Questioning myself

[wildoak]

We had a series of colics several years ago - all unrelated causes but ended up with 3 surgeries in 3 years. All survived and only one has recurring problems. She is on an alfalfa only diet per the vet - when I have tried to ease a little coastal back into her diet, she impacts on me within a day. She most likely has adhesions from surgery and will always be at risk.

I feed beet pulp daily too, and it does seem to have helped as - almost hate to say it out loud! - we have been pretty much colic free this year. I fed flax seed for awhile but I was grinding it and it just got to be too big a chore. I ground enough to last 2-3 days at a time and kept it in the fridg. The expense wasn't so bad as I bought at the feed store in a 20 lb bag or so. Whole seeds keep pretty well.

Jan

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

One thing to note on the flax seed there are some studies and vets that feel it isnt the best thing to feed to a in foal mare so may want to discuss it with your vet first

 

[runamuk]

Flax also isn't as safe in the high doses needed to clear sand.........psyllium is much cheaper can be fed in quite huge quantities and in fact in severe cases can be tubed (by your vet) directly into the horse....it also doesn't go bad like flax seed which even whole goes skanky in a hurry if not refrigerated.

 

[SunQuest]

Well, none of my vets have ever told me to NOT feed it and they know I am feeding it. They haven't even hinted that it may be dangerous, and haveing at least 4 different vets that I have talked to about it makes me think that I am ok continuing with it. Further, it has been used for ages, in fact much longer than commercial psyllium products have been around. The thing is that since my horses WON'T eat spyllium products, it has been proven to be better than nothing at all. And before I started to feed it I did chat with my vets about it. I would never add anything questionable without a vet's opinion.

And check out this link... http://www.horseadvice.com/advisor/messages/3/5201.html It is a site that has a vet (Robert N. Oglesby DVM) that has posted answers to questions about flax on there bulliten board. Just scroll down to the bottom to find the posts. Dr. Oglesby seems to think it is safe for horses.

Besides... What is all this talk of flax and BOSS being used to produce wonderful coats that was posted about on this forum a year or two ago? And why is it that it is good for humans as well? It is high in omega 3 fatty acids and does have it's benefits. Again, I don't buy it in huge quantities and I buy the human grade that is safe for humans and I keep it in the refrigerator. And when fed every day over time it has been quite safe and has definately cleaned my horses of sand at the 1 tablespoon dosage that I use on my minis as I have medical tests that have proven it. Before flax I had sand colic that was verified with fecal tests and ultrasound. Now I have horses that test clear of it. And it is the SAME horses as before. Must be something to it since nothing else has changed. I even feed it to my pregnant mares and haven't had any side effects from it.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

Whoa Nila - I never said you were doing anything to hurt your horses -

I simply said some feel it might be linked to broodmare issues.

No different then me talking to the vets here at a hosptial who all feel beet pulp is not a good feed for horses, or some here who will say alfalfa is not good for horses.. everyone has there own opinion even vets I simply said to check with your vet before feeding it to your pregnant mares to see what they say

My own vets both here and in Ca said they werent sure about the risk they to had heard about it and cant say either way if it is or isnt i opt not to feed it cause my horses will use other products but that is just me

Nothing wrong with suggesting a conversation with your vet(in general not yours) of course for every expert that says something is bad you can find another one to say it is great.. the truth i am sure lies in the middle with everything I know lots of people that feed flax with no issues at all and others who feel strongly it shouldnt be fed to broodmares again it is a choice and everyone of course will stand behind there own experiences again I simply said check with your vet, not that you were doing something horrible to your horses

 

[SunQuest]

Hey Lisa, I wasn't even taking it personally. I was just stating that I have checked to see if I could find any reason to not feed it. So no harm done