Equine Nutrition Australasia (ENA)

02/12/2025

Roughage (Hay)is the Most important part of Equine 🐎 Nutrition - Anyone can sell it as a Commodity but when it comes to horses You really need knowledge, common sense & experience (lots of it !) to really understand how to help your horse's health & longevity.
Mitavite Asia (MA) can provide the entire package when it comes to providing horse nutrition expertise & advice. Hay options to suit All Horses, activities & budgets over the whole of Malaysia 🇲🇾

01/12/2025

Hoofology Thanks
Regina Fränken Thank You

BEHIND THE JARGON — THE LANGUAGE OF HOOF PATHOLOGY

PART 7 — THE NAVICULAR REGION

The navicular region is an anatomical cluster: the navicular bone itself, its fibrocartilage, the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) as it passes over it, the navicular bursa, the impar ligament, and the supporting soft tissues.
Reports often use technical language that sounds alarming but is simply descriptive. Below are the most common terms and the precise meaning behind each.

NAVICULAR BONE (DISTAL SESAMOID)

• “Flexor cortex thinning”

The flexor cortex is the smooth, dense layer of bone that lies under the DDFT.
“Thinning” describes reduced thickness of this layer on MRI or CT.
It reflects chronic biomechanical loading, not an acute injury.

• “Corticomedullary blurring” / “loss of demarcation”

The boundary between the outer cortex and inner spongy bone (medulla) is less distinct.
This is a chronic adaptive or degenerative change, indicating altered bone remodelling.

• “Medullary sclerosis”

An increase in bone density inside the navicular bone.
This is one of the hallmark findings in navicular bone remodelling, but not automatically “navicular disease.”
It signals long-term altered forces, not inflammation by itself.

• “Medullary cyst-like lesions”

Small fluid-like or low-density pockets inside the bone.
These can be developmental, load-related, or incidental.
They do not prove pain unless correlated with other findings and clinical signs.

• “Synovial invaginations” (SI)

Tiny channels or pockets where the joint’s synovial lining dips into the navicular bone.
More invaginations, deeper invaginations, or irregular margins indicate increased joint-related load.
They are descriptors, not diagnoses.

NAVICULAR BURSA

• “Bursal effusion”

Increased fluid within the navicular bursa.
Signifies inflammation of the bursa itself or irritation from nearby structures (commonly the DDFT surface).

• “Synovial proliferation” / “synovitis”

Thickening or increased activity of the bursal lining.
A marker of inflammation, not a specific cause.

DEEP DIGITAL FLEXOR TENDON (DDFT) — WITHIN THE FOOT

• “Core lesion”

A focal region of tendon fibre disruption.
Seen as hyperintense (bright) on MRI.
Indicates genuine tendon injury.

• “Dorsal tearing / dorsal fibrillation”

Damage or fraying of the surface of the DDFT where it glides over the navicular bone.
This is a common finding in the caudal hoof because of the sharp change in angle at the distal interphalangeal joint.

• “Signal heterogeneity”

The tendon fibres show mixed signal intensity instead of being uniform.
This can indicate degenerative change, chronic strain, or low-grade inflammation, depending on pattern and location.

• “Enthesopathy at the DDFT insertion”

Changes at the tendon’s insertion on the solar surface of the distal phalanx.
Often a combination of remodelling, sclerosis, and irregularity, reflecting long-term traction.

IMPAR LIGAMENT (NAVICULAR SUSPENSORY LIGAMENT)

• “Desmopathy of the impar ligament”

“Desmopathy” simply means ligament pathology.
This may include fibre disruption, thickening, or altered signal intensity.
Often arises from overload or altered biomechanics, not a single acute incident.

• “Enthesophytes at the impar insertion”

Bony growths at the ligament’s attachment point.
A sign of chronic strain.

PALMAR LIGAMENTS & SUPPORTING SOFT TISSUES

• “Collateral sesamoidean ligament desmopathy”

Damage or degenerative change in the ligaments that help stabilise the navicular bone against the coffin bone.

• “Palmar soft-tissue thickening”

General increased tissue volume behind the navicular bone.
A non-specific finding that requires clinical correlation.

NAVICULAR SYNDROME — WHAT THE TERM DOES NOT MEAN

“Navicular syndrome” is not a single disease.
It is a clinical label for heel pain, and the cause can be:

DDFT pathology,

bursal inflammation,

bone remodelling,

impar-ligament strain,

collateral ligament injury,

or multi-structure involvement.

