Integral Equine Nutrition

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Integral Equine Nutrition Integral Equine Nutrition offers independent, evidence-based feeding advice. Specialising in on-site

Integral Equine Nutrition is run by Sophie Fletcher, BAnVetBioSci (Hons I), MAnSc, and aims to optimise your horses health, well being and performance through correct nutrition. Advice is both practical and science-based, as Sophie has been involved in both horses and research science for many years.

I think I'm pretty lucky to be sponsoring Minnie - what a fabulous pair, go go go!Latest batch of custom supplements and...
15/09/2025

I think I'm pretty lucky to be sponsoring Minnie - what a fabulous pair, go go go!

Latest batch of custom supplements and Golden Joint Complex should have just arrived for the Blackacre team to keep them in tip top shape!

Making sure Tiento has constant forage, one strand of hay at a time 😅🥰
14/09/2025

Making sure Tiento has constant forage, one strand of hay at a time 😅🥰

Lovely feedback on the Forage First mini course from Sarah 🥰"With the amount of clashing information and recommendations...
12/09/2025

Lovely feedback on the Forage First mini course from Sarah 🥰

"With the amount of clashing information and recommendations about feeding the Integral Equine mini course was a breath of fresh air. Sophie has provided the facts in an easy to understand format leaving me confident in what my horses actually need!

Course link in comments 🔽

Not all (not many??) horses fit a standard mix.And honestly, neither do most owners.That’s why I offer custom supplement...
10/09/2025

Not all (not many??) horses fit a standard mix.
And honestly, neither do most owners.

That’s why I offer custom supplements—pelleted blends designed specifically for your horse’s needs, whether that’s joint support, metabolic management, better hoof quality, or just getting the basics right without all the unnecessary things your horse is already getting plenty of.

I’ve been doing this as on option in my private consultations for years but you can now also access it through the new mini course for only $39!

If you're someone who wants to understand what your horse needs and then get a supplement custom made to match, this might be worth checking out!

https://integralequine.podia.com/build-a-balanced-equine-diet-a-forage-first-approach

Spring is here, and with it spring pastures!Young, rapidly growing grass can be - high in energy- high in protein- high ...
10/09/2025

Spring is here, and with it spring pastures!

Young, rapidly growing grass can be

- high in energy
- high in protein
- high in sugars
- high in calcium
- high potassium
- low in magnesium
- low in fibre

Any and all of these things can exacerbate silly behaviour, muscle and neurological issues, weight gain and metabolish issues.

Note that I say *exacerbate* rather than *cause* - if your horse is not already tending towards these things, spring grass is unlikely to cause them any major issues!

If your horse is inclined to these things, here a few things you can do reduce the impact

- reduce any concentrate feeds being fed - so many people are quick to blame "the grass", but are also feeding grain based feeds...
- manage your pastures so that you are grazing longer/more mature grasses rather than 5cm fluro green tips
- reduce grazing by restricting paddock size (e.g. strip grazing) or time
- provide higher fibre, lower sugar hay for when they are off the grass - this helps reduce intake, stabilise the gut and reduces the overall calories in the diet
- ensure there is a good amount of salt and magnesium in the diet to balance the increase in calcium and potassium
- keep up the exercise (safely...!)

And just remember that in a few days or weeks both the grass and your horse's systems will have settled down again.

Whether your're worried (or glad!) that you horse hasn't lost any weight over winter, or seeing no change at all and wor...
09/09/2025

Whether your're worried (or glad!) that you horse hasn't lost any weight over winter, or seeing no change at all and worried about weight gain over spring and summer, it's always useful to have an accurate weight measurement and condition assessment from someone who is a) trained and b) doesn't see your horse every day.

Luckily - I'm just that person!

My mobile scales are accurate and easy to use - and best of all they can come to you!

Only 3 horses needed for Northern beaches area locals 🙂 Contact for other areas OR get your club/agistment centre together for a group weigh in.

Not only do you get an exact weight for your horse on the day, I also provide some guidance as to whether your horse needs to gain, lose or maintain condition.

Even experienced horse owners and professionals can struggle to correctly estimate horses' weights, and in many cases can be wildly underestimating. Aside from knowing whether your horse is too fat, too thin or just right, this can lead to

❗️Underfeeding forage
❗️Underdosing wormers and meds like omeprazole for ulcers
❗️Illegal and dangerous towing
❗️Not being sure if your horse is losing, gaining or maintaing weight (this is harder than you think to keep tracking of visually when you see the horse often)

Weigh ins cost $40 per horse.

Grazing vs hay feeding – how does it actually change a horse’s day?A recent meta-analysis pulled together decades of tim...
08/09/2025

Grazing vs hay feeding – how does it actually change a horse’s day?

A recent meta-analysis pulled together decades of time-budget studies (how horses spend the hours in their day) and the differences between grazing and hay feeding were pretty striking:

Feeding time – grazing horses spent about 56% of the day eating, hay-fed only about 39%

Resting (lying down) – grazing 20%, hay 9%

Standing idle – hay-fed almost half the day (47%), grazing only 24%

Moving around – grazing 7.5%, hay 4.5%

Part of this is down to management (possibly restricted hay vs free-choice grazing), but part of it is also the nature of the feed itself. Grass is up to 80% water, hay is ~90% dry matter – so hay disappears much faster. That can mean less beneficial chewing time per kilo, or in some cases horses can actually end up consuming more dry matter overall if they have unlimited hay.

One important thing to note: most of the studies didn’t actually say how much hay was offered (restricted meals vs ad lib, and how it was presented, in one spot or spread out), or give detail on pasture quality/season. That means the “hay vs pasture” effect might partly be an “restricted vs free-choice forage” effect.

