Balanced Equine - Carol Layton B.Sc M.Ed

15/08/2024

Looking forward to presenting at EQUITANA Australia again.🐴❤
I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of the 2024 Equitana edition in November.
I will be delivering two presentations that combine my love of being an educator and my passion for science based equine nutrition.

Saturday November 16th 9.45am
1. How to build a Robust Immune System & Healthy Gut

Sunday November 17th 2pm
2. Safe feeds and Supplements for Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Cushing’s Horses (PPID)

07/08/2024

Webinar on the 14th August (in Australia, starting at 8am): Feeding for Special Needs. This webinar will focus on feeding some of the special needs cases, including horses that are predisposed to tying up from genetic issues (RER, PSSM, EPSM) or non-genetic related issues, feeding to prevent and manage ulcers, and feeding older horses that are less able to extract nutrients and energy from forage.

There will be an in-depth look at the best approach for feeding insulin resistant/laminitic prone horses covering appropriate feeds and supplements.

Plus plenty of time to ask questions about your situation.
It will be recorded.
https://progressivehoofcare.org/2024/05/feeding-for-special-needs-by-carol-layton/

30/07/2024

This is directed to owners, veterinarians or other caretakers giving horses in their care one of the -flozin drugs - canagliflozin, empagliflozin, dapagliflozin. As you probably know, hypertriglyceridemia and in some cases elevated liver enzymes are an issue with these drugs. This survey is an attempt to identify aspects of the individual horse's signalment, comorbidities and/or diet that contribute to or help prevent this issue. The survey can be found here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YM5JD9G . If there are any questions you can contact Dr. Kellon "at" gmail.com. One survey per horse.

14/06/2024

Coming up in July, webinar on Feeding Performance Horses.
Wednesday 8am July 10 AEST (recording available for 6 months).

Performance horse competitors as a group are renowned for going the extra length to get the best fitting and comfortable saddle and tack, the best training regime for conditioning their horse but what about ensuring your horse is fed an optimised balanced diet using the best possible feed ingredients? In this presentation, it will be shown how simple it is to fuel a horse in work using feed ingredients that are well suited to the digestive system of the horse with a focus on fibre, why it helps not only with energy and fuel sources, but also immune system responses and gut health. This presentation is aimed at those competing at the top of their sport and for those starting out and everyone in between. Plus Q&A.

Available via the Progressive Hoof Care Practitioners PHCP in America.
https://progressivehoofcare.org/category/learning/
Cost is in USD, $80 for non members.

Join Carol Layton, an equine nutritionist, as she helps you create the best feeding protocol for your performance horse.

05/06/2024

😍

05/06/2024

It's just terrific to see the work that many hoof care practitioners are doing to improve the lives of horses and ponies and donkeys of course. Great job Kali Germein.

05/06/2024

Lovely, made my day. Kindly emailed to me by Lee Moulen:
"..The attached pic of a 7yo TB gelding I had in my care for a while that was on HoofXtra. I didn't photograph the whole hoof as he was due for a trim and I felt a bit ashamed that his feet were a bit untidy. It is a wonderful supplement. I am more than happy for the photo of TB hoof to be posted. Good for a 'not connected to yourself' proof is in the pudding photo to be shown.

I think a lot of people are so caught up with commercial feeds and are blind to simple as natural as possible feeding of equines is best, and then wonder why so many issues/problems. Anyway, now in my mid-sixties and had a horse or 2 since a young lass, I have learnt much and always keen to learn more.

I often let people know of the Balanced Equine supplements and how good, especially HoofXtra. Honestly my 5yo ASH gelding has been on your supplements with a small amount of beet pulp, linseed, lucerne and low sugar hay since he came here at 6 months old. My vet always comments on what wonderful condition he is in. Always shiny and rich coloured even when unrugged and feral. And he is very level headed!"
Thank you Lee!

01/06/2024

Good afternoon Carol

I would like to express how great your products are.
We've had over 6 months of wet muddy weather here in Far North Queensland and my horses feet have never looked better, even one gelding had an abcsess bust out of his sole, heel and coronet and its growing out beautifully. I've been using HoofXtra.
I've also been feeding Elitox to my white sock horses and I've all my photosensitive issues have gone away.
I just want to say thank you for your great products.
------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you Sheryl Bentley!
HoofXtra is my mineral & vitamin mix, and Elitox is one of the toxin binders. More information on the toxin binders:
https://balancedequine.com.au/toxin-binders/

21/05/2024

07/05/2024

Great podcast to listen to, especially if you are interested in track systems, bit free bridle design.

