning disease also have EPSM remains to be absolutely proven, but so far evidence suggests they do.

"Stringhalt" (sometimes called "springhalt") is a condition producing abnormal hind leg action, especially when the horse backs or turns. Some people describe this action as a "hitch" or "cramp" in which the horse pauses with its hind leg in the air before stomping it down. It occurs most often when the horse backs or turns in a tight circle, but I have seen horses do it while standing, or on the first step when they get going, or on the last step before stopping. In many cases, horses thought to have "stringhalt" actually have a form of shivers

"Shivers" is a condition that looks similar to stringhalt. It differs in that shivers horses often progress to muscle wasting and weakness, but these severe signs may not show up for years. A horse with classic shivers trembles or quivers and abnormally elevates its tail. As with Monday morning disease, EPSM has been shown to be an underlying condition in many draft horses (and other breeds) with shivers. The abnormal action is apparently caused by a lack of energy to the powerful hind limb muscles. Only further study will determine if shivers has other causes.

Therapy
An important part of the studies began at Cornell, and continued at Oregon State University study has been the evaluation of diet change as a treatment. Horses with EPSM seem not to be able to derive adequate muscle energy from carbohydrates, the main source of energy in grains, sweet feeds, and pelleted horse feeds. The diet change involves decreasing the amount of dietary carbohydrates and replacing them with fat as an energy source. For details see Dietary Recommendations for a Horse with EPSM.

If you have a confirmed EPSM horse in the barn, it may be easiest to feed all your horses the same diet. Feeding a "normal" horse the EPSM-type diet is not harmful. Several nutrition researchers, including Dr. Harold (Skip) Hintz at Cornell University and Dr. David Kronfeld at Virginia-Maryland Veterinary College, have for many years tested the effects of this high-fat diet. They have discovered no ill-effects and have found some indications that this diet is better for all horses.

You might think high-fat feed is much more expensive than feeding other grains, but high-fat feeds are so high in calories that the amount necessary to provide the same number of calories is much less. Fat provides more than twice the calories per volume compared to carbohydrates. For example, 2 cups of oil (approximately one pound) provide about 4,000 calories, whereas one pound of corn, oats, sweet feed, or other commercial feed provides only 1,200 to 1,400 calories. Factor in the potential costs of veterinary care for the affected horses, or even the potential loss of a horse, and the cost of the new diet looks even better.

Good quality hay and pasture are still vitally important; only the grain is changed. The simplest diet consists of replacing a portion of the grain with alfalfa and adding vegetable oil, but these days we have many different ways to achieve an EPSM diet. The best diet for your EPSM horse is one you are happy buying that your horse is happy eating, and that keeps your horse's muscles healthy.

With dietary therapy, many cases of EPSM show 100% improvement. Dietary therapy is most effective when started in the disease's earlier stages. Severely affected draft horses may die, despite having been started on dietary therapy. We believe they die because the disease is so advanced at the time of diagnosis. Unfortunately, the naturally stoic nature of many draft horse can allow sever changes to occur within the muscles without signs of problems for the owner to observe. By the time these horses show obvious problems the disease may be quite advanced and severe. Changing the diet of draft horses from a carbohydrate-based concentrate to a high-fat low-carbohydrate feed may decrease, delay, or even prevent the signs of EPSM in affected horses. For some EPSM horses, diet therapy has been life-saving. Horses on this diet often have improved muscling and increased energy. Most important, they are able to perform with minimal to no muscle damage. Only time will tell just how well diet therapy works.

After dietary fat, exercise is the second most important thing needed by horses with EPSM. Standing in a tie stall or going for long trailer rides only makes these horses worse. Give an EPSM horse as much daily turnout and as much regular work as possible, allowing the horse to maximally utilize the dietary fat. Be careful with warm-ups, though, and don't over-exert the horse when returning it to work after a lay-up

[Admin]

Dietary Recommendations for a Horse with EPSM

by Beth A. Valentine, DVM, PhD

Overhauling your horse's diet is the first line of treatment against EPSM. The goal of the EPSM diet is to decrease soluble dietary carbohydrates (grain) and increase fat. You want to provide 20% to 25% of total daily calories from fat.

The diet is safe for any horse and therefore may be used as a dietary trial to see if EPSM is the underlying cause of your horse's problems. If you decide to try it, however, ask your veterinarian to work with you during the trial.

The horse's hay and pasture are generally not altered, but the addition of fat to the diet is critical, regardless of whether the horse is on grain or not. By increasing the fat and decreasing the carbohydrates in the diet, the horse's muscle is gradually "trained" to use more fat for energy than it normally would, decreasing its reliance on glycogen (animal starch). Most EPSM horses need at least 1 pound fat (2 cups oil or other fat source) per 1,000 pounds of horse per day. Increase this fat gradually, both to maintain your horse’s intestinal health and to help him accept the new diet.

One simple and effective dietary change has been to replace grain with an equal quantity of alfalfa pellets and gradually add vegetable oil until the horse is eating two cups of oil per day per 1,000 pounds of the horse's weight. Alfalfa pellets were selected only to act as a substance to mix the oil with. Although they are a good source of protein, calcium, and vitamin E, they are not a necessary component of the diet. Mixing a small amount of leafy alfalfa hay into the alfalfa/oil mixture may enhance palatability.

For horses that won't eat alfalfa pellets, try adding the vegetable oil to soaked beet pulp or one of the newer low starch and sugar feeds, of which many are now available. If your horse won’t tolerate a large volume of added oil, try providing part of the required fat from a commercial high-fat feed. I calculate the fat content only in feeds that are 10% or more fat, though. You can calculate pounds of fat from your feed by multiplying the pounds fed per day by the percentage of fat. That is, 1 pound of a 10% fat feed provides 1 x 0.10 = 0.10 pound of fat per day.

