Weekly Weigh-In: May 5

Our last weigh-in (1310! Egads!) made me re-evaluate a bit, so I've made some changes accordingly. I dropped the balancer pellet entirely and upped the I.R. Pellet to the full serving of 120g (I was previously doing the "pony" serving of 60g + 8oz of balancer pellet). So this is a reduction in overall volume while increasing fortification.

It took a little while for them to figure out the powdery RiteTrac but adding a little splash of water to it immediately before feeding helps it stick, so we're ok with even the reduced pellet quantity.

<TANGENT>: RiteTrac combines an antacid with EquiShure, a hindgut buffer. The cool thing about EquiShure is that it's encapsulated so the active ingredients don't start working too soon in the digestive process. But if you get it wet too long before feeding it, it'll start the clock on releasing the ingredients (no big deal, but they won't target the hindgut effectively). So it's important to only wet it immediately before feeding.

I used to picture the horse's digestive system as being like a human's, with the big action happening in the stomach and the later stages basically sucking out the liquid and keeping things moving along. But horses are sort of opposite--they're hindgut fermenters, which means the later digestive stages are where the magic happens. (Don't get me wrong, the stomach's important too, and ulcers there are bad news. But the hindgut is equally, if not more, important.)

Microbes in the hindgut keep the fermentation process rocking and rolling. These microbes don't like big changes, which is why a horse will colic (or even get laminitis) after a sudden, dramatic change in its diet. Keeping these microbes happy is why all changes should be made gradually. Little microbes. Big trouble if you piss them off. Here's a really good article on hindgut microbes and happy tummies. And here's more on hindgut physiology from my buddy, Dr. B. 

A hindgut buffer sort of smooths out that whole process. So if you have a big change, lots of stress, too much lush grass, big grain meals, or just a horse with a tricky tummy, it keeps the microbes happy and calm by keeping the pH of the hindgut where they like it.

EquiShure. Encapsulated. Don't pre-wet it too soon. So it gets to the hindgut. Which is important. </End of tangent.>

Back to Pancake.

I thought an overall tummy buffer was a good idea because she isn't mowing down forage all day long. (Saliva is a good natural buffer, but it goes hand-in-hand with free-choice forage--ain't going to happen. You know what else is a good natural buffer? Alfalfa. Also not going to happen.) Anyway, it seems to be working. She has a happy tummy other than being HONGRY HONGRY HONGRY all the time. So that's a win.

A week later, a weigh in.

To review:
March 31: 1250
April 6: 1120ish
April 13: 1080ish
April 20: 1130ish
April 27: 1310
May 5: 1115ish!

Also, her 26-inch dressage girth is officially too big. It's all the way up on both sides and not particularly snug. Mama gets to go shopping. :-)