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RE: [RC] Tying Up and metabolic tendencies - Mary Krauss

If your horse had a tying up episode, and you feed any grain at all, I wonder if you might try taking him/her completely off the stuff. After learning more than I ever wanted to know about metabolic disorders when my horse was diagnosed with EPSM (Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy), I wonder that we are not all paying more attention to the connection between tying up and our horse's abilities (or lack of ability) to utilize glycogen. Some horses metabolically cannot handle glycogen well or even at all and they need to utilize fat instead. We switched my guy's diet to 2 cups of oil/day over alfalfa pellets (or whatever low carb pellet one can find--Ultium is good), brought him SLOWLY back into condition, and he now seems 100%. Time will tell hopefully. We had one bad set-back when the woman who's currently boarding him "thought he was doing so well, we stopped giving him the oil." Sorta' like deciding to take a diabetic off insulin because it was working so well?! Sometimes peoples thought processes can be really surprising.

Anyway, I just wonder if we'll all find that tying up turns out to be EPSM in the end. That whole tying up/Monday Morning Disease thing with draft horses turns out to be EPSM, right?

The oddest thing I found with my big EPSM gelding is that he slimmed down once he was on the high fat diet. Strange, eh? I wasn't giving him much grain in the first place, just a couple of handfuls to carry the vitamins along, yet he was horribly fat. As soon as his diet changed, he came down to a proper weight. You'd have thought he'd gain weight--perhaps feeling better allowed him to move around more easily--he certainly became more cheerful and forward right away.

I'd be curious what some of the vets out there think.

Mary K.


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