People love to disagree over the use of magnesium oxide for horses. Should we use it, shouldn’t we use it, is it bioavailable or not for horses? Is all magnesium oxide created equal? Part of this contention is due to the fact that magnesium oxide is a manufactured ingredient. It is cooked in a process […]
Do you have a horse that has water that runs out of the anus before, during or after he poos? This condition now has a name! Free Fecal Water, or FFW. And also, happily it now has some research behind what may cause it as well as a potential treatment. If it is something you […]
Anaerobic fungi live in our horses’ hindguts and they are responsible for an estimated 30-40% of the fibre fermentation that occurs there. As well as thinking about how diet might affect our horse’s hindgut bacterial populations, we also need to think about how it might affect their anaerobic fungal populations. The problem is that we […]
Dietary iron is thought by some to contribute to the incidence of laminitis in horses, with serum ferritin starting to be used as the measure of iron status. It is unclear if this is the case, but in reading human literature, it seems the relationship between serum ferritin and inflammation is a bit of a […]
Grazing muzzles are a really, really useful tool. A muzzle means horses can be out grazing 23+ hours per day. Without them they would be strip grazed (trashing pastures in the process) or locked up for extended periods, which for gut and mental health is not ideal either. But they come with their challenges. They […]
Salt for horses – how much is too much? Extreme weather can increase the trend for people to add large amounts of salt to their horse’s daily feeds, despite actual requirements or what may be coming from the rest of their diet. While horses need sodium or chloride to continue to sweat, it’s important to […]
Sunbleaching in horses appears to be influenced by a combination of sun exposure and sweat. An unintentional experiment One of our Nutritionist’s horses lives in a region where flies are prevalent, so the horses wear fly masks during the daytime. They also experience extreme heat, reaching temperatures upwards of 40 degrees Celsius (100°F), which has […]
Setaria should really be classified as toxic for horses. It is a subtropical pasture with such high levels of oxalate that it makes it almost impossible to prevent Secondary Nutritional Hyperparathyroidism (Bighead disease) in horses grazing this grass. Grasses like kikuyu and buffel grass readily cause bighead disease with an oxalate content of around 15 […]
Teff Hay seems to be gaining popularity as a hay option for many horse owners and because it is sold as a low starch low sugar hay it is starting to be recommended in place of Rhodes Grass Hay. BUT, if you are lucky enough to have access to Rhodes Grass Hay, here are some […]
We often talk about copper deficiency in horses, and specifically its role in coat color. Copper is part of an enzyme called tyrosinase which is essential for the production of melanin. Melanin is what gives the skin, hair and eyes their color. So it makes sense that copper deficiency would cause a change in coat […]
