It might be the salt… We all know horses need salt, but you can feed too much of a good thing. And the thing with salt is, when a horse needs it, it tastes really good. But when they are getting too much, their ‘sodium intake regulation system’ makes it taste bad. The result being […]
The short answer is yes! Here is how: Vitamin B1 has been observed to have an influence on behaviour in multiple animal species, including horses. A horse will meet its vitamin B1 requirements via the vitamin B1 it eats in its diet and from vitamin B1 produced by the bacteria in its hindgut. There are […]
Gastric ulcers are an all too common problem facing our horses. While feeding and general management play a huge role in squamous ulcer (ulcers found in the upper part of the stomach) treatment and ongoing prevention, medications that reduce acidity in the stomach to create a more favourable environment for ulcer healing are certainly an […]
The previous article was about the 3 things you need to build muscle; work, to stimulate the muscle to want to grow; leucine, the branch chain amino acid that switches on muscle protein synthesis; and a ready supply of the other amino acids needed to build new muscle. Which left us with the question of […]
You might need to pay more attention to your branch chain amino acid intake! Muscle is a beautiful thing, be it on your horse or yourself. It provides strength, power, speed and it looks great. It is also very functional, providing stability and balance and a whole host of really important metabolic functions like the […]
Have you ever wondered about the impact of weather conditions on a horse’s calorie requirements? Although poorly documented, observations suggest that environmental factors play a significant role in how much energy horses need. This means that if you’ve ever asked yourself how many calories does my horse need in winter the answer could depend on […]
In a word, yes, phytoestrogens affect mare fertility! Both industry observation and published science support this. BUT, we need to be very careful not to just throw all phytoestrogens (which are simply estrogen like compounds found in plants) into the one bucket. There are many different phytoestrogens, but they don’t all affect fertility. Some, like […]
This little vitamin is not talked about much in equine nutrition, mainly because we still don’t know exactly what a horse’s dietary requirement is. We also assume a large part of their requirement is fulfilled by the Vitamin B6 produced by the bacteria in their hindgut. We do know B6 is important for building muscle. […]
We all hear the term ‘organic mineral’ being used in horse nutrition. But what does it actually mean? Its definition is pretty basic… an organic mineral is simply a mineral that is attached to something that contains carbon. For anyone who can stretch their mind back far enough to the sometimes dreaded chemistry classroom, you […]
It has been known for a very long time that oats and horses just seem to get along well. Of all of the cereal grains we can feed to horses, oats is the only grain that can be fed safely without being cooked. Why? Horses are able to digest a large portion of the starch […]
