4M Equine Center

03/16/2024

Confirmed Schedule for Dr. Foote March 21st-23rd. If there is anyone else that needs their horses seen please comment or message me.

03/04/2024

Dr Foote times for the weekend of March 21st-23rd. Please let me know if I’m missing anyone. I will send out individual messages as well as soon as I get a chance.

02/24/2024

Susan Moffit will be here Saturday, March 3rd starting at 9:30 for semi private lessons. We still have openings and would love to have you join us. Message me if you would like more infornation.

01/30/2024

Dr Foote will be here Thursday, March 21st through Saturday, March 23rd to do spring exams, vaccines, fecals, coggins, floating teeth and any other services you may need. Please comment or send me a PM with the preferred date and what the horse(s) need. We will try to accommodate times the best possible. Thanks!

10/24/2023

Dr Foote’s schedule this weekend…
I will send out texts tomorrow afternoon as well.

07/30/2023

Rotated to new pastures today! They were excited with lots of feet in the air and running. Now happily grazing. 😁

07/25/2023

Sue will be here this Thursday and then the next scheduled lesson day…
August 6th (Sunday)
9:00-10:00
10:00-11:00
11:00-12:00

05/22/2023

Upcoming days for lessons with Susan Moffit!!! 🐴

May 29 (Monday)
9:30-10:30
10:30-11:30
11:30-12:30
June 25 (Sunday)
9:30-10:30
10:30-11:30
11:30-12:30
July 13 (Thursday)
4:30-5:30
5:30-6:30
July 27 (Thursday)
4:30-5:30
5:30-6:30

05/03/2023

Few openings left for Sue’s lessons on May 14th…
9:30-10:30 … Kirsten and Carrie
10:30-11:30 … Michelle Killackey and Lesa Bergen Klein
11:30-12:30… Micaela Goebel and Alissa Novak

04/08/2023

04/08/2023

Next lesson dates and time with Sue Moffit…
April 16th
9:30-10:30… Michelle Killackey and Lesa Klein
10:30-11:30… Carrie Buday and Kirsten Clemens
11:30-12:30… Alissa Novak

May 14th
9:30 -10:30… Carrie Buday and Kirsten Clemens
10:30-11:30…
11:30-12:30…

03/28/2023

April 2nd lesson times with Susan Moffit
9:30-10:30… Carrie Buday & Kirsten Clemens
10:30-11:30… Lesa Klein & Christina Colson
11:30 - 12:30… Michelle Killackey and Alissa Novak
12:45 - 1:30… Micaela Goebel

03/28/2023

What is the longest a horse can safely go without food?

More and more I see horses and ponies stood for long periods of time with no hay or haylage. Usually under the guise of a “weight control diet”. So how long can a horse be without food before damage is done? And what damage is done?

For those with a short attention span, I’ll give you the answer to begin with - 4 hours, maximum.

Why?

Horses are grazers. They are designed to eat constantly. They have no way of storing their acids and digestive enzymes, they’ve never needed to. They have no gall bladder to store bile and their stomachs release acid constantly, whether or not there is food in the stomach and intestines.

A horses stomach only holds approximately 8-15 litres. Depending on the substance eaten, it takes on average 4-6 hours for the stomach to completely empty. After this, the acids and enzymes start to digest the inside of the horses stomach and then the intestines. This causes both gastric and intestinal ulceration. It has been estimated that 25-50% of foals and 60-90% of adult horses suffer from ulceration. But I won’t go into detail about this, there is a lot of information around about ulcers.

So is that it? Are ulcers the only concern?

No, having an empty stomach is a stress situation for a horse. The longer they are starved, the more they release stress hormones, cortisol predominantly. Cortisol blocks insulin and causes a constantly high blood glucose level. This stimulates the body to release even more insulin, and in turn this causes fat tissue to be deposited and leptin resistance. Over time this causes insulin resistance (Equine Metabolic Syndrome). All of these mechanisms are well known risk factors for laminitis and are caused by short term starvation (starting roughly 3-4 hours after the stomach empties). Starving a laminitic is literally the worst thing you can do. Over longer periods, this also starts to affect muscle and can cause weakness, and a lack of stamina so performance horses also need a constant supply of hay/haylage to function optimally.

Let’s not forget horses are living, breathing and feeling animals. We talk about this stress reaction like it’s just internal but the horse is well aware of this stress. Door kicking, box walking, barging and many other stable vices and poor behaviour can be explained by a very stressed horse due to food deprivation (we all have that Hangry friend to explain this reaction). Next time you shout or hit a horse that dives for their net, remember their body is genuinely telling them they are going to starve to death. They know no different.