04/05/2024

Testing hay (mainly with Australians in mind)

Often a concerned horse owner will post a hay test result but be disappointed to find out that the results for the carbohydate fractions are not reliable. The reason is that it matters which testing method is chosen, NIR (near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy) vs wet chemistry.

The best and most affordable laboratory is Equi-Analytical in the USA as they can do the highest quality testing. Choose the test called 601 Equi-Tech NIR (near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy testing method) for either pasture or hay but if you want the most accurate results for all the carbohydrate fractions (for hay), then choose 603 Trainer or 604 Equine Complete (wet chemistry testing method). This is essential for any horse that is laminitis prone (insulin resistant, IR/EMS that needs low sugar and starch hay).

NIR ‘predicts’ levels based on the near-infrared spectrum of the sample. Wet chemistry actually tests for each nutrient using chemical reactions. NIR has to be calibrated to each specific type of hay and each growth stage for best accuracy and each lab has their own set of calibrations. If the sample deviates significantly from those used to calibrate (ideally many thousand samples), the estimates will be off.

Note: There is little value in testing carbohydrate levels in grass/pasture as the results will not be an accurate reflection. The sugar and starch levels change depending on factors such as the time of day, weather conditions, how stressed the grass is and so forth. Grass continues to metabolise after it's picked so if the grass isn't snap frozen or quickly dried, the numbers will be lower than actual levels.

There are a number of excellent laboratories in Australia but generally they don't have the equipment to do the more accurate wet chemistry type of testing for ESC, including the NSW DPI laboratory at Wagga Wagga, NSW. An Australian lab that can offer wet chemistry for all the carbohydrate fractions including the very important ESC is Feed Central in Toowoomba, Queensland. Their Equi-Tech NIR test is ideal for pasture and hay where accurate testing of carbohydrate fractions is not needed. If you do want the most accurate testing of carbohydrate fractions, choose Equi-Trainer or Equi-Complete.

Understanding a Hay or Pasture Test Forage data is essential to truly be able to balance a horse's intake. Forage whether that be grass or hay or a

04/04/2024

Looking for a registered Stock Horse?
NSW.

For Sale on behalf of owner.

03/04/2024

Thank you Lucy Bolton😄
"Hi Carol. Just wanted to say thank you for your products. I have been using Equi Horse +Se for my Thoroughbred since this injury last year. And this is the difference it has made!"
Always love feedback.

27/03/2024

Another great example of what HoofXtra can do for hoof quality.
Photo shared from Kali Germein's page: Bare Care Barefoot Trimming.
Kali offers barefoot hoof care on the Southern Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. 😄

22/03/2024

Now it's autumn, time to be aware that unexplained laminitis for this time of year can be the very early symptoms of Cushings/PPID, years before elevated ACTH or an obvious symptom like a curly coat.

Happy spring (Northern Hemisphere) and fall (Southern Hemisphere)! You can help prevent laminitis by staying on top of your equine's metabolic status. Watch this short film "Getting the Correct Diagnosis" to learn what to do: https://bit.ly/2BSdEhK

12/03/2024

It's always a good start to the month when HRCAV 's Chaff Chat has an article by yours' truly!

01/03/2024

The Equine Cushing’s and Insulin Resistance Group Inc. (ECIR Group) is pleased to announce it is now accepting 2024 proposals to fund research investigating Equine Metabolic Syndrome/Insulin Resistance (EMS/IR) and Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID).

The mission of the ECIR Group is to improve the welfare of equines with metabolic disorders via a unique interface between basic research and real-life clinical experience. Prevention of laminitis is the ultimate goal. The ECIR Group serves the scientific community, practicing clinicians, and owners by focusing on investigations most likely to directly, immediately, and significantly benefit the welfare of the horse.

“Quality scientific research is critical to the continuous advancement of knowledge to benefit metabolic equines.” said Dr. Kathleen Gustafson, ECIR Group Inc. Research Director. “Our goal in 2024 is to fund research and encourage collaboration between scientists, scholars, veterinarians, and hoof care professionals to positively affect the health and welfare of these equines.”

