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I'm sure there are folks on this list with much more experience than  
me, but I will pass along some feeding advice from my vet.  This may   
or may not be applicable to you.

My horse has never had a tying-up episode, I was just asking him for  
general advice.   He recommended that I take grain out of the diet,  
and make up calories with rice bran and/or some other type of fat.

This was based on research which seemed to indicate that some  
episodes of tying up were caused by grain in the ration that made it  
to the lower section of the digestive tract.  Byproducts produced by  
digesting grain farther down were implicated in tying-up episodes.

Depending on the type of rice bran, you may have to add minerals to  
balance the Calcium/phosphorus ration.  I use Natural Glo, which  
comes pre-balanced, so I don't have to worry about it.  So, for my  
boy -- who is only about 840 lbs -- he is on bermuda hay,  
supplemented with 2 lbs of alfalfa pellets, 2 lbs of rice bran and  
about a pound of (dry shredded weight) beet pulp.  I split the  
pellets and rice bran between feedings, which allows me to bump him  
up a bit with the alfafa, rice bran or both if he starts looking  
light.  Your milage will most probably vary, and I would suggest you  
consult with your vet before changing his feeding program around.

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