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Fwd: oat hay

In a message dated 98-10-01 14:03:43 EDT, guest@endurance.net writes:

<< 
 From: Ann Perry 
 Email: ann@cornerstonemgt.com
  >>
We have raised and fed our home grown oat hay for many years. I have noticed
some lightening of the color of manure and some horses had a bit more "gas"
than usual, but never the runny bowels like you described. My horses don't eat
it full time as they are turned out either all day or all night on fescue
pasture. Don't understand.

Leigh Preddy SE

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From: Ann Perry 
Email: ann@cornerstonemgt.com

I have 2 horses who always had a tendency to be a little loose in the bowels,
especially when nervous or starting on green grass. This year it got *much*
worse so I consulted my vet, who diagnosed sand (we're in a sandy area), and
started us on psillium: 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, for 6 months to a year, 1&1/2
cups per horse per day. More agressive than usual, but I've read what Susan G.
has said about doubting the effectiveness of psillium and wondered myself. 7-8
months of that with no improvement. I began weighing their hay and feeding
them 4 times a day; made feed boxes and bought stall mats to put under them to
try to keep them from picking up more sand. This decreased my wasted hay from
mountains to almost zero, but no change in the diarrhea. It would improve for
a couple of days and then return, coating their inner buttocks and hind legs,
getting in their tails, causing sores, etc. 

I looked for help in the archives and ordered a catalog for the purpose of
getting probiotics (catalog hasn't come yet) when I finally tried my shoer's
advice, and took them completely off oat hay. I had first tried 1/2 oat and
1/2 orchard grass with questionable results and finally switched to 3/4
orchard and 1/4 alfalfa and voila! No more diarrhea. None. Like a faucet being
turned off. My shoer says, "Yeah, I've seen that alot." I've fed oat hay for
years--that or alfalfa used to be the only choice here in Sonoma County
(northern CA), and I had never heard of it affecting *some* horses that way.

Coincident or...what? Sure worth a try if your horse has a problem. I'm glad I
switched and have no plans to buy oat hay in the future. It was excellent
quality, by the way. Any comments? I'm puzzled and amazed.
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