Equine Nutrition Australasia (ENA)

09/11/2024

Flemington Racecourse and Victoria Racing Club Thanks

09/11/2024

Phil Haugen Horsemanship Thanks

What you accept, you encourage.

This is true in many walks of life, but especially in the foundational stages of training a horse.

If you tolerate a horse that bullies you around and pushes against you, you are not only allowing that reactive behavior to happen—you are encouraging it.

It is your responsibility to set the expectation for how your horse interacts with you.

It is your job to demonstrate leadership and communicate with your horse in a way they understand.

It is up to you to set the tone for each training session and encourage your horse to engage the thinking side of its brain.

When you communicate your expectations clearly, you start establishing a relationship based on trust and understanding.

09/11/2024

Horse & Rider Magazine Thanks

08/11/2024

EQ Therapeutics Thanks

08/11/2024

https://www.saddlebox.net/buying-a-horse-checklist/

Considering buying a horse? SaddleBox has you covered. Use this checklist to help you on your journey to finding your new four-legged friend.

08/11/2024

Dr. David Ramey Thank You

I have had the opportunity to conduct a lot of presale/prepurchase exams, you know, the exam that you're almost obliged to schedule prior to making one of the most important purchases (in terms of time and money commitment) in your life.  And, honestly, I'm am absolutely flabbergasted at what goes ...

08/11/2024

Stable-Ised Equine Thanks Karly Eldridge Many Thanks

❓ 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀

🐴 When I first shared this post, I was going to leave it up for a day or two before doing much with the answers, however there have been so many comments made in a matter of hours which I feel more than prove the point I was trying to make, so let's do a Sunday night post-quiz study session.

🤔 Firstly, why did I ask the questions "which pasture photo below do you personally feel looks to be the most appropriate for the equine species" and "which pasture photo below do you feel is the desired paddock to keep the equine species in by most horse owners and enthusiasts?"

❌ To put it simply, I firmly believe that a lot of the health issues and diseases we see in horses today are man-made problems. Somewhere along the way we as an equine-loving-society have become so caught up in the fantasy of lush and green, rolling pastures or perfectly manicured lawns without giving consideration to what forages are the most-species appropriate for our horses.

4️⃣5️⃣ 𝗔𝗻 𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴) 𝟰𝟱% 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝟭 𝗼𝗿 𝟱 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀.

🌿 These statistics unfortunately prove the point I was trying to make about man-made issues being the root of so many health concerns we see today. Photo 1 is a paddock of Brachiaria which is predominantly grown as cattle forage. For horses, it is an oxalate concern, a Mycotoxin risk, responsible for skin hypersensitivity and irritations, often has a poor indigestible fibre (the stuff that helps form manure so it doesn't come out looking like water) and a high moisture content, and while looking lush and green, is often a poor forage choice for horses. Photo 5 is a paddock of predominantly white clover which is a legume and therefore high in protein and calories, generally high in sugar, and if over-consumed often triggers problems such as gastrointestinal upset, colic, diarrhea, laminitis, and photosensitivity. I like a little bit of clover for some horses as it helps to boost the nutritive value of their overall intake, but would I want a whole paddock of it? No sir.

1️⃣5️⃣ 𝟭𝟱% 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝟯 𝗼𝗿 𝟲 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀.

🌱 Some horses would do just fine on short and overgrazed grasses, however these sorts of pastures always leave me wondering about where the horse is getting any decent fibre (and natural prebiotics) from if they aren't supplemented with hay. Short, stressed, or overgrazed grasses are often leafy with little stalk and subsequently little insoluble fibre content, and they are often high in sugar due to continuously trying to grow and re-establish. Imagine a 500kg horse trying to eat 2% (10kg) of their body weight per day from a pasture of this length? How much sand or dirt is ingested and how much soil damage is caused in the process?

4️⃣0️⃣ 𝟰𝟬% 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗲𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝟮 𝗼𝗿 𝟰 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀.

🌾 For anyone who chose options 2 or 4 as their personal preference, good job. The grasses pictured in these photos are mature, native dryland grasses which means horses are able to meet their long-stemmed roughage requirements with ease, are intaking plenty of fibre which helps to maintain gastrointestinal health, moves ingested sand or dirt through the digestive system more effectively, operates as a natural (and free) prebiotic, and because they are mature generally have a lower non-structural carbohydrate concentration than alternative options.

