Horse Health Care: Have You Done a Rib Check plus Feeding Enough Hay

A fuzzy horse does not necessarily equal a fat horse. I don't know what the whether is like where you live, but here in Colorado we are having the coldest winter in 100 years. That's cold.

What's worse, horses here are freezing to death, and I mean that literally. Horses that look "fat" from a distance are actually dying of pneumonia because they don't have enough fat to stay warm.

There have been enough cases of pneumonia and cold-related horse deaths to really cause alarm, since many of the horses who have died were not old, ill, or otherwise impaired. They were just cold and hungry.

Hence, the need for a rib check.

Horse Health Care and the Rib Check
If you want to take excellent care of your horse this freezing winter (it's snowing in Texas, for goodness sakes!) then do a rib check on your horse every few days. A horse who looks "fat" because he's got a giant shaggy coat may actually be quite thin underneath all of that shag carpeting.

To do a rib check, just wiggle your fingers into your horse's big hairy coat and run your fingers across his ribs. If you feel a lot of bumpity-bumps down the line, you know that your horse needs more calories to stay warm. If you feel nothing but a smooth glide, then you know that your horse at least isn't starving to death.

Also feel for hollows along your horse flanks, by his withers, and along either side of his spine. He should have some fat deposits along his topline as well. If he's got those, you're good to go. If he's got hollows instead of soft pads of flesh up there, you may need to throw more hay.

How Much Hay for Horses is Enough?
Hay for horses … I used to think figuring out how much was enough was a tough equation. You can always go by bodyweight and all the formulas in the textbooks. But textbooks don't take into account weather (like the coldest winter in 100 years) or other factors that might affect your horse's weight.

I have a simpler solution. Regardless of whether you feed grain or not, your horse needs a certain amount of long-stem forage (translation: hay) to stay healthy and warm. That is because hay is digested in the hindgut and keeps your horse warmer than grain during a cold night. To figure out how much hay your horse needs, estimate the amount he will need for one night, and toss that amount over the fence. The next morning, see if he has left any hay or if he has cleaned up every scrap.

If he has left some hay, then you know you have give him too much. Let him clean up the remainder during the day, and then throw a tad less hay that night. Keep going until you find just a few straggles of hay on the ground each morning. That's when you know you are throwing enough hay. Your horse will tell you by not cleaning up every single scrap.

Make sense? It does to me. All the hay producers in this county always give this formula to their clients, and it has worked for many years. Hope it helps you figure what and how much hay to feed your horses! Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, check out my ebook for wacky horses and humans, or holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction ... and you can, too!

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Horse Feed: How to Save Money on Hay for Horses with Hay Testing

With much of the nation experiencing some of the coldest temperatures on record, horses are gobbling up hay and feed faster than ever.

Hay for horses, unlike lower quality hay for other livestock, can be quite expensive, as can horse feed. That's why it is so important to test and understand the quality of the hay you feed.

Hay for Horses: My Hay Testing Experience
I recently tested my hay (sent a sample to Equi-analytical Labs) and was shocked to discover that the hay I was feeding my horses, cut from my own field, was low-carb hay. While low-carb hay is great for horses with metabolic problems, like insulin-resistant horses, it is a poor choice for horses who need to gain weight or who are trying to stay warm in extreme temperatures.

I face both situations. My gelding, Walker, is a hard keeper so I always have to feed him extra. On top of that, the other horses in my herd have to eat more than in previous winters because we are having the coldest winter in 100 years here in Colorado.

With these conditions, I was having to feed literally half a bale of hay per horse per feeding (3 times daily) just to keep them fat and shiny. While my homemade "horse goo" was helping to regulate their metabolism and get the most out of every flake of hay, I still couldn't understand why I had to feed so much. Now I know.

Feeding Low-Carb Hay
With low-carb hay (10% carbs), my horses were getting the equivalent of "diet hay," which didn't contain enough starch and sugars to keep them warm and fat. Low-carb hay has fewer calories, so my horses had to eat so much more of it to get the calories they needed. Once I figured that out, I ordered five tons of higher carb hay from a local hay dealer, and now I am feeding much less hay. I am also supplementing my herd with much less horse feed, a senior pelleted feed.

I never knew that hay for horses could vary so much in calories or quality. I'm saving my low-carb hay to feed this summer, when my horses occasionally have to be taken off the pasture while it is being irrigated. During the summer, when the horses have access to lush green grass, they won't need as many calories, so the low-carb hay will make a perfect feed.

