Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Those easy keepers

Sage and I have gotten a few rides in but the weather lately has not been very cooperative. So I have spent my horsey time doing more research on Sage's sacro iliac issue and researching his sugar sensitivity. Sage had a mild laminitic episode about 2 weeks ago when our snow melted. It turns out spring grass is dangerous! now I know. (Sage had blood results done last fall and was not insulin resistant, but does have a slightly low thyroid, and our vet feels if he has the symptoms, then we'd better manage his diet.)

Sage has also been on selenium for years now, ever since he had a slight lameness in his right hind as a youngster. He was sound after being started on selenium. Anyhow, in my research today I came across this article about how mineral deficiencies can create health problems and found this sentence:

Selenium and Vit E work together to convert the storage form of thyroid T4, to the active form T3, and are very important anti-oxidants.

So maybe we will up his selenium a little bit (I know it's toxic in large doses). It'd be nice if that also helped his thyroid.

Anyhow, just wanted to share that with you all as I have heard other Curlies need selenium supplements sometimes as well and I thought it was interesting. And if anyone has experience dealing with a similar health issue (laminitis, sugar sensitivity, low thyroid) in their easy keeper Curly I'd appreciate hearing about other people's experiences.

Here's a picture of my Curly boy, who is quite bored in his little dry lot right now, but at least isn't gimpy any more. I'm excited that a lameness specialist is coming out to see him next week. I know with the laminitis one cause of that can be not enough exercise...well with his sacro iliac injury, that has been us! I am hoping the vet will help me sort this out in a way that is more permanent so we can enjoy summer and get Sage back to a more active life.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Brie, I have not been keeping up on your blog lately :-( So I hadn't realized Sages issues.

    I would love for you to read www.vitaroyal.com. its a fantastic site, with tons to learn about metabolic issues in our horses (and us humans, too).

    Its all related, thyroid, pituitary, pancreas, adrenals. Another good website is www.safergrass.org.

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  2. Thanks Michelle! I'm just about done reading the articles over on safergrass.org- that's where this mineral deficiencies article came from. I haven't been to vitaroyal.com so thanks for mentioning it.

    In your experience, how helpful are vets with health problems like these?

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  3. Hmmm, I think that depends on the vet. Historically, most vets didn't have a clue, and felt that the cheapest feed (even sweet) that kept weight on was good enough. I am seeing a trend in vets starting to "get it". So I guess right now its a crap shoot whether yours is on the cutting edge or not.

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  4. I'm sorry that Sage is still having trouble. I hope that it gets figured out soon.

    Sage is so pretty.

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