Calm Healthy Horses

Angus had a mild Head-Flick along with serious Muzzle Twitching! Laura contacted us about her horse Angus back on 21st August Over the previous 4 - 5 months Angus had begun showing the odd ‘flick’, become tight in his back and hind-quarter muscles, didn’t want to be bridled and became agitated when tied up. He had also developed incessant twitching of his muzzle shown in the video and wanted to rub his head a lot. His teeth were checked (no issues). Veterinary assessment was ‘Trigeminal Mediated Head-Shaking’. We helped Laura make some diet changes which included eliminating the short, green grass as much as possible, increasing hay consumption, altered his daily feed and switched him to our CHH supplements (which we know how to use for horses with these issues). Less than a month later Laura can’t believe the difference in such a short time. Even her Mum says he is a completely different horse, 'his eyes have relaxed'. “He’s even filled out, and the body worker said his muscles feel really good, no tightness or tightening and his top-line has improved even though he is out of work”. All the ‘symptoms’ Laura listed are frequently seen in HS horses so they all tend to resolve along with the HS. Thanks so much to Laura for sharing!

Calm Healthy Horses – not just for horses! Myskee contacted us because her young pet pig (Pickle) became tender on her feet, jumpy, grumpy/ not wanting to be touched, pushy, unsettled and tense. She wanted to know if our products would be safe to feed to pigs. Based on the issues she was displaying we recommended AlleviateGold. Myskee gave her one scoop (10g) for 2 day’s mixed in with her food. Within a few days: “Our baby girl is feeling much better! She now has a big smile, loose wagging tail, back to being affectionate and is overall way more comfortable! Your products are honestly magic in a bag. Thank you so much”. As the products are minerals with vitamins, there is no reason they should not address the same mineral imbalances horses suffer from and way back in time, horses and pigs, believe it or not came down the same evolutionary line. Pigs too are mono-gastrics. All mammals in fact, share the same basic physiology.

GRASS AFFECTED SYNDROME - IS THIS TRUE? More and more horse owners are keen to learn about the grass their horses are grazing, because they wish to avoid their horses becoming ‘Grass-Affected’ Hence we are starting a series of posts around the subject so everyone can “Get Grass Smart” Before we begin a few points need clearing up. We were astounded to read a recent post by a company denying that there is any such thing as a ‘Grass Affected’ horse. Instead, horses grazing spring grass are merely ‘fresh and uppity’. If only that was all they were! Here are some facts around the matter. There are plenty of owners who manage their horses just fine out on their pasture, often with the help of appropriate supplements, but sometimes one or more aspects of the grass overwhelm the horse’s metabolism, as is the case with the horse in the video. This results in horses becoming hyper-sensitive, dangerous to handle, let alone ride, get sore feet and laminitis, some develop sacro-iliac issues, head flicking, or staggers - to list just a few examples. The safest, quickest, and many times the ONLY way to help these horses and keep their handlers/riders safe, is to take them off the offending pasture. Safety is paramount. The horse in the video had suddenly become very stiff, couldn’t lower her head to the ground, couldn’t even get to the water-trough. The vet ran blood tests and we addressed the mineral imbalances - actually signs of 'grass tetany'. Her owner did a great job in difficult circumstances and now the horse is steady and sound again (took around a week). We don’t advocate at all, locking horses in yards or pens (except as an emergency short term measure) rather we give in-depth advice about how to manage horses in their particular situations. It was asserted that ‘Grass Affected Syndrome’ is not a veterinary defined term – we would say YET because many vets are now recognising this as a very real issue as we are getting more and