Have You Tested Your Feed Lately?
With all the buzz going around about horses with metabolic issues, more hay dealers are now testing their hay. Horse owners who have insulin-resistant horses have insisted on it, which is great.

Now it's time for the rest of us horse owners to get in on the hay-testing bandwagon. If you have a hard keeper, it's worth checking if your hay dealer has high-carb (18% carbs) hay, especially if you live in a cold climate. With high-carb hay, you'll be able to feed much less quantity but get much better results. Your horse will maintain his weight more easily on less hay, and that will definitely save on your horse feed bill.

If you plan on buying several tons of hay from a dealer who does not test his hay, it may be worth your while to see if you can get the hay tested yourself. It could save you literally hundreds of dollars, not to mention the fact that your horse will be a lot happier if you feed him hay that is a good match for his metabolism. The test itself is inexpensive (less than $30), and definitely worth your time!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, check out my ebook for wacky horses and humans, or holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction ... and you can, too!

Photo credit: Free Digital Photos

The Bottomless Pleasure of Horse Addiction

Dick Francis, horse lover and one of my favorite mystery writers, wrote this about horses in his book "Proof":

"Money down the drain, sure, but a bottomless pleasure in return ..."

He was so right! Horses provide bottomless pleasure to humans, regardless of the money down the drain required to keep them in good nick.

Horse feed, horse health care, horse management ... all of these are costly in terms of time and money. And yet, to a horse addict, the bottomless pleasure gained from our equine friends is like food for the soul.

Don't you get endless pleasure from such mundane horsey things as:

• watching your horse learn something new
• being with your horses out in pasture, nothing doing, just being
• sitting with your horses as they eat (they so love it)
• observing a young horse change and shift as he grows
• exchanging scent and breath with your horse, a wordless communication
• bringing a chronically ill horse back to health
• being amazed at the physical changes in a horse from regular bodywork
• knowing you are giving a horse a home in times when horses are being dumped
• watching the personality of each horse as he expresses it in his special way
• remembering the crazy times, like when your horse broke loose from the sapling to which he was tied and ran about the campground being "chased" by a tree

And then, of course, there is the achievement of harmony between human and horse, that perfect jumper round where every "spot" was perfect, every jump effortless. The blue ribbons don't matter there, but the perfection of communication does.

The Horse Addiction
If I'm going to be addicted to anything in life, I choose horses. Like any addiction, they can be expensive, but so gratifying as well. No single person needs five horses, and yet that is the size of my herd, the size of my addiction.

Luckily, my addiction is legal. Also, I've built, over time, a passive income stream that pays for my horse addiction, month in and month out. I've known very few horse trainers who thrive financially because horses are expensive to keep, regardless. Yet I do know quite a few amateur owners like myself who do thrive, thanks to passive income.

I'm all for people having horse addictions. I hate seeing people struggle financially with their addiction. I'd like to help. If you, like me, are addicted to horses but struggle financially, would you drop me a line? I'll tell you in five minutes what and how I pay for my herd's needs, and what it would take for you to do the same.

Is being able to easily afford your horse addiction worth 5 minutes of your time? If so, here's where I'm at.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, check out my ebook for wacky horses and humans, or holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction ... and you can, too!

Horse Health Care: Feeding Horses in the Dark

It's kinda like "Singing in the Rain." My new mantra is, "I'm feeding in the dark …"

And you might be wondering why I'm feeding horses in the dark. Good question. I'm feeding my horses early in the morning and late at night for two reasons:

1. Evenly spaced feedings more closely mimics a horse's natural feeding patterns

2. This feeding schedule keeps my horses healthier, and lowers the horse feed bill

Wild horses spend 20-22 hours per day walking and eating. In other words, they graze. The rhythm of walking a bit, eating a bit, walking a bit, and eating a bit helps them digest their food. They don't eat too much at any one time, and the walking keeps their digestive systems active.

Plus, the constant food intake prevents ulcers, since the fiber they eat forms a "mat" in the upper stomach, which prevents the acid from the lower part of the stomach from eating through the stomach wall. The lower stomach wall is protected from the acid, but the upper stomach is not. Without the fibrous mat formed by the constant intake of fibrous foods, horses develop ulcers in their upper stomach.

