Natural Hoof Care
Founder
Below is a list of things we have found that work for our foundered horses:
No processed grains, sweet feeds, senior feeds, oats, barley, corn, carrots, molasses, apples, candy or treats of any kind. Grains and treats are high in carbohydrates, nothing with sugar in it.
Take your horse off the grass, make a dry lot for them while he or she is healing, you could hire a tractor serviced and have an area tilled up.
Feed a low NSC (non structural carbohydrate) hay, timothy, orchard grass and bermuda tends to be lower in simple sugars and starch content.
We recommend Dr.Kellon's emergency diet for the IR (insulin resistance) horse more info can be found at www.ecirhorse.com here is a quick overview:
1. Feed a grass hay low in NSC, soak hay for 30 to 60 minutes and drain to reduce sugar.
2. Feed Beet Pulp without molasses, soak, drain then rinse before feeding.
3. Feed Iodized table salt 1 to 2 oz a day (approximately 1 to 2 heaping Tablespoons).
4. Magnesium 1.5 grams/day per 500 lbs of body weight.
5. Vitamin E 1000 IU/day per 500lbs body weight, human supplement may be easiest i.e. soft gel caps add to beet pulp.
6. Flax -2 oz fresh ground flax seed or use stabilized flax. You can purchase a coffee grinder at Wal-Mart or K-Mart for around $20 to grind flax.
Please note this is only a temporary measure, not intended for long term use. It is very important to have your diet balanced for your horse. Again please visit www.ecirhorse.com for balancing information.
You could also feed Ontario Dehy (Timothy Balanced Cubes) http://www.ontariodehy.com/tab02-07.htm if you call Ontario Dehy they will tell you where you can purchase them. Or you could feed orchard or timothy pellets or cubes by Standlee you can purchase at The Hay Exchange in Plant City, FL. or Tractor Supply. Do not feed alfalfa.
We suggest testing your hay, you can go to http://www.equi-analytical.com to test hay, grain or grass. The cost is $16 to test hay, we suggest a hay under 10% NSC. You may contact us with the test results and we will help you read and understand the results, we offer this service at no charge.
We highly recommend soaking your hay. Soaking hay will reduce the sugar, soak 30 to 60 minutes then drain the water.
Horses are natural foragers and should slowly eat all day small amounts. It is very unhealthy for a founder horse to have an empty stomach and then a full stomach, there should be a steady intake of a low NSC hay all day long. There is a great product called Slow Down Hay Feeder to soak hay and allow the horse to eat hay slowly, http://www.slowdownhayfeeder.com/. We also like the slower feeder hay bags http://www.doversaddlery.com/product.asp?pn=X1-27293&ids=143126601
Proper hoof care is very important to help support the coffin bone and relieve the separation of the hoof wall, hoof boots can help assist the horse to make them more comfortable to encourage movement. Easy Care Inc carries a wide variety of eqine boots, we prefer the Epic and Glove style of boot that they carry http://www.easycareinc.com/ I am an Easy Care Inc dealer and I have many different sizes and styles available.
We suggest putting your horse on Pro-Bi (1/2 oz morning and night) to help replace good bacteria in the gut, you can purchase at ABC http://store.abcplus.biz/catalog/product/a699f9626de34a31a5fe38a7d6f930b3
We also suggest putting your horse on Founder Powder (herbs to help stimulate the body to naturally heal) you can purchase from Dr. Peggy Fleming at 352-583-2400 or I can arrange to bring it to you, if you are local.
No wormers while in recovery the body is doing all it can do to eliminate toxins, please do not over load the system. You can have a fecal test done at your local vet to see if there is a problem. Dade City Animal Hospital offers this service for $15. Or you can mail a fecal along with a $10 check to Dr. Dan Moore the natural horse vet, here is the web page for instruction on how to do this: http://www.thenaturalvet.net/cgi-bin/genesis.exe/st_prod.html?p_prodid=21&p_catid=1
No Vaccines, again the body is in repair mode and does not need to deal with anything extra.
Movement will help remove any toxins in the hoof, the hoof naturally pumps blood with movement and brings new blood to the hoof to clean the toxins out. If the horse is willing to move on his own GREAT! Encourage movement but DO NOT FORCE MOVEMENT.
Turn out as much as possible on a dry lot with little to no grass. If you have a pasture mate they can be with that will encourage movement but will not force movement great. Keeping them close to the herd is very important so they do not go through extra stress of being separated. We suggest keeping a horse near by that they can play with over a fence.
Please consult with us about your mineral and supplement program during this recovery time.
During this time of recovery please try to keep his environment unchanged any outside stress can have a huge effect on a foundered horse, like relocation, changing the herd, fertilizers, pesticides anything that causes stress.
Best time to turn your horse out is in the early morning, (sugar in the grass rises with the sun, so on a sunny day in the afternoon the sugar will be highest.)
Grazing muzzles are great for foundered horses, please introduce a muzzle slowly some horse take right to it and love the freedom the muzzle brings them, others have to process what the muzzle is and the purpose of the muzzle. If your horse goes right out and grazes and you see no signs of problems great. If your horse gets still and quiet this usually means he/she is having problems understanding what the muzzle is for. Take the muzzle off and start playing games with the muzzle, you could try putting the muzzle on and feeding hay pellets or grass through the hole then taking it off again. Associating the muzzle with rewards, when you first put the muzzle on you will have to show them how to eat through the bottom hole by feeding grass through the hole and walking around with them. I have found with my horses I will go stand at the gate with the muzzle and they come to the gate the muzzle gets put on and then they are free for hours. They start associating the muzzle with freedom.
Here is the muzzle we use: http://www.bestfriendequine.com/
For sale at Victory Canter FREE shipping: http://www.victorycanter.com/Muzzles-Grazing-p-1-c-1202.html
Pictures of the muzzle:
http://www.bestfriendequine.com/index.phpmain_page=popup_products_image&products_id=499&popup=1
Video of the muzzle in action and instructions on how to introduce.
http://www.bestfriendequine.com/movies/deluxe_movie.php
We also suggest a holistic routine seeing a holistic practitioner for acupuncture, homeopathy and herbs.
We highly recommend Dr. Peggy Fleming in Dade City, FL. 352-583-2400
Dr. Peggy Flemings website: http://www.jadehorseherbals.com/index-jhh.html
and Denise Zimmerer of Dade City, FL 352-583-4674 http://equicare-alternative-therapy.com/
During the spring and fall months the grass is under a great deal of stress and when the grass is stressed it will produce large amounts of sugar because the grass is in repair mode. Please be aware of these times.
To learn more about IR (insulin resistance) we would suggest http://www.ecirhorse.com/
This yahoo group is a great source of information and the members, which include vets and farriers are very helpful http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/EquineCushings/
To learn more about founder and laminitis we suggest Pete Ramey's DVD's Under the Horse you can purchase at http://www.hoofrehab.com/
To learn more about diet, pasture management, adequate levels of NSC for your horse and testing your hay, grain, and grass we suggest Pasture & Forage Management for Laminitic Horses and Dietary Management of the Carbohydrate Intolerant Horse
you can purchase at http://www.safergrass.org/cdsales.html
Founder can not be fixed with trimming or shoeing alone the diet most be addressed.
If you have any questions please contact us.
Natural Hoof Care Practitioner / Barefoot Specialist / Florida