I’m having a problem with Trooper that I’m hoping you can help me with. Trooper started to lose weight for no know reason and so I called his vet out. We did a full blood panel and found that his red blood count was low. Dr. White gave me a wormer called “Power Pac”, increased his intake of Ultium, put him on Red Cell and he is eating a little alfalfa with his coastal hay. He is starting to put on a little bit of weight but is becoming to “high” and now he is sore in his back and neck. I’m taking him off of his Red Cell as of today. (He has had that now for about 3 weeks.)

My questions to you is : What can be making him so sore? Is it the high protein? The Red Cell too much for his system and so his body depositing it into his muscles, what else can I feed him to put on weight with out making him so “Hot’? I’m open to ANYTHING!

Sorry this message is so long and thanks for your help.

Kerry

Kerry,

It’s hard to say what might be causing his back to be sore – I would probably take him off of the Red Cell and the alfalfa if those are the two things that you changed in his feeding program. I wouldn’t think that “a little bit” of alfalfa would cause a problem but some horses can be really sensitive to the protein in it and if his body is trying to flush out excess protein and the supplement, it might be causing some inflammation in his kidneys that would show up as a sore back. You might try adding some rice bran – either Natural Glo or EquiJewel – to his Ultium and see if that will help calm him down and help him gain some weight. Start out with just about a cup per feeding along with the Ultium and see what kind of results you get.

Martha Wright