Horse Feed: Throwing Hay in the Dark
In the deep dark of winter, most people feed their horses breakfast around 7 am, and dinner at 5 pm. This is convenient for us humans because it's a little warmer, plus the sun is usually up by then. The bad news is that it's not such great horse health care. When fed only twice a day, horses tend to gorge, upsetting the natural rhythm of their digestive cycle. They don't digest their food as well or as thoroughly as they should, which can lead to ulcers, mild colic, or internal adhesions.

Of course, changing this schedule isn't an option for most people, since work often dictates their schedules or they board their horses at stables that only feed twice daily. If this is the case for you, there are several ways you can solve this horse feed problem:

Horse Feed Solution #1: Pay Someone to Feed for You
I have several friends who use this option. One friend boards her horse at a stable where the horses are only fed twice a day. She pays one of the grooms an extra monthly fee to throw extra hay to her horse for lunch and for a late-night snack. She also pays the stable for the extra hay. My other friend keeps her horses at home, but works all day. She pays a neighbor's daughter to toss hay over the fence twice a day, at lunch and at dinner. Late in the evening, my friend goes out in the dark to give her horses a little horse feed for a snack.

Horse Feed Solution #2: Offer Free Choice Hay
If your horse doesn't have a tendency to get too fat, offering free choice hay is another option to the horse feed dilemma. I used to do this, even when I boarded my horses at a stable. I would buy one large round hay bale per month, and deliver it personally to my horses' paddock. They were fed regular meals of breakfast and dinner, and snacked on the round bale whenever they felt the need. This kept their bellies full … and their little naughty minds out of trouble.

Horse Feed Solution #3: Use Small-Hole Hay Nets and Other Feed Dispensers
Small-hole hay nets, as the name implies, are hay nets that have very small holes. This allows horses to eat only a few pieces of hay at a time, which means they can't gorge, plus they stay occupied for longer. This also more closely mimics the slow grazing pattern of wild horses. They can be difficult to fill, not to mention time-consuming, but it does tend to keep horses occupied for twice as long.

I also use this great new horse toy called the Nose-It. It's a plastic polyhedron that has a tiny hole in it. You can fill it with horse pellets, hay cubes, or any other healthy horse feed. Your horse has to tip it in just the right direction before feed comes out, which means he has to "play" with the Nose-It for a long time before he gets his full dinner. Again, like the hay net, this toy provides a way to feed your horse over a longer period of time. The only caveat with this toy is if your horse lives in a sandy environment. To prevent him from eating sand, put the toy in a large feed tub and let him play with it in there. This keeps his horse feed clean and prevents sand colic.

Horse Feed Solution #4: Feed in the Dark
This is possibly the least attractive solution if you are afraid of the dark or dislike the cold. I'm not fond of either, but I don't find it too difficult. I work at home, online, so I have a flexible schedule. I prep the horses' early morning hay portions the night before so I don't have to do anything other than chuck it over the fence. Ditto with the late night dinner. Lunch, which includes a combination of beet pulp, senior feed, and hay cubes, all soaked, is prepped and fed during the day. My horses are fed around 5 am (I'm an early riser), 12 pm, and 8 pm. This spaces their meals out fairly evenly around the clock. If I'm going to be gone during the day, I use small-hole hay nets and the Nose-It toys to keep my horses occupied. This works well.

I take the same kind of care with any supplements I feed, which are syringed directly into each horse's mouth to ensure that every horse gets what he or she needs. Some of my horses, who have been through trauma or have health issues, get Eleviv, a bitter herb supplement that helps them stay in a relaxed, healing mode. Others get my regulation Horse Goo, which includes antioxidant fruit juice and Simplexity Essentials (algae, probiotics, enzymes). This system ensures that every horse gets the right feed and supplements.

To learn more about Horse Goo and how these supplements offer an inexpensive "cover all bases" nutritional solution for horses, check out my new fun ebook:

Natural Solutions for Out of Whack, Whacked Out, or Plain Wacky Humans, Horses, and Critters

The Good News About Horse Feed Solutions
If you use any of these solutions, especially during the winter, you'll notice that your horse feed bill will probably go down. Horses fed more frequently or are fed over a longer period of time (as with the small-hole hay nets) tend to hold their weight more easily. Plus, they stay occupied for longer, which helps if you have "Mr. Destructo" in your herd. Finally, feeding this way helps prevent digestive health issues like colic and ulcers.

