Feeding horses optimally and Supplementation

Healthy from the inside out!

I would like to offer some ideas about nutrition and supplementation as people seem to have a hard time navigating this subject with their horses. As someone who feeds myself well, it makes common sense to me to use similar guidelines in food choices for my horses. I eat as much unprocessed whole food as I can and that's how I feed my horses and dogs.

What is whole unprocessed food? It is food that has literally been unprocessed or minimally processed. An Apple or Carrot raw is an unprocessed food. So is a steam crimped, rolled or whole oat. A hay pellet or Alfalfa pellet has been processed into meal and pressed into pellets so there is some processing but you are getting a relatively pure product in Alfalfa pellets. With Hay pellets you need to be label savvy to make sure your not getting a lot of uneccesary ingredients especially if your feeding them to Cushings or Insulin Resistent horses as they can have high molasses content. Chopped Dengie and other brands of bagged hay often have molasses added as well and you need to be aware of that if your horse needs to avoid it. Molasses in itself is not the worst thing but it is not a necessary ingredient and is over used as sugar is in human food.

Diets should be clean and simple not too fancy. If supplementation is needed for balancing vitamin and minerals, a free choice set up is nice so horses can pick what they want and in what amounts as they would in nature. For specific supplementation issues, such as Joints, Real mineral deficiencies, Probiotics, and specified health issues (allergies, respiratory, immune weakness, hoof) you want to pick high quality hand crafted mixes that cater to your horses needs. Most big name supplements have a lot of leeway in how much they put of actual therapeutic amounts for their dosing. I will repeat be a SAVVY label reader. Do the math. How much per scoop not per bucket of the so called active ingredient is in the supplement. Also, what kind of other fillers and artificial flavors are in there. Make sure the dosing is to the weight of your horse not just a scoop AM and PM. You may have a Mini or a Draft and the amounts will vary a huge amount. I find that you get what you pay for a lot in supplements so you may say "wow that supplement is expensive!" And buy the cheaper one. I can almost guarantee the cheaper one is of lower active ingredients and quality. Again check labels against price. It goes up as active ingredient amounts go up which is what makes them effective. You could be wasting you money on the cheaper one.

To close I am going to give you some recommendations on some resources and feeds that are in my program. Also remember to consult with your vets before making changes in feeds and make any changes very gradually.

Typically I feed:

Free choice high quality hay is the main source in my horses diets and or grazing
Whole oats, crimped or rolled oats
Alfalfa Pellets (if my hay has no alfalfa mixed in it)
Hay Pellets
Ground Flax seed
Kelp or Seaweed powder or pellets
Free choice Minerals
Whole Apples, Carrots
Treats made from good ingredients

The Supplements or companies I swear by from experience are:

GlC: I give my young sport horses as a preventative and for maintenance in arthritic or "sticky" horses. It just plain works and it is very pure. Horses after 30 days are moving much more freely and with more elasticity. I also use higher doses for rehabing soft tissue injuries as it helps repair and regenerate.

Gem Country Equine: Owned by my friend Angela Morlan who is a supplement genius at making custom supplements for your horse and their needs. She goes by weight and uses organic and pure ingredients no fillers. Her prices are incredibly competitive for a superior product. You tell her the problem, she'll make it for you. Also if you want a blend for a couple of issues you can get that too. Totally custom! How cool is that. Her email is gemcountryequine@gmail.com

Advanced Biological Concepts: For free choice supplements and feeders. They also have and extensive line of quality products.
http://www.a-b-c-plus.com/index.html

Happy Natural Horse: Hyland's Big Sky free choice minerals http://www.happynaturalhorse.com/shop.html

Standlee Hay company: Huge selection of pure hay pellets of all varietys and mixes http://www.standleehay.com/ViewProduct.aspx?type=sh&id=ogp

Chiropractic work and hoof trimming

I am happy to report I am back online after my wireless modem died this week. So sorry for the lag in blog posts.
Anyway, I wanted to bring to light some interesting observations I experienced working closely with my farrier and Equine chiropractor on different issues that can come up.
First of all, I am an avid proponent of chiropractic work for any living thing from a qualified and preferably *Network style trained practitioner. I have witnessed nothing short of miracles in transformation in quite a few horses.
What appears to be a conformation fault or a weak limb is more often than not a fixable structural problem. In addition to these findings, I have seen that chiropractic combined with proper joint supplementing (I recommend GLC 5500) can stave off if not remove the need for joint injecting. Arthritic changes are often caused by misalignments left untreated. But yet we treat the the joint by injecting it instead of the cause.
Now let's talk about how your farrier's job is to balance your horses limbs. As your horse grows and wears his feet between trimming cycles, his mis-allignments in his limbs and joints can cause flairs and uneven balance in his feet. Let's say we adjust that horse and don't trim his feet at the same time. His hoof wear pattern is in line with his mis-alligned structure not his new alligned structure. So it makes sense to adjust around the same time you trim or shoe. You are helping the horse hold his new allignment better and the muscles to learn new movement patterns to additionally support the positive permanent changes. Food for thought.
FDT

Food medicine...Alfalfa

I love finding out something I have been doing already for years, is now recognized by the medical community as fact.
Alfalfa has been villified by many a horse expert throughout my experience in the industry. It supposedly makes horses crazy, causes mineral imbalances and is far too nutritious for most horses.
I have been feeding alfalfa for years in the proper amounts to everything from minis to warmbloods. The reasons I feed it are this, It possesses nearly every vitamin and mineral we and our horses need, It provides cloryphyll (if your horse isn't on grass he needs this) it is a good supplement for our ever depleting hay nutrition (due to poor seasons and soil quality), Even if your horse is on grass, most grass pastures (unless strictly cultivated) are depleted of any real nutrition.
Now let's talk about the medicinal qualities of Alfalfa. It can reduce arthritic inflammation, It has been shown to be a healer and preventative for digestive issues and Ulcers. This is one of the main reasons I feed it. It can help balance hormones (any moody mares out there?), It is a detoxifier, It improves milk production. It is good for low carb low sugar diet needs. The list goes on...
I feed it with Oats and sometimes Kelp to keep minerals balanced but it really depends on accurate testing to find out if the Calcium/Phosporus ratios are way out of balance. With the right mix you should need little or no supplementation for any horse, Mare, Foal, Stallion, or Performance horse. And as we know in our own diets, whole foods are better then processes foods. Remember to make feed changes gradually and consult with your vet to see if it is appropriate for your horse. Avoid the cubed form if at all possible, they can cause choke.

FDT