The ECIR Group, an Arizona nonprofit corporation, began in1999 and, in 2013, was approved as a 501(c)3 public charity. It is currently the largest field-trial database for PPID and EMS/IR in the world. The group communicates the latest research, diagnosis, and treatment information, including dietary recommendations, for horses with these conditions through a central outreach group, website, social media, published research, and the NO Laminitis! Conference.

“Through the sharing of their in-the-barn experience, ECIR Group supporters have helped build effective protocols for metabolically challenged equines.” said current President, Nancy Collins. “It is an honor that now, through member financial support, the ECIR Group has expanded to also fund equine metabolic research.”

Applications for funding should be limited to topics relevant to EMS and PPID, especially those within the ECIR Group philosophy of diagnosis, diet, trim, and exercise (DDT/E) and prevention of laminitis. Proposals that meet these general guidelines will all be considered. All applications must be submitted via the ecirhorse.org research portal. Deadline for submission is May 31, 2024.

Researchers will find more information at https://www.ecirhorse.org/research-proposals.php

About ECIR Group Inc.

Started in 1999, the ECIR Group is the largest field-trial database for PPID and EMS in the world and provides the latest research, diagnosis, and treatment information, in addition to dietary recommendations for horses with these conditions. Even universities do not and cannot compile and follow long term as many in-depth case histories of PPID/EMS horses as the ECIR Group.

In 2013 the Equine Cushing's and Insulin Resistance Group Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation, was approved as a 501(c)3 public charity. Tax deductible contributions and grants support ongoing research, education, and awareness of Equine Cushing's Disease/PPID and EMS.

21/02/2024

NEW and improved - Postbiotic Gut Support is now double the strength which means it will last twice the length of time, but is not double the price! Feeding recommendations are based on bodyweight (BW).
https://balancedequine.com.au/product/postbiotic/

21/02/2024

I wrote an article a while back on Saccharomyces products - which one do I feed? These days the questions are more about the confusion over probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics. So, I have added some more information and renamed it Probiotics, Prebiotics and Postbiotics. :)

Probiotics, prebiotics and postbioticsFirst of all, I'm often asked this question:Saccharomyces products - which one do I feed?Do Mycosorb A+ and

21/02/2024

I am often asked about the different toxin binders and which of the two I recommend to feed if you have a fungal toxin issue. I have put an article together with some research that I hope will go towards understanding what your horses need.

Toxin bindersThere are two toxin binders that I can recommend, with slightly different features. The term "mycotoxin" is derived from “mykes,” meaning

05/02/2024

Enjoying seeing the next graduates of the Australian College of Equine Hoof Care Practitioners ACEHP. I did my equine nutrition lecture on Saturday. Here they are learning so much from Dr Neal Valk, to trim with the help of radiographs. This is to prepare them for trimming in the field when the chance of radiographs are zero.

12/01/2024

I'll be delivering a full day equine nutrition seminar to the ACEHP students on Saturday 3rd February at Deloraine, Tasmania. You are very welcome to join us for this face to face educational event. Learn about the current science about feeding horses and an opportunity to discuss your horses’ situation.
https://balancedequine.com.au/product/equine-nutrition-seminar-deloraine/

31/12/2023

Happy New Year from Balanced Equine!
Grateful to have each other, our home and animals. Spent yesterday simply hanging out with our horses.

16/12/2023

Salt and electrolytes
I have recommended for many years at least 2 tablespoons of salt (about 50 g or so) and more in hot weather for horses on untested forage on the basis of the NRC Nutrient Requirements of Horses and Dr Eleanor Kellon VMD. Horses use sodium, chloride and potassium for chemical processes in the body (maintenance needs) AND for cooling down when sweating (sweat losses). Fortunately potassium is relatively high in all feeds including grass and hay so from a daily, maintenance aspect, the two electrolytes we mainly have to supplement is sodium and chloride. Fortunately the easy way to do this is with NaCl, salt. This amount of salt will hopefully cover maintenance requirements AND contribute to electrolytes lost in sweat.

I've been concerned for some time by some people saying to base horses salt supplementation on 5-10 g/100 kg BW (bodyweight). This is not going to be enough in many cases. It's not a BW calculation when you take into account the horse can excrete excess electrolytes easily, and the potential for high losses in sweat in hot conditions. If the horse is a miniature, I have halved the general recommendation but understand that excess salt (excreted easily as long as plenty of drinking water) is vastly better than an electrolyte deficiency.

