# HEIRO for Insulin Resistant or EMS Horses



## deserthorsewoman (Sep 13, 2011)

From what I've been reading on the IR/Cushings yahoo group, it's not doing what it promises. I never tried, have my IR horse on low ESC/ starch hay, vit E, flax, extra salt and minerals balanced to the hay.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Remission is another supp that's meant to be great for 'lami prone' horses & that's getting some great reviews. Tho I also have no personal experience of it either. Desert, haven't visited that yahoo group in a while - what's being said about that one? I too do my own thing, which includes a fair bit of magnesium, Mg, oh & also extra magnesium! ;-)


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

HEIRO has been getting mixed reviews since I was first aware of it in 2007 or 2008, can't remember.

I think the success or failure of any product depends on each horse. Metabolism is involved and every horse's insulin severity will cause them to have a different reaction to any product.

My first metabolic horse was diagnosed with EMS in 2007. Somewhere along the way, I was pointed toward HEIRO.

I read the entire website; at that time nowhere did the good vet list the ingredients which, I think he does now. There was no way I was buying anything OTC without knowing what it consisted of.

It turns out my first metabolic horse is easily controlled with a strict diet and limited pasture time. He doesn't even need a grazing muzzle.

IR horse #2 is a real bear to control. He is on a prescription herbal compound called Hot Hoof I and wears a grazing muzzle from early March thru mid-November:-(

Now that I've said all that, here's a link to an October, 2013 thread on another forum, regarding HEIRO. 

The reviews range anywhere from "it's the greatest thing since peanut butter & jelly sandwiches" to "it's nothing more than hype and snake oil".

Heiro supplement for IR horses...science or snake oil?

Good luck with your decision


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## deserthorsewoman (Sep 13, 2011)

loosie said:


> Remission is another supp that's meant to be great for 'lami prone' horses & that's getting some great reviews. Tho I also have no personal experience of it either. Desert, haven't visited that yahoo group in a while - what's being said about that one? I too do my own thing, which includes a fair bit of magnesium, Mg, oh & also extra magnesium! ;-)


 Magnesium is always part of the IR diet, 10g extra, on top of what's missing in the hay.
That said,I use Remission as magnesium source, simply because it's readily available here in town. It helped with the crest and other IR upholstery. 
IMO, it all has to be done together...diet, supplements,trim, exercise. Not one single component alone does the trick. I see IR as a civilisation disease, just like diabetes in people and other animals. Too much processed junk food combined with unnatural horse keeping . I had horses on pasture, grass hay, even grain(UN processed), and never had a case of laminitis/IR. Problems started when this natural grass hay was harder and harder to get, newly seeded hay fields were geared towards high nutrition production and pellets feeds began the norm.
Back to nature is key,I think


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

My mom has been using HEIRO on her laminitic mare for years and we see great results with it. Along with *proper diet* (very important), it helps with her cresty neck and helps her to feel better. We ran out one time and we could tell that we ran out. 

As with any supplement, it works for some but not others. If you've got a good supply for free, it is worth a try.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

The only thing in it that can have any effect on a horses metabolism is the magnesium and that's been sold by many other companies as something that could be beneficial to IRS horses/ponies
I have found that a combination of magnesium and chromium (as in Quiessence) has a noticeable effect on the un natural fatty deposits they get which I didn't see when using magnesium alone but the best control comes from diet and grazing management and exercise.


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## Phura (Dec 4, 2012)

Thanks everyone...I guess that brings me to another question. How do you manage and evaluate if your managment is working? I haven't had much help from the vets on this and I'm worried about doing it right. I have to rehome her as I can't give her the environment she needs. I want to be as sure as I can that her new home can, as that's the entire purpose. Since late spring of 2013 I have been working with her diet and exercise and she looks good. I have attached a pic of her. Though she has dropped even more weight since then. Course I think the ulcer contributed to that. She has slight rotation and had intermittent lameness at the trot on her left hind isolated to above the stifle per the lameness exam and the rotation was in her right front. Since I moved her to a friend's house on a dry lot with hay she has been sound with lunge work about 20 min twice a week except when the ground is hard we don't work her on it per vet.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Phura said:


> Thanks everyone...I guess that brings me to another question. How do you manage and evaluate if your managment is working? I haven't had much help from the vets on this and I'm worried about doing it right. I have to rehome her as I can't give her the environment she needs.


Is not having a "proper" environment the only reason you would re-home her? Believe me, owning two metabolic horses, I am fully aware of the work and expense involved but if someone is telling you, your environment is all wrong, please tell us why

Both of my metabolic horses are turned out daily to 20+ acres of a pasture full of hills. When they move to forage, they have to go up and down hills.