🐎 While I am the first person to stand up and say you can only make so many assumptions about grass from a visual standpoint and testing is the only way to 100% know what sort of nutritional value it offers, I think this exercise helps to highlight why we are potentially seeing more and more gastric ulcers, hindgut acidosis, Equine Metabolic Syndrome, laminitis, obesity, dental decay, and so on diagnosed in modern-day horses. Horses are not supposed to eat improved, lush, and rich grasses. They are not cows or sheep. They are not supposed to scrounge around in the dirt to find roots, shoots, and immature leaves. They are not pigs. They have a giant fermentation vat in their hindgut and a digestive system that is physiologically designed to be processing long-stemmed, fibrous (soluble and insoluble fibre), relatively low non-structural carbohydrate roughage almost continuously. They are horses.

😁 Thank you to those who took the time to participate today!

08/11/2024

Stable Management Thanks

Chewing fences is a bad habit for horses, and it causes major issues for property maintenance.

08/11/2024

Thanks to Bob Wood Horses For Life

It's difficult to have a business in the horse industry today. So, move your business to the horse community - With the rise of the horse industry, riding students and horse training clients have lost a lot of respect for experienced professionals. This change has made it difficult or impossible to operate a local horse related business except in the few high end equestrian locations.

Today most young people who teach riding or train horses for a living struggle to make a profit. Instead of being treated as professionals, clients see them as service providers, and they expect you to fulfill their every expectation, even when their clients are wrong.

As these changes occurred, I was well established in my career. I was, therefore, less affected by students and clients who came to my farm expecting me to pander to them. I didn't matter if they arrived in a luxury car or a beat up truck. I was looking for committed students. I decided if they were a fit for my farm, not them. Today's young professionals feel they cannot be choosy about their clients in this era of entitled clients and students. But I think it is important for professionals to set the rules.

First, I suggest that people working in the horse business today identify what they do best. Do not attempt to be all things to all people. Let potential clients know that you have a focus. This alone will differentiate you from the common panderers, and having a focus will build your professional reputation. It will also help build your skills more quickly in the kind of work you do best. This is because you won't have the distraction of trying to do everything people ask or expect.

Next, you must require commitment. When people see you as only a service provider, they believe that you are subject to their whims and demands. They will arrive late, miss lessons and demand the impossible from you. I required a ten lesson commitment from students along with a down payment. Clients who sent me a horse or train, were required to make a substantial deposit. When you have these kinds of procedures, people will respect your professionalism. When they are required to act first by paying you a sum, they demonstrate their commitment to your work.

You will need well trained, calm lesson horses. Minimally, I recommend having one large easy keeper and one reliable pony to start. You can half lease (horse not available during scheduled lessons but any other time) lesson horses to capable students to help them get more riding time and this will help cover the cost of a lesson horse's keep.

If you have students who can help improve a horse, you can give them lessons on your prospects in training, which increases the number of your lesson horse string. Plus, this teaches a student basic horse training while it generalizes the horse's training to include new and different riders.

My business plan was based on three income streams. Boarding and lessons paid the bills. Training other people's horses generated additional income. But the real profit was in selling horses that I bought and trained or retrained. To succeed at this, you must buy low and sell high. Most of my prospects came from the racetrack or auctions and some from breeders who had too many horses.

The money is in the horses, and you must be a good judge of prospects You must also be able to maximize each horse's potential. Find a mentor or an apprenticeship because you might go broke trying to teach yourself. And do not be afraid to cut your losses. An auction horse can go back to the auction where you might find a better prospect.

Being a riding instructor or horse trainer can be more of a lifestyle than a business. This difference is also the difference between operating in the horse industry or in the horse community. There is a cultural difference. A horse community based business won't make you rich but can support you. I you choose to be strictly a business and part of the horse industry, not the community, you probably will be forced to do things in your operation that you will regret like using training shortcuts, drugging horses and other low quality actions just to make money.

I recommend offering diverse experiences to your students. We played broomstick polo, did moonlight rides, rode drill team and went to a few competitions each year. These kinds of diverse activities teach riders that a horse is a horse and that riding is riding no matter what the discipline. Fox hunting and polo were my primary focuses, but diversity kept my students interested and striving to improve.

Build your own barn culture with high standards of horsemanship. This is what worked for me. It doesn't matter if you rent or own a farm, you can create viable business based on quality. Be authentic. Each of us has something special to offer.

* images, the top three are me giving lessons at my farm. I most often taught while mounted on a green horse that I was training. Bottom images are of applications from lessons learned. me and students fox hunting, drill team and playing broomstick polo.

08/11/2024

Bob Wood Horses For Life Thanks

One of the consequences of today's discipline isolation has been that many disciplines now have their specific "correct" horse. For example, dressage judges no longer score horses performance on their movements in the context of an individual horse's breed. Judges now measure and score every horse against the "ideal" movement of the Warmblood type. Dressage used to mean "training" for all breeds. There was no single "correct" horse based on one breed type's supposed "ideal" movement.