Some years ago, a visiting vet told me she gives her horses 6 (six!) tablespoons of salt over a day on extremely hot days.
It makes sense. If we only supplement at one time in a day and knowing that electrolyte excess is excreted easily and efficiently within a 4 hour window, even within one hour, then it makes sense that if a horse is sweating in the heat in the paddock, it's not going to be enough. I've now stepped it up to 4 tablespoons, split between two small feeds (we have plenty of grass thank goodness).

If your horse does not have access to water (huh?) never force salt into your horse as it can cause hypernatraemia. Always have drinking water available.
Sodium is what the brain ‘reads’ in determining when to trigger thirst and when to regulate the amount of sodium and water the body excretes in the urine.

At normal body levels, the horse has 1.58 g of sodium per kg of body weight. That's 632 g of sodium for a 400 kg horse. Slightly over 50% of that is stored in the bone and only 10% of the body's sodium is in the blood. If blood levels of sodium have been low for a long time, when you start to provide salt, sodium will need to be replenished in the skeleton and other tissues, not just the blood.

When a horse is sodium deficient, they drink less, they urinate less to conserve sodium. A sodium deficiency = fatigue. Drinking less may make you think you shouldn't give salt but salt is what they need. By supplementing salt, it can trigger drinking. Many endurance riders know how well this works.
You may ask, why do horses not drink when they are obviously dehydrated (pinch test)? The two triggers that can cause the thirst mechanism to be activated are loss of body fluids and loss of concentration of sodium.

When body fluids around cells drop due to sweating (horse looks dehydrated, tucked up, skin stands up in tent, slow to lower), fluids are forced out of the interstitial spaces (around tissues and organs) to compensate for this. With continued exercise and sweating, fluid is absorbed from the stores in the gastrointestinal tract. (Jenkinson et al., 2006) This helps maintain the fluid volume of the plasma. Due to the large reservoir of fluids that the horse maintains, plasma volume is able to be maintained, even with a fairly large loss of total body volume.

The plasma concentration of sodium is also fairly stable. When the sodium levels drop, the kidney concentrates the urine and less is secreted. When the fluids move from interstitial spaces or from the colon, sodium is moved with it. This allows for a more stable plasma concentration of sodium, so the cells do not recognise that there is sodium depletion.

The notion that all grass and hay provides enough salt, or that horses will always get what they need from a salt block is not supported by pasture and hay test results or research. Horses are amazing at conserving sodium if the need arises, and will even excrete potassium as a substitute for sodium in urine. I don't want to confuse people, salt is so far the only documented craving in horses, they will travel long distances to a salt lick but the above hopefully will help with understanding why some horses simply won't access a salt block. The best way to supplement salt is in a feed, in addition a bucket of loose salt in the paddock is sensible too but NOT to be relied on. And please don't be fooled into thinking your horse knows always when he needs to grab salt from your salt block. Some don't even like the flavour.

Effects of feeding frequency and voluntary salt intake on fluid and electrolyte regulation in athletic horses
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jappl.1999.86.5.1610

Sweating. Fluid and ion losses and replacement
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9561689/

Voluntary salt (NaCl) intake in Standardbred horses
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279566836_Voluntary_salt_NaCl_intake_in_Standardbred_horses

29/05/2023

New one for me, wasn't aware that some people are claiming glyphosate causes EMS. Crazy! What will be next?

It always takes a while for textbooks, veterinary schools and practitioners to catch up with the best published research. Magazines and news feeds often focus on whomever has a better and louder PR…

25/05/2023

Very grateful to Deb Cooper who sent me these photos recently of her 2 year old. She started in February with Equi Horse +Se and wow, the changes. Must be an excellent match for copper and zinc in the rest of the intake. Thank you Deb.

28/04/2023

Protein Primer
Late last year I was interviewed for an online magazine based in the US which was fun, then later I forgot about it. Stumbled on it today - nice.
https://thehorse.com/1117273/protein-primer/

Learn more about these complex molecules that help the horse’s body systems function properly.

11/04/2023

Please share

I have written at least 7 blogs and countless group posts on this subject but confusion continues to reign, in large part because of the persistence in using NSC to evaluate safety of forages for h…