So while these horse feed solutions may not be the most convenient in the world for us humans, if they prevent a giant vet bill or reduce the feed bill, they may be worth all the hassle. I know it's worth it to me … plus my horses love me for it!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction ... and you can, too!
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Horse Health Care: Do You Use Everything But the Kitchen Sink? Whoa There Cowboy

What do you do when your horse is sick? Do you run and grab every homeopathic remedy, feed supplement, drug, new horse feed, and bodywork manual on your shelves? Do you drive your horse straight the vet and hope the bill isn't going to kill you? Do you call up every horse-loving friend you have and ask for advice?

In short, do you throw everything but the kitchen sink at your horse and hope that SOMETHING works?

Horse Health Care: The Beauty of One Thing at a Time
When I first began working with holistic veterinarian Dr. Madalyn Ward and learning about subjects like herbs, homeopathy, nutrition, and bodywork, one of the first lessons she taught me is this:

"When treating a horse for any condition, try one thing at a time otherwise you won't know what works and what doesn't."

That's a really hard lesson for horse owners to learn, especially when it comes to their own horses. We all hate seeing our horses in pain, whether it be from hurting hooves, an ouchy ulcer, or an oozing abscess. We want it fixed and we want it fixed now!

But often times throwing every remedy but the kitchen sink at your horse only confuses the situation ... and ends up costing you more money.

A Weight Loss Example
For instance, suppose your horse is losing weight this winter. This could happen for a number of reasons, including:

- he's not getting enough food
- he's not digesting his food well because of ulcers or other issues
- he's shivering off all the calories you feed him
- he's not getting the right kind of food
- he's in with a group of horses who move him around too much

This is just a short list. There are all kinds of other reasons in the horse health care sphere that could explain why he is losing weight, but this covers the basics.

So everyday you go out to feed this horse and he's cold, he's lost weight, he's shivering, and he looks totally miserable. I've known people who react by doing all the following:

- blanket the horse
- feed him more grain AND more hay
- add beet pulp and corn oil to his diet
- stop riding him
- move him away from other horses
- put him on Stomach Soother in case he has an ulcer

Wow, that's a lot of "doing"! It does cover a lot of horse health issues in a "just in case" kind of way, but it's a costly way to do things. Instead of doing all of the above, it makes more sense to figure out why the horse is losing weight, then make one or two changes at a time and see what happens. You can ask yourself some questions to help you figure out what's going on. Here are some examples.

1. Is the horse being pushed off his feed or moved around all the time by other horses?
If this is case, then putting him in with another gentle horse who shares well can help your horse get more feed and conserve more energy. Often times, older horses or horses with a quiet disposition make good companions.

2. Does the horse eat his feed well or does he take breaks in-between to just stand or to lie down?
This usually indicates an ulcer of some kind. If this is the case, you can try adding Stomach Soother to his diet to see if this helps. Acidophilus, bifidus, and enzymes are also good options.

3. Has he had his teeth floated recently?
If it has been more than a year since he's had a float, you might consider taking him into the equine dentist. A horse with sharp points and hooks on his teeth is likely to develop ulcers in his mouth, making eating painful. This often accounts for weight loss.

4. Does he shiver in the cold?
If so, add fiber rather than grain to his diet. Fiber is digested in a horse's hindgut and produces a lot more warmth than grain, which is digested in the small intestine. If your horse is quite thin, putting a blanket on AND adding more hay to his diet is probably a good combination.

5. Is he in pain?
If you have ever had to deal with an abscessed tooth, migraine headaches, or any other kind of chronic painful conditions, then you know that pain can eat up your body's physical resources faster than running a marathon. If your horse is in undiagnosed pain, he may be using up all his calories just to deal with pain. If your horse has a stoic personality, he may not tell you he is in pain (learn more about horse personality types at Horse Harmony). Consider taking your horse to the vet to get a once-over before making a decision about what and how to remedy the situation.

Horse Health Care and the Conservative Approach
In an article of this length, it's not possible to cover all the questions that you might have to ask yourself about your horse to figure out what's wrong, but you get the picture. If you have a hard time figuring out what's going on in your horse's body and brain, check out these two resources:

Holistic Horsekeeping (has a wealth of horse health care resources)
Herbs and Animals (a great animal communication site)

Also, as insurance, consider my special Horse Goo. It's a nutritional goo I mix up at my kitchen table that acts as a "cover all bases" health care program. I feed it daily, it costs very little, and it works like a charm. During the time I've used it, my horses have had very little colic and other usual ailments.