Even with those limitations, the pattern is clear: grazing encourages more of the natural, beneficial behaviours we want to see – steady eating, resting, and moving – while hay feeding tends to shorten meals and increase time spent just standing around.

And of course, there are plenty of situations where hay feeding is necessary – whether there’s no grass available, or a horse has metabolic or other special dietary requirements. The key is to understand how hay changes behaviour, and manage it so the horse still gets enough chewing time and opportunity to move.

This kind of limitation is super common in horse nutrition and management research. It doesn’t make the findings useless, but it does mean you have to read carefully and think about the context before applying the results to your own horses.

M. Lamanna , G. Buonaiuto , R. Colleluori , F. Raspa , E. Valle ,
D. Cavallini , Time-Activity Budget in Horses and Ponies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
on Feeding Dynamics and Management Implications, Journal of Equine Veterinary Science (2025)

Ground flaxseed now available in 3kg bags! $26 a bag, same price per kilo as the 4kg bags were.I’d like to say that this...
05/09/2025

Ground flaxseed now available in 3kg bags!

$26 a bag, same price per kilo as the 4kg bags were.

I’d like to say that this change is because of some clever plan to align all my products into tidy 60-day supplies… but actually, I just got a bit too excited ordering the new branded bags for Golden Joint Complex and the rest of the range, and clicked the wrong size for these ones 🤦‍♀️

But... silver lining!

👉 2 × 3kg flaxseed = 60 days on an average 100g dosage — the same timeframe as most custom supplements, Golden Joint Complex and Spiru-Soothe.
👉 Easier re-ordering, and apparently a strategic packaging decision (we’ll pretend).

🤓

Always nice to hear how clients value clear, no-nonsense feeding advice!
04/09/2025

Always nice to hear how clients value clear, no-nonsense feeding advice!

03/09/2025

Is competing at low level show jumping "hard" or even "moderate" work?

A recent study followed horses jumping an 80 cm course. Many horse owners would think this was a moderate level of work, but what did the trial find?

✅ Heart rate, breathing and temperature spiked with exercise (as expected).
✅ Blood counts shifted — more red blood cells, haemoglobin and haematocrit from splenic contraction and fluid loss. White blood cells and albumin also rose temporarily.
❌ But lactate stayed well below the “anaerobic threshold,” and muscle enzymes (AST, CK) didn’t rise.

This shows that getting round this course was aerobic, submaximal work. Not muscle-damaging and not burning through big energy or protein reserves. And both horses and riders were "normal" every day types, not high level performance horses doing a low level course.

Loading up on extra feed isn’t necessary for this type of workload!

What is crucial is the daily foundation diet — because hydration, immune function and recovery all depend on micronutrients like sodium, magnesium, vitamin E, selenium, copper and zinc. Those are what keep the system healthy and ticking over when exercise temporarily shifts blood, temperature and stress markers.

You will quickly see if your horse needs extra calories (weight loss), but the effects of sub optimal micronutrients are harder to spot, and take longer to come into play.

Simões J, Santos AM, Santos C, Silva AS, Vintém C, Fonseca J, Coelho C. Biological markers and metabolic energy indexes of show jumping horses during a field exercise test in Portugal. J Equine Vet Sci. 2025 Aug;151:105634. doi: 10.1016/j.jevs.2025.105634. Epub 2025 Jun 18. PMID: 40553788.

Horses are natural grazers, grazing for up to 16 hours per day in a natural state.Preventing this natural behaviour can ...
02/09/2025

Horses are natural grazers, grazing for up to 16 hours per day in a natural state.

Preventing this natural behaviour can cause distress, as well as physical issues.

Horses without enough forage often have "bad" feed time behaviours (aggression, fence running etc).

A chewing horse is a calm horse!

With spring around the corner and green shoots popping through, are you worried about your horse being "grass affected"?...
01/09/2025

With spring around the corner and green shoots popping through, are you worried about your horse being "grass affected"?

You've probably heard about horses going haywire on grass, blamed for everything from itchiness to colic. You've probably seen horses act up or develop health issues that seem related to grass intake with your own eyes.

But the idea that many horses can't handle grass is a bit shaky.

The theory goes like this: horses didn't evolve to munch on lush, green grass because their ancestors evolved in semi-arid areas. But the truth is – horses have been pretty adaptable over the years. They've thrived through all sorts of climates across Europe and Asia for thousands of years, including those that would have supported plenty of grass growth.

One theory blames high potassium levels in grass for all sorts of issues. But as I've posted before, horses are pretty good at handling potassium. They naturally get a lot of it in their diets and can easily get rid of the excess through urine, manure, and sweat. So, potassium isn't likely the problem.

Apart from potassium, they've also pointed fingers at high protein, nitrates, calcium/magnesium imbalances, and more. 🤔 While these (particularly nitrates) can certainly have downsides, there's no solid science backing these claims (and plenty of basic physiology suggesting the opposite - the boring truth is that the horse's body is pretty good at excreting excesses and keeping things balanced).

Blaming all green grass for these specific (usually temporary) issues is like blaming all hay because you had one bale that was mouldy!

If your horse acts up on green grass, it's probably because it's a sudden diet switch, which we all know can cause problems, especially if your horse has some health or stress issues, the adjustment can be even trickier. Stressed or unhealthy pasture will also tend to be more "extreme" with these fluctuations, adding fuel to the fire.

So, before you label your horse as "grass-affected,", consider their diet, other underlying health issues, the pasture conditions, and consider incorporating diverse forages with properly balanced minerals.

Link to full article below

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Integral Equine Nutrition is run by Sophie Fletcher, BAnVetBioSci (Hons I), MAnSc, and aims to optimise your horses health, well being and performance through correct nutrition. Advice is both practical and science-based, as Sophie has been involved in both horses and research science for many years.