Reports describe structures.
“Syndrome” describes the horse’s signs.
They are not interchangeable.

WHY THIS MATTERS

The navicular apparatus is a force-transfer zone.
Every stride loads the DDFT, compresses the navicular bone’s flexor surface, and stresses the connective tissues anchoring everything together.

Imaging terms like “corticomedullary blurring,” “dorsal fibrillation,” “invaginations,” or “enthesopathy” describe how this system has adapted, remodelled, or been overloaded — not a verdict.
Understanding the language means owners can read reports with clarity, not fear.

01/12/2025

Equine Academy
Thanks

A mostly non-horse related post, which will still involve horses.
I don't mean to come off apocalyptic, but I think it is important that we all recognize and put effort into mitigating the dangers of AI, especially in regards to social media posts. Let's talk about the "why" this is bad, as well as ways you can try to figure out if something is AI before you share it.

The Why: Because if not, we will soon be drowning (even more than we already are) in fake, AI generated content. We will lose the human touch. The human creativity. Knowledge, expertise, creativity, expression, art. All will get drowned out by the plethora of quickly made AI text/stories/pictures/videos. You think AI can't imitate almost anything? AI could make a painting, it can make a story, heck, it even just made the top Billboard chart for country song this month. I don't care how catchy something is, it's meaningless if it isn't a real person creating it and singing it.

We will lose the human connection and human touch. And not only that, but it can be dangerous. Both politically/socially, but also to bring it back to horses, it could give incorrect, potentially dangerous advice that ignores the nuance and years/decades of horse knowledge that experts in the field have gathered, and that AI cannot apply individually. It has not seemed to foray into horses much yet, but we need to be aware of that possibility - AI generated horse advice or training advice. It's a recipe for disaster, and takes away from hardworking people who have spent their entire lives acquiring knowledge, trying to help people, and trying to make ends meet in what is, as we all know, not a high paying profession or hobby.

I've been mostly shouting into the void lately on AI posts that have been shared by my friends. Because 99% of the time, they didn't realize it was AI.
Unfortunately, 99% of that time, they also don't care much even after finding out. Usually some sort of reasoning of "Well, it was a heartwarming story" or "It could be a true story, so even if it's not, the meaning is the same", or "well, we read fictional books, so this isn't any different."

To put my own opinion out there, I'd rather focus on the REAL heartwarming and/or meaningful stories of animals doing great things or humans connecting, not just some made-up one. And as far as fictional books go, those are still made by *real* people, who have poured hours of time and effort and emotion. Not some random person (potentially in another country who doesn't even speak English, not that that really matters) who is sitting behind a computer, typing a 10 second prompt into AI and spitting these out like a factory. There's something to be said about the human value, human creativity, human effort and time, and connecting with people who are part of our community, not just a leach looking to generate engagement and make money when there are people *actually contributing to society and putting effort in to try to help people, inspire people, and/or make a living.

I'm not saying all AI is bad. It can be very useful for certain things. But I'm terrified of it replacing content creation/connection. For example, I'm fine that I used AI to create this image (from a prompt of "AI robot caught red-handed" - that it certainly was...). It's clearly something I could not make (unlike a story). But I'm not having it create a story for me to post for notoriety. I'm not trying to generate engagement off of a completely made-up video that I put 60 seconds of prompt-writing effort into. Funny video of sasquatch? Sure, clearly fake and something someone couldn't make otherwise (unless they were some big movie studio). But a fake video of animals rescuing people? No, it's trying to imitate to pull on heartstrings.

If I've hopefully convinced you that we should be more wary of AI generated content, here are ways you can discern whether something is potentially AI or not:

1️⃣Look at the page bio. Fortunately, at least some of these pages are at least forthright and will put in their bio that their content/stories are AI generated or "fictional" or something similar. So take literally 3 seconds to click on the page and read the bio.

2️⃣Also related, if the bio doesn't say that, click on the "about" section, click on the "page transparency" section. It will tell you the country location of who runs the page. Not saying we only need to share content that is only U.S. based, but many of these pages will be *presenting* like they are local but posting from countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Phillipines, etc. The U.S. is the biggest market, so they just create AI stories that they think will interest U.S. audiences in order to make money from engagement.