Head-Nodding/Flicking/Shaking/Ear shy ............. In our experience these are 'neurological' issues and are nearly always directly attributable to nutrition. When this owner contacted us about her horse who had rapid onset of 'head-nodding’, we knew what to suggest because we have prior experience of successfully managing this and other metabolic conditions. In the first video you can see how miserable he is! Although not as common as ‘head-flicking/shaking’ (where the horse involuntarily flicks his head upwards), ‘head-nodding’ or flicking the head downwards is a variation of head shaking that we have encountered before. Affected horses share similar levels of irritation to the facial nerves which results in the nodding, we noticed the ‘aeroplane ears’ which also tend to present in head-shakers. Additionally, this horse had a degree of light sensitivity, which is another classic symptom in head-shakers. For this horse we were able to quickly identify the mineral imbalances and micro-nutrient deficiencies that needed addressing. He was already living in a grass free zone and fed plain grass hay, so we were able to make some simple feed adjustments and offer some appropriate supplementation to bring him relief. As a result, the ‘nodding’ lessened within a few days and had completely gone within 10 days. In this case the response to the dietary changes were relatively rapid. In our experience this can happen with many horses and ponies, but equally highly sensitive and chronic cases can take much longer to achieve this level of recovery. It all depends upon the individual horse, already being on a grass free / hay-based diet probably helped in the speed of recovery in this case. It is important to note that we were only able to offer our help because we have developed our own range of supplements that are purpose-built to support horses with dietary related metabolic conditions. Our formulations have evolved over 20 years in

Hyper-sensitivity – unwillingness to be touched/brushed/flies drive them mad! It can be puzzling when your horse uncharacteristically ‘doesn’t want to be touched or brushed’, girthed up or gives you the evil look and even threatens you when you are putting his cover on. In more extreme cases this can get to the point where they can be ‘twitchy’ as in the video clip we took to illustrate the point. Well handled domestic horses would normally only twitch like this when a fly lands on them. The question comes to mind – is this ‘behavioural’ (ie has the horse has become ‘naughty’) or is he genuinely trying to communicate with you that the act of being touched or groomed is not a pleasant experience for him. He will give you plenty of warning signs to ‘cease and desist’. First he will try to avoid being touched by moving away – these will escalate to pinning the ears, giving you a ‘dirty look’, tensing his muscles, swishing his tail and if you still don’t take heed he will reach around and nip, stomp his feet, even swing his hind-quarters towards you. The horse is just doing his best to communicate his discomfort. Respect the fact he is trying to tell you something and take heed. Communicate to him that you are listening by backing off – this will immediately de-escalate the ‘behaviour’. When horses exhibit these signs they are ‘not at Square One ie they are not in a fit state to proceed with handling/training. In our experience it is a waste of time, unpleasant for the horse and potentially very risky, to be trying to 'work through' any of these issues by persisting because this is not a training issue. Rather, aspects of the horse’s diet are disturbing the bio-chemistry of nerve function. In this case it is affecting the horse's peripheral (outer-most) nervous endings. The horse’s skin is densely populated with nerve endings all over his body (unlike we humans) and in these cases, those tiny nerves are inappro

Kara did not think this day would ever come! Thanks so much to Kara for sharing King’s journey back from head-shaking. Feb 24th - Kara from VIC, Australia, contacted us because her16.2hh, 9 yr old TB ‘King’ was head-shaking so badly she had given up riding him. The videos show how uncomfortable he was and how the urge to rub his nose was strong! A Veterinary consultation resulted in King having Allergy Tests and he was put on a course of preddy granules, plus a cortisone shot (to reduce symptoms of allergic-type reactions). Neither made any change for King. Back then King was on agistment and his forage consisted of short, green grass plus half a bale of Teff hay over 24 hours. However, Kara managed to find a way to section him off in a suitably sized area with some trees, to get him off the green grass as best she could and increase his hay consumption. We over-hauled his hardfeeds to be more appropriate and incorporated some of our supplements which we know work well for head-shaking horses and which included addressing the oxalates in the Teff hay. Kara kept touch with us over the next few months so we could adjust his supplements according to how he was doing. As is the norm for HS horses, it wasn’t an over-night fix but by early April King was showing signs of improvements. When being lunged there were signs of HS but nowhere near as bad as he was around a month or two ago. We explained how to not have any particular expectations of a day and adjust what she was doing to stay in his comfort zone and not stress him at all April 25th – On lunging there was definitely an improvement - First 10 minutes or so he was great, wind also picked up as well as a bit of rain which I found aggravated it a little more. I’ve found that he doesn’t get the violent “zaps” as much anymore, just shaking and nose blowing. We assured Kara she was on the right path and to keep up the good work. May 15th “Some good news, King has been doing amazing a