But surely they spend the night asleep so they wouldn’t eat anyway?

Not true. Horses only need 20mins REM sleep every 24 hours (jealous? I am!). They may spend a further hour or so dozing but up to 22-23 hours a day are spent eating. So if you leave your horse a net at 5pm and it’s gone by 8pm, then by 12am their stomach is empty. By 4am they are entering starvation mode. By their next feed at 8am, they are extremely stressed, physically and mentally.

Now I know the cob owners are reading this mortified. I can almost hear you shouting at your screen “if I feed my horse ad lib hay he won’t fit out the stable door in a week!!”

I will say that a horse with a constant supply of hay/haylage will eat far less then the same horse that is intermittently starved. They don’t eat in a frenzy, reducing the chance of colic from both ulcers and over eating. Cobs included.

However I’m not suggesting you sit your cob in front of a bale of haylage and say have at it! There is a difference between ad lib and a constant supply. There is much we can do to reduce calorie intake and control weight whilst feeding a constant supply.

The easiest is small holes nets. There are many. Trickle nets, greedy feeders, nibbleze, trawler nets etc. My personal favourite is the Shires Soft Mesh 1”. They don’t cost the Earth, they are easy to fill and they don’t have knots so are much gentler to the teeth. Now often I suggest these types of nets to owners and the owner tells me “Oh no, *** won’t eat out of those” 🙄 this is nonsense. If he was left it, he would. Remember, you can give a normal net and one of these for them to nibble at after. Better than leaving them with nothing at all.

A few other tricks, hang the net from the ceiling/rafters, it’s harder to eat out of a net that swings. Soak the hay, a minimum of 4 hours to be effective. Mix with straw but be sure to introduce the straw slowly and make sure it’s top quality and a palatable type eg Barley or Oat, otherwise they won’t eat it.

Don’t forget exercise. The best way to get weight off a horse is exercise. Enough exercise and they can eat what they want!

And lay off the bucket feed and treats! Horses on a diet require a vit/min supplement in the form of a balancer but that’s it. The odd slice of carrot or swede won’t do any harm but no licks, treats, treacle, molasses, cereal based rubbish. Even if it says low sugar or the marvellously misleading “No added sugar”! Your horse would rather have a constant supply of hay, I promise.

Written by Vikki Fowler BVetMed BAEDT MRCVS

A few edits for the critics-

Firstly, feeding a constant supply does not mean ad lib feeding. It means use some ingenuity and spread the recommended amount of daily forage so the horse is never stood with out food for more than 4 hours. I am not promoting obesity, quite the opposite, feeding like this reduces obesity and IR. This can be done whilst feeding your horse twice a day as most horse owners do. Just think outside the box for your own situation.

Secondly I am in the UK and this post is UK specific, use some common sense when reading. Yes in warmer climates, soaking hay for 4 hours is dangerous and studies show 1 hour is plenty in hot weather but in the UK’s arctic climate, a minimum of 4 hours is required. Equally the UK feed exclusively grass hay. I can not comment on other types.

Thirdly, yes every horse/pony and situation is different, but this is a law of nature and all horses have this anatomy and metabolism. How you achieve this constant supply is individual, the need for it is not.

Fourthly, the use of hay nets in the UK is very very high. I’d estimate 95% of horses I see are fed this way and very very few have incisor wear or neck/back issues as a result. Yes, feeding from the ground is ideal, but a constant supply, I feel trumps this. Again with ingenuity both can be safely achieved.

Finally, straw can be fed to horses safely, introduced very slowly, with fresh water always available, plus a palatable and digestible type of straw which will depend on your area. Again many horses in the UK are bedded on straw and most of them eat it. This is not a new concept to us.

Final finally 🤦‍♀️ and I feel I must add this due to the sheer number of people contacting me to ask, feed your horses during transport!!! I am astonished this is not normal in other countries! Again in the UK, we give our horses hay nets to transport. We don’t go 10 mins up the road without a haynet and a spare in case they finish! Considering we are a tiny island and we rarely transport even 4 hours, we never transport without hay available. I have never seen an episode of choke due to travelling with hay available. If you are concerned, use a slow feeder net so they can’t take too much in at once.

If you get to the end of this post and your first thought is “I can’t do this with my horse/pony, they’d be morbidly obese”, you haven’t read the advice in this post thoroughly.

