Is anyone using D-Carb Balance or Glycocemic-EQ as a supplement for
their IR or Cushings horse? Both supply chromium and magnesium, the
former one being difficult to find in any other supplement. I am
trying to decide on which one to use.
They all provide magnesium, chromium, zinc, and niacin.

Remission provides biotin, methionine, and L-lysine in a base of
flaxseed meal, stabilized rice bran, and brewers yeast.

D-Carb Balance seems the best choice because it also provides
phosphorus, manganese, selenium, calcium, direct-fed microbials, B
vitamins (pyridozine, B12, thiamine, riboflavin), vitamin E, D3, and
A in a base of ground flaxseed, yeast culture, vegetable oil (type
unspecified), and processed grain by-products and roughage products.
But lacks biotin and methionine.

Glycocemic-EQ does not provide any of these extra vitamins and
minerals and no microbials.

I'm having a difficult time deciding which to get, but am leaning
toward the D-Carb Balance. Anyone with experience with any of
these? Please note that I am waiting for my hay analysis and this
will give me a better idea of what minerals I need to provide
supplementally.

Also, what is the group's opinion on supplements such as Source that
consist of kelp, mostly. From reading the Links page, it seems that
spirulina would be a better choice, but I'm not sure. This would be
for both my IR horse and my "normal" 6-yr-old thoroughbred mare.

Thanks,
Edain

--- In EquineCushings@..., "edain_rides" <edain@...> wrote:

Is anyone using D-Carb Balance or Glycocemic-EQ as a supplement for
their IR or Cushings horse? Please note that I am waiting for my

hay analysis and this will give me a better idea of what minerals I
need to provide supplementally.

Edain

Hi Edain -

It would be best to wait to see what your hay analysis comes back as.
It is almost impossible for a commercially made product to provide
what you need since every grass hay is so different.

That said, I have found a regional mix (includes traces, biotin, some
E, some lysine, etc) that is a reasonable filler for where I live, but
what I actually need far exceeds what is provided in the mix...so I
include this mix with my mineral numbers from the analysis and come up
with what I actually need to add.

And it's less expensive than some of those pre-made ones as well.

Hope that wasn't too complicated!

Linda
On the West

-I looked at D-Carb balance and it would balance the forage I use
pretty well. However, in order to provide the quantity he needs I
would have to give my Mini the dose for a full size horse and that is
pricey. Custom made minerals are definitively cheaper.

Nikita and Mr.Thewell

--- In EquineCushings@..., "edain_rides" <edain@...> wrote:

Is anyone using D-Carb Balance or Glycocemic-EQ as a supplement for
their IR or Cushings horse?

Edain,

I've used D Carb Balance when I've needed an "easy to feed"
supplement. It does balance my hay pretty well as far as zinc,
copper, iodine, and selenium. However, it added additional things
that I really didn't need, but wouldn't hurt, like chromium and
magnesium.

I use it when I go on vacation and someone else has to feed for me. I
just have them add it to a bucket of TCSSF, and the horses eat it
readily. It's cheaper for me to mix my own supplements than to feed
this daily to four horses.

Carol

Thanks for your reply. Where would I get custom-made minerals? I had thought of that, but the thought of having to find every separate mineral my horse needed to balance the hay ration and mixing it was just way too time-consuming. I had managed to get magnesium, selenium, and Vitamin E, but having to get phosphorus, chromium, and other things in order to balance the minerals correctly seemed a recipe for a nightmare, as well as expensive. That's why I was so glad to find at least one or two supplements that seemed to have just about everything for the IR/Cushings horse. If my hay analysis then indicated I needed more magnesium or other mineral, I could buy that separately and add it in.

But it sounds like you have found an easier way to do the custom mix (and with the extreme cost of these supplements, I would be glad to hear it!)

Once you balance your hay, Horsetech will do a custom supplement.
They are fairly reasonable.

Custom supplements are usually less expensive than all the things we
normally throw at our horses.

The first step is to test your hay. You may find that you don't
*need* much more than your hay gives you. Dazzle only needs to add
the copper and zinc. - When I've tested her hay, with her orchard
and little bit of alfalfa, her Ca:P ratio was good. Her Ca:Mg ratio
was good.

She needed salt (sodium), selenium, flax, vitamin E.

And copper and zinc. - That's not too overwhelming for me, so I just
mix it myself.

But both Uckele.com and Horsetech will do a custom supplement at a
fairly reasonable rate.

Joan and Dazzle

--- In EquineCushings@..., edain@... wrote:

Thanks for your reply. Where would I get custom-made minerals? I

had thought of that, but the thought of having to find every
separate mineral my horse needed to balance the hay ration and
mixing it was just way too time-consuming.