Taylor Holistic Vet

Taylor Holistic Vet Dr. Laura Taylor is a Calgary based holistic veterinarian with training in the areas of veterinary a Her full-time practice is based in the Calgary area.
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Dr. Laura Taylor is on the leading edge of veterinary osteopathy, being one of the first veterinarians in Canada to learn it, practice it and teach it. She has discovered the profound influence of the organs on the mobility of the body. She has found osteopathy / craniosacral therapy to be the game-changer that raises the bar on what real health is for our animal friends. please note

Dr. Taylor's practice is limited in scope to musculoskeletal and neurologic cases in horses, dogs, and cats.

08/13/2024

sweet

Zen for BOTH of you lol. Especially if the stone is slightly warm ;-)
05/15/2024

Zen for BOTH of you lol. Especially if the stone is slightly warm ;-)

Homemade zen garden

this is incredible!
05/08/2024

this is incredible!

fyi
04/20/2024

fyi

⚠️ PLEASE READ ⚠️

great info
04/15/2024

great info

A simplified diagram of grass sugars. Basically, your safest grazing time for sensitive horses is going to be 6 am to 10 am. Or if you can pull it off (calling all night owls.....), if you want to do 12 on and 12 off, midnight turnout to noon the next day is the lowest half of the day. NOT noon to midnight or sunset to sunrise. Those are the HIGHEST sugar content hours, not lowest.

AFTERNOON TURNOUT IS THE WORST TIME OF DAY FOR IR AND SENSITIVE HORSES ON GRASS. A lot of misinformation is out there saying sunset is best. IT'S NOT. Sunrise is best.

And remember, blazing sun makes more sugar, cloudy and rainy days make less. AND..... low night time temps right now stress grasses and spike sugar levels as well. Be safe. *Sensitive horses should not have grass right now until temps stay higher over 50°. *

important to remember https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1036489694676863&set=a.797507861908382
03/24/2024

important to remember
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1036489694676863&set=a.797507861908382

Everyone who is thinking of getting dogs should read this because you need to understand this reality:

***I am a 21st century dog.***
-I'm a Malinois.
Overskilled among dogs, I excel in all disciplines and I'm always ready to work: I NEED to work.
But nowadays I get asked to chill on the couch all day everyday.

-I am an Akita Inu.
My ancestors were selected for fighting bears.
Today I get asked to be tolerant and I get scolded for my reactivity when another approaches me.

-I am a Beagle.
When I chase my prey, I raise my voice so the hunters could follow.
Today they put an electric collar on me to shut up, and you make me come back to you - no running - with a snap of your fingers.

-I am a Yorkshire Terrier.
I was a terrifying rat hunter in English mines.
Today they think I can't use my legs and they always hold me in their arms.

-I'm a Labrador Retriever.
My vision of happiness is a dive into a pond to bring back the duck he shot to my master.
Today you forget I'm a walking, running, swimming dog; as a result I'm fat, made to stay indoors, and to babysit.

-I am a Jack Russell.
I can take on a fox, a mean badger, and a rat bigger than me in his den.
Today I get scolded for my character and high energy, and forced to turn into a quiet living room dog.

-I am a Siberian Husky.
Experienced the great, wide open spaces of Northern Europe, where I could drag sleds for long distances at impressive speeds.
Today I only have the walls of the house or small garden as a horizon, and the holes I dig in the ground just to release energy and frustration, trying to stay sane.

-I am a border collie
I was made to work hours a day in partnershipwith my master, and I am an unmistakable artist of working with the herd.
Today they are mad at me because, for lack of sheep, I try to check bikes, cars, children in the house and everything in motion.

I am ...
I am a 21st century dog.
I'm pretty, I'm alert, I'm obedient, I stay in a bag...but I'm also an individual who, from centuries of training, needs to express my instincts, and I am *not* suited for the sedentary life you'd want me to lead.
Spending eight hours a day alone in the house or in the garden - with no work and no one to play or run with, seeing you for a short time in the evening when you get home, and only getting a small toilet walk will make me deeply unhappy.
I'll express it by barking all day, turning your yard into a minefield, doing my needs indoors, being unmanageable the rare times I'll find myself outside, and sometimes spending my days sunk, sad, lonely, and depressed, on my pillow.
You may think that I should be happy to be able to enjoy all this comfort while you go to work, but actually I’ll be exhausted and frustrated, because this is absolutely NOT what I'm meant to do, or what I need to be doing.
If you love me, if you've always dreamed of me, if my beautiful blue eyes or my athletic look make you want me, but you can't give me a real dog's life, a life that's really worth living according to my breed, and if you can't offer me the job that my genes are asking, DO NOT buy or adopt me!
If you like the way I look but aren't willing to accept my temperament, gifts, and traits derived from long genetic selection, and you think you can change them with only your good will, then DO NOT BUY OR ADOPT ME.
I’m a dog from the 21st century, yes, but deep inside me, the one who fought, the one who hunted, the one who pulled sleds, the one who guided and protected a herd still lives within.
So think **very** carefully before you choose your dog. And think about getting two, rather than one, so I won't be so very lonely waiting for you all day. Eight or ten hours is just a workday to you, but it's an eternity for me to be alone.
Like David Attenborough Fans for more:

03/19/2024

Right?!
They sure teach us how to communicate and be clear with KINDNESS.

great info
03/17/2024

great info

🌿🌱 THE LOW DOWN ON SHORT VS LONG GRASS FOR HORSES🌱🌿

Equine nutrition has progressed in leaps and bounds these past few years. I am pleasantly surprised at how quickly things are moving in the right direction.

That said, I still hear people talk about how they want their horse to lose weight so they put it in a paddock with, ‘nothing in it’. The ‘nothing’ they refer to is usually very short, stressed grass of one or two species, with a decent spread of w**ds popping up for good measure.

Understanding the effects of grazing on short grass versus longer grass is crucial for any horse, but particularly for those with endocrine issues or a history of laminitis (usually caused by endocrine issues).

Somewhat ironically, these horses are often the ones who are purposely put on short, overgrazed grasses with the objective of keeping weight off.

🌱There are many reasons why short grasses cause issues:

⚫️ Short grass is constantly trying to grow. Therefore it will store its sugars and starches (Non-Structural Carbohydrates or NSCs) to prepare for improved growing conditions. Growing conditions won’t improve as your horse will continually keep eating it down, but the sugars will stay there.
⚫️ Because NCSs are predominantly at the base of the plant, each mouthful has a high NSC:fibre ratio. Typically the sugars are lower, and fibre higher, towards the top of the grasses, so the longer the grass, the less sugar and higher in fibre it is. A high fibre, low sugar diet is what a horse’s gastrointestinal system is designed to eat.
⚫️ The higher the grass’s fibre content, the lower the NSC intake will be.
⚫️ Eating longer grass means the horse has to chew more. This not only slows down their intake, but increases saliva production. Saliva helps to buffer stomach acid and helps to prevent ulcers and other gastrointestinal issues.
⚫️ A healthy (non-metabolic) horse eats until they have a specific amount of fibre in their stomach. Eating grass with a high-sugar and low fibre ratio means a horse consumes a lot of high-sugar grass before it feels satiated. This is why you might see horses with ad-lib hay standing around in the shade more than you will see horses with short grass doing the same. Horses with access to high-fibre hay can go and eat, then rest. Horses that need to eat all day to feel full will rest less.
⚫️ Because a horse’s front teeth (incisors) work so well, they can eat enough to stay fat on grasses that are 3cm - 4cm. Ponies can do the same on grasses that are even shorter (1cm - 2cm).
⚫️ Grasses grown specifically for lawns have their growth points very close to the ground so the plant can cope with being kept constantly short. These grasses have been selected specifically for this. Overgrazing results in only the 'lawn' type grasses surviving - so the result is a monoculture; just one or two species of grass. In addition, lawn type grasses are typically not ideal grasses for your horses to be eating a lot of.
⚫️ Horses are more likely to pick up sand while grazing short grass than they are on longer grass.

🌿 Property owners who want to take care of their paddocks should also keep in mind that:

⚫️ Short grass plants have short root systems that cannot reach far down in the soil for nutrients. A short root system results in much less organic matter in the soil, causing soil compaction and poor drainage (not to mention less carbon sequestration).
⚫️ Short, sparsely grassed areas in a paddock quickly turn to mud in wet weather and become dusty very quickly in dry weather. Both lead to soil erosion.
Short grass plants are not as able to outcompete certain w**ds as longer grasses are.

🌱 How long is short?

Clients need to fill in a form to get a diet consultation and I ask for a description of their pasture as part of the process (both written and photographic). I was once astonished at the difference between what they tell me the grass is like, and what it is actually like.

A lot of owners describe grass that’s around 3cms long as, ‘heaps of really good grass’. Because of this misunderstanding of what good grass is, they then don’t offer any additional hay. I end up having a lot of discussions with clients about grass. Sometimes we chat more about pasture and hay than the diet itself which is understandable as grass is complicated!

Short grass is generally shorter than 5cm (2.5 inches). However you need to look at the average height across your pasture as you will (hopefully!) have several species of grass available to your horses. There may also be areas they use as toilets which they won’t eat unless they’re almost starving. While 5cms is pretty short, in reality, on many horse properties, the grasses are as short as 1 or 2 cm.

Many horse owners think a paddock full of grass that is 5 cm long would be regarded as too long. At 5 cm, the plant is just about reaching the stage where it has 2 to 3 leaves, and it can now start to make a rapid recovery, using its stored sugars/starches for growth; at less than 5 cm it becomes stressed.