03/19/2023

Great article about Ration Balancers. We use Tribute Essential K instead of Purina Enrich. Very similar products.

Ration balancers are one of the three classes of commercial horse feeds along with concentrated and complete. Ration balancers are the most flexible of the three but cause a great deal of confusion among users Read more…

03/15/2023

Updated times for this weekends lesson with Sue.

9:30 -10:15 - Carrie
10:15 - 11:00 - Michelle
11:00 - 11:45 - Lesa
11:45 - 12:30 - Micaela

03/14/2023

Dr. Foote’s schedule for March 23rd to 25th. I will send out text messages to everyone shortly.

03/04/2023

Sue will be doing Semi-private 1 hour lessons.
March 18th lessons times:
9:30-10:30
10:30-11:30
11:30-12:30

April 2nd lesson times:
9:30-10:30
10:30-11:30
11:30-11:30

Sue will be coming back in March and we have scheduled lesson days for March 18th and April 2nd. Mark your calendar and I will post time slots soon.

02/21/2023

These are what we use for safety purposes in our barn for cross ties and tying. I’m not sure if everyone here knows how to use them properly so take two minutes and watch this video. If you need help reach out and ask! Thank you.

A Blocker Tie Ring provides safe release when a horse panics or pulls back when tied to a solid object. At DreamPower Horsemanship, we use Blocker Tie Rings ...

02/03/2023

Sue will be coming back in March and we have scheduled lesson days for March 18th and April 2nd. Mark your calendar and I will post time slots soon.

01/27/2023

Dr. Foote will be here this spring, March 23rd-25th. She will do spring exams, coggins, fecals, vaccines, floating teeth and is able to do more if needed. Please comment or message me on what your horse needs and which day is best.

12/11/2022

Beautiful morning ❄️…

11/29/2022

Anyone else interested in a lesson with Sue this Saturday?

11/19/2022

11/05/2022

Next Susan Moffit lesson days…
November 12th (Saturday) afternoon.
1:30-2:30 … Kirsten Clemens and Carrie Buday
2:30-3:30 … Michelle Killackey and Micaela Goebel
3:30-4:30
December 3rd (Saturday)
9:00-10:00 … Kirsten Clemens and Carrie Buday
10:00-11:00 … Lesa Bergen Klein and Cow Jnky (Julie)
11:00-12:00 … Micaela Goebel and Michelle Killackey
December 17th (Saturday)
9:00-10:00 … Kirsten Clemens and Carrie Buday
10:00-11:00 … Christina Colson and Michelle Killackey
11:00-12:00 … Micaela Goebel
Comment below or send me a message to let me know

10/20/2022

Two spots left this weekend for Sue’s clinic!! We have done many lessons with Sue over the past year and have really learned a lot and had fun! Let me know if you can join us!

10/09/2022

We still have three spots open…
Come join us for a fun day!!!
So it has been decided that October 22nd will work the best for everyone! Time slots are below…

9:00-10:00… Carrie Buday and Kirsten Clemens
10:00-11:00… Sherry Eschenwick and Alissa Novak
11:00-12:00… Michelle Killackey and Lisa Lesa Bergen Klein
12:30-1:30… Alissa Novak and Christina Colson
1:30-2:30…
Thank you!

09/19/2022

So it has been decided that October 22nd will work the best for everyone! Time slots are below…
9:00-10:00… Carrie Buday and Kirsten Clemens
10:00-11:00… Sherry Eschenwick and Christina Colson
11:00-12:00… Michelle Killackey and Lisa Lesa Bergen Klein
12:30-1:30
1:30-2:30
Thank you!

We are going to be doing a clinic on a Saturday in October with Susan Moffit. Trying to figure out which day is best for everyone to make it work. We have three options…
October 8th, October 15th or October 22nd
We will need a total of 8 riders. We have been doing semi private lessons, but have the option to do group sessions as well.

08/30/2022

We are going to be doing a clinic on a Saturday in October with Susan Moffit. Trying to figure out which day is best for everyone to make it work. We have three options…
October 8th, October 15th or October 22nd
We will need a total of 8 riders. We have been doing semi private lessons, but have the option to do group sessions as well.

08/24/2022

Dr. Foote will be here September 30th and October 1st for fall exams, floating teeth, x-rays, booster vaccines and any other issues that may need to be looked at. We will allow a few haul ins. Message in comments below what you need done and which day you prefer.