Horse Goo Recipe

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction ... and you can, too!

Photo credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28096801@N05/ / CC BY 2.0

Horse Lovers Beware: Your Horse Knows What You Know

Are you thinking about attending a horse bodywork seminar? Perhaps going to a tack fitting clinic? Or how about participating in an animal communication workshop?

If so, good for you. And also, beware!

Once you have learned something new that will improve your horse's life, your horse will know. Your horse will know what you know. A previously forgiving horse who patiently put up with an ill-fitting saddle will likely buck you off after the tack fitting clinic.

The swaybacked horse who has always come right up to you in pasture will now kick up her heels and run the other way when she sees you coming if you don't plan on doing bodywork that day.

And the horse unhappy in his job but doing it well? He's likely to make an ass of you at your next horse show ... especially since you went to an animal communication workshop but refuse to hear his pleas for a new career.

What the Heck is Going on Here?
Unfortunately, many a horse lover has had to discover the hard way that our horses are telepathic, and they know what we know. Somehow most horses are willing to forgive us in our ignorance, but the minute we learn something that will make their life better, they expect us to use that knowledge ... right now!

So if you are planning on opening the door of knowledge for better horse health care, better horse feed, and better horse management, beware! Once that door is opened, it can never be slammed shut again. Your horse will make sure of it! Leta Worthington, an excellent animal communicator (find her at Herbs and Animals online and her blog) has often noticed that people who communicate with their animals, and then fail to take action based on the resulting conversation tend to pay a big price. Whether it's the dog peeing on the carpet to indicate that he's "pissed off" or it's the horse going into a bucking frenzy, forgiveness isn't the picture.

Marcus Aurelius: One Example for Illustration
My horses have shown me this process over and over again. Marcus, my first big-time jumper horse (pictured above), was hugely forgiving and easy to ride when he first came to me. We did well at shows, won championships all over the place, and I thought we had a great relationship. Unfortunately, Marcus was a cribber, which affected his teeth, spine, and performance. Thinking that cribbing was bad, I used to try all kinds of techniques to stop him from cribbing. Nothing worked. He continued to crib but he never seemed to resent my efforts to stop him.

Then I had the brilliant idea to try animal communication. During the conversation I asked Marcus what it would take for him to stop cribbing. His reply was short and sweet: "How about if I asked you to give up eating?" In other words, he was telling me that cribbing was an essential part of his nature and his life.

Despite hearing this, I continued to try to stop him from cribbing. Now he definitely resented my efforts. He started turning his butt to me when I went to catch him, and broke as many objects in his stall as possible. He issued his strongest complaint, though, by refusing to jump at the shows. Neither my trainer nor I could get him to jump around courses reliably, even on courses he used to love.

Back to the animal communicator we went. Marcus made his demands clear: "Let me crib or forget showing, and count on having to replace everything in my stall often!" Wow, was that clear or what? So thereafter, we let him crib. He started doing his job again and loving it.

He now lives with my former trainer, Sally Francis, in Texas, has his own cribbing tree, and a couple of cribbing buddies. They are such cute little equine addicts! Marcus cribs a couple of times, then turns to his buddy and says, "You're turn dude, take a toke!" His buddy cribs, and then they both turn to the mare and say, "Go ahead miss, take a hit!" Then it's Marcus' turn to crib again. These days he is one happy cribbing camper. He still takes adult amateurs and small children around three foot courses and, as long as he's allowed to crib, all is right in the world with him. Yes, his teeth suck but he's very happy!

I've had similar experiences with almost all of my horses, especially the mustangs. They are more forgiving to start with (when I'm ignorant) and much less forgiving later. They have elephantine memories, which they use often. But once you give then what they want, they will also work harder and better for you than most domestic horses.

In any case, consider this article a "buyer beware" to the horse lover who wants to learn more about horse health care. Maybe it should be "body worker beware" or something like that ... I'm all for it. Definitely go for it. Learn as much as you can. Just be prepared to use what you learn or you'll pay, pay, and pay!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction ... and you can, too!

Horse Health Care: Natural Horse Feed Supplements for the Nervous Horse

Does your horse get nervous before a competition, trailering, or learning something new? I have a couple of horses who are strung kind of tight, and I've found that there are a number of natural horse feed supplements that really help calm them down.

Not all of these are legal for all competitive events, so if you do consider using any of these, be sure to check with your discipline's governing body to see what's legal and what isn't.

