Conference noted::equitation

    We did have a horse which tended to heave when it was dusty.  We
    used an old farmers trick of soaking hay in sweet lime and water
    before feeding.  It did the trick and there was no coughing until
    we thought he was all better.  We weren't so lucky though because
    we had to continue with the hay treatment whenever conditions got
    dusty or with lots of pollen.  I don't know if the lime had anything
    to do with whether it worked or not but he did seem to be better
    when we used it.
    
    

    I had my mare shipped from southern California to Washington a couple
    of months ago.  Everything seem fine for the first few days, then
    I noticed small bumps appearing all over her.  I though it was caused
    by bug bites.  After a few days of fly wipeing the bumps just got
    bigger!  After a week, some of the bumps openned, but they only bled
    blood.  I though it might be something that burrows like a tic.
    I found nothing!  A week later, No bumps!
    
    She looks great now.  I think it was some kind of nervous hives from
    shipping because she never itched or it could have been an allergic
    reaction from the Washington hay, well water or soil.
    
    Larry.

    Re: .2
    
    Those bumps sound like protien bumps.  They are usually due to a
    change in feed especially from a pelleted feed to sweet feed.  They
    usually go away after the horse gets acclimated to the new feed.
    
    Bob
    

    Re: .3
    
    In California she was fed 1 flake of hay in the morning and pellets
    at night, both being supplemented with Pure-Pride 100 and 1 ounce
    of Red cell.
    
    In Washington, she went off her feed for about 1 week.  The things
    that are different are the hay and pellets, by this I mean that
    the alfalfa hay and pellets come from eastern Washington.  The quantity
    is the same.  Could it be that the protien amount is higher in
    Washington hay?  At the time I was feeding 3rd cut hay, but I'm
    back to 2nd cut.  If would be nice if hay bales had guaranteed analysis
    tags on them.
            
    Larry.

	What do you mean by the terms 'sweet feed' and 'pelleted feed'?
	I'm guessing pellets means something like alfalfa cubes but sweet
	feed has me stumped. Also, is there a benefit over hay by using
	cubes or pellets? liesl

    re: .5
    
    Sweet Feed: would be like A&M which stand for Alfalfa and Molasses.
    The molasses makes the food more palatable (it taste good).  Molasses
    is offten added to grain (3-way & 4-way) and is sometimes called
    a "Hot Feed" because your horse is loaded with calories (energy).
    
    Hay cubes are compressed alfalfa chuncks.  One thing bad about cubes
    is that you don't know what your getting.  I bought a ton of cubes
    once, and my horse would not eat them.  I found out later from friends
    who also bought the same cubes, that they had green die added to
    make it look good (it did).  The taste wasn't.
    
    Pellets are also compressed alfalfa, but they are bound together
    with corn or wheat, etc.  In addition, if you purchase them in bags,
    they usually have a guaranteed analisis tag so you know what your
    getting.
    
    Horses need bulk, the way my horse gets it is by hay.  If you feed
    just cubes or pellets, they'll still be hungry.  If you wan't a
    1200 pound termite, just feed cubes or pellets!
    
    Larry.

    Did your horse go out into a pasture with tall weeds?  Or those
    prickly little things that stick to your clothes?
    
    Many of my pasture horses have masses of small hive-like bumps over
    the neck, along the sides of the belly, underneath.  Once before,
    when this happened, my vet said they had an allergic reaction to
    these weeds.  My pasture was mowed two weeks ago, so -- in this
    drought -- there aren't many tall weeds now.  Their forelocks are
    full of the little prickers, though.
    
    Anyway, the treatment of choice was none!  The bumps don't seem
    to itch.  If they did, I guess Aloedine shampoo would help.
    
    Merrie

    re: .7
    
    I did turn her loose in a 1/2 acre corral, there were small alder
    tree shoots comming up.  But she wasn't eating much of anything
    at the time.  I did shampoo her several time during the couple of weeks
    she had the bumps.  This brings up one other possiblity, the bedding
    for the first few weeks was a mix of pine and cedar shavings.  Maybe
    this was it?  I now am using only cedar shavings.
                                    
    
    Larry.

    A couple of years ago my mare came down with bumps all over her - 
    her skin resembled the skin of an alligator.  She didn't act like 
    they bothered her (no itching) but she sure looked strange.  She
    was supposed to go to a show that weekend but, of course, we had
    to keep her home.  No change in her feed or hay but we found out
    her bedding was different - hardwood bedding.
    
    A few months after that, she had the same thing happen up at the
    Cheshire Fair horse show but fortunately we spotted the early stages
    of the bumps and immediately removed all the bedding (supplied by
    the fairgrounds) from her stall and left just the bare ground under
    her.  By the time her first class came up, the bumps had gone down
    enough not to notice.  Found out that the bedding used by the
    fairgrounds that day was also from hardwood.
        
    Haven't had the problem since and in the future when we didn't know
    what kind of bedding would be used at the overnight shows, we brought
    our own.
    
    Wanted to ask .0 also if their horse was given any medication for
    transporting him?  Horses can be allergic to some medicines I know.
    
    

    re: .5 - Sweet feed that I am familiar with is something
    like Blue Seal's 'Charger' or 'Pacer' feeds, usually they are a
    combination of oats, and corn, and coated with molasses to
    make them 'sweet' and tastier for the horse - they are usually
    higher in calories and the more oats, the more 'hot' the feed.
    
    The pellets look like the stuff you feed rabbits and are
    just compressed forms of grain, usually with some sort of
    alfalfa mixed in.  
    
    I prefer to feed hay as opposed to 'cubes' because it keeps
    the horse occupied for longer periods of time, as well as
    making it seem to the horse like they have eaten something.
    The cubes may be good for horses that tend to cough when
    fed regular hay.
    
    I know a horse who is allergic to many things and breaks
    out in hives when bedded in Pine shavings or when ridden
    in an indoor ring that has just been oiled down.  They are
    now bedding him on straw to see if that helps.

    We have used pine shavings and pine sawdust.  In fact this is the
    first time I've heard of anyone having reactions to pine bedding.
    It's usually what you get when you get shavings or sawdust (at least
    in New England).  We have also used oak sawdust when we couldn't
    get pine.  The horses developed some small scabs on the backs of
    their pasterns when we first started with the oak, but we had no
    problems other than that.
    
    The only hardwood bedding that I've heard really bad things about
    is walnut.  If you have any in your bedding, your horse can develop
    laminitis from it.  There was a big story a few years ago about
    some dressage competition having walnut bedding which made the horses
    sick.  I seem to remember that several died, but I'm not quite sure.

    The sweet feed that I meant was any feed which uses molasses as
    a binder (something to keep the grain together without creating
    dust).  You can get many different combinations of grains or even
    a single grain.  For example, we feed sweet crimped oats in the
    winter months.  It is a crimped oat with molasses added.  The molasses
    adds heat and a sweet taste.
    
    Pelleted feeds are feeds which have been watered and mixed into
    a mash.  They are then dried by heat as they pass through an extrusion
    device much the same as spaghetti is made.  Then end result is a
    form that looks like rabbit food.  You can get pelleted feeds from
    pure alfalfa to a complete feed.
    
    My experience with protien bumps comes from horses which showed
    up grossly underfed who had been given lots of high protien feed
    to "build them up".  We also had a mare who could not eat molasses
    or she would break out in very similar bumps.
    
    Regards,
    
    Bob