Holistic Horse Education

Holistic Horse Education Positive Reinforcement Training. Ethical, Force Free, Science Based
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13/07/2025

Weโ€™re seeing a spike in colic cases across the region โ€” largely due to sudden changes in hay and reduced water intake during this tough drought season.

๐ŸŒพ Whatโ€™s going on?
With the hay shortage, many owners are sourcing hay from multiple suppliers โ€” often different types, cuts, and quality.

Weโ€™ve had several clients feeding entire new bales at once without transition. This is dangerous.

Horses are also drinking less in the colder weather, increasing the risk of impaction colic.

โš ๏ธ Important: You cannot feed a completely different bale of hay (especially from a new source) without introducing it slowly.

๐Ÿ’ก Why mixing hay types (in small amounts) is actually good:
Feeding small amounts of different hay types at once helps keep the gut more adaptable and resilient to changes. It mimics a more natural, varied forage intake and reduces the shock to the system when one type runs out. But the key is to introduce each one gradually.

โœ… Colic prevention tips:
โ€ข Mix new hay with existing hay over 7โ€“14 days โ€” especially if itโ€™s from a new farm or region
โ€ข Feed multiple smaller meals instead of one or two large ones
โ€ข Encourage water intake โ€” warm water, loose salt, soaked hay
โ€ข Add gut support supplements (e.g. buffers, pre/probiotics)
โ€ข Watch for changes in manure, appetite, or behaviour

๐Ÿด If youโ€™re feeding round bales, hereโ€™s what you can do:
1. Buy ahead where possible โ€” keep at least one bale from your current supply so you can transition.
2. Peel flakes off your new round bale and mix with the old hay over several days (7โ€“14 ideally).
3. If you canโ€™t mix:
โ€ข Feed small meals of the new bale first (limit access using slow feed nets or limit turnout).
โ€ข Supplement with fibre-based feeds (e.g. beet pulp, hay pellets, chaff) to support the gut through the transition.
4. Avoid free-feeding an entirely new bale without a gradual introduction.

We understand itโ€™s a tough season, but slow transitions and variety done right can protect your horseโ€™s gut health.

Need help creating a forage plan for your horse? Reach out โ€” weโ€™re here to support you and your horse through this season.

11/07/2025
11/07/2025

๐Ÿงช ๐๐ž๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐š๐ : ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐‘น๐’†๐’‚๐’๐’๐’š ๐ข๐ง ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐‡๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐žโ€™๐ฌ ๐…๐ž๐ž๐?
Did you know that whatโ€™s printed on a feed label might not reflect whatโ€™s actually in the bag?
๐”๐ง๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐š๐ง ๐Ÿ๐จ๐จ๐, ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ฅ๐š๐›๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ฌ ๐›๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐€๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐š. Thereโ€™s no legal requirement to disclose energy, protein, sugar, starch, or even mineral levels. Each brand chooses what to report; and as our testing shows, many figures are missing or very different from what's actually in the bag.
This lack of consistency makes it nearly impossible for owners to confidently compare feeds or make informed decisions based on their horseโ€™s true needs.

๐‘พ๐’† ๐’Š๐’๐’…๐’†๐’‘๐’†๐’๐’…๐’†๐’๐’•๐’๐’š ๐’•๐’†๐’”๐’•๐’†๐’… ๐’‡๐’Š๐’—๐’† popular commercial hard feeds, comparing what was declared by the manufacturers vs what was actually present in the feed.
The results? Notable variations in key nutrients โ€” and some feeds not declaring major components at all.