Dressage competitions, not long ago, included a diverse range of breeds. But now a dressage horse has to be a Warmblood because that breed type is thought to have the exclusive ability to demonstrate "correct" movement above every other breed. I think this concept is absurd. This idea of a "correct horse" for each discipline undermines the idea of the versatile, all-around horse. This has produced many unintended consequences.

It means that every human body type, if they wish to compete in modern dressage, must ride a Warmblood, the only "correct" horse. Whether it be for dressage, reining, or other equestrian pursuits, horse-rider mismatches are now inevitable. If you are a large heavy reining person you must ride a small QH and if you are a tiny dressage person you must ride a large Warmblood.

Before this narrow idea of the "correct horse", riders rode horses that related to how their individual body type fit with a horse's body type to make an effective unified team. Yes, there are breeds that are generally better at a discipline. Thoroughbreds have the speed required in racing, for example, but most equestrian pursuits are not based on only one trait as racing is.

The "correct breed" concept has resulted in changes to equipment and training regimes. These changes are intended to overcome rider-horse body type mismatches. In reining, oversized riders on small horses, doing 30 foot plus slides, means that those small horses begin receiving hock injections as early as 3 or 4 years old. In dressage, small riders must now use very different dressage saddles that allow them to leverage their low body weight to achieve the required hyperflexed bend in the neck for competition. See link below.

The tail is wagging the dog today when it comes to matching horses and riders. Riders now must adapt to a prescribed horse type for a discipline instead of finding a more rational horse-rider match. This ridiculous artificial concept of single correct horse must change if authentic horsemanship is to be reestablished and if reason is to prevail.

*link to post about how and why dressage saddles have changed to overcome rider-horse mismatches -

www.facebook.com/BobWoodHorsesForLife/posts/pfbid029ziRUXRMJtPUTxu8kvPmoWkygycfoek6j1KGTKfNXejdp7BE8S1N95d87vZFjrqkl

08/11/2024

Indigo Ancestral Health Thanks

Have a nervous, anxious, or explosive horse?

Did you know that in human medicine and psychiatry, they are using a plant extract called inositol to treat veterans with PTSD? This works as a great addition to the highly anxious horse's diet to help break the stress cycle and allow them to function in a parasympathetic manner without drugs or making them dull. Use the link below to try our favorite brand that won't break the bank.

*Serving size depends on the individual horse. If you need assistance determining how much to feed, send us a message!

https://amzn.to/3YG3a0N

08/11/2024

Equus Magazine
Thank You

08/11/2024

Thanks to Horse & Rider Magazine

Here's a quick breakdown of what a ration balancer is—and isn't—and which horses can benefit from this option.

08/11/2024

Thanks to Amy Skinner Horsemanship

“Ride like you’re on a cloud,” my teacher said. “Each foot step soft!”

It’s getting dark. The highway traffic from behind my arena has picked up, I can barely hear her. A motorcycle backfires.

I’m focusing with every scrap of my ability.

One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. I almost have it: my gelding softens, his neck comes out of his chest and he breathes.

My daughter comes flying up the hill. “Hi mommy!”

My geldings head pops up, I feel myself tighten. Back to counting.
“Stay with me!” My teacher commands. One, two, three, four.
My beautiful gray is scrambling now, his eye on the little girl leaping off the gate, throwing sand, playing with whips and flags from my corner collection.

Logically, I know rythm focuses and balances the horse. I’ve seen it many times - taught it many times. Mentally, now, i have to fight to stay present. It is a battle.

“Loosen the reins! Loosen the reins!”
How can anyone ever loosen the reins in chaos? I think of my poor students, and suddenly understand their plight.

Breathing, breathing, counting. I drown out the traffic, let go of my surroundings. I hear them, see them, but stay here, stride for stride.

Back to looseness, my gray sneezes.

“Ah! The schwung! He’s swinging his back now!” She exclaims, she waves her arms excitedly

It works every time. I know it does, but there is always the struggle to hone it- to live it, breathe it, be it: rythm, relaxation, connection.

So simple, so profound, and yet, the hardest task I have ever undertaken.

08/11/2024

Thanks to TheHorse.com

Do we underestimate the impact of ill-fitting tack on our horses? Learn how to assess saddle fit and when it might be time to call a pro.

08/11/2024

Genuine equine nutrition is necessary for all horses - Simply feeding it without encompassing science & feed management awareness principles eventually results in compromise of health, welfare & longevity !