Misconceptions about the 'Grass Affected' condition. A few of the comments in the previous post highlighted some misunderstandings. Some people seem to think that if you buy a horse that isn’t Grass Affected, or is claimed to not be Grass Affected by the seller, that this horse will be safe to buy – that it is more or less a guarantee that it won’t be Grass Affected at your place – not true. What the thinking here is, that some horses don’t get Grass Affected. Also not true. In fact, just because they are not symptomatic does not mean they are not brewing for it sub-clinically and won’t become symptomatic on the grass at your place. The point is, that the horse’s metabolism can cope for so long, it copes until it doesn’t – ie reaches ‘tipping point’. That could be the moment he reaches your place (or soon after) or it could be when spring or other conditions make a change in the grass that tips him over, or it could even be several years down the track before things start going haywire. Horses that are kept out on the range or on vast acreages of native unimproved land are least likely to get Grass-Affected. Horses kept on dairy pasture or equivalent, are very likely to get Grass-Affected. “Can you do any sort of testing blood work to try and not buy a grass affected horse?” Short answer – no. Whether or not he becomes Grass Affected depends on the pasture both past and present – not the horse. If you have the right set up, you can take on any Grass Affected horse, no matter how bad he is (provided it is safe for him to travel) keep him as we advise and end up with a brilliant horse. The opposite to this is when people who don’t understand the grass, buy perfectly good calm healthy horses and turn them into 'Fire-Breathing Dragons' by keeping them on the wrong forage. Similar things can happen when grazing brand new grass – look out for a post on this soon.

Like so many wee ponies, dear little Coco ran into trouble with laminitis and Cushing’s. Despite being taken off grass a month before contacting us, and being fed plenty of 3 year old plain grass hay, along with being put on Previcox for pain and Prascend for the Cushings, managing these issues was proving difficult. Belinda reached out for help and we went over Coco’s diet. Coco was previously getting the following as a hard feed… A Cup of soaked beet Half a cup of zero 2x a day along with some supplementation (not from our range) These feeds are advertised as ‘laminitis safe’, However we maintain that these claims shouldn’t be made at all - whether any particular feed will cause or exacerbate laminitis or not, will be down to the metabolic state of the horse they are being fed to. As Coco was clearly still in a lot of pain (see start of video) priority was to get her pain-free. We advised all hard feed be removed at this stage and instead a slurry of AlleviateGold and SOS, with her pills crushed and in there too, syringed in morning and night. Belinda also made sure the pony had a soft pile of sawdust to stand in – this is very important to help support the bone column as well as giving her somewhere comfy to lie down. Two weeks later Belinda reported that the pony had ‘improved loads’ and she sent another video – what a great improvement! Now she could halve the Gold and SOS and introduce a small feed of the following… Timothy chaff and a handful of sunflower seeds with PremiumMVA The final video we received today – just a month later, shows her much welcomed recovery. Back to her ‘sassy’ self! Well done Belinda, bringing a horse or pony through laminitis is hard work but worth the effort. The way forward to ensure no relapses is to create a 100% grass free track with options of shade and shelter and friends. Ideas around this are here plus there are great facebook groups now that this way of keeping horses has become mo