The vegetable oil may be derived from corn (the most expensive), soy, canola, safflower, coconut, etc., but avoid high levels of flax or linseed (more than 1 cup per day). At high levels (about 4 cups per 1,000 pounds of horse per day) flax oil can cause intestinal irritation, so I’d rather be safe than sorry. Your choice of oil depends on your preference, your horse’s preference, and your ability to find a cost-effective source. Buying vegetable oil in bulk from a discount store such as Costco or Sam’s Club, or from a restaurant supplier, will save you a lot of money. Five-gallon containers are the most economical.

Since an alfalfa-only diet is slightly low in zinc, add a vitamin-and-mineral supplement. Vitamin E supplementation is recommended at a level of 1 IU per day for each pound of the horse's weight. In selenium-deficient areas, selenium supplementation at 1 mg per 1,000 pounds of body weight per day is advised.

Although this diet may behigher in protein than other traditional equine diets, research proves that higher protein diets do not cause founder/tying up problems in horses. Nor do they damage the kidneys or liver. The horse may, in fact, use the added protein for energy and to rebuild damaged muscle.

Some horses will not eat alfalfa pellets, at least not in high volumes. For such horses, you might try mixing the pellets with Cocosoya from Uckele Animal Health, a blend of unprocessed coconut and soy oil that smells like caramel—horses like it, and it is naturally high in vitamin E. Another answer may be one of the lower carbohydrate commercial diets such as Purina Strategy, Nutrena Compete, Blue Seal Demand, Blue Seal Hunter, Blue Seal Racer, LMF low starch and sugar feeds, Nutrena Safe Choice, or any senior feed or other complete feed designed to replace hay if necessary. Now that nutritionists realize the many benefits to feeding less grain to horses, more and more low starch and sugar feeds are out there to choose from. With any of these commercial diets that are less than 10% fat, add the same amount of vegetable oil as you would with alfalfa pellets.

If your horse objects to the recommended amounts of oil, choose a higher-fat feed such as Kent Feed Omegatin (20% fat), Nutrena Empower (22% fat), or Buckeye Ultimate Finish (25% fat) and decrease the oil by the amount of fat fed from the feed (see calculation above). Many products now utilize rice bran as a fat supplement and can work well when added to oil. One example is Natural Glo (Wolcott Farms, 800-680-8254, ask for Pat Cassidy). But rice bran is only 20% fat, so you need five pounds of rice bran to provide the same amount of fat as two cups (one pound) of vegetable oil. Rice bran also contains some starches, which means the total diet will have less calories from fat. Use rice bran only when abbsolutly necessary and try to add oil or other 100% fat source as well.

Powdered animal or granular vegetable fat products are good sources of fat, provided they are designed for simple-stomached animal like horses and pigs, and not for ruminants like cattle and sheep. Effective fat sources for horses include Cool Calories (soy oil based) by Milk Specialties Company (toll-free 800-323-5424 extension 1156, ask for Catherine Gerardi), and the same company's less expensive Fat Pak 100 dry animal fat product. Buckeye Feed also markets a dry soy fat product called Ultimate Finish 100. If you are using a dry fat supplement, remember these products weigh half their volume, so 4 cups by volume of a dry fat equal 2 cups of oil.

The minimum caloric requirement per 900 to 1,000 pounds of horse is 10,000 to 12,000 calories per day, which goes up if the horse does heavy work. The high-fat EPSM diet provides approximately 16,000 calories per day. We are aiming to obtain 20% to 25% of dietary energy from vegetable oil. Since one cup of vegetable oil contains 2,000 calories, 2 cups of oil per day provides 4,000 calories, which is 20% to 25% of the daily requirement. If you want to reduce total daily calories to prevent excessice weight gain, try to cut down on pellets and hay before cutting down on fat. Just don’t decrease daily forage intake below 1% of the horse’s total body weight.

To avoid digestive problems, alfalfa pellets and all commercial rations should be initially mixed with the horse's previous ration and gradually increased as the former ration is decreased. The fat supplement should also be gradually increased until the recommended amount is reached.Increasing the oil by about 1/4 cup per feeding every few days usually work.

Horses with EPSM seem to be able to take in a tremendous amount of dietary fat following diet change, without a gain in weight. Once the muscle disease has apparently stabilized, however, the same amount of fat may result in increased weight. At this time, the amount of daily calories can be decreased, but try to keep fat levels as high as possible. If the EPSM horse is to survive, it must have fat added to its diet for the rest of its life.

Another advantage of fat supplementation for any horse is the fact that burning fats for energy is more efficient than burning carbohydrates, resulting in more energy and less body-heat production. Because fats are so calorie dense (they have more than twice the calories per volume of carbohydrates and proteins), you may feed smaller amounts of concentrates (grains), even to hard-working horses.



Beth A. Valentine, DVM, PhD, is involved with EPSM research and other veterinary matters at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University. She developed these dietary recommendations in cooperation with Arleigh Reynolds, and they were reviewed by Drs. Kent Thompson and Harold Hintz of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Dr. Valentine is this site's virtual vet

[Admin]

[mkgbuegel]

Got it, good info. Thank you.

[atticus]

I have to say on less than a week of the recommendation diet, Finn has gained some weight (he needed it bad) and is looking alot better. Amazing what enough food can do. The only thing I added was Probios since his stool was not as firm as I like it, but it came right back with that.