3️⃣If the story is about someone or something in particular, take 5 seconds to Google that person/thing. See if there is even any validity to it, or if it was just a made up story (sometimes still using real names of people, but just embellishing and creating a fake story about them).

4️⃣If the post/video/picture ignites emotion from you - whether positive or negative. Happiness or anger. That should be an immediate red flag to do a bit more digging. Most of these AI farms are just trying to generate engagement, which is how social media companies then pay them. The most engaging posts are the ones that make us *feel* something. Oftentimes anger, but still plenty of times happiness. Posts about a feel-good story still get massive engagement, but can be completely fake and AI generated.

5️⃣Along similar lines, if something sounds shocking - good or bad - that should also be a red flag to spend a minute checking into it. Some political figure making an outrageous statement (which still could happen), or some major event happening. Take a minute, google it. If it's on social media, and it's shocking, then it will already have been covered by a reputable news source.

6️⃣If the video has a "Sora" watermark, typically on the right side, that is an AI video generator. Or conversely, if the video has a suspicious blurred spot or other marking covering a random spot in the video briefly, they are trying to cover the Sora watermark to hide that it's AI. Sora isn't the only AI video generator, but it is a main one. Others unfortunately don't always have protections like the watermark to try to notify people. Also, many AI videos, at least at the current moment, try to fake being real by posing as security cameras or Ring doorbell cameras to mask any lower qualities of the video.

7️⃣If the people's voices in the video sound slightly metallic, that is many times AI. This probably won't be a sign forever, I'm sure AI will get better at adjusting that out, but for now, that is a sign that it's AI.

8️⃣If the photos have a slight "airbrushed" quality to them, or if the photos don't make sense. If they just don't look like a regular picture you could take with your phone, or have seen a professional photographer take, that's a sign they might be fake. This is similar to this photo, or mostly in the past, where people were missing fingers or had additional fingers. AI got much better at not doing that, so this red flag might not be around for much longer. Or if it is a picture and a story, if the picture doesn't match the story fully - that's AI. For example, I saw a post the other day about some retired teacher who took time to tutor a kid named Miguel. The photo did have an elderly woman and a kid, but the kid's shirt said "Migel", and it was raining in the photo, and while surrounding people had umbrellas, the grandma and Miguel did not, but were somehow working with paper, and neither the paper nor their clothing were wet. Just look for inconsistencies or things that don't make sense if it was a real photo someone would've taken.

9️⃣If the page has some seemingly ambiguous/generic name. Something like "Wholesome Stories" or "Awesome Tales" or similar sort of ideas. Most likely AI.

🔟If the page's profile picture doesn't seem real, or for pages that are named like a real person "Jane Doe", if they don't have many profile pictures, or if they don't have pictures that seem real or aren't really related, that is most likely AI.

1️⃣1️⃣If the entire page has extremely similar posts. I.e. every post is some feel-good story

These are just a handful of ways to judge. AI will continue to advance, and over time, it may be harder to discern whether something is real or not. But it is incumbent on all of us to take the extra 60 seconds to verify something before sharing it. Because if we don't, pretty soon social media will only be AI content because those are the only things getting engagement. And that's just not a society I want to engage with. I want the human connection.

01/12/2025

Informed rider coaching
Thank You

01/12/2025

Thanks
esi_trainer_coach

01/12/2025

01/12/2025

My New Horse
Thanks

Can horses eat fruits and vegetables like oranges, squash, spinach, and more? Learn how to add produce to your horse's diet safely.

01/12/2025

LS Horsemanship Thanks

Behavioural knowledge should come first 🐴

How to read basic equine behaviour should be the first thing anyone learns about horses, not just something that you talk about once you have a problem. Unfortunately the industry has a really long way to go.

I run online talks for young people/riding clubs/various groups based around reading very basic horse behaviour. Part of the talk involves showing a variety of images/videos and getting people to tell me what they see in terms of how they think that horse is feeling or what could be going on in that scenario. A huge number of people cannot recognise very basic indicators of stress and yet they could name and put together every piece of a double bridle or jump round a XC course. We should be prioritising teaching this stuff.

The difficulty is the instructors don’t know it either, the amount of misinformation being spread surrounding behaviour being taught by highly-regarded people with industry-recognised qualifications is frustrating and harmful to horses. And its not their fault, because that is what they have been taught, this is the industry standard. Its all about getting horses to comply and if you’re good at doing that and you say nice things to the horse while you’re doing it then you’re a great horseperson. How can anyone learn to recognise stress and fear if seeing highly-stressed horses is normalised?