This story is for those people who have Head-Shaking horses or as in Logan’s case ‘Head-Bobbing/Nodding'. Logan’s dedicated owners stuck with it, gave us feedback all the way and this account is a great illustration of the process. While it took 4-5 months to resolve, this is not a long time in the lifespan of a horse like Logan who now has many happy years ahead of him. It was interesting that in this case, the issue was not caused by green grass – but by the hay he was consuming plus his metabolism had been compromised by Lyme disease. Logan’s owners Anne & Dave live in Oregon, USA. Thankyou Anne for your detailed account! “Here’s an uplifting story to provide hope. Our Logan is a 19 yr TWH Gelding. His primary job is as an excellent, trusted trail horse. He has a very calm, quiet, thoughtful disposition. He lives in a drylot paddock at our home with us and his brother from another mother, Lucas. He had sudden onset headshaking (HS) starting November of 2023. It presented as “nodding” (which we equated to humming to himself), then a little more amplitude we called “bobbing”, with “snapping” in varying degrees. Some days he was very, very hard to watch, and he certainly would not have been rideable on these days. At some point, I could not hold a feed pan for him without ensuring I gave him plenty of room to snap and not clock me. And his 90% uv mask made little difference....he still ‘bobbed’ He is fed Low Sugar tested hay and a premium brand of supplements. It is of note that although he lives in a dry lot, and is fed tested hay, his supplements were alfalfa- and flax- based… with a small amount of molasses in one of them. At the time this started, he wasn’t working much as the weather was icy…. His health history includes presenting as “positive” for Lyme disease when we bought him 12 years ago. He has an extensive list of allergies, as confirmed by allergy testing, and was treated with a serum protocol. Whe

Wrapping your head around the ‘Grass’ message!! The previous post pointed out that ‘all grass is not equal’ and that it is necessary to understand the various aspects of the grass your horse is eating. Because of course horses are supposed to eat grass, understandably it can be a stretch for people to come to the realisation that it isn’t ALWAYS good for their horses. We do see/hear our message being misinterpreted - ‘taking the horse off grass’ actually means taking them off UNSUITABLE grass. This usually means off short or lush green grass. We recognise there are many horse owners out there who genuinely don’t experience their horses becoming ‘grass-affected’ on their grass in their neck of the woods. We are happy for them but it pays to note that there are also vast numbers of horses who cannot cope with the grass that they are living on. Our messages are principally directed at the thousands of horse owners with horses who DO get ‘grass-affected’. We’re not just talking about horses getting a bit over-weight or a bit spooky here and there, we are helping horses globally who get footy, EMS, Laminitis, HS, PSSM, SIJ, Digestive Disorders, ‘Neurological & Neuro-muscular Disorders’, become hyper-sensitive or over-reactive, Behavioural, Allergies, Reproductive Issues and so on. These sadly, add up to an astronomical number of horses! The conditions listed can cost the owner not only financially but in WASTED YEARS, not to mention the stress of it all. Failure to understand the grass aspect may even be the end of the horse especially if seen, evaluated, diagnosed by people who do not understand this. There are horse owners who ‘get by’ because their horse doesn’t get ‘bad’ enough or do anything ‘scary’ enough that they are motivated to do something about their grass and they are inclined to put things down to the horses ‘temperament’ or breeding. This is so not true - all horses should be nothing other tha

What does ‘Neurological’ mean? It pays to understand this if you are a horse owner! The term means there is a problem with the nervous system. Alarmingly, this seems to be only interpreted to mean there is a ‘physical injury’ hence the x-rays and scans. That the most likely cause, given the horse has been out on green grass, is a ‘bio-chemistry injury’ isn’t even on the radar! This is yet another scenario where a lot of money can be spent looking for the least likely cause (which in Jimmy’s case could have resulted in him being pts) when the real cause is hiding in plain sight! "This is Jimmy our 12year old Welsh pony. I woke up one morning back in May 23 to find Jimmy shaking & wobbly (kinda like he was drunk). He was struggling to walk, high stepping in back end & had a wide stance when standing (like he was bracing himself). I contacted the vets, they checked for all sorts, eg: laminitis, took bloods, x-rayed his neck & back, but apart from a couple of things on his bloods that were slightly low everything else was fine. After several of these episodes & several more vet visits it was thought to be ‘Neurological’ & the next step was Massey for a Neuro test & CT scan. Big decisions were ahead of us. Do we continue to Massey (which would be very costly, and potentially still not get an answer) or do we make the hard decision to put Jimmy to sleep! After speaking with our farrier Lee Jenkins, she recommended I talk to Jenny at Calm Healthy Horses. Jenny put us on a very intensive nutritional plan to address the ‘neurological’ issues (Premium MVA/SOS/AlleviateGold plus increased salt intake) and increased the protein with crushed linseed and sun-flower-meal. We continued to keep in touch & altered things when needed & after about 8 weeks Jimmy was back to normal!! It’s now 5mths since his last episode & he’s still doing great!! Thanks to Lee Jenkins for pointing us in the right direction, Jenny & Cathy for your advice & support!

