Flourish Equine Nutrition

11/13/2025

Look, feel, and learn!

A horse’s Body Condition Score (BCS) can’t be judged by looks alone - you’ve got to get hands-on! 👋

Check out the infographic below for some tips on one way to assess your horse’s health. 🐴👇

11/12/2025

We're moving on through our anatomy tour and up next is the stomach.

We all know that keeping the stomach healthy, means a happy horse. Ulcers are a common culprit here and can impact horses in any discipline and workload.

Stay tuned as we move into the hind gut next!

11/06/2025

This might ruffle some feathers, but “natural” does not automatically mean a product or ingredient is safe, effective, or healthier for your horse.

Hemlock is natural. So is arsenic. And both can be deadly.

On the other hand, some ingredients that sound “unnatural” — like mixed tocopherols or Saccharomyces cerevisiae - can be positive additions to your feed, despite their technical terms.

When it comes to nutrition, don't fall for marketing and label schemes. Instead, focus on research, safety and the advice of your nutritionist/nutrition consult and veterinarian.

10/31/2025

Happy Halloween! May the spooks be few and the treats plenty.

10/15/2025

Imagine if we looked as critically at hay as we did our supplements?

Forage makes up the majority of your horses diet. Understanding what your hay provides, balancing accordingly and feeding it appropriately is all the secret sauce you need.

Those supplements should only be complimentary to a well balanced and well managed program.

Need your hay tested for the winter? I've still got some space for November, so let's connect.

10/12/2025

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your weekend be filled with food, friends and of course, horses. 🦃

10/08/2025

There are so many reasons I love what I do, but here are 3 of my favourites.

1️⃣ Watching horses thrive when their nutrition finally clicks
2️⃣ Empowering owners with the "why" behind their feed choice so they feel confident and informed.
3️⃣ Building plans that fit for both horse and owner, without a one size fits all approach.

Seeing your horses flourish with good nutrition never gets old. So let's work together sometime and get your horse flourishing.

10/07/2025

A great infographic on grazing after the frost.

❄🐴🌾 Is it safe to graze horses after a hard freeze? What do I need to consider before turning them back out on pasture? Also, what defines a hard freeze?

🌡 A hard freeze refers to a frost that is severe enough to end the growing season. The National Weather Service defines a hard freeze when temperatures fall below 28ºF for a few hours. Cool-season grasses commonly found in Midwest horse pastures go into dormancy for winter and conserve their energy stores (starches and sugars) following a hard freeze.

❄️ We recommend keeping horses off pastures for at least 7 days after a hard freeze. Frost-damaged pastures are higher in nonstructural carbohydrates (starches and sugars) because plants can not use up their energy stores as efficiently. It can take plants 7 days to return to more normal nonstructural carbohydrate levels. Higher levels of nonstructural carbohydrates can lead to an increase risk for laminitis, especially in horses diagnosed with or prone to obesity, laminitis, Cushings, and Equine Metabolic Syndrome.

The decision to graze again after a hard freeze depends on the condition of your pasture. After a hard freeze, no additional regrowth of the pasture will occur, even though the pasture might appear green in color. If your cool-season grass pasture is

✅ taller than 3 to 4 inches, then grazing can resume 7 days after a hard freeze and can continue until the pasture is grazed down to 3 to 4 inches.
❌ shorter than 3 to 4 inches, then no grazing should occur after a hard freeze. Grazing below 3 inches can harm the plant and lead to poor productivity next season.

🌾 Plants rely on stored nonstructural carbohydrates in the lower 3 inches for energy. Therefore, the 3- to 4-inch minimum height recommendation is necessary to help maximize winter survival and can help predict a vigorous and healthy pasture come spring. We do recognize horses rarely graze uniformly and pastures tend to have areas of both over and under grazing. You will need to base decisions on the average appearance of your pasture

09/25/2025

🌱 Alberta’s pastures rely on a few key players — meadow bromegrass, smooth bromegrass, and orchardgrass.

These hardy species deliver high yields, withstand our winters, and provide quality forage for grazing livestock.

Strong grasses, strong pastures. 🐄

09/19/2025

The leaves are changing, the cool weather has started and that means that you are starting to move your horses off of pasture. Now is a great time to check in with your friendly neighbourhood nutrition advisor to help set you up for winter feeding success.

As you move to hay, make sure you do a gradual transition. Starting with 25% hay, increase by 25% every 3-4 days until fully onto your winter hay.

Need to make other feed changes to account for changes in activity, or for those hard keepers to make it through the cold snaps? Now is the time to start those gradual changes as well!

Not sure where to start or how to support your horse through winter? Let's connect and help your horse thrive through the chill.

09/09/2025

Let's start our anatomy tour!

The mouth is such an important part of our horses digestive system. This is where digestion starts and helps set our horse up for success.

The teeth are used to grind down long stem forage like our pasture grass or hay. Chew time for horses is key! More chewing, means more saliva production and more saliva is better.

3 important uses of saliva:

1. Coats food bolus to help it move through the esophogus
2. A source of sodium bicarbonate which helps buffer stomach acid
3. Amylase production to start carbohydrate digestion

Working with your vet and/or equine dentist to maintain your horses teeth is important to ensure we are set up for feeding success. Horses with dental issues that require less long stem forage have reduced chew time and may need some additional dietary inclusions to support optimal digestion.

08/16/2025

Are you east of Edmonton (Sherwood Park, Ardrossan, Fort Saskatchewan)?

I'm planning a trip for hay samples with a probe and consults. Want in on reduced mileage for a hay sample? Shoot me a message and I'll get you on the list!

Hay samples are $80+mileage and include a 20 minute call to discuss your results. Or reach out to discuss my consult options.