I attended a seminar on molds in pastures and hay a few days ago. At the Q&A I asked about molds in soaked hay. The woman in the UK (Meriel Moore-Colyer) who also is a spokesman for HyGain hay steamers said that reports show that molds are actually reduced after soaking hay BUT they will increase soon afterwards (hours?).

My advice then is to…

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Hi Chaela – my heart goes out to this pony!

Laminitis and fat pads would be the primary concern as this represents Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS). Add to this depression and “swollen eye lids” and you have some added parts to this.

My question is this – how does a pony get EMS if all she eats is forage? The answer is in this. Remember that…

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I am discovering (due to an increased number of people writing me comments) that there might be some changes to the forage (both pasture and baled) that stimulate changes in gut bacteria. It is looking to be seasonal.

Just when things looked rather straight forward, curve balls are thrown causing us to re-think our programs. So I agree that…

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Soaking hay is a diffusion process that has a maximum effect followed by a lesser effect. In other words, there is an amount of time where a large percentage of starch is removed and after which, the effect of soaking diminishes the removal of starch. Think of charging your phone with an almost dead battery. It rapidly fills quickly and then… Read more

Thanks Kathy for your encouraging observation for Emily based on your experience.

I agree that “food aggression” is a common observation that the mitochondria are running solely on glucose while the improvement in this behavior indicates mitochondria flexibility is occurring. The new source for fat as fuel is the body fat.

It is helpful to… Read more

Taking into consideration your hormesis information, and that we are going into winter, I plan to try feeding all of the hay in the day and try the fasting at night, roughly 5pm to 5am, and watch for signs of stress. Does this sound like a good starting point from which to closely observe her for changes?

Yes, this is a good starting point… Read more

Thanks for finding us @Emily and becoming an advocate for your horses! Welcome!

Our SBM here in south FL is shipped in to our feed dealer (all farm animals) from Sandusky OH. There is never any foreign material in it and it sells for $18 / 50 pound bag.

As with everything, quality is an “inside job” and you need to ask your feed dealer to find a different source of SBM. They may have to charge a bit more to receive… Read more

Thanks @Kathy for this. Gary Taubes wrote the book “Good Calories, Bad Calories” and is well worth the time to read. 26 hours on audio! His discovery that weight regulation is a hormonal issue and not a calorie issue is a thesis of mine here at The Horse’s Advocate. I am SO GLAD you found this article and shared it with us.

It is the… Read more