Horse Feed Supplement #1: Homeopathic Chamomile
Homeopathic chamomile is a wonderfully simple solution for many nervous horses. This vibrational remedy will not make a horse calmer than his normal temperament, but can restore a horse's mental balance so that he can think clearly. For instance, if your horse is normally calm but gets bouts of diarrhea before trailering, giving him a dose of Chamomile 30x before he try loading him might help him stay calm. You can purchase this homeopathic remedy at most health food stores.

Horse Feed Supplement #2: Eleviv
Eleviv is relatively new on the market and is a potent combination of four herbs that really seems to help horses remain calm. I've used this supplement on my mustang mare, who gets the heaves (or COPD) when she gets nervous. When she starts getting that distinctive rattle in her chest, I empty two capsules of Eleviv into spring water, mix with a juice mixer, and then put it in a syringe. I syringe the mixture into her mouth, and then wait 30-45 minutes. Within that time, the rattle in her chest goes away and she is restored to her normal relaxed state.

Being a Metal horse personality, she loves routine and gets nervous whenever she thinks we are going to do something totally new (read more about horse personalities here). She then flips into the sympathetic nervous system, which for horses is the equivalent of "fight or flight," and heaves are the result. Eleviv has the effect of restoring her to the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the one associated with rest and relaxation. The beauty of Eleviv is that it can be fed daily or only as needed. The effects are also fairly immediate, making Eleviv a crucial part of any first-aid kit.

Horse Feed Supplement #3: Probiotics of Acidophilus and Bifidus
Probiotics like acidophilus and bifidus are the beneficial bacteria that live in your horse's gut. The reason probiotics help to calm a nervous horse is because the beneficial bacteria produce B12. The B vitamins, especially B12, produce a natural calming effect on the body. If your horse has diarrhea when he gets nervous, bifidus is especially useful since it tends to soak up excess fluid in the bowel and restore normal stool consistency. I've found the best probiotics are made by Simplexity Health, although you can also get good quality probiotics at most feed stores in the form of Fasttrack Paste. Adding probiotics to your regular horse feed regimen will help in general, and giving oral probiotics before any event that might make your horse nervous will help in the moment.

Horse Feed Supplement #4: Equilite Relax and Relax Her Blend
Relax Blend and RelaxHer Blend, two horse feed supplements from Equilite are also excellent for calming the nervous horse. These supplements are made from a combination of natural herbs, and can be added to your horse feed regimen on a daily basis. Best of all, these supplements come in a Valerian-free formula, which makes them legal to feed to most show horses.

Horse Feed Supplement #5: Omega Sun Blue Green Algae
Omega Sun blue-green algae is what I call "brain food." It is blue-green algae (from Simplexity Health) that has been processed in way that removes the cell wall, leaving only the "heart" of the algae. This form of algae contains vitamins, minerals, and trace minerals in particles that are small enough to penetrate the blood-brain barrier. The blood brain barrier, as the name implies, is a barrier in the brain that separates the cerebral spinal fluid from the circulating blood. This barrier prevents foreign invaders like bacteria from entering the brain, but also prevents most vitamins and minerals from entering the brain as well.

Many nervous horses suffer from under-nourished brains, and many a nervous thoroughbred or flighty horse has been calmed when Omega Sun blue-green algae is added to their horse feed. It's definitely worth checking out, especially as it is also useful for building strong hoof walls and is legal for show horses.

Well, this is just a short list of horse feed supplements that can help the nervous horse become calm again. If you have any other supplements that you have found useful, please leave me a comment or drop me a line. I love learning about horse nutrition, and sharing what I know!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction ... and you can, too!

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomsaint/ / CC BY 2.0

Horse Feed and Supplements: Trusting Native Instinct

Have you ever been surprised at how your horse instinctively knows what to eat and what not to eat? I have. I've done a lot of research and study into what and how to feed my horses, and although I know a lot about horse feed, my horses know a lot more about what is healthiest for them.

Reyacita and Walker: Two Case Studies
My two younger horses, Reyacita and Walker, provide excellent case studies attesting to a horse's instinctive wisdom about horse feed and supplements. Both of these horses, brought home early this year, arrived with health issues that I immediately set about treating with supplements and nutrition. In both cases, the horses clearly "chose" which supplements and horse feeds they wanted, and rejected others.

For instance, when Walker, the quarter horse gelding I jokingly refer to as my "hot house flower," lost a lot of weight this summer due to detoxification, abscesses, and stomach ulcers, I immediately thought to put him on Eleviv, which had done wonders for me.