While I appreciate there is much more talk around looking for pain as a reason for behaviour now, things are still very lacking and a lot of horses are still being treated like crap despite people’s good intentions. We’re still describing their behaviour away as dominant, cheeky and stubborn instead of recognising a horse under stress that is not coping with what is being asked of them.

I used to think I was a great trainer and thought I knew all about horse behaviour because I practiced some natural horsemanship techniques which basically involved applying pressure until they did what I wanted. I would get results and compliance and I did encourage people to go to the vet to look for pain when it didn’t work, but it was very basic level and I now realise I missed so, so many subtle behavioural cues. I was working with false information, I had just believed what someone else had told me and discounted anything that made me feel uncomfortable about what I was doing. Once I really studied equine behaviour I realised I had to change what I was doing and the way I was looking at horses if I wanted to be ethical.

My friend told me an interesting memory of her first riding lesson as a child. She remembers arriving and being upset because the pony was tacked up in the arena waiting for her and they wanted her to mount straight up, she said “but the pony hasn’t met me before, he doesn’t know me? I can’t just get straight on his back?” I would imagine the majority of people who start riding horses do so because they love horses. Wouldn’t life be so much better for our horses if we were taught to treat them as sentient beings and respect them as animals from day one instead of indoctrinated into dominating and using them however we see fit.

This isn’t a traditional vs natural horsemanship debate, a lot of the natural horsemanship stuff is full of behavioural pseudoscience and its just making horses do stuff with flags and ropes instead of whips and spurs while using fluffier language. We praise training when we hear kind words and stories that make us feel good, even if the horse we’re looking at is telling us otherwise. How can we hear what the horse is saying if someone keeps mistranslating their words to us?

This isn’t meant to be a negative post, I just really want to offer resources to anyone who wants them. Interestingly I find the people who are newer to horses are much more open to listening and understanding this stuff. There is so much amazing content available online now to open up doors to people who want to do the best for their horses. Feel free to message me. 🐴

01/12/2025

Animal Behaviour and Trauma Recovery Service UK
Thanks

𝗕𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁

𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲

I have posted and deleted this four times this time it stays. Whether you agree or don’t. Whether you like me or hate me. This matters for horses and people.

This post is inspired by one written by a colleague.There is such a widespread need for deeper true evidence-based horse behaviour knowledge. Nobody wins in the current situation in these Natural Horsemanship versus Traditional Horsemanship versus Positive Reinforcement debates not the horses , not the owners and riders and not even the trainers who in some situations end up causing unintentional harm because they are given incorrect information and are doing their absolute best with what they know! There is so much collateral damage . Horses get hurt and in the worse case scenarios both people and horses are put at risk. All for the sake of not accessing good quality knowledge. I understand it can feel a minefield and we need to acknowledge that understanding horse behaviour goes far beyond just basic learning theory but extends to an understanding of equine behaviour, ethology and well-being using models such as the Five Domains.

Ultimately good intentions aren’t enough. We all me included need to strive to do better.

We all have a responsibility to support people and horses in a way that sees the whole horse and the whole person and recognise the millennia of tradition we are up against but I truly believe we can create spaces that support horses and people .

🐴🐶Supporting horses and dogs who are fearful, overwhelmed, traumatised or who struggle to cope in the human world. Helping you to help them. Full APBC member & ABTC registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist 📍South East WhatsApp 07763317464

01/12/2025

Steady Horse
Thanks

If your horse has ever pulled back at the tie rail, you know how fast things can get dangerous. But here’s the part most riders don’t realize:

Pulling back isn’t stubbornness—it’s panic.

Your horse isn’t trying to fight you… they’re trying to escape pressure they don’t understand.

When you teach a horse how to handle poll pressure, everything changes. They stop feeling trapped. They stop bracing. And they learn to soften and step forward instead of exploding backward.

In the new blog, we break down:
• Why soft tying matters more than most people think
• The five exercises that teach a horse to follow pressure
• How desensitizing (standing still and in motion) rewrites your horse’s instincts
• Real examples from riders learning these exact skills

If your horse has ever sat back—or you’re worried they might—this will help you build confidence and prevent dangerous setbacks.

👉 Read the full blog here: https://vist.ly/4g6b2

01/12/2025

Many Thanks to Fox Run Equine Center