N/H Questions

Okay, I have a really good buddy deal from a friend of mine on a double
breed Impressive APHA filly. She's 3 years old and has about 60 rides on her.

She is beautiful and I begged for her when she was a yearling but my
friend wouldn't sell her. Now she's in a financial crunch and needs to
sell her. She said if I still wanted her to come load her up today!

I am nervous about owning a N/H horse though. Should I be? Do they need
to be fed any different, cared for any different or am I just being
paranoid?

so, she's for sure been tested and stamped N/H?

PHENOMADACIOUS wrote:

so, she's for sure been tested and stamped N/H?

Yes, she was tested about a year ago.

Has she ever had attacks in the past?

I've owned 3 N/Hers so far...I know Sheila and Tara can explain a lot better what you need to do to be prepared if you get her (and they type a lot faster than I do... )

If you really like her, and after you've learned your stuff, I would go for it .

Here's something from AQHA about it:
http://www.aqha.com/association/registration/hypp.html#ab

This is my first rodeo with this mess, and I can tell ya, before I went up and got Jazz, I mean, I Googled HYPP and read everything gosh-darned article they had on there, even printed off the deal on what the vets were supposed to give 'em, etc. Truthfully, I didn't really pay that much attention to it before because I never had to worry about it.

When I went to get Jazz, I was loaded with stuff to give her just in case. To tell you the truth, I was a nervous freaking wreck coming home with her. Rick kept hollering... we're not ever going to get home if we stop every 45 minutes... well, yeah, humor me, you ain't the one driving. HA! Then remember, I let him drive and woke up with him going 75 mph, and I told her real quick to stop the freaking truck... jumped out, checked on her... GAWD if you don't think he didn't get the bitching of a lifetime.

With you, you're probably going to have them outside, etc. I can't tell you what to do, but I'll tell you this... I still to this day, and Jazz got here 2 weeks before Christmas... I watch Jazz like a hawk. And she's going out every day and I'm fixing to start working her, so I'll be doing the stressing out on that watching her.

Just be prepared for the worst, know your stuff, make sure you understand it, and know what to do in case she does have an episode. It's bad enough these danged things try to commit suicide half the time, so add one more worry to it. But even with consistency, sometimes it'll just happen.

http://www.bringinglighttohypp.org/VideoInformation.html

Check it out, infomation is great. I have had them. I just don't think I will again. The horse market is so soft. In my area, n/h is soooo hard to sell one, even if it's tuff and winning, you'd have to just about give them away, with all the rule changes about it ,the news about Hypp being flashed all around, anyway if you decide to go threw with it, this site gives alot of good advise as to what to keep on hand and how to handle the problems that some horses have. Also on Feeding the positive horse, Buckeye has some of their Sr. Complete feed that works well as to ward off problems. Call them, they are a good sorce also.

Quote :

In my area, n/h is soooo hard to sell one, even if it's tuff and winning, you'd have to just about give them away

Wow, that's too bad... I know more people looking for them than N/Ner's!

PHENOMADACIOUS

Hey, maybe this will work, as soon as a friend of mine gets her results back, I'll send you the information. And maybe you can help her sell some of her yearling colts.. Could be a plan!

Sure!

Thanks! I found this to and thought I'd share!

The big trick is to keep the TOTAL dietary potassium level at 1% of the
total feed (by WEIGHT, not volume). This requires some minimal
understanding of the potassium levels of common feeds. As a general
rule, dry (plain) grains are about .5% (1/2%), and most alfalfa is
1.5%. Therefore, if you feed and equal amount (by weight) of grain and
alfalfa, you are right at 1% potassium, which is ideal. If you need to
increase feed to put on weight, increase BOTH the alfalfa and grain to
maintain the same proportion.



