This info was forwarded to me by another Friesian owner. I will also attmpt to attach some info directly from Progressive...fingers crossed.
This is from Don Kapper at Progressive Nutrition. They ran Friesian-specific
field trials
because of the problem with weight gain in Friesians. Too bad they couldn't save
the
two horses though.
Hi Janet,
We did these feeding trials because of the 'obesity' with 'muscle wasting'
in combination and the resulting loss of two (mare and stallion) mature
Friesians. The veterinarian who is responsible for the farm asked me to
get involved. Both horses had a Body Condition Score of 8 (too fat) and a
Topline Evaluation Score of D- (no muscling). We were never able to find
the 'real' cause of their deaths, because they were so weak, they had
several organ failures and they never recovered. Unfortunately, they both
lived less then one week after I was contacted and we were not able to find
out if we could help either one.
We then formulated a very nutrient dense 'supplement', with a nonstructural
carbohydrate (NSC) of less than 5.5%, and it was fed with a grass hay that
had an NSC of 10%. Needless to say we were looking into the possibility of
an inability to handle starch and sugars, but that was never proven or
diagnosed.
We did do a feeding trial on other Friesian's on that farm to see how they
would do on such a small amount of the concentrated pellet with the grass
hay fed at 2.0% of their body weight per day. This amount of hay was
broken up into 4 equal feedings, about every 5 to 6 hours, to assure
optimal gut fill and hind gut function.
RESULTS:
All of the Friesians consumed the concentrated pellet very well and in a
short period of time, improve their Topline Evaluation Scores and stopped
their weight gain. All of the horses that started the feeding trial were
in good health and were in equally good health at the end. The
veterinarian was pleased about the loss of fat (BCS) and the increase in
muscle (TES). The thought behind this evaluation was as their 'atrophied'
muscles were rebuilt, it took more calories to maintain the increase in
muscle mass than fat, therefore, more calories were needed to maintain the
improved muscle mass throughout their body.
NEW SUPPLEMENT AS A RESULT:
1) After this feeding trial, we put this concentrated pellet on the market.
We are recommending it to be fed to all horses with 'special needs'. Those
include: Insulin Resistance, Laminitis, Equine Metabolic Syndrome,
Cushings, Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy, and any other 'starch and
sugar' related problem that can have a negative affect on the health of the
horse.
(See attached file: ProAdd Ultimate for Friesians'11d.pdf) (See attached
file: ProAdd Ultimate Introduction Letter '11.pdf) (See attached file:
ProAdd Ultimate Product Manual page '11.pdf)
2) We also were able to improve our Body Condition Score and Topline
Evaluation Scoring charts and make them easier to understand and implement
on the farm. We recommend all horse owners use them as 'management tools'
to assure adequate amino acids and calories are fed per day to maintain
their horses optimal health.
(See attached file: BCS and TES Scoring your horses.pdf)
Although Friesian horses were used in the initial feeding trial, we are
finding great success when this feeding program is fed to horses and ponies
who have 'special needs'.
Thank you for asking and I hope this information will help more horse owners.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
All the best,
Don.
Attachments:
