Endurance Horse Finds Relief with MFM Pellet

When it came time to find nutritional help for her gelding’s muscle problem, Carrie Derco turned to Kentucky Equine Research.

Derco uses Geron, her 13-year-old race-bred Arabian gelding, for endurance riding but chronic tying-up symptoms derailed real progress. As he got older, things only got worse despite a diet low in nonstructural carbohydrates and other management considerations.

“When a tying-up episode occurred, Geron became very stiff and short-strided, often extremely reluctant to move forward freely. He also had consistent sensitivity in his hindquarters and would jump if I palpated the muscles of his hind-end, no matter how gently,” Derco said.

Geron tested negative for polysaccharide storage myopathy type 1 (PSSM1), so Derco believed he had PSSM type 2, specifically myofibrillar myopathy. “I knew Kentucky Equine Research was doing work on nourishing horses with muscle diseases of this nature, so I reached out,” she said.

She began feeding Geron MFM Pellet, a pelleted supplement that contains several important amino acids, including cysteine, a key component in many antioxidants, and the branched-chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine, and valine, all three of which are essential amino acids that must be obtained from the diet. MFM Pellet also contains lysine, methionine, and threonine.

“Within a month, the sensitivity in Geron’s hindquarters went away, and I can now touch and groom him without any pain reaction,” she described. “I couldn’t believe how quickly I saw a change in my horse!”

Derco knows she is on the right track with Geron’s diet now. “MFM Pellet has helped tremendously in getting Geron back on the trail and training for endurance. We just completed a 25-mile limited-distance endurance ride last weekend. I am so happy to have my endurance horse back and to be able to trot miles on the trail again.”