Sarah’s story – classic case of taking the long and winding road instead of the short-cut! I first met JD as a 4 yr old and was lucky enough to start riding him as an 8 yr old in October 2021. JD had been labelled as ‘cold-backed’, He had bronced a rider off in the past, was known to kick out to canter aids, would balk in the canter and would have his back up when first mounted. Aside from these things, he was a very reliable and sweet boy. So even after falling off the first time I rode him, I fell in love and ended up buying him the first chance I got, in March 2022. I first contacted CHH In May 2022. JD had a habit which we would refer to as ‘itchy scratchy’, where he would constantly twitch his skin and kick at himself, often with his head held low and a distressed look on his face. The first time we noticed it, we called the vets thinking he was colicking. He was also ‘stressy’, had bad separation anxiety, was chronically tight over his back/loins and struggled to build strength/muscle (he still looked like a baby and was under-developed). At the time I was feeding him betabeet, lucerne chaff, fibre-boost, evolve nuts, SOS, salt and sometimes GrazeEzy. He also was getting a generous amount of green grass and a few slices of hay per day. CHH advised we swap his lucerne chaff out for Timothy, take out the fibre boost, and then increase his SOS and GrazeEzy and put him on a 20 day course of the Alleviate Gold. The ‘itchy scratchy’ symptom did improve, but with having bought him as ‘a horse who is not affected by grass’ and with people telling me to ‘lunge it out of him’, that he was the type of horse that needed to be ‘ridden hard every day’, that I needed to ‘come up to his level’ or that I needed to ‘ride him through it’, we discarded the idea of grass playing a role, and ended up concluding that the belly straps of his covers were irritating his skin, and that he was just a sensitive warmblood who was having

2023 in Review - a Xmas message from Calm Healthy Horses (Make sure you have sound up ....Zephyr is playing the macracarpa violin) Although 2023 has been a very difficult year for many horse owners in New Zealand and Australia – starting with cyclones and ending with cyclones, along with the UK having its share of storms too, somehow everyone has managed to keep calm and carry on. The incessant rain over many regions has meant a lot of issues cropping up, so CHH has been very busy and 2023 has been filled with fabulous success stories. More head flickers who are now perfectly rideable, successful outcomes for laminitis cases, sacro-iliac issues resolved without the need for invasive injections, horses who have suffered from ill thrift for many months, sometimes years becoming sleek, shiny, healthy individuals. We are constantly impressed with the dedication and perseverance demonstrated by so many people going to great lengths to get things right for their horses! Which of course is the essence of the CHH message – issues affecting our domestic horses are MANAGEMENT issues, NOT HORSE issues. The industry as a whole is still ‘stuck’ on the SUGAR aspects of forage and feed, despite hard evidence to show that there are other factors that are equally if not more important contributing to the Grass Affected Horse. Speaking of which, the term ‘Grass Affected’ is now a globally known phrase which more and more people are becoming aware of. Through data from forage analyses and bloodwork, we have gained a better understanding of exactly how the grass affects the domestic horse’s metabolism and how to feed accordingly – this has led to the development of our newest product, our own complete feed – GOOD2GO which is turning out to be a convenient option for busy horse owners, especially those with horses who are fussy eaters. ( https://www.calmhealthyhorses.com/product-page/good2go ) Only available in NZ at this stage. We enjoy the challenges thrown

