Lucerne/Alfalfa… if it is really fresh and green it will often cause scouring/diarrhea. We’re not sure what causes the scouring, BUT observation over the years is that once it is stored for a few months the problem goes away (hence the old advice to always feed ‘shedded’ hay)… so whatever it is in lucerne/alfalfa that […]
Feeding a horse confined to a stable… it’s a balancing act… give them plenty of feed to keep them occupied but not so much you have them climbing them walls. Here is a little help on how to do it! Horses are sometimes required to be confined due to illness or injury with no exercise […]
Did you know it’s perfectly ok to adjust the amount of feed you give your horse from day to day?? In fact it’s something we recommend you do, for a couple of reasons. First is that it helps keep your horse’s behavior level and calm. Horses are funny creatures in that they will express the […]
Did you know Vitamin C is not an essential nutrient in your horse’s diet? Unlike we humans, who will get scurvy and die if we don’t eat vitamin C, horses make their own vitamin C in their liver! Clever right!! There are some situations, like when a horse is very ill, really stressed or has […]
Feeding grain free diets has grown in popularity in the last 10 years and there are certainly many benefits. BUT, need it always be the way to go? The answer is, it depends, but often no. Horses with conditions like laminitis, PSSM tying up, PPID/Cushing’s, equine metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance etc MUST be fed a […]
We talk a lot about a horse’s gut bacteria and how they impact health… have you ever stopped to think about your gut bacteria and how they might be influencing your health?? This relatively new area of science is quite literally mind blowing. These tiny critters control us in so many ways and have such […]
From experienced horsemen to attendees at educational seminars, many equine enthusiasts don’t actually know how a horse’s gut works and why forage is so important for horse health. Did you know that the equine stomach never stops secreting gastric acid? So even when your horse is not eating, it is filling the lower part of […]
This is an interesting read on the impact of proton pump inhibitors (PPI) like Omeprazole (the major drug we use to treat equine gastric ulcer syndrome) on the gut bacteria in humans: https://gut.bmj.com/content/65/5/740 While these drugs are a huge help in setting up an environment in the equine stomach where ulcers can heal, they are […]
There has been discussion about hindgut ulcers in recent years; do they exist, what impact are they likely to have on a horse, how should we treat them, how do we even know if they are there… lots of questions, not a lot of answers. At a workshop on the topic of sub-acute rumen acidosis […]
Some research on Teff compared to other species used in hay. And also a word of caution. There is a bit of research looking at the use of teff hay in diets where low sugar, low starch forages are required. We’ve outlined a number of studies on the topic for you (references at the bottom […]
