Ensuring Resilience

Cathy riding a very spooky Nibbler at the beach.

Many horse owners are in a situation where their horse is out on green grass because there is no other option.

In such circumstances the best strategy is to build the horse’s resilience against the metabolic challenges the grass will inevitably throw at them.

There are multiple aspects to this.

Contrary to the anti-supplement brigade who tell you :

“ Supplements should only be used if your horse has a specific nutritional deficiency or condition that requires extra support. Over-supplementing can upset the balance of nutrients and cause problems in the long run”

These people are worried about potential excesses in supplements creating imbalances but are completely unaware of the excesses of certain minerals/nutrients in the grass which are the ultimate cause of the vast array of issues in our domestic horses.

‘Under-supplementing’ is feeding your horse the bare minimum to keep him ‘out of deficiency’. Surely the best strategy is to feed your horse so he is WELL, so he has the right minerals and micro-nutrients available to counter-balance excesses in weather/season related ‘spikes’ in the grass.

Feeding your horse properly VASTLY raises the threshold at which the horse will develop health, movement or behavioural issues because he is equipped to balance his own minerals via his own homeostatic mechanisms.

Signs of disturbances to his bio-chemistry are evident when he starts showing some of the many signs of being ‘grass-affected’. These are signs the horse’s homeostatic mechanisms are struggling to maintain equilibrium. They are signs he needs nutritional support. He needs to build resilience.

We help you look at the total picture of your horse’s diet so we can swap items that are adding to his load and replace with items that will reduce the load.

Just as soft manure is a sign your horse’s diet needs supplementing with more Dry Matter in the form of hay the spooky horse (Photo at top of page) needs supplementing with the right minerals and micro-nutrients, in the right quantities for his weight and circumstances