Why GrazeEzy can Help! And go in the Draw! In the past we’ve conducted numerous forage tests of the grass that horses who were having problems were grazing at the time. We discovered that ONE of the problems with such grass was a high DCAD – Dietary Cation Anion Difference or DCAB (Dietary Cation Anion Balance). What this means is there is an imbalance between positive and negative ions, primarily the end result of too much of some minerals and not enough of others.. The horse’s body needs 'electrical neutrality' ie for these to be in equilibrium or close to– the same number of cations as anions and has very efficient self-regulating mechanisms to achieve this. The horse's metabolism can well handle a slightly high DCAD but forage analyses of grass horses were grazing when they developed problems show very high DCAD’s. The reason grass has a high DCAD is because plants LOVE potassium – especially short or lush green grass and uptakes far more than it actually requires. Luckily, the DCAD is yet another aspect that reduces naturally as the grass matures. In terms of your horse, the high DCAD (> 200) can result in signs of ‘’increased excitability’ including excessive spooking, being over-reactive, twitching, head-flicking/shaking, even impaired or explosive movement & behaviour, not to mention increased sensitivity in the hooves (‘footiness’) - all signs the horse’s metabolism is not coping with the grass! GrazeEzy can be very helpful, particularly in Spring, Autumn and in situations where controlling access to grass isn’t possible – ie for people who are renting grazing. There is no set amount, how much your horse will need depends on the grass and the weather. As a rule of thumb they need less over dry spells, more when it rains. Always start with about 10gms, making sure it is well dissolved in a wettish feed. A high DCAD can also trigger further metabolic disturbances which is why many horses initially at least, also need th

Hay Matters The last post brought up questions/discussion about mature grass and hay. Even when using small mesh hay-feeders the recommended 2% of BW for maintenance, for a 500kg horse - that is 10kgs of hay/day is not enough to last the horse 24 hours. When reduced for weight-loss to 1.5% of BW - for a 500kg horse = 7.5kgs of hay the horse goes long periods with nothing to eat. This is where late cut hay is best (more mature, brown and stalky) so it is lower in CP, sugars, potassium which means they can have much more per day. However this is at the expense of supplying essential nutrients. Luckily these are easily added to a daily feed. Horses that are not over-weight, EMS, prone to laminitis, head-shaking, or are in moderate to intense work can handle more nutritious hay in which case the grass needs to be cut while it is still green and leafy ie before it goes to seed. Hence the type of hay that would suit your horse, depends on the horse. But in the real world, most people don’t have much choice in their locality! For people here in NZ and Australia, even when you are in a position to grow hay, because small blocks aren’t priority for the local hay contractor it is not possible to have him cut and bale exactly when YOU would want. Further complicated by dodgy weather and trying to keep on side with said hay contractor. A point to note is that while soaking hay for an hour or so reduces potassium by 50% and soluble sugars by 15-30%, soaking does not reduce Crude Protein levels. You can’t soak ‘the green’ out of hay. For the majority of people we interact with, the whole business of ‘balancing to the hay’ is simply impractical. Hay is expensive enough without having to analyse every batch prior to purchasing/feeding. It is worth testing if you are going to be buying large quantities or if it would be critical to your horse s health. Otherwise feeding ‘late cut’ hay is the safest option. When buying hay – it is often referred to a