🌿 Why is longer grass better for horses?

⚫️ Longer grasses are healthier and typically not stressed (so they have less NSCs).
Taller pasture plants have a higher fibre-to-sugar ratio than short grass. As mentioned above, this is ideal for a healthy gastrointestinal tract.
⚫️ Longer grass typically allows for more biodiversity (i.e. less monoculture).
⚫️ Longer grasses have a longer and thicker root system. This results in more healthy nutrients being brought up from deeper layers in the soil.
⚫️ Longer/thicker roots equal better soil protection which means less mud or dust. Obviously this is good for the ground and for your horse (less mud is better for a slew of reasons), but it also means plants may be able to be grazed in wetter conditions for a longer period of time.
⚫️ Longer grass shades out and outcompetes many w**d species.
⚫️ When the roots are longer the plant can ‘trades' some sugars for other nutrients such as amino acids. When the grass is short and stressed, it hangs onto excess sugars.
⚫️ The horse has to eat from the top; this means they need to eat the higher fibre, lower sugar part before it can get to the higher sugar part of the plant (at the bottom of the plant).
⚫️ The horse has to chew more, creating saliva to buffer stomach acid.
⚫️ Horses walk more when grazing longer, more diverse pastures as they seek out different plants.
⚫️ Longer grasses mean horses are essentially also browsing, not just grazing, this variety of eating postures is good for them biomechanically.
⚫️ Horses pick up their feet more if they live in paddocks with longer grasses, this is also good for them biomechanically.

🌿 Why is longer grass better for your property?

⚫️ Longer grasses shade the soil in hot, dry conditions. This keeps it cooler and reduces evaporation. This, plus the increase in soil organic matter, helps hold water in the soil for longer. This means your grass can keep growing even when it hasn’t rained in a while.
⚫️ Longer grasses provide a habitat for insects, small mammals/reptiles, and ground-nesting birds.
⚫️ With their longer/thicker root systems, taller grasses sequester more carbon than short grasses and even faster than trees! This is improved when the plants are repeatedly grazed and then allowed to regrow (as part of a rotational grazing system), as it effectively pumps carbon into the soil.
⚫️ Taller pasture plants keep the soil warmer in cold weather.


🌿 How long is long?

In a rotational grazing system of land management, the grass is regarded as tall enough to resume grazing when it is approximately 15cm, or just before it goes to seed. When the grass plants have been grazed down to an average height of 5 cm, horses should be removed and the grass given the chance to rest and recuperate.

Won’t free access to long grass make my horse fat/ter?

This answer to this question requires a whole other very long article and is dependent on many other factors. However, provided you do it sensibly, then in my experience, no.

Of course you can’t just let your horse have free access to endless lush, early spring grass, especially if you have high sugar grass species such as rye. If however, you have grasses that are lower in sugars such as fog, and/or you wait until it’s a little drier then your horse is less likely to gain weight, AND it’s a whole lot better for your horse’s gut AND also for the pasture itself.

If your horse has had their grazing restricted to overgrazed, short grasses for a long time (particularly if they also haven’t had access to hay) then you need to make a slow transition to longer grasses. If you suddenly give them access to long, lush grass then they are very likely to gorge and then they will gain weight.

🌱 What about horses on agistment?

Having a horse on agistment makes things more difficult, but not impossible. Ask your agistment owner if you can rig up some temporary fencing (i.e. pigtails and tape) within your paddock to rest part of it, or set up a track system so you can have longer grasses. Setting up a track next to your existing permanent fencing also encourages more incidental movement and means you can restrict grazing at the height of spring and then allow your horse onto the longer grasses when it’s safe to do so. I suggest approaching them from a ‘paddock/pasture preservation’ point of view and use all the above reasons as to why it will be better for their land, as well as for your horse.

*credit to the Equiculture website which was used as a resource for this article

When we know more... we can do better.
03/16/2024

When we know more... we can do better.

💡Would you like to help change these disturbing equine health statistics?

… it feels to me as if there’s too much complacency about these health issues…

🔄 It’s a multifaceted issue but domestic horses deserve better.

🩷 If you’d like to learn a few new ways to address colic, gastric ulcers and insulin resistance in horses, join me for my new equine nutrition mini course:

“Concepts in Holistic Equine Nutrition”

🔍 Discover some of the most important (and often overlooked) things you can do to help your horse live their best lives through healthy diet and environment.

🔗 Check the first module for 🆓 by following the “Sneak Peak” link in the comments below! ⤵️

🐴🌿💜 Through a bigger-picture understanding, we can help change these statistics!

Important information to understand.
03/16/2024

Important information to understand.

03/15/2024

Couldn’t have said it better 🤩🐕🐈‍⬛🐎💗🤗🕉️🙏🏻!

