Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition
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All the best,
Dr. Getty
Hello Brittany,
Thank you for writing and I certainly understand your concern. My first suggestion is to remove all cereal grains from your filly's diet. Purina Ultium Growth says that it is "lower in starch" but upon looking at the ingredients, "ground corn" is third on the list. This is not a good idea for your filly.
Go with a very low starch feed with a %NSC less than 13%. Triple Crown Lite or ADM Junior Glo or LMF Low NSC Complete, to name a few. You don't want her to grow too fast, so feeding one of these feeds according to directions may give her too many calories. Therefore, add a multivitamin/mineral supplement such as Mare/Foal IIP along with some flaxseed meal -- Nutra Flax is worthwhile since it has no added oats. She needs the omega 3s to reduce inflammation.
Adding extra copper with the Rejuvenaide is not very effective. Adequate copper is important (approximately 70 ppm) but the foal needs to be born with adequate copper in storage. Many cases of physitis are due to the mare not getting enough copper during pregnancy. But the additional vitamins in Rejuvenaide are beneficial if you're not giving another vitamin/mineral supplement.
Be sure to offer a low starch grass hay, free-choice. Have it analyzed to make sure that the %NSC (WSC + Starch) is less than 13%. And add about 30% of the hay ration as alfalfa. She needs the extra calcium and protein.
She will very likely outgrow this as long as you keep her sugar and starch levels low and offer her omega 3s plus the vitamins/minerals she needs.
Keep me posted.
All the best,
Dr. Getty 
Author of Feed Your Horse Like a Horse
I currently have a 4 month old filly with physitis. It is not a severe case and I have had 2 vets out to take a look at her and have had a consultaion over the phone by a 3rd vet. My filly has been on a grass hay only diet for about 6 weeks now with no improvement so we finally weaned her as a last resort to get this under control. During the 6 weeks and even before she was and still is getting some grain. If you cup your hands together that is how much she is getting and it was only every other day. The grain I am feeding her is ultium growth. For 6 weeks now also I have been giving her some MSM as well. Nothing seems to have worked and now I also started her on rejuvenaide by progressive nutrition in hopes of clearing this up. It has been 3 days today since she was started on it. Would this little bit of grain cause her physitis? Also just to mention she had watery diarrhea. Not to gross you out or anything but it was like water shooting out of a hose. I put her on probiotics and they cleared it right up. Not sure if this has anything to do with her physitis either.
Once we get rid of the physitis what would be an appropiate diet for my filly? Is grass hay enough or does she need something else in her diet. Also she is kept in a 12x16 stall with a 16x24 paddock. We board our horses and have no access to a pasture in our area that is safe and suitable for a young foal. Your help in getting her on a balanced diet would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You,
Brittany
Where are you from? Bayfield, CO
Hello Judy,
Thank you for sharing your experience. I agree with your approach and I'm sure it was encouraging for Brittany to see that young horses can recover from this disorder.
All the best,
Dr. Getty
Author of Feed Your Horse Like A Horse
Your post sounds just like my colt,I also went to two different vets trying to figure out what to do for him, he was around seven months old,i ended up just giving him a low sugar grass hay, sm amount of alfalfa, MSM and a probio mixed that with some LMF and apple cider vinegar.It took hin about eight months to recover but he did,i didnt give him any grain,the LMF has no grain in it .Just thought i would let you know i went
through the same thing and it was scary for me to think he would never beable to be ridden,so i just wanted to give you some hope that she will be ok.
Good luck!!
Where are you from? Bayfield, CO