Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy (EPSM) and Thomas Equinas

This blog serves to chronicle my day to day struggles dealing with this metabolic disorder and how it effects my soon-to-be 13 year old dressage horse.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Types of Feed for EPSM

This puzzle of what to feed is going to be tricky! Barb gave me some brand name feeds to look into and a Google search for "Feeds for EPSM horses" brought me to a few choices. I printed out spec sheets for Blue Seal Carb-Guard, Purina Ultium, and Nutrena Empower. They all came up with 12% protein, but they vary in the fat content from Carb-Guard's 8% to Empower's 22%, and the fiber goes from Empower's 6% to Carb Guard's 25%.

So I am confused. I got on the phone and called Paul, the dealer at The Community Feed Store  in Westminster, Vermont. Paul used to bring my grain right to my door, but his store stopped carrying Demand a few years ago, so I hadn't called him in awhile. I was impressed that he remembered me and said that he would be happy to come back to us and deliver whenever we need grain! I told him about Thomas' EPSM and he was a little confused about what that is. He said, "Is it like Cushings?" and I had to respond that it's similar, but not the same and more of a muscle metabollic issue. Even though he didn't seem to know the name "EPSM" he did seem to be suggesting the same feed changes as I've been hearing elsewhere. He recommended Poulin Grain's Carb Safe and he told me a representative will be at the Equine Affaire and gave me his name and told me to tell him he had sent me. Now if I can just find their booth at the EA! I'm hoping to gather other information there as well. Who knows, maybe there will be an EPSM Booth!

Thomas was lunged for 20 minutes today and except for the slightly explosive behavior (once each way) he looked good. Still a little off in the left front in trot to the right at the beginning. Hmmm.
 He did the trotting poles 10 times each way today with no problem.

Tomorrow Kat is coming to look after the gang while I'm away in Boston for the day. Thursday I'll be at the Equine Affair and I'll try to post about that as I learn all kinds of new stuff (I hope.)

3 comments:

  1. Hi Lisa. I have TONS of info on feeds and grains, though most of it is two years old and more feeds ahve come out recently. Most times you have to call the feed dealer directly in order to get the NSC(non structural carbohydrates) of feeds - not on the labels or web sites, which is a crucial piece of information. It is also important to have your hay tested to know the NSC of that, as all the low starch grain in the world will not be effective if his hay is high. I recommend again the yahoo equine cushing site, which can be overwhelming at first, but is filled with TONS of information on hay testing, mineral balancing, grains and pellets and beet pellets, etc. Give a call some day and I'll share what I have!

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  2. Lisa, do a search for Re-leve. Lots of Epsm research behind it. I was able to get West Lebanon to stock it for me.

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