Eleviv is a new combination of herbs that has just come on the market that provides adrenal and kidney support. It is known for helping horses who have undergone some kind of trauma shift into a healing and relaxing mode (also called the parasympathetic nervous system). I thought it would be perfect for Walker.

Walker didn't think Eleviv was right for him at all. He spit out the little green capsules no matter how I tried to feed them. I offered them free choice from my hand ... forget it! I put it on his feed, so he carefully ate everything but the Eleviv. I tried syringing it into his mouth, which he bore, but spat out as soon as I was done. So I ended up giving no Eleviv to Walker.

However, Walker did indicate, by eating any sort of dried stalk or weed on the property, that he had a hankering for hay. I finally (duh!) got the message and started bringing him into a stall during the day for several flakes of hay. He regained almost his full weight within a few short weeks, something he could not seem to do on a full free-choice pasture. I was stunned at how much smarter he was than me when it came to his horse feed.

Reyacita's case was even more pronounced. She suffered from heaves, or COPD, so I started her on Eleviv as well. She ate the Eleviv willingly for about 3 weeks, after which her symptoms disappeared. About that time, she also started refusing to eat the Eleviv. She would leave the two capsules in her feed bucket every single time, while cleaning up every other morsel of feed. She refused to eat the Eleviv for a couple of months until the COPD symptoms returned. At that point, she gulped down the Eleviv herbal supplement again for two weeks. Once the symptoms cleared up again, she no longer wanted the herbs.

Horse Feed: Today Versus "Back Then"
When I think about how much my horses know about what they need nutritionally, I am horrified at the way I used to feed. Of course, back then I kept my horses in a general boarding facility rather than at home at liberty in pasture. Every horse got dished the same kind of feed: Equine Senior. Having no choice, my horses ate whatever they was given.

These days, I understand that my horses know more about what kind of horse feed works for them than I do, so I offer up what I think is right and let them choose. That system works much better, and there's much less chasing 'round the pasture to try to syringe some unwanted supplements down a horse's throat.

Do you have the same kinds of experiences with your horses or are my horses just smarter than the average bear?

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Horse Feed: Trivial but Useful Feeding Tips

Depending on how picky you are about feeding your horses, and if you have any "special needs" horses, doing chores can take up a lot of time. I've picked up a few tips along the way on speeding up the horse feeding process, and I'll pass them along here, just in case they are of use to any other horse folks out there.

Soaking Beet Pulp
If you feed beet pulp then you know it has to be soaked before being fed to prevent choking and other horse health hazards. It can also take a long time, especially in the winter in a cold climate. I've found that beet pulp shreds soak a lot faster then pellets, and give horses a lot more "crunch factor." They also tend to satisfy a horse's need for long-stem forage better than the pellets. For faster soaking, bring the bucket of beet pulp into the house and add hot water instead of cold. Alternatively, soak the beet pulp the night before with cold water, then top it up with warm water in the morning. A meal of warm beet pulp will help warm a shivering horse on a chilly morning.

Hauling Water
This one is silly, but true. Recently I had to put Walker, my hothouse flower gelding, in a separate pen so he could eat in peace and gain weight. The pen was miles away from water, so I had to haul water in buckets (in a little red wagon) to his pen. Water sloshed everywhere! I ended up putting a flat board or a smaller bucket on the surface of the water, which greatly reduced the sloshing. I ended up at the pen with several almost-full buckets of water instead of half-full buckets.

Supplements in a Free-Choice Environment
If you have to supplement a group of horses that eat free-choice in an open pasture or pen, one good way to offer unique supplements to each horse is to syringe it in their mouths, if possible. All of my horses are trained to accept this method. I often mix up separate syringes for each horse and feed those first before placing the buckets and hay in the pasture. Once the buckets and hay are put down, it's a merry-go-round of chase and be chased. However, by giving each horse his or her syringe-full of unique supplements, I know that they each got what they needed.

For instance, two horses get the standard horse "goo" I mix of antioxidant juice and Simplexity Health Essentials. My mare with heaves gets two capsules of Eleviv herbal supplement with the goo, which keeps symptoms of heaves at bay. Finally, my gelding gets even more supplements than that mixed with the goo. But all of it fits neatly into a syringe, and then the free-for-all feeding frenzy can begin after that!

