Grass-related ‘Neurological’ Issues in Horses
- Jenny Paterson
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read

Neurological means ‘relating to disorders of the nervous system’.
All of the following disorders are very common in our domestic horses:
Spooking, anxiety, over-