Beet pulp is very low in potassium--about .3%--and high in fiber and
calories. It makes an excellent feed for HYPP horses. If you don't want
to feed the horse so much grain, then you can feed a combination of
grain and soaked beet pulp, then feed the amount of hay that is equal
to the combination of grain and beet pulp. That will put you just under
the 1%. The beet pulp is low in protein and therefore doesn't make them
"high". The only downside to that diet is that the beet pulp and the
alfalfa are high in calcium (where the grain is high in phosphorous),
and while mature horses can tolerate an imbalance, youngsters will get
contracted tendons from too high a calcium level that isn't balanced
with phos. Therefore, I add 1-2 cups of soybean meal to the mix to
increase the phos. level. It also raises the protein some, which if you
are feeding young horses or broodmare in that last part of gestation or
during nursing, is just fine. BTW, not balancing the calcium and phos
in the latter part of pregnancy will cause the baby to be born with
contracted tendons, too, so you really want to be careful about that
(this is true whether HYPP is an issue or not).



Most of the literature will tell you to feed grass hay instead of
alfalfa, but this is misleading. Several horses in Oregon that had
never had any problems but were found to be HYPP+ when this first came
out found this out. Their owners switched to grass hay (having to feed
considerably more of it to get the same calories as the alfalfa they
had been feeding), only to have their horses start episoding. Where
alfalfa is 1.5% potassium, it turns out that the level of timothy hay
is about 1.8% and orchard grass (the most abundant in the Willamette
Valley) is 2.59%! When they started feeding these hays, and increased
the amount by two to three times to get the same calories, they pushed
the total dietary potassium right thru the roof and the horses
episoded. When they went back to their previous levels of alfalfa, the
horses did fine. Oat hay is only slightly lower in potassium than
alfalfa, (1.35%), but by the time you increase the amount you feed,
your levels are back up there.



Two other things to consider with HYPP horses--use WHITE (plain) salt,
not the "mineral" or "protein" blocks. Also, DO NOT use commercial
electrolytes. All of these contain potassium chloride, instead sodium
chloride, which is table salt. If it is felt that the horse needs
electrolytes (as in REALLY hot weather), hang a second bucket of water
in the stall that contains a package of sweetened Kool Aid and a couple
of tablespoons of table salt. This is sugar and sodium chloride. Even
with non-HYPP horses, electrolytes should always be an OPTION, not
forced as the level of potassium in these solutions can push even an
N/N horse into muscle spasms that are the hallmark of HYPP.



Another product that should be avoided is molassas on the grain. It is high in potassium, and really not necessary.



Virtually all HYPP horses do much better on pasture or with as much
turn-out as possible, and I know of many HYPP horses who can graze on
alfalfa fields or eat their fill of alfalfa with no grain as long as
they are out grazing. The movement of grazing stimulates their bodies
to keep the potassium levels in check.



In managing the positive horses, it is basically common sense. Keep
them well watered, especially when traveling, and keep the diet in
balance. I do keep clear Karo syrup on hand and if I see the signs of
an episode, or if I am going to put them under a major stress (like
anesthetic), I will give them one or two 60cc syringes of it orally. I
also keep the acetazolomide on hand and will give a dose if there is a
stress (6-8 tabs per twelve hrs is the normal dose). I have never had a
horse that had to be maintained on the med, but if you run across one
that has, balance the diet and then wean the horse off the med (1
tablet a day, alternating dosages--1 less am day one, 1 additional less
day 2, etc.), so the body has a chance to adapt to the new demands.



The biggest factor, after stress, that seems to affect these horses is
humidity rather than heat. The mare we had over here had no trouble
with the heat last summer--100+ for 30+ days. On those days, I would
offer the Kool Aid mix along with all the water they could drink and
there should be no problem.

Cindy, you've been reading the same thing I did. I called my feed guy to see how much potassium I had in my feed, and it's very, very little, doesn't even have it on the list. However, I had to switch on my loose minerals I give, as it had more, so back to the higher priced minerals.

I also found it very odd with Jazz, her reaction to the corn oil, of swelling in her back ankles, very odd. But when I took her off of it, it quit. Go figure!