Anyway, don't know if these tips will help, but they do help me ensure that each horse gets what they need, and chores don't take forever and a day!

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Horse Feed: Feed a Thin Horse This Winter without Going Broke

Do you have a skinny horse? If so, then the approaching cold weather probably has you fretting over the most economical kind of horse feed to offer your horse this winter. Thin horses, often called "hard keepers" are always a challenge to feed, even in good weather, but when the weather turns cold, feeding a thin horse can rack up the feed bills fast. Here are some options you can consider to put and keep weight on your horse this winter.

Factors That Affect a Horse's Weight
There are multiple physical and emotional factors that affect a horse's weight, and this is especially true of the thin horse. Most horse owners probably already know about many of these factors, but I'll cover them quickly anyway.

Teeth: If you horse has not had a float within the last year, it may be time to take him to the veterinarian or equine dentist for a checkup and float. While this will cost you a bit up front, having your horse's teeth in good working order (without sharp points or hooks or ramps) ensures that you get the most out of every bit of feed this winter.

Calorie Needs: Be sure that your horse's basic calorie needs are met. We'll get into the details of what the feed later in this article, but double check that your horse is getting enough calories in his diet. A horse not in work who lives in a stall and wears a blanket during the winter obviously needs fewer calories than a horse in heavy training who lives outdoors in a run or pasture. Your horse also uses more calories in cold than in balmy weather (shivering eats up a lot of calories!).

Parasites: Check your horse's parasite load with a fecal test. If your horse comes up negative for parasites, you may still want to consider giving a double dose of Strongid-type wormer to eliminate tapeworms, which do not appear on fecal analysis.

Stress: Stress can easily cause a horse to lose weight, and horses feel stress in a number of ways. Physical stress can appear in the form of an injury, hard training, or extreme weather conditions (such as extreme cold). Horses can feel emotional stress if their living conditions don't match their personality. For instance, if your horse is low in the pecking order and is constantly being terrorized by his herd mates, he is bound to feel stressed. Also, if your horse is one who needs lots of room to move, keeping him in a stall or run will cause physical and emotional stress, and can even lead to nasty vices like cribbing or weaving. Horses not suited to their occupations will also feel stressed.

Horse Feed for the Thin Horse
If you have checked all of the factors above and your horse passes with flying colors, then it's time to take a deeper look at what you are feeding him. Thin horses come in two categories: low-energy and high energy.

Horse Feed for the Low-Energy Thin Horse
If your horse is thin and has low energy, then adding calories to his diet and improving his ability to digest food will help him gain weight. You can increase his grain content by up to one pound per 100 pounds of body weight per day. Corn and barley provide more energy than oats. Pelleted senior feeds also tend to work well for thin horses. You can also add up to a cup of corn oil per day to his feed, along with alfalfa to provide extra energy and calories. If you horse is picky about eating grain but likes to eat hay, he may have ulcers that need to be addressed.

To improve your horse's ability to digest his food, consider adding high-quality acidophilus and bifudus to his food, along with high-powered enzymes. Blue-green algae also provides a wide-spectrum of vitamins, minerals, and trace minerals to cover any nutritional gaps that may be present in his diet. I find that a packet or two of Simplexity Health's Essentials is a good "all in one" source for acidophilus, bifidus, enzymes, and blue-green algae.

Horse Feed for the High-Energy Thin Horse
If your horse is thin and has high energy, then chances are that he loses weight through sheer nervous tension and continuous movement. To help this kind horse retain weight, the goal is to keep him calm and relaxed. This kind of horse gains weight more quickly with increased grass hay and some alfalfa. Increased grain does not seem to work as well. In addition to feeding him more calories, adding higher doses of probiotics like acidophilus and bifidus can help a lot. A healthy population of probiotics in the gut helps your horse produce B-vitamins, which results in a calmer and more relaxed horse. Simplexity Health's Omega Sun Algae also helps many high-strung horses calm down because it positively affects the horse's nervous system and brainwaves.

Horse Feed and the Thin Horse
Obviously no "cookie cutter" recipe of horse feed is going to work perfectly on every thin horse, but hopefully this gets you started on thinking about economical ways to feed your thin horse this winter. I have one thin horse (the low-energy kind) to feed this winter and he is already gaining weight from increased hay, alfalfa, senior feed, plus probiotics, algae, enzymes, and mangosteen juice (get the recipe for this "horse goo" HERE). He's living high on the hog ... and loving every minute of it!

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