Luckily this story has a happy ending for all 3 horses grazing this pasture.

If you want your horse to start head-flicking find a paddock that looks like the one in the picture to the left!

It reinforces the fact that one major cause of head-shaking/flicking is a bio-chemistry imbalance involving the ratios between major minerals; in this case caused by the clover-ridden pasture seen in the photo here.

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Note that two other horses on the same pasture had also started head-flicking but came right when removed from that pasture and fed additional salt.

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Kelly’s horse had become more severely affected and also needed the removal of the potassium rich feeds and changed to our GrazeEzy & SOS which are more appropriate for these issues than straight magnesium.

Knowing the trouble it can cause I would not be able to sleep at night if my horses were grazing such pasture!

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There will be people who say that their horses are fine on pasture like that but actually no thick, green carpet of clover is good for any horses in the long term and it puts their precious metabolism (various glands including the adrenals and the kidneys) under colossal stress to have to rectify it even though they may appear to be OK on the outside for a while.

So in the meantime here is some great feedback from Kelly who has successfully reversed head-flicking in her competition horse by following our diet recommendations....

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‘Hi Jenny,

Just wanted to let you know that thanks to your help and products I now have my calm healthy horse back!

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She went from being so hyper sensitive and head flicking so bad she was unrideable and even unsafe to handle, to being great to ride and handle in any weather, even without a nose net!

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She competed for the first time on the weekend and was very well behaved, placing 4th. I have also built up to 30 minutes on grass per day.

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I have attached a picture of the fertilised paddock which I assume is what started all the issues - insane amounts of clover.

The other two horses that were mildly flicking came right quickly after being taken out of that paddock and being fed extra salt.

The other picture is her first competition since the diet change.

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She was previously being fed lucerne and a soy based feed, as well as a high protein conditioning feed. Supplement-wise she had salt, liquid magnesium and a basic vitamin/mineral mix.

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After talking to you I took her off grass, and gave her ample hay, beet, copra, and oaten chaff with Premium NZ Minerals, Graze Ezy, AlleviateC SOS (doubled at worst time) and salt.

She is now grazing on the most mature grass possible, though there is still a lot of clover and rye, so I will tread very carefully!

Thank you very much!"

Kelly

 

 

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