# Yogurt?



## RedRoan (Mar 2, 2009)

I was talking to a number of people since my vet that I have dosen't seem to want to help me on the issue. My horse is very easy going and nothing seems to bother him except when the weather changes. The way he does stress it comes in forms of him farting, but he squirts while he farts leaving trails of yuckiness down his back legs. When he farts he is not in pain and his attitude dosen't change at all. It just more of an inconvience when he does it, epsecially when I am showing him.

I think he has a weak imunsystem because he was fed to much bute over a long time when he was younger. And looking through his health notes it looks like he reacts badly with ulcers from bute now so I need to find another alternative towards using bute on him. 

Someone lended me some probiotics and they seemd to work. My farrier recommened a cheaper alternative which would be yogurt. I was curious if anyone has used yogurt instead of probiotics? And if so how much do you give it to your horse and how often?


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## IrishRider (Aug 7, 2008)

I have fed my dogs yogurt for their farting/stomach stuff and it does seem to work. It has been recommended to me by vets and groomers. Not sure about a horse though.


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## toosleepy (Jan 14, 2009)

i know a friend that has used aloe vera juice with her horse. give it 1 cup a day and no need for ulcer guard and you can buy it by the gallon.


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## Peggysue (Mar 29, 2008)

need to look at teh bigger picture 

what is your horses diet now? How often does this happen?? how old and what type of work does your horse do ??


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

The yogurt has to be a specific kind... I can't think of the word, but it has to have the bacteria in it. 

I want to ask why the "alternative" to bute? Bute is a pain killer. Is there a reason your horse was on it alot?


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## Peggysue (Mar 29, 2008)

yogurt is a probio  

This is what you look for on the label 
Lactobacillus

If this were my horse I would put him on a good vitamin/mineral supplement that provides both the nutrition he needs as well as the probios ... if you BOOST the nutrition you boost the immune system 

This is a good choice IF you can get it in your area 
Triple Crown Nutrition - 30% Supplement


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

I'd be concerned about giving yogurt to a horse because yogurt is an animal product and since horses are herbivores they don't have the right kind of digestion to be able to digest the yogurt/other animal products without creating a new problem, like having more yucky diarrhea-poo. =P Just a thought. Good luck though!


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## RedRoan (Mar 2, 2009)

> I want to ask why the "alternative" to bute? Bute is a pain killer. Is there a reason your horse was on it alot?


Sorry for the weird wording. But i'm not looking for an alternative towards bute. I'm looking for an alternative from expensive probiotics. He was on bute because the owner who had him didn't know a lot about horses and there was an accident that ended up with a bad cut on his front leg and an area around the heart girth. I'm guessing the owner didn't know the bad affects of bute on horses and kept him on it for a long time. The vet notes I have show the vet telling her to stop the bute due to ulcers. 



> what is your horses diet now? How often does this happen?? how old and what type of work does your horse do ??


I've had him for about four years now and he has always had the issue (He will be 18 this May). Most of the time it seems to be a pattern to what the weather is and it gets worse when the weather starts to turn pretty bad (like snowy and icy). It dosen't matter if he is inside or outside during weird weather, he will still do it. I've found he expecially does it when I don't visit him in my normal routine. Though he will randomly do it for a couple of days, then he is fine... which has always confused me. But I figure its just his way of stressing out over things.

We've done everything from changing his feed, to adding suppliments, checking his teeth, to even weird stuff like giving him a bigger bucket for water. But he still does it. 

Another horse at my barn has the same issue, and my horse and him seem to be doing the 'squirts' at similar times. But there are days where one does it very bad and the other is perfectly clean. Its just a strange thing that he has always had.

His current diet which has pretty much stayed the same other then the experiment stuff when I very first got him is 2 flakes of grass hay in the morning, 2-3 at night along with a measured scoop of Purina strategy along with his cup of CX2 Wormer that he is on now. When I first got him he was on some stuff called Trifecta. I pulled him off of it because I didn't see a change in how he moved or anything and I think it was just for him being sore from being barefooted that the previous owner had going on (with him hardly being groomed along with a muddy pasture where he was, he got bad thrush and she decided to pull his shoes and go barefoot). But since I got him I ride him almost every other day, and we trailer to places where the trail is gravel, so I put shoes on him and hes been fine ever since (so I saw no reason why he should be on something that he didn't need so much of).


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

I'd put him on a senior feed.


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## Peggysue (Mar 29, 2008)

Can you get Triple Crown feeds?? If you are unsure send me your zip and I will do some digging

Purina has two different products you could try but of the products I recommend they would be my last picks but that is all some people can get 

remove the feed you are using now and try Enrich32 2lbs per day with beet pulp or alfalfa pellets/cubes for calories OR Ultium follow the directions on bag


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## RedRoan (Mar 2, 2009)

What so bad about Purina?


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

I would take a sample when he has his next bout of loose stool and have the bacteria counts checked.

Then you know exactly what you are working with and can help the poor guy.


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## toosleepy (Jan 14, 2009)

Have you ever thought of allergy testing him? my friends horse is very allergic to oats,corn and beet pulp. He's also got seasonal allergies that will affect his stools also. She uses Bio sponge from platinum performance. It really does a good job of getting him more solid. It comes in tubes (really expensive) or you can get it in a tub. she shredds carrots and mixes the powder with it.


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## Peggysue (Mar 29, 2008)

RedRoan said:


> What so bad about Purina?


 
all of thier products EXCEPT the Nature's Essential lines and the Ultium are NOT fixed formula meaning they use the cheapest ingredients they can on any given day that will meet the requirements of that feed, meaning every bag you feed could be a different feed mixture:-|


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

If ulcers are indeed also a part of this, I agree with the Aloe Vera Juice and also Slippery Elm Bark. I've done it and it works.

Lots of other really good input here too.


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## whitetrashwarmblood (Aug 24, 2008)

Peggysue said:


> all of thier products EXCEPT the Nature's Essential lines and the Ultium are NOT fixed formula meaning they use the cheapest ingredients they can on any given day that will meet the requirements of that feed, meaning every bag you feed could be a different feed mixture:-|


Yea, a few years ago some guy promoting the feed came out to our stable and got us to try it. It made all of our horses a lot thinner, and hard to keep on weight during the winter. We got rid of that grain ASAP.


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## shorty (Apr 11, 2008)

Wallaby said:


> I'd be concerned about giving yogurt to a horse because yogurt is an animal product and since horses are herbivores they don't have the right kind of digestion to be able to digest the yogurt/other animal products without creating a new problem, like having more yucky diarrhea-poo. =P Just a thought. Good luck though!


Yes, yoghurt comes FROM animals but it isn't anything to do with meat. Remember, horses are mammals like us who suckle on milk as youngins. That is all yoghurt is; milk with lots of awesome bacteria in it from fermentation.


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