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  Discussion on Founder, Feed, and Morgans
Author Message

Posted on Wednesday, Nov 24, 1999 - 7:11 am:

Dear Dr. O.,
I bought a '94 QH/Morgan cross about a month ago. She was severely overweight and had a mild case of laminitis. She has lost 100 lbs in the past month and the laminitis is gone.

The way she lost the weight was confinement in a round pen and 2 flakes of hay per day.

She still needs to lose about 75 lbs, but now that her laminitis is gone and she is working, I am wondering if 2 flakes provides enough nutrients?

I looked into a feed called "Triple Crown Lite" that is supposedly formulated for 'easy keepers' so they can be limited on their pasture time and still get the proper nutrition.

Would a nutrient rich, low calorie feed such as the above pre-dispose her to another attack of laminitis or cause her to founder?

Thanks!
Nancy

Posted on Wednesday, Nov 24, 1999 - 8:52 am:

Definately a common Morgan problem. I believe over half the horses with this problem in my practice are Morgans. It is not the feed that causes the founder, it is the weight in my opinion.

Whatever you feed you will need to limit the amount so that the weight stays healthy. The problem comes in when you are not getting enough protein, roughage, and vitamins in the diet. I would get a complete vitamin supplement and you could add it to a small cup of this lite feed.

Horses are not really happy unless they are eating about 2% of their body weight a day in feed say 1.5% as a minimum. Your challenge is to find a hay that is of such a quality that you can feed 15 lbs daily without this horse gaining weight.
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Nov 24, 1999 - 4:33 pm:

Dear Dr. O,

Thank you for responding to my questions. I wanted to send you a link to the Triple Crown Lite web page, but I couldn't because this is web based too.

It is www.triplecrownfeed.com The feed I am referring to is the "Triple Crown Lite" formula.

You can look up the nutritional information there. I compared it with the feed they give at the stable where we board and it is much higher in protein and other nutrients than the 'regular' feed.

Also, it is a pelletted formula, is that OK to feed? I have heard mixed things about pelletted feeds. This horse has never eaten any pelletted feed just grass, hay and crimped oats.

Thanks again and Happy Thanksgiving.

Nancy

Posted on Thursday, Nov 25, 1999 - 8:33 am:

Pellets would be fine. You can place a link in the page. See the formatting information under the Help Topic on the right. If you will provide me with a link to the page the Lite feed is described on I will go look at it.
DrO
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