Understanding A Horses Digestion – How Horses Process Their Feed
Different areas of the horse’s gut carry out different actions in the process of digesting their feed. The total process from the mouth to the rectum can take 40 to 70 hours. The Horse’s Mouth It starts with the mouth where the teeth break up the feed and the saliva moistens it. While there is […]
How Much Feed and What to Feed Your Horse
The Basic Amounts of Food a Horse Needs Everyday So, to start with let’s take an average horse of around 16.1hh and in light to moderate work they will need to eat 1.5-2% of its bodyweight in food intake each day. At least half of that should be in grass or hay. So our average […]
Grass and Pasture in New Zealand – The What, Why, How of Grazing and Grass Related Issues for Horses
Maintaining Grazing Paddocks for Horses New Zealand is the land of green pastures with many different grasses and plants growing in them. In the main, grass is the best fodder for a horse, it is natural and balanced with fibre, carbohydrates, fats and protein, some minerals and most vitamins. However, some grasses are better than others and […]
Horses Gut Health – The What, Why, How of Equine Digestion using Probiotics and Prebiotics Supplements
Why Do Horses need help with Gut Health? If food is not processed properly, issues such as gut pain and discomfort may occur and these in turn create negative behaviour of the horse, hindgut acidosis with its pain and risk of grass laminitis, poor condition and performance, overly sensitive reactions to demands of work and […]
Ulcers in Horses – What, Why, How
What and Why are Ulcers in the Horse An ulcer is a sore in the lining of the stomach wall. The horse’s stomach is divided into two areas: One third is the Oesophageal or Squamous part and is non glandular – so no secretions. Two thirds is the Glandular (lower) region and does secrete a […]
Mycotoxins and Binders – Why, What, How
Why Have Toxin Binders Been Developed Mycotoxins are an issue for animals, most particularly swine, poultry and to some degree cattle, with a few that are particular for horses. Large international corporations have large manufacturing plants producing tonnes and tonnes of toxin binders for the swine, poultry and cattle industries. These are designed to prevent […]
Laminitis from Dietary Intake
How Does This Form of Laminitis Happen? There are different forms and triggers of the disease in horses called Laminitis or sometimes called Founder sometimes it takes more than one trigger to create a full blown onset. However laminitis from a dietary cause is the most common and so firstly you need to know that […]
The Thin Horse – How to Create Weight Gain
When your horse is thin there is more to think about than just increasing the feed. First of all it is so important to try and analyse why condition of the horse is too light and therefore if any one or more of the following aspects are an influence then fix those first before increasing […]
Carbohydrates in Grass – Effects on Behaviour & Performance
The Processes of Grass that Create the Sugar Energy The primary source of feed for most horses is pasture. To understand the horse’s digestion of grass, we have to start with understanding what is happening in the grass. Grass grows by way of a process called photosynthesis and to do this it needs sunlight, warm […]