Head-Shaking - success comes with the right advice regarding the horse's forage and feed combined with willingness to be diligent on the part of the owner. Since we have considerable experience and success with head-shaking horses, we find ourselves helping people all over the world, which we are happy to do free of charge. We do this - a) because we know from personal experience how distressing and frustrating this condition is for both horse and owner b) because we know that the road to recovery has its ups and downs and people need support through the process, which can take up to a year in some cases. c) because we learn from the feedback we get – there are many HS horses out there in very different situations but the common denominator is inevitably inappropriate forage Because we see head-shaking, in the vast majority of cases as a MANAGEMENT issue rather than a ‘faulty horse’ issue, it is necessary to look at the total picture – the horse’s forage, his feed and supplements and his living environment. Supplements are helpful but many people think you can keep everything the same and just add a supplement, which are just ‘band-aids unless the root cause of the issue is rectified. Thanks to Kelly in the USA for giving us her feedback: Hi Jenny! Here is Splash's story! We purchased Splash in September of 2021. At the time we purchased him, we did not have any issues with head shaking, but we were quickly headed into fall, and the grass was dying off. Prior to me purchasing him, he was on a dry lot. In the late spring of 2022, Splash began to demonstrate mild headshaking, but my daughter was able to ride him with a nose net. However, as the summer progressed, so did his symptoms. Splash began to shake his head so violently it was unsafe to lead him because he would accidentally hit the person next to him. Additionally, he became extremely photosensitive and could not stand the sunlight for even a little bit. This is a pony we purchased fo

Laminitis Alert! Here in Canterbury we have had 5 weeks of dry, warm weather. Ground temperatures increased ready for a growth spurt as soon as it RAINS. Which it did. It RAINED for two days! And now the sun is shining again. Don’t wait for the first signs to show up in your horse/pony/donkey. These are actually signs you are too late! Changes to his metabolism and body chemistry are already in progress. But there is a window of opportunity while it is in this phase to halt progress if you act immediately. 'Keeping an eye on them' is not a wise strategy! Once the disturbance to bio-chemistry has compromised the laminae to the point they start to fail, you will have rotation of the pedal bone which goes to the ‘next level’ in pain for the horse, and you are in for intensive care for months with a team of vets and hoof trimmers. Never was the saying: “an ounce of prevention is worth more than a ton of cure” more appropriate. Get them off all green grass now and ‘dodge the bullet’! This is a time where ‘diet trumps movement’. Contact us via the Enquiry Form (Link below) if you have concerns and want more specific help. Make sure your trimming schedule is working. Five weeks maximum is usually ideal for barefoot horses to ensure there is no flaring/stretching of the white line or separation which mechanically damages the lower regions of the laminae resulting in more stress on the remaining upper healthy laminae to support the weight of the horse. Laminitis is the worst thing that can happen to any horse and while some horses will start by exhibiting the following warning signs first, others can become ACUTE over-night. So you don’t miss them here are the signs that laminitis is happening: 1. Walking slowly/stiffly 2. Muscles feel and look tight 3. Lying down more than normal 4. Tender (‘footy’) on hard ground or over stones 5. Crest ‘stands up’ and feels hard rather than being soft/wobbly 6. Shifting weight from foot to fo

Clare and Ava ‘did what it took’…………. Clare messaged us back in June outlining her concerns about her daughter Ava's pony, ‘Indi’. A big thanks to Ava for giving permission to show the video, Ava is new to riding and doing super well as you can see in the subsequent videos! Since moving from Northland to Taranaki, the pony (Indi) began to display the following issues... Spooky Explosive Sacro-iliac issues Canter transition issues Bunny-hopping Sunburn Footy on hard ground Having had her grass tested, Clare realised the grass was likely a big part of the problem: Potassium - 4.3% (Needs to be < 2% for horses, preferably closer to 1%) Sugars were low - <2% There was a very high Crude Protein reading at 27% The effects of this grass on the pony were being compounded by the hard-feed From Clare: "She also will not allow the farrier to hold her feet up, being particularly reactive when there is vibration. Her previous owner claims there was none of this behaviour but had tried chiro along with 'contact care', had the pony's teeth done, saddle fitted and changed her over to a Myler bit. She rushes backwards off a float and is difficult to load sometimes but this was a known issue before she arrived. Her feed consisted of the following... timothy smart feed, Fibre fresh meadow, brand X minerals. She was not being fed any salt. We advised that she get the pony off the grass and give her full time access to plain grass hay (no clover) The hard feed was gradually changed to the following... Oaten chaff/beet Crushed linseed /sunflower meal (soaked with the beet), salt, PremiumMVA, AlleviateC/SOS, GrazeEzy. Indi was also given a one time, high dose course of AlleviateGold. On August 20th we received the following message... Indi had improved significantly but then had a setback – “She pulled back while eating her feed a couple of days ago (uncharacteristically) and my husband was unable to catch her again (she wouldn’t let him near her, was kick

