Cath Shannon NaturalHoofBalance
Tuesday, 21 June 2022
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WHAT MAKE HEALTHY HOOF (HORSE) PART 3
General Nutrition Advice (New Zealand)
If your horse is showing any symptoms of laminitis or other nutritional issues – such as (prominent growth rings, red stripes on the wall, flared walls, hoof capsule rotation, brittle or shell-like wall quality, wall cracks, wall separation, white line disease, tender to walk on anything but grass, weak frogs, persistent thrush, abscessing, obesity, failure to gain weight, failure to shed, poor coat quality... the list goes on), Then firstly you need to go to work on the diet.
No trimming or shoeing advice can truly fix a nutritional problem.
If the horse is showing any of the symptoms listed above – the first culprit to look at is excess sugar. Sugar is bad for everyone! Us included!. Grass and hay should provide the lion-share of the diet.
If this proves to provide inadequate calories, fat or protein to an individual, then look for low G.I. rather than grain and molasses.
As for treats – thats what they should be – treats are for parties! Try not follow the latest fad I have seen where carrots by the handful are being fed out over winter. Try pea-sized sliced treats instead whole apples, carrots, etc. (horses can't measure -- at all -- try it.)...
Sugar is bad for your horse. Think like a goat in terms of what forage your horse needs.
Of greatest concern is excess sugar in the diet.
Modern grasses and hays can fluctuate to over 30 percent sugar. Many bagged feeds are over 50 percent sugar, with raw grains varying from 50 to 80 percent sugar. It will be listed as carbohydrates. Check the labelling on every product you buy. If the sugar (carb), starch values arent listed, then theres a reason they dont want to tell you.
In contrast, native grasses from the sparse rangelands of wild horse country usually peak at 12 percent sugar, and are usually closer to 8 percent. (For more information on this, see Kathryn Watts' www.safergrass.org.) .... Add this to the "less than natural" amount of movement domestic horses tend to get, and we have a tremendous "sugar plague" in the domestic horse world.
As in humans, the horse's body produces more insulin to deal with the excess sugar. Research regularly published everywhere indicates that high insulin levels constantly destroy the attachment of hoof to horse. This is why laminitis is on the rise, and also why it's so common to see a groove where the white line is supposed to be on most domestic horses.
Think about what you are feeding your horse. Realise that while we pride ourselves on a horse with good weight covering, we DONT do that with humans. We view a skinny person as healthier than that of a heavier person.
What else?? Well New Zealand is notoriously low in selenium. So test your horse and your grass for selenium levels. If both are low, you can add selenium prills to your fertiliser. Done once a year for about $1 a hectare. Selenium is vital for muscle health and reproduction and hormones.
Also – magnesium is generally low everywhere too. There are many ways to supplement if your grass is low.
And lastly – salt. Salt is the stuff of life - we are from the sea. A horse needs about 2 tablespoons a day of salt in their diet. I provide a loose lick for them to help themselves, I have sweetened mine slightly as I do not hard feed. Dont be fooled by salt licks offered by feed merchants. They are nothing short of a big sweet lolly – loaded with molasses.
If your horse is showing any symptoms of laminitis or other nutritional issues – such as (prominent growth rings, red stripes on the wall, flared walls, hoof capsule rotation, brittle or shell-like wall quality, wall cracks, wall separation, white line disease, tender to walk on anything but grass, weak frogs, persistent thrush, abscessing, obesity, failure to gain weight, failure to shed, poor coat quality... the list goes on), Then firstly you need to go to work on the diet.
No trimming or shoeing advice can truly fix a nutritional problem.
If the horse is showing any of the symptoms listed above – the first culprit to look at is excess sugar. Sugar is bad for everyone! Us included!. Grass and hay should provide the lion-share of the diet.
If this proves to provide inadequate calories, fat or protein to an individual, then look for low G.I. rather than grain and molasses.
As for treats – thats what they should be – treats are for parties! Try not follow the latest fad I have seen where carrots by the handful are being fed out over winter. Try pea-sized sliced treats instead whole apples, carrots, etc. (horses can't measure -- at all -- try it.)...
Sugar is bad for your horse. Think like a goat in terms of what forage your horse needs.
Of greatest concern is excess sugar in the diet.
Modern grasses and hays can fluctuate to over 30 percent sugar. Many bagged feeds are over 50 percent sugar, with raw grains varying from 50 to 80 percent sugar. It will be listed as carbohydrates. Check the labelling on every product you buy. If the sugar (carb), starch values arent listed, then theres a reason they dont want to tell you.
In contrast, native grasses from the sparse rangelands of wild horse country usually peak at 12 percent sugar, and are usually closer to 8 percent. (For more information on this, see Kathryn Watts' www.safergrass.org.) .... Add this to the "less than natural" amount of movement domestic horses tend to get, and we have a tremendous "sugar plague" in the domestic horse world.
As in humans, the horse's body produces more insulin to deal with the excess sugar. Research regularly published everywhere indicates that high insulin levels constantly destroy the attachment of hoof to horse. This is why laminitis is on the rise, and also why it's so common to see a groove where the white line is supposed to be on most domestic horses.
Think about what you are feeding your horse. Realise that while we pride ourselves on a horse with good weight covering, we DONT do that with humans. We view a skinny person as healthier than that of a heavier person.
What else?? Well New Zealand is notoriously low in selenium. So test your horse and your grass for selenium levels. If both are low, you can add selenium prills to your fertiliser. Done once a year for about $1 a hectare. Selenium is vital for muscle health and reproduction and hormones.
Also – magnesium is generally low everywhere too. There are many ways to supplement if your grass is low.
And lastly – salt. Salt is the stuff of life - we are from the sea. A horse needs about 2 tablespoons a day of salt in their diet. I provide a loose lick for them to help themselves, I have sweetened mine slightly as I do not hard feed. Dont be fooled by salt licks offered by feed merchants. They are nothing short of a big sweet lolly – loaded with molasses.
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