HOOFPRINTS OF KASPIN: Selenium, & B1 saved my horse! Amazing what supplements can do! Plus weight loss accomplished.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Selenium, & B1 saved my horse! Amazing what supplements can do! Plus weight loss accomplished.

Hello all! I hope everyone is doing great this summer! Kaspin is doing well, after his laminitis episode from too much grass and moving to his new barn. Before we moved, I had mentioned I had his selenium tested. Kaspin was sweating so much it was crazy and he would get fatigued. I also mentioned to my vet that Kaspin is always nervous. Almost like an anxiety! I always joked he was like chicken little! Always looking for the sky to fall on him! It drove me nuts actually and I always felt sorry for Kaspin being so worried all the time. Cannot be fun to live like that. He was better when he was with the herd but always nervous with me and away from the safe herd. The selenium was very low so I put him on a selenium supplement per vet. The vet said, I could also try B1 and see if it helps with the nervousness/anxiety? I had Kaspin on the selenium first about a month or so and the sweating like crazy finally stopped! Yeah!! It was soooo nice to not have a horse get sooo extremely sweaty even with light work. Then I added the B1 supplement for about a month. After a few weeks, I realized Kaspin got super quiet. Soooo quiet, that I stopped the B1! Now Kaspin remains on the selenium. Then kaspin got the laminitis pretty quick after I took him off of the B1. So I wasn't sure was Kaspin just quiet from his hooves hurting, or were both supplements doing something?? When Kaspin got the laminitis I moved him to a new barn. So they could help me with his care daily. Today it is one and half months since the laminitis episode and Kaspin is still really quiet like a Haflinger should be. But it is so different, that it is not my horse. I know, I sound crazy complaining of quiet!! But Kaspin changed so much? I question?? Does he have an ulcer or something going on inside that I don't know about?? That is causing him to be this quiet? So I had the vet out again. This time to do a full blood work up. Just to make sure I wasn't missing something else? And to give me piece of mind! The blood work was all normal!! Thank god! I had heard that selenium can also be linked with nuero transmitters and nervous behavior when selenium is low. My vet thinks is was the B1 for that month that leveled him out? Kaspin might have been low on B1 as well and once I got it back to normal the anxiety/nervousness went away? Either way, one or both of these supplements helped Kaspin tremendously! We never changed anything else! And we are both thankful for it!! I have a sane horse and Kaspin has a sane mind now! Here are a few update pics too.

Kaspin was too heavy at the other barn. No hips, fat deposits all over body. I only post so others can watch closer than I did this year, boo.

Last week at the new barn. Kaspin lost about 120 pounds! Look, he has now to see hips, LOL. Yes, mane is a bit shorter. Kaspin been scratching it a lot, boo.