Our Approach to Grass related Issues Our approach is unique in that we give, extensive management advice (free of charge), to owners whose horses have developed any of the many Grass Related issues. We do this because to solve the problem it is necessary to address the CAUSE and these are MANAGEMENT problems not HORSE problems. However many horse owners are in the position where they have limited or zero control of their horses grazing - that is why we have developed supporting supplements to cover the wide variety of disturbances to the horses metabolism causing the 'grass-affected' health, movement and behaviour issues. Hence the closer you can get your horse's environment and forage to suit his needs (as a horse), the fewer supplements you need to add in to his feed. If your horse is in a (green) grass free environment, on late cut (so that he can eat it all day to maximise chew time) grass hay, all he needs is a simple feed (split am and pm where possible) to supply his daily essential nutrition to keep him healthy. The simple feed should contain the right protein/fatty acids (eg: Linseed and sunflower) mixed into a base of chaff (NO lucerne or clover) and beet with salt and PremiumMVA (SupremeMVA in Australia). The Supreme/PremiumMVA not only delivers the daily essential nutrients but is formulated with the extra high levels of VitE horses need when on high hay diets along with the specific amino acids (Lysine, Methionine and Threonine) horses particularly need which are lacking in the protein sources. Depending on what else you choose to put in the feed eg: grains, bran, copra, or if you are feeding any oxalate hay (eg Teff) you will need to add XtraCal to balance the calcium to phosphorus ratio. When there is any short or lush green grass in your horse's diet, this is where you would add, first GrazeEzy (start with a small amount and build up from there making sure it is well dissolved in the beet) Just adding GrazeEzy is enough to keep many horses on

Lucerne/Alfalfa Awareness - A ‘learn about lucerne the hard way’ story… A diagnosis of ulcers meant Tooey was prescribed a 100% lucerne diet. It was sad for Sarah and Tooey that no-one clicked on that his lucerne was the problem despite him getting worse and worse over the next 18 months. Hence it pays to be aware! Thanks to Sarah for sharing her stressful journey. Meet Tooey an incredibly bred Quarter-Horse. Tooey came into my life in July 2020, I had been very sick for over 3 years. He belonged to a friend that was stuck so she asked if he could stay with me. He was probably the best quality QH I had ever sat on. He was a rising 7 year old stallion. He got me my life back and we spent many months riding and doing stuff I had only dreamed of doing. We started doing a sport called ‘Ranch Sorting’. In our first year he won me the buckle for WA, we also went Reserve Rookie Australia wide. At an event one weekend, on the Sunday he started to cough. Tuesday he went to the vet, turns out he had caught a virus and had a lung infection, He was scoped and put on antibiotics but it didn’t clear so he had a lung wash and was put on strong antibiotics which in turn gave him colitis. It was touch and go for a couple of days but he came out the other side, that was early Dec 2020. He had been home about 2 weeks when a large lump appeared on his testes - back to the vet again for a scan. Cancer was also discovered on his sheath so he was gelded at the end of Jan 2021. From that day forward he struggled with inflammation in the large bowel and gastric ulcers. Straight away I was told to take him off any grain and he was only to be fed Lucerne hay. He had needles for the ulcers - 1st course was 1 needle every 5 days for a month, then he had another 5 needles over 5 months. He was cranky, he was snappy, he didn’t want to be rugged. He became aggressive, explosive, anxious, was itchy, girthy, had canter transition issues, and he just couldn’t ‘move out