My 8 year old mare, Sunshine, was diagnosed with EPSM shortly after I bought her 4 years ago. I've been feeding her Buckeye feed (Gro&Win, Ultimate Finish) for about as long and she is in beautiful condition and at the right weight. Four years ago she could not pick up her hind feet for the farrier and now she can literally walk on her hind legs like Heigh Ho Silver!
My question - is there a point where I can back off from even the lowest recommended amount of protein? Buckeye recommends a pound of Gro&Win daily for a horse on layup. This is what I've been feeding her for a year, since I do not work her hard. How do I judge how much protein she needs? She is now a strong, well muscled quarter horse.

Hi Greta,
I am so glad to hear that your mare is doing so well (and not dancing dangerously, I hope!). You can definitely eliminate the GroNWin. Most of her dietary protein is coming from her hay or pasture, not from her feed. And adult horses only need about 10% protein in their total diet, which most forages provide. Most horses have more protein than they need in their diet which isn't a health problem, but you can definitely save some money here :)

Hi Beth,

Does this mean that she is more like a regular horse than I thought she ever would be? How will I know if I need to add GroNWin back in to her feed? And I'll continue with the Ultimate Finish, right? I'm feeding her the equivalent of a pound of fat a day (Ultimate Finish 25, Ultimate Finish 100, and oil). She weighs about 1100 pounds.

If you mean that your mare can be treated like any other horse as long as she is on the right diet and exercise program, the answer is yes! Definitely continue with the Ultimate Finish. If she needs extra calories to maintain good weight I'd just increase everything in her diet just a bit. If she needs to lose weight, reduce calories everywhere you can except for the fat. GroNWin is mostly a high protein source, and as I said, in an adult horse it is hard to feed too little protein. If you did you'd have a seriously thin horse with a very poor haircoat, which I very much doubt will happen to Sunshine.

This is very good news! I have another question - I started clicker training her recently and am having tremendously wonderful results. Operant conditioning is helping her through her "trouble" spots - her behaviors which are based on memories of muscle pain (ie. not wanting to bend, etc). Anyway, I've been using a part of her feed for her treat but would like something even more tasty. What can I give her? I remember seeing something about compressed hay pellets being OK, even with the molasses. How much of the compressed hay can I safely give her each day? And I found sugar free peppermints. Are they OK for her? Is there anything else?

Oops - sorry I missed this message for a bit. Hay pellets or cubes are fine. The amount of molasses in them is not enough to be a problem. Feeding them would be like feeding hay - all you'd need to watch for is that she doesn't gain unwanted weight. Sugar free peppermints seem to work well also. I feed Kellogg's Cracklin Oat Bran as a treat. It contains starch and sugar, but also has about 20% of calories from fat. My horses love it, even if I only feed them one piece at a time.