[arena run]

First.....

What affect does rice bran have on your horses, if any? I can't be totally certain, but it seems to make mine.... ill. ?? Like they have very short tempers.

I have a couple of geldings who play together ALL THE TIME. Nice play, too. I started rice bran maybe a month ago. First as stablized bran, then in a supplement called Empower, and then went back to the stablized rice bran (looks like flour) last week. They do not play nice any more. Matter of fact, one of them kicked the other so hard yesterday that it made him cough.

One of my tried and true mares is just pinning her ears all the time. Another one that is a bitty even on a good day just stays mad at the world.

Could it be the bran? That's the only thing that's really changed. I also recently added alfalfa pellets, but just a handfull, and I had noticed the attitude change in a few of them before I ever added the pellets.


Second...

If I feed diatomaceous earth, do I need to also continue w/my bi-monthly paste worming?

How much DE per day? I read 1/2 to 1 cup a day... then somewhere else I saw where someone fed it in a 4 cup a day for three days regime as a "wormer". I'm wanting a daily affect as fly and parasite control, but don't want to feed too little and have the little wormies forming these DE-resistant exoskeletons. <g> sylvia

[manyspots]

I can't speak of the DE, but I have tried my gelding on rice bran twice. The first time was the middle/late winter and I contributed his wild behavior to feeling good and the weather change. He was also short tempered, not nice to his buddy who is generally very good with, and just unpredictable both on the ground and under saddle. I cut out the rice bran and alfalfa pellets I was feeding soon after due to health issues we were also dealing with.

Fast forward 6 months and I attempted it again. I gave it two bags and he was out of his mind again. This time, no alfalfa. Needless to say we quit again. At that time he was on just rice bran and beet pulp.

He is now on alfalfa cubes and beet pulp plus a little Carb Guard with no isses. I definitely think the rice bran had way too much "sugar" for him!

[arena run]

Good... well, not "good"... but at least now I have a reason for all the hooves and tempers flying!

They weren't quite so bad during the two bags of Empower (a commercial pelleted supplement) but man-oh-man are they just ILLLLLL recently.

I will say that the Regular Ill-Butt Mare moves better w/the rice bran, but I can't take all those tempers any more!!!!

I'll just use up this bag on the ones who have seemed to take it a bit better, and then I'll not buy any more. They'll have to get the fat somewhere else.

[manyspots]

If you don't want to use oil, I highly suggest Cool Calories. It is a granular fat supplement. It's 99% fat, way higher than the rice bran so you feed much less! My guy gained lovely on it.

[JB]

Never heard of rice bran causing problems, but there's always a first

DE vs paste - run fecals to see what you need to do regarding paste deworming.

[tallygirl]

i am currently having the same problem with rice bran... my guy is usually so mellow go with the flow. 2 months ago i started him on rice bran to help gain weight and he is a lot more nervous, used to play very well in the turnout with my other gelding and now attacks the poor guy. He also has diarrhea from it and slight ulcers (which he never had before). All of these symptoms starts when i started him on tc rice bran. its great stuff but it makes him nuts and actually sick too. i had to stop riding him while he was on the rice bran because he would try to buck me off. which again he had NEVER even bucked once with me before. im glad you posted this because now i dont feel so alone. i cute him off rice bran as soon as i figured out that was what it was.

[Melyni]

I also, have never heard of rice bran causing problems with behavior.

And I can't think of any reason why it should.

A lot of low carb feeds have quite a bit of rice bran in them, so one would think that you would see more horses reacting.

Personally I would be looking at the total diet and management before I blamed the rice bran.
MW

[tallygirl]

well id take your advice and look at he other stuff but he has been on the same stuff for about a year and i took him off the rice bran and hes back to his normal self again. it may also have to do with the amount given. i was giving it to him everyday. im going to take someones advice and try cool calories.

[arena run]

Yesterday was our first "rice bran free" day.

About looking at other stuff -- the only thing I changed was I added rice bran and then some beet pulp to offset the phosphorus issue. Sooo, unless it's the beet pulp (which it isn't), it's the rice bran.

I used a bag of the powdered stuff then tried a commercial supplement that had rice bran in it with the calcium/phosphorus levels already adjusted (still kept them on the bp). I don't recall thinking, "Oh my!" when they were on that. I used two bags of that, then went back to the powdered bran and less than a week after they had been back on the powdered stuff I posted this.

I also can't see how it is management. I've been feeding them the same way (ie routine) for almost 2 years and have NEVER had the issues I've had this past week w/tempers and horses attacking other horses. This is the second year I've run my little gelding (at playday shows) and he has never once shown a temper like he did Saturday night. Usually folks comment on how well-behaved he is, but someone held him for me one time Sat. and they said he just would NOT stand still. THAT is not typical for Chappy at all, and I've had him going on 3 years.

I completely feel that its the rice bran. I'm cutting it out and when things get back to 'normal' in a couple days then I'll know for sure.

Who knows why certain things affect horses the way they do, or for that matter whether anyone notices that there even IS an affect due to other mitigating circumstances. sylvia

[arena run]

Wanted to add that maybe there is a difference in the rice bran being "added" to a feed, and feeding the powdered stuff directly. ???? I know I didn't notice quite the effect from the commercial pelleted product as I did the powdered.

[HorseRiderFan]

I weight out the feed and add 2% of its weight in Diatomacous Earth. Do not stop with the paste until you have been feeding daily for 3 weeks. Garden Havest Supply is where I get mine.