I have two Miniature Horses, both of which I show. One is four years old, the other five years old. Both are 250-275 lb (114-125 kg). I feed 0.2 lb (0.1 kg) of sweet feed to each per day. I don’t allow them to graze long and give them about 1 lb (0.45 kg) of alfalfa daily. Neither gets much exercise besides walking and longeing occasionally, and they’re both overweight. I’ve been asking friends for advice. One friend suggested a diet of alfalfa pellets, beet pulp, ground flax, and a mineral mix. Another friend told me to feed a ration balancer and forage. Now I am flooded with suggestions, so I thought I’d come to you.

We are the lucky owners of a high-performance mare that carries one copy of the polysaccharide storage myopathy type 1 (PSSM1) gene. She’s a four-year-old Quarter Horse in professional reining training. She is always stalled except when she is being ridden, and she is in heavy work five or six days a week. She’s fed free-choice alfalfa hay, 6 lb (2.7 kg) of a commercial pelleted feed intended for performance horses, and a slew of supplements: an all-in-one “muscle recovery” product, fish oil, electrolytes, and free-choice Himalayan salt. She’s had two known incidents of tying-up, one last month and one five months ago. The latest was much more severe than the first. Am I doing everything I can for her from a nutritional standpoint?

My horse is currently receiving an amino acid supplement because he has myofibrillar myopathy (MFM). I would like to switch him to MFM Pellet, recommended by my vet for the critical amino acids it contains. How do I phase out the old supplement and phase in MFM Pellet? How long do horses typically stay on this course of supplementation? 

Our pony hunter (Welsh-cross, 13.1 hands, 750 lb or 340 kg) has been on EquiShure for a long time, and this product has helped him a lot with hindgut problems. This summer, with its unrelenting heat, we started him on the electrolyte Restore, which increased his stamina but has seemingly loosened his manure. I would like to continue to use both products, but not if there’s a longstanding negative effect. The pony is currently being fed timothy hay, ration balancer, 1 oz table salt, 60 g Restore, and 80 g EquiShure. What do you think?

Marsha is my 22-year-old Morgan mare that I trail ride. She weighs about 940 lb (430 kg) and should lose some weight for better health, as she only stands 14.1 hands. She has been diagnosed with equine metabolic disorder (EMS). She is allowed to graze for two hours in the early morning, though I am flexible with her turnout based on temperature and grass stress. She is fed 16-17 lb (7.5 kg) of soaked grass hay daily, always fed from a haynet. She also receives 1 lb (0.5 kg) of ration balancer twice daily. In addition to these basic components, she is fed supplemental salt, chromium, magnesium, ground flax seed, and joint support. What else can I do for her?

I have a coming two-year-old Warmblood gelding who had surgery for bilateral hind pastern bone cysts three months ago. Unfortunately, he has shown mild arthritic changes around his fetlock joint from the surgery. He is currently on several supplements, but I was wondering if there is a Kentucky Equine Research product that I should use instead to help the arthritis and the bone cysts. Besides hay and pasture, he eats hay cubes and a handful of feed.

I would like to start my overweight, insulin-resistant 23-year-old draft gelding on an omega-3 supplement. He is fed soaked hay and a ration balancer, and he wears a muzzle when he is allowed access to pasture. How can I best supplement with omega-3s? Other thoughts?

Is EO-3 suitable for foals and weanlings? When should I begin a broodmare on EO-3 to ensure her colostrum contains natural antibodies? I recently lost a foal to sepsis, so this year is a wash, but I am looking ahead to future years.

I have a 30-year-old Rocky Mountain Horse gelding that can no longer chew hay, and I have been supplementing his grain with soaked alfalfa pellets. He also has problems with grass, as he quids most of it. He manages to consume some chopped hay but not enough. What is the maximum amount of soaked alfalfa pellets that can be given to a horse daily? I don't want to give him too much alfalfa, but he has gained weight and looks good. He urinates more frequently when fed alfalfa pellets, so I am concerned about potential kidney problems. 

Alda is my nine-year-old Warmblood gelding (1,300 lb/590 kg, 17.2 hands). He’s in moderate body condition, a score of 5 (on the Henneke scale that spans 1 to 9), and he works as a low-level dressage horse. He spends most of his time (20 hr) in his stall but has access to a drylot for a couple hours each day. Alda is fed 30-35 lb (14-16 kg) of grass hay per day and 15-20 lb (7-9 kg) of alfalfa per day in a slow feeder. He’s given 1 lb (0.45 kg) of rice bran and several individual supplements (vitamin E, selenium, copper, zinc, etc.), making meal prep tedious. While I am happy with his weight, he is prone to foregut and hindgut ulcers. He also has bone chips in his hocks that will most likely turn arthritic. If that wasn’t enough, he gets extremely itchy in the summer and rubs to the point of baldness. Can you provide some help?