Ask the Nutritionist: Dr. Getty's Forum for Equine Nutrition
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Dr. Getty
Hello Lisa,
There seems to be a lot going on with Crickett and feeding her free-choice will likely solve many problems, or at least get her on a better track toward healing. Frankly, the best way I can help you would be to schedule a consultation. That way, I can go over everything including her history, blood work results, hay analysis, her environment, medical history, exercise, etc.
In the meantime, I would make sure that the probiotic you're feeding has billions, not millions, of CFUs.
Also, anemia can be caused by B vitamin deficiencies, but it can also be due to an iron deficiency. I would need to see her blood work analysis report to distinguish between the two.
Dermatitis could be a factor in immune system dysfunction. The first step is flaxseed meal -- 1/2 cup per 400 lbs of body weight. And if you're grinding them yourself, be sure to feed it immediately -- they start to go rancid right away. And be sure that the diet is balance with calcium since flax has a large amount of phosphorus. For this reason, I prefer Nutra Flax.
Balancing minerals can be risky at best, and can even be dangerous -- leading to anemia and other problems with bodily functions. You have to evaluate everything in her diet, not just her hay, and you also have to take into consideration that minerals are not always well absorbed.
So, keep these pointers in mind and I hope you'll consider having me help you develop a customized plan for her.
All the best,
Dr. Getty 
Author of Feed Your Horse Like A Horse
I'm so thrilled to have found your book, you and this forum. I have been working on balancing my mare's diet for just over a year and I'm running into a few problems.
BASIC HISTORY: I have a generally healthy 10yr old QH mare. She is a head shaker and I feel her overly-sensitive nervous system creates a very sensitive horse. She's an easy-keeper who tends to carry a little more weight than she probably should.
DIET: She is on a grain-free diet with a custom blend of several elements* to balance her nutrition to the NRC guidelines. She also gets fresh ground flax, spirulina, chastetree berry, grapeseed extract and raspberry leaf. She gets about 1.5 lbs soaked timothy cubes/pellets split into two feedings. She's on dry lot during the day with approx. 30 lbs of medium quality mixed grass hay shared between two horses and turnout at night on relatively poor pasture.
I am in the process of changing her set- up to put her an another gelding on 24/7 turnout with free choice access to hay (quality bermuda hay) via slow/challenge feeders. She'll still be on relatively poor pasture but will be able to "forage" until her little heart's content.
PROBLEMS:
This summer Cricket's weight has been the best it's been in a long time. But overall I feel her health is more compromised than it's ever been.
1. Blood work shows borderline anemia (low RBC, low hemoglobin). Everything else looked near perfect except for this anomaly. In discussions with my friend who balances her diet, we increased her copper and zinc. I also added B-Plex thinking maybe stress due to lack of forage was affecting her B vitamins, particularly B12. She's been getting 2 scoops per day for the last week. Is there more I should/could do?
2. She's unusually gassy . . . again. This is something I've seen off and on throughout the 8 years I've owned her. It's worse this summer than it's been in awhile. I do have her on a digestive enzyme/probiotic (Equine Zyme from Earth Song Ranch). My vet mentioned something about too much fermentation but didn't really go into anything. I know there's something out of balance in her digestive tract but am unsure how to fix it.
3. She's always been an itchy pony but this year seems to set a new record. She's had the worst midline dermatitis I've ever seen and a few times she's broken out in hives. She never rubs until she's raw but she's about turn herself inside out for scratches.
My thoughts are that 24/7 turnout with free-choice hay will solve a lot of the issues. Is this a rational thought? I'm considering adding APF for her immune system, insulin and stress response. She's not IR or in any other way metabolic but she's a brick-house QH who could go that way. Do you have any thoughts on this?
Thank you so much for any help you can provide.
Lisa
* It may sound excessive but Cricket's supplement routine is balanced to her feed, hay (as analyzed by Equi-Analytical) and pasture intake. As she's on well water, that will be tested as well. She currently gets: copper, zinc, biotin, methionine, iodized salt, iodine (Source), selenium (Platinum Performance), magnesium, vitamin B6 and vitamin E oil (Uckele)
Where are you from? Bayfield, CO
Hello Lisa,
Sounds like you have the details worked out and I'm delighted that she is feeling better over the past few weeks. Keep up the good work!
All the best,
Dr. Getty
Author of Feed Your Horse Like A Horse
I will keep this in mind as I try to work through the various issues.
> In the meantime, I would make sure that the probiotic you're feeding has billions, not millions, of CFUs.
Thanks - I'll check the label. I added a liquid prebiotic and that seems to be helping quite a bit.
>Also, anemia can be caused by B vitamin deficiencies, but it can also be due to an iron deficiency. I would need to see her blood work analysis report to distinguish between the two.
Unless she's having problems absorbing the iron in her diet, she's not iron deficient. In fact, we are working to reduce the amount of iron in her diet and provide copper and zinc in sufficient amounts to balance her Iron, Copper, Zinc, Manganese ratio. Hay analysis (which has been generalized to all forage since the hay is cut on the farm where she lives) shows high iron and high manganese.
>Dermatitis could be a factor in immune system dysfunction.
My thoughts on most of the problems I'm seeing this year is a result of stress and I know that can take a toll on the immune system. Also, the gut disruption isn't helping.
>The first step is flaxseed meal -- 1/2 cup per 400 lbs of body weight. And if you're grinding them yourself, be sure to feed it immediately -- they start to go rancid right away. And be sure that the diet is balance with calcium since flax has a large amount of phosphorus.
I'll have to check the amounts I've been feeding. I have been giving her 4 oz, ground - it comes out to about 3/4 to 1 cup ground. She actually has a very high calcium intake so the unbalanced ration in the flax helps to balance her overall Calcium-Phosphorus ratio.
> Balancing minerals can be risky at best, and can even be dangerous -- leading to anemia and other problems with bodily functions.
I understand this and was very cautious before beginning this entire undertaking. the only element of her diet that hasn't been analyzed is the water so we know what's going in. Since I've been balancing her diet, just about everything has improved. She's been on customized supplementation for over a year and it wasn't until a month or two ago that things started going hinky. If I trace it back, I can see how many of these issues relate to stress. Cricket is incredibly sensitive when it comes to physical stress (she's a headshaker). In just the last two weeks of starting her on B-Plex, she's improved dramatically.
If the free choice feeding set-up doesn't turn her the rest of the way around, I'll definitely consider a full consultation.
Where are you from? Bayfield, CO