# Equishure dosage - help please?



## Fuzzypuff (28 January 2014)

I've just received my trial tub of Equishure and I'm not sure how much to give my horse. In theory he is on low grain and mostly hay so should be on the lowest dose, however he does seem to be affected by the wet grass (he is only out for 3 hours) so I'm not sure if the low dose will do the job.

Those who use it, how much do you give? 

My horse is 16.3hh and around 560kg.  He gets 1.5kg Winergy Senior (3.5% starch) a day, plus 1.5 cups (prob not more than 500g, I need to weigh it) ERS pellets (7% starch) a day, plus linseed and alfa a oil. The tub is just the 1.25kg one and mainly I want to give this a good trial, if it does a good job I will buy more, but I don't want to be left unsure and then not knowing whether I want another tub or not.

The tub instructions say (for 500kg horse):

Low/moderate grain & mostly hay: 60-90g
Low/moderate grain & mostly pasture: 60-90g
Moderate/high grain & mostly hay: 90-120g
Moderate/high grain & mostly pasture: 120-150g

Confusingly, the Saracen website says: 

Weight of horse = 500 kg (1100 lb)

Light - moderate grain intake & mostly hay - feed 50 g
Light - moderate grain intake & mostly pasture - feed 100 g
Moderate - heavy grain intake & mostly hay - feed 100 g
Moderate - heavy grain intake & mostly pasture - feed 150 g

Weight of horse = 600 kg (1320 lb)

Light - moderate grain intake & mostly hay - feed 60 g
Light - moderate grain intake & mostly pasture - feed 120 g
Moderate - high grain intake & mostly hay - feed 120 g
Moderate - high grain intake & mostly pasture - feed 180 g


Any ideas?


----------



## Frozen Hoof Boots (28 January 2014)

Hello there,  I've had great results with Equishure and RiteTrac.
You don't mention your turnout or hay intake ratio.
Regardless of this I would try with 60g a day to start with the Equishure.  You should see a difference quickly within 2-3 days.  If you're not I would then look to increase it to 80g and see whether you see a difference.

Good luck


----------



## Fuzzypuff (28 January 2014)

Thanks for your reply FHB. He is out for about 3 hours (he doesn't care to stay out longer and requests to come in!) and has as much hay as he will eat the rest of the time. However this 3 hours is having a negative effect on him currently.

Do you know if there is any benefit to a "loading dose"? I am guessing not as it acts quickly on the gut, but I am just wondering if it's worth me starting on a higher than recommended dose given that I am doing this as a trial - so that I can (hopefully) see a marked difference. 

How much do you give to your horses?


----------



## Frozen Hoof Boots (28 January 2014)

I only gave mine 60g a day.  He's 16.3 640kg warmblood.
It'll be that he's having issues processing intake from the grass with a compromised hind gut.  You hopefully will find once things settle down and you may find he's happy to stay out longer.
It doesn't need a loading dose as it doesn't work that way, but I think that based on low grass intake and high hay intake, I would try then a higher dose say start at 80g and review it after 3 days.  Hope that helps.


----------



## Frozen Hoof Boots (3 February 2014)

How's the Equishure trial going?


----------



## ktj1891 (3 February 2014)

Frozen Hoof Boots said:



			How's the Equishure trial going?
		
Click to expand...

Yes how is it going, I am looking to trial some on my guy! How long should a tub last 500kg horse? He is out roughly 7 hours a day, has adlib wet hay, gets 2 sometimes 3 feeds a day:

Copra
Kwikbeet
Linseed
ERS Pellets
Yeasacc
Turmeric
FP Balancer


----------



## Fuzzypuff (3 February 2014)

Well he's been on it since Friday. I actually had him in wed-fri but since then he has been going out for just an hour to limit the grass. He was still rather grumpy when he came in on Saturday, but better yesterday. Tonight he was much less girthy and not at all grumpy about his rug. I rode and I could properly put my whole leg on for the first time in weeks. Unfortunately I now have some other issue going on as he is a bit under the weather like how he usually gets at coat change time but he was definitely much better about his tummy. I'm going to start increasing the turnout again to give it a better test. Also I notice he is worst on the rainy days and the last 3 days it hasn't rained so will see how he is once it starts to rain again which I'm sure will be very soon!

Ktj the £40 tub is a trial tub and on a 90g dose will last you 14 days. I haven't calculated how long the big tub will last but the cost doesn't work out so bad. Presumably also you should be able to adjust the dose according to conditions.


----------

