Since her diagnosis I’ve changed her diet and living situation, and she has become a completely different horse. She has not tied up since, and we’ve started competing in eventing. Our only set back was 2 months in a box stall due to flooded pens. This did NOT work for her- she became explosive and tense again. She is not an easy keeper despite the high fat diet, so I feed: Teff Hay- often the lowest in NSC, and alfalfa hay. If I have to supplement with another hay that has questionable levels of NSC (various grass hays- pasture grass in this case) then I soak the hay for an hour and drain the water. She gets 1 lb rice bran pellets at night, and also gets a “sloppy” every morning which is a mix of 1 lb rice bran pellets, 1 lb beet pulp (no molasses) soaked, two cups oil, and 1 lb of a complete feed pellet called Stable Mix (fairly low NSC so it gives extra calories and makes the oil more palatable), along with two vitamin supplements, one is a Vitamin E and Selenium mix, the other is designed for muscles and has additional vitamins/minerals like magnesium, copper, and zinc. Be careful not to over feed selenium by combining supplements!

Things I never feed: corn, oats, or barley grains, hays with large seed heads or forage types like oat, barley, wheat, etc, and nothing with added sugar or molasses.

So far it has worked, and I’ve learned just how important a large living space is- turnout or exercise alone doesn’t cut it. Next step will be to try her out on pastures with grass again.

I feed orchard grass hay; bermuda grass is not available in my area. Is there another low-sugar grass hay option? She’s a fairly easy keeper – alfalfa is too much for her.

I feed my mare Omegatin by Kent feeds. It is 20% fat and then I add 2 cups of Canola Oil per day to it. She is really fussy and I had a hard time to find something that she would eat but this seems to work. Does your QH have any issuses with allergies (diarrhea)or Uveitis? Thanks,

Brenda

Thanks, Brenda

I have a 10 year old quarter horse mare that was diagnosed 2 years ago with Type 1 PSSM which they say is easier to manage. She is out of TNT Fluid Fred and a granddaughter of the Investor and I wondered if anyone else has had problems with these bloodlines? I bought her for my daughter and I thought at times that this mare was CRAZY! I would lounge her and ask her to lope off and she would go around a few times and them just blow up and run and run and start whinnying like a crazy horse now I realize that she was having major cramping. Here we are 2 years later and I know beyond any doubt that she has the biggest heart of any horse I have ever been around. She will pack my daighter(at age around the showpen and I have to say is one of the safest and best kids Horse around. If I keep her off grass and follow the High fat diet and daily exercise with turnout as much as possible then she is great. I fear that there are alot of horses out there that get put down or abused because of diseases like this and just hope that people read these articles and get educated. You can test for PSSM now with a simple blood test.