๐‹๐ž๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐ญ๐š๐ฅ๐ค ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ‘‡
๐Ÿ”ฅ ๐ƒ๐„ (๐ƒ๐ข๐ ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐„๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ): ๐‡๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐จ๐ซ ๐‹๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ?
DE (measured in MJ/kg) is the amount of energy a horse can extract from the feed. Think of it like calories in human food.
Higher DE = more energy-dense โ€” suited to performance horses, poor doers, or horses in heavy work.
Lower DE = ideal for good doers, spelling horses, or metabolic types needing controlled energy.
But beware โ€” a feed thatโ€™s low in sugar/starch can still be high DE due to fat or fibre content. Always consider your horseโ€™s workload and metabolism.
๐Ÿ’ช ๐‚๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ž ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐ข๐ง: ๐ˆ๐ฌ ๐Œ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐€๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ?
Crude protein is calculated based on the percentage of nitrogen in a feed, which gives us an estimate of protein content. But here's the catch: crude protein says nothing about protein quality.
High crude protein doesnโ€™t guarantee digestibility or usable amino acid content. It could be from inferior or indigestible sources. What matters more is the amino acid profile, particularly lysine, methionine, and threonine โ€” the building blocks your horse actually uses for muscle development, immune support, and recovery.
Protein when fed in excess can contribute to energy issues, insulin sensitivity, high urea smell in urine & manure, stocking up when stabled, kidney strain โ€“ even respiratory flare ups.
So when you see 18% vs 12% crude protein, donโ€™t assume the higher one is better, context is key.
๐Ÿฌ ๐‚๐š๐ซ๐›๐จ๐ก๐ฒ๐๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ: ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญโ€™๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ƒ๐ž๐š๐ฅ ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐…๐‚, ๐๐’๐‚, ๐„๐’๐‚, ๐–๐’๐‚ & ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก? ๐ด๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ !
These acronyms confuse even seasoned owners. Letโ€™s compare it to human food labels:
๐‚๐š๐ซ๐›๐จ๐ก๐ฒ๐๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ = the broad category that make up the below โ€œsub-categoriesโ€.
๐’๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก = complex carbohydrates (like bread/pasta). Starch is digested in the small intestine but if too much is fed, can spill into the hindgut causing acidosis, colic or laminitis. โ€œToo muchโ€ starch can be completely individual to the horse, which can make managing this challenging!
๐„๐’๐‚ (๐„๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง๐จ๐ฅ ๐’๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐‚๐š๐ซ๐›๐ฌ) = simple sugars, readily digestible and can impact blood glucose and insulin levels.
๐–๐’๐‚ (๐–๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐’๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐‚๐š๐ซ๐›๐ฌ) = sugars (in ESC) + fructans.
๐๐’๐‚ = ๐๐จ๐ง-๐’๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐‚๐š๐ซ๐›๐ฌ = Combined Starch + WSC
๐๐…๐‚ = ๐๐จ๐ง ๐…๐ข๐›๐ซ๐ž ๐‚๐š๐ซ๐›๐ฌ = All non-fibre digestible carbs, including:
ESC, WSC, Starch, Organic acids, Pectins, Some fermentation products

๐Ÿ“‰These values are interrelated. But in the horse world? Not every feed manufacturer even discloses them โ€” and our testing reveals discrepancies.
Carbohydrates are important to be aware of, as some can bypass the small intestine & ferment in the hindgut which can disrupt microbial balance, contribute to hindgut acidosis or even trigger laminitis.

๐Ÿ‘ป ๐…๐ž๐ž๐ ๐’๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ โ€“ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž?
The list here can be long, so please bear with us. The consistency and smell of your horseโ€™s manure tells a story on their internal health, relevant to their gut. If youโ€™re walking into your horseโ€™s stable and immediately smell their manure? You likely have feed sensitivities. Too loose, poorly formed and even well-formed but incredibly firm โ€“ are all cause for concern. Lying down after eating, flank watching, girthy under saddle, general spookiness, ongoing muscle tension that isnโ€™t resolving, even stocking up when stabled overnight can all indicate feed sensitivities might be present. We'll even go as far to say that Headshaking can be linked back to feed sensitivities in some cases!

๐Ÿงพ Coming next: Weโ€™ll be using each Test Product Feed as a specific scenario breakdown of how actual nutrient content stacks up against recommended feeding rates โ€” and how this may impact your horseโ€™s overall diet.
Because feeding your horse shouldnโ€™t be a guessing game. Foundational nutrition is key to a happy, healthy athlete.

Looking to get your feed tested? We utilised Feed Central's "Equi-Trainer" tests. ๐Ÿฆ„

05/07/2025
Always fabulous advice! Donโ€™t just worm for the sake of worming.
19/05/2025

Always fabulous advice! Donโ€™t just worm for the sake of worming.

We had the first frost of the year this morning, down here in West Gippsland.
I'd like to take this event as a chance to remind you all that First Frost DOES NOT MEAN IT'S TIME TO DEWORM YOUR HORSE.

Now, I'm no meteorologist, but to me, first frost simply means that winter is either here, or very close to. And what does this mean for worms? Not much. You'll never find "first frost" prescribed in a parasitology manual.

I've written/shared many posts about worm management in autumn (I'll link one in the comments), and the short version is, you can deworm your horse when 1) you've had an egg count done on them and 2) the bot flies (if you had any) have disappeared for the year. Usually by this time of year (first frost) the bots should have gone, hence why people choose it as their time to deworm.

The frost itself will do nothing to the worm larvae on your pasture. Strongyle larvae are extremely resilient to harsh environmental conditions. It's takes an extended period of time (days, weeks) below 0 degrees for any die off to occur. The only place this likely occurs in Aust is the alpine region.

I'd actually like to propose to you all that you should be deworming BEFORE the first frost. I know we've had a horrible autumn without the usual rain, but in a "normal" year the weather tends to break around Easter, with the rain and damp pastures returning. Strongyle larvae like damp pastures, so deworming when the weather breaks means that worm egg shedding will be stopped for ~3 months and prevent larvae build up occurring during autumn.

Lastly, please stop asking me if you can deworm yet. I don't know - I don't live at your house therefore I am unable to tell you if the bots have finished: that's your call. Also, NO DEWORMING WITHOUT A FEC STOP ASKING ME IF YOU CAN OMG

Thanks, and try to stay warm tonight โ„๏ธโ„๏ธโ„๏ธ

17/05/2025

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Yarra Junction, VIC

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