Gaining robust rock crunching hooves for the performance horse or having your horse recover completely from life threatening conditions such as laminitis and not suffer years of sub clinical laminitis afterwards depends not only on their hoof care methods but also on what you choose to place in their daily feed bin.

 

For anyone who wants to have healthy barefoot horses it is imperative you also consider having their diets analysed too.  Carol Layton a dietary specialist developed a passion for helping horses and works with her partner Rob Howden an Equine Podiotherapist.

 

For years we have trusted big feed companies to guide us in our choices for horse feed.  We have also trusted rural based industries to guide us as to our pastures.  Sadly the diets we have been offered are proving to play a role in making our horses insulin resistant and susceptible to founder and sub clinical laminitis ( see www.safergrass.org) and the pasture species that have been recommended are those meant for fattening cattle as quickly as possible, and often are a disaster for our domestic horses.

But at this point we usually stop reading due to information overload and feel that it has become all too hard!!!

Would you like to know exactly what to feed your horses? Find healthy diets based on Australian pastures and the feeds available here. Like to know how to protect your laminitic horse from the ever present danger of it foundering? Or check to see if what you are feeding is providing all the nutrients in the right proportions for your performance horse? Would you like diets based on science rather than fads or clever marketing spin?


Balanced Equine Nutrition can help.

Carol Layton creator of Balanced Equine Nutrition is passionate about barefoot horses and their diets.  Carol rides barefoot endurance horses and works closely in the hoof care field with her partner Rob Howden who is also an endurance rider and a qualified Equine Podiotherapist.

Carol is pictured recently at the Tooraweena Endurance Ride where she came 2nd lightweight.  Just a look at her horse's attitude, coat and overall health at the end of an 80klm endurance ride, they say it all!

Photo by Caz Wendt

Carol says:  The basic nutritional management for horses should be the same, whether you have a much loved member of the family in the back paddock or are feeding a horse to win an endurance ride, a competitive trail ride, or the Melbourne Cup. The ultimate goal in feeding should be to have a healthy horse able to perform at the best of their ability at their level of fitness and conditioning with a robust immune system. A horse must have a balanced diet which includes all the essential nutrients in the proper proportion and sufficient amounts.

Dr. Eleanor Kellon VMD, says "Healthy young to middle-aged adult horses will tolerate a wide range of minimal imbalances with no obvious outward signs, but many of the things we take for granted as 'usual' in horses, such as sun-bleaching, tendon/ligament/joint issues, immune system imbalances, poor fertility, muscle and nerve problems, bone problems can all have a nutritional component. All problems are a combination of genetics and outside influences. The list of outside influences is huge, but worth investigating since it's in our control. Horses on pasture, not under any stress, may show no outward signs at all of mineral deficiencies - until their immune system is stressed, they become ill or have an injury."

Feeding horses properly is an art and a science. Working out the best diet for your horse or horses from the enormous and confusing array of commercial feeds and supplements, or from more than 100 basic feed ingredients listed in the 2007 Nutrient Requirements of Horses from the National Research Council (NRC) can be overwhelming. There are so many products on the market for a huge spectrum of issues that you could easily over supplement, especially performance horses by concerned horse owners. This is not in the best interests of your horses.

Burt Staniar, PhD, assistant professor of equine nutrition at the Pennsylvannia State University USA, says "Not only must we supply proper amounts of certain minerals and protein a certain horse requires, but also be aware of energy in the diet and how it affects the horse's metabolism. We must understand how the way we feed horses affects growth, maintenance and performance."

I am an independent equine nutritionist, I do not work for any feed or supplement companies. I do not push any particular product unless the product is in the best interests of your horse and you. The only products I will sell are those that are otherwise unavailable in Australia or extremely difficult to get.

 

Carol Layton B.Sc, M.Ed
Balanced Equine Nutrition
Graduate of Dr Eleanor Kellon's VMD NRC Plus
and Nutrition for the Performance Horse

For more info see    www.balancedequine.com.au/