Right? 😂
03/11/2024

Right? 😂

🫣 🕘 🐾

03/11/2024

This is what the entrance to heaven looks like ❤️

😂
03/09/2024

😂

Remarkable
03/09/2024

Remarkable

The story of the unusual friendship between a female grey wolf and a male brown bear. They were spotted every night for 10 days straight, spending several hours together between 8pm to 4am. They would even share food together.

More details/photos: http://bit.ly/3ja8oQj

Happy international women’s day, everyone
03/09/2024

Happy international women’s day, everyone

I figure if a girl wants to be a legend, she should just go ahead and be one✨~Calamity Jane
Happy International Women’s Day my friends🖤
📷photo credit to Ralph Doubleday, 1920.

03/06/2024

Just Passing is expanding!

We are pleased to announce that we have expanded our Just Passing Services to Central/Mainland British Columbia!

We will be offering the same compassionate service to our loyal customers in the area as well as have cremation options available.

If you would like more information regarding these services, please do not hesitate to contact us via our main line 403-680-4177

02/25/2024

By Klervi Dorfsman CEHCA practitioner Trimming day for your horse can be more than just a day where their hooves get taken care of, it can also be a good gauge to check in on your horse’s mobility in a routine way. Because a professional hoof care provider is asking hundreds of horses per month....

Your Sunday funny 😁
02/25/2024

Your Sunday funny 😁

Oops 😆

The power of the love of a dog.🐕
02/20/2024

The power of the love of a dog.🐕

After losing his parents, Suryia, a 3-year-old orangutan, was so depressed he wouldn't eat and didn't respond to medical treatment. The vets thought he may die from sadness.
The zookeepers found an old sick dog named Roscoe on the grounds in the park at the zoo where the orangutan lived and took the dog to the animal treatment center. The dog arrived at the same time the orangutan was there being treated...
The two lost souls met and have been inseparable ever since.
The orangutan found a new reason to live, and each of them always tries his best to be a good companion to his newfound friend.
They are together 24 hours a day in all their activities. They live in Northern California, where swimming is their favorite pastime.
Although, Suryia (the orangutan) is a little afraid of the water and needs his friend's help to swim. Together they have discovered the joy and laughter in life and the value of friendship. ♥️🐾🦧

😂
02/20/2024

😂

😆😆😆

Yes, yes and yes. They deserve a dignified and humane end. Period.
02/19/2024

Yes, yes and yes. They deserve a dignified and humane end. Period.

In the horse world, it’s become a bit of a tradition to cut the tail hair of our best horses when we lose them.

We didn’t have Leo for long, just days. Truth be told, the plan was never to keep Leo. Our intention when we bought him at auction was simply to end the cycle of suffering for this big sweet horse. We knew that the end he would have faced without us was not a humane one. The gavel fell that day and he was ours, spared from the semi that was there loading others.

You see, we don’t know about Leo’s past, but his worn body told a story. Leo had two crude brands, clipped fresh for the auction in an attempt to squeeze every bit of money out of him. He had saddle sore scars across his back. He had deep lacerations across his body. His knee was large and painful, presumably from a very old injury. He could not stand without extreme pain. This horse paid his dues to his humans somewhere along the line, yet there he was at auction, failed.

So, we did what his owners before us should have done, the only humane thing for Leo. We brought him home and gave him a kind, dignified end here at the farm.

He deserved so much more, a fraction of the effort he gave the humans who failed him. While that saddens and angers us, we do feel better knowing that the buck stopped with us. That had to be good enough.

We stopped him from being bought and sold at another auction. We saved him from being loaded onto a semi.

If you take nothing else from Leo’s story, hear this:
If you have a horse, when the time comes, BUCK UP AND BURY THEM.
Have the courage and the respect for your horse to put them down in the comfort of their home with people they know.
It’s the only right and humane thing to do with our old horses at the end of their lives.
Full stop.

When your horses are old and infirm, unless you bury them, you are failing them.

Do not dump them on a rescue.
Do not take them to an auction.
Do not try to give them away for free online.
Do not send them with that guy that shows up with a cattle trailer and $100.

Give your horse the end they have earned. Bury them.

Leo is gone now, no longer in pain. While it is hard on our team, we are very grateful that we were able to do that for him, if nothing else. We see so many horses who need the same kindness and don’t get it.

Leo was a good horse for somebody, and we didn’t want him to be forgotten. Before he was buried we cut a piece of tail hair to keep, because everyone knows that all the good horses show up in horse heaven with chopped tails.

Leo was a good boy.
❤️

Bella Run Equine is a non-profit organization located in Athens Ohio.

Yup, and for some people FELINE works well too! 🐾🐈💓
02/16/2024

Yup, and for some people FELINE works well too! 🐾🐈💓

Address

10, 711/48 Avenue SE
Calgary, AB
T2G4X2

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm

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