I cut their pasture time from 16- 18 hours daily, down to 8 - 10 hours daily.

One horse does not need a grazing muzzle and stays healthy on a condensed liquid vit/min supplement and Remission. The disease has made him a hard keeper.

The other horse wears a muzzle during grass season, and has to have the prescription herb Hot Hoof I to keep his insulin under control and keep his weight down. Right now he is on 1/4 dose but, once spring grass comes on, he will be back to a oversized tablespoon daily. He foundered pretty bad in March, 2012 when I didn't get the muzzle on him, soon enough. He still goes to pasture with his herd mates and is doing great, so far.


I know my management is working when I can't speak for others but I know when my management is working when I don't see signs of insulin resistance. 

Part of what makes it tough to manage is the disease lives in the gray area. It is Type II diabetes in humans and we all know there is nothing black and white about that disease. You have to watch the horse 36 hours out of a 24 hour day for any of the slightest physical or behavioral changes and then wonder if you're paranoid or did his insulin spike to cause that?

Much for you to think about but please know while dry lotting is the main and easiest way to manage these horses, it doesn't always have to be so. But some other modifications will be required as the trade-off

EDITED TO ADD: The picture just now came up. she is beautiful. One of the modifications would be to get the round bale away from her. She needs her hay weighed - literally. Typically they should get 2% of their DESIRED body weight but I cut that principle some slack in the winter and even more in this wild winter we're now experiencing. If she inhales her hay, she really needs to have the round bale taken away and fed several times a day, if possible. 

My easy-to-control metabolic horse, eats hay like a normal horse, in that he takes breaks and sometimes naps. 

The other horse would eat every bale in the barn if he had the chance. He managed to sink his teeth into a piece of plywood I had stuck next to his stall, pulled it out and craned his big ole Walking Horse neck clear around the corner to eat into a bale of stacked hay. I wanted to shoot him. thankfully no harm was done and I owe it all to the Hot Hoof I, the fact it's been very cold and we have no grass to spike his insulin.


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## Phura (Dec 4, 2012)

walkinthewalk said:


> Is not having a "proper" environment the only reason you would re-home her? Believe me, owning two metabolic horses, I am fully aware of the work and expense involved but if someone is telling you, your environment is all wrong, please tell us why
> 
> Both of my metabolic horses are turned out daily to 20+ acres of a pasture full of hills. When they move to forage, they have to go up and down hills.
> 
> ...


Its a rather long story but I will try to keep it short. She was boarded with family and I was assured that they respect my decisions and there would be no trouble. When I initially learned that she had EMS and had a small bout of laminitis (so small you couldn't even tell and very little rotation) I introduced her to a grazing muzzle. I had to argue with family about why and they kept taking it off and she foundered. Again, mild episode but still avoidable. She needed to be off the grass and they wouldn't let me stall her etc. She doesn't like to be stalled but settled eventually. The vet told me to muzzle her 24/7 and assured me there wouldn't be any consequence with such an abrupt change it diet. Well, my horse developed an ulcer and while I treated that I moved her to a friend's house with a dry lot. After the muzzle was put in place we for most of the day we muzzled her all but a couple hours. That was the directions but every time I showed up I never got a straight answer about how long her muzzle was off and even the days it was short it was never consistent. My friend's place, its not a place I can keep forever. I'm paying her to care for her while I find a home. So many things I didn't know before about this place or was lead to believe other things, but now that I know I can't in good conscience keep horses there. I have another horse who I'm finding a boarding facility for to be sure this doesn't happen to him too. (The pasture is rich and used for hay too.) But my board was free before and I can't afford to board both horses and especially one with her situation. Additionally, my other horse makes a better trail horse which is my discipline.

I understand she can continue a happy and productive life but I have to find the right home for her which has been difficult for me as I'm afraid to part with her and her go to the wrong home.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I have one horse that's confirmed IRS but all my horses are 'easy keepers' and so are 'at risk'
They go out on grazing average 10 hours a day but it isn't what I would describe as lush - I've had ponies that couldn't go out for more than an hour on the sort of grass we had in the UK without it bringing on an attack
I've never had much success with grazing muzzles on the horses I have now so they get taken right off the field and into their stables to restrict them
The horse that is IR isn't easy to keep weight on now - or wouldn't be on a 'normal diet' - she would look hollow and ribby but still have a crest and the dimpled fat pockets in areas that are associated with her problem. I keep all of them on a low starch/low sugar regime and she gets added oil to her feed which seems to keep her in good shape without any problems


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Phura said:


> Its a rather long story but I will try to keep it short. She was boarded with family and I was assured that they respect my decisions and there would be no trouble. When I initially learned that she had EMS and had a small bout of laminitis (so small you couldn't even tell and very little rotation) I introduced her to a grazing muzzle. I had to argue with family about why and they kept taking it off and she foundered. Again, mild episode but still avoidable. She needed to be off the grass and they wouldn't let me stall her etc. She doesn't like to be stalled but settled eventually. The vet told me to muzzle her 24/7 and assured me there wouldn't be any consequence with such an abrupt change it diet. Well, my horse developed an ulcer and while I treated that I moved her to a friend's house with a dry lot. After the muzzle was put in place we for most of the day we muzzled her all but a couple hours. That was the directions but every time I showed up I never got a straight answer about how long her muzzle was off and even the days it was short it was never consistent. My friend's place, its not a place I can keep forever. I'm paying her to care for her while I find a home. So many things I didn't know before about this place or was lead to believe other things, but now that I know I can't in good conscience keep horses there. I have another horse who I'm finding a boarding facility for to be sure this doesn't happen to him too. (The pasture is rich and used for hay too.) But my board was free before and I can't afford to board both horses and especially one with her situation. Additionally, my other horse makes a better trail horse which is my discipline.
> 
> I understand she can continue a happy and productive life but I have to find the right home for her which has been difficult for me as I'm afraid to part with her and her go to the wrong home.


That is a dilemma:--( 

It is going to take a person who fully understands what owning a metabolic horse involves.

She sounds like she is still very ridable, although I have noticed these horses tend to wear down a lot faster than they previously did. A horse like your mare could probably flat hack half the day away but any intermediate or higher level trail riding might wear her out before you had your first hour logged:-|

Are you in a position to lease her, if you could find someone qualified to care for her and wouldn't have to board her? That way you could still keep an eye on her and "bark orders" if she's not getting what she needs


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## Phura (Dec 4, 2012)

walkinthewalk said:


> That is a dilemma:--(
> 
> It is going to take a person who fully understands what owning a metabolic horse involves.
> 
> ...


Yeah, she tired out easier than before...but some of it may have been her being out of shape too. Where she used to be was all flat land. Even though we mostly walked (though with her nerves she liked to trot), she was winded easier.

I'm not sure about the leasing thing. Never done that before. Right now I'm trying to make sure I find someone with vet/farrier references and make sure they have all the facts of her condition, and that they have knowledge pertaining to the care and facts of EMS. Will see how it goes I guess and I will consider leasing if I can't find the appropriate home. A friend of mine leased a horse and it ended badly so I'm kinda leary...


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## deserthorsewoman (Sep 13, 2011)

First of all, what exactly is she eating right now?
Was her hay tested for ESC/starch?
If not, what kind of hay is it?
Do you have a slowfeeder of any kind?
How do her feet look?

The IR diet is actually pretty cheap, once all the initial testing and fine tuning its done. And no ho rse ever died from this diet, so your other horse could have it too, including the dry lot. Adding calories for work is fairly easy. 
The main thing is always low ESC/ starch hay from a slowfeeder, to avoid insulin spikes and ulcers, and for mental well being, proper hoof care, the necessary supplements given in a handful of soaked hay pellets, and 24/7 turnout in the famous dry lot. 
Home has all the info you need, when to test, what to test for and how, and how to maintain. And, once you have her steady, you might be able to introduce her to pasture again, slowly slowly, carefully watching.


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## Phura (Dec 4, 2012)

deserthorsewoman said:


> First of all, what exactly is she eating right now?
> Was her hay tested for ESC/starch?
> If not, what kind of hay is it?
> Do you have a slowfeeder of any kind?
> ...


Thanks for that link, its very helpful! I don't have a dry lot where they were previously boarded with family. I asked if we could implement but they aren't a boarding barn and didn't want to do it. My IR mare is with a friend in a dry lot with grass hay and a slow feeder. Feet look good. She's maintaining her weight well right now so she seems to be doing well. She's on beet pulp morning and night with her smartgut ultra smartpak. I just switched it though to niegh-lox as vet recommended it for her ulcer. Smartpak was great to work with too. Even credited me for the smartpak since it didn't work to prevent her ulcer and ordered the neigh-lox quickly.


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## deserthorsewoman (Sep 13, 2011)

I'm a little baffled why the ulcer is still there. Was she on Bute? Does she have free choice hay or is it restricted? You want to avoid an empty stomach at all cost with ulcers. I'd also put her on 10g magnesium daily,and flaxseed. Those are key ingredients for healthy feet.


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