...I would like to tell you
about a problem I have had with my horse. I bought him as an 8 month old foal in 1989, he
is now 12. He is a full thoroughbred gelding called Wembley. He raced as a 2 year old, now
he does affiliated dressage.
About
4 years ago, after a days hunting, he didn't eat for a week, my vet diagnosed gut damage
due to stress. I sent a sample of his dung to Probalance who told me that he was only to
be fed on an alfa-a diet, no sugar, starches or grains but he could have naked oats and
hay ad-lib. I found this diet a bit restricting as I had to feed 4-5 bucket loads a day. I
started to add the naked oats as these are easier for him to digest. He seemed to be fine
but I found it difficult to get any weight on or muscle to form. A friend of mine
suggested Equilibra, so I gradually introduced it in to his diet, with fantastic results.
Alter about 6 months I noticed a real difference to his overall appearance, he was well
covered, looked great, eating all his meals, calm and collected at home and at shows, I
had lots of comments on how well he looked. I kept on this diet until September '99, as my
then riding instructor told me the diet was wrong for my horse, as his level of work had
increased I had to change the oats to a competition mix, which I did. This is where it all
went wrong as his legs started to fill up. She suggested that I got a reputable feed
nutritionist out to help with his diet. I phoned "company name 1" (as
they helped her with her dressage horses). They said what I was feeding was wrong and put
my horse on 4lb top line cubes, (which they said did not contain anything to upset his
digestive system) and 1lb of equine energy and alfa-a. After about 2 weeks he stopped
eating, first it was his hard feed then his haylage, he was also dehydrated. I had to call
the vet, who gave him a pick me up to no avail. This not eating went on for about 6 weeks.
He became as thin as a skeleton, lost all his muscle tone, I was very worried. My vet said
he was very poorly and maybe he would have to go to Leahurst Veterinary Hospital. "company
name", at this stage said he might have an ulcer and had me buying every bag of
feed under the sun, "company name 1" working cubes, top-line cubes,
equine energy and cooked cereal. I was so confused I suggested that he go back on the
oats. They said he would need an oat balancer as just oats did not contain enough vitamins
and minerals etc., They did send me a couple of small complementary bags of racehorse mix
(which is oat based) through the post and to my delight he started eating this, but very
slowly.
With the antacid my vet had
prescribed, by now, my horse was stressed and did have an ulcer but stated to eat about
1/21b a day and slowly regained his trust to eat the haylage. I increased the racehorse
mix to about 2lb a day with 1Ib of equine energy for weight gain but he became
unmanageable. As the racehorse mix is difficult to get hold of, my feed merchant said to
change it, as it was something they didn't stock. They suggested I contacted "company
name 2" as "company name 1" had give me the run around and he
didn’t need all those different types of feeds.
I spoke to "company name
2" and told them everything that had happened to my horse, they were sympathetic
and said I needed to feed a Highly Digestible Fibre Mix that is specially designed for
horses with gut damage and poor appetites. I slowly changed to this mix. After about 2
weeks, to my astonishment, the same thing happened, he stopped eating again. I was so
upset and annoyed that I just cried. By now I had lost all my trust in these horse feeds
and Equilibra came to mind.
I have now gone full circle and gone
back on his original diet consisting of 600gms Equilibra, naked oats and alfa-a divided
into 3 feeds a day. He is now eating all his meals, putting the weight back on and is back
into work after 6 months of confusion, heartache, a £400 vet bill and £60 of uneaten
feed in my garage.
I wish I had never changed my horses
diet, I know my horse better than anyone else and I know that Equilibra is the best thing
for my horse and that no other feeds match up.
I would just like to say thank you for
taking the time to read my letter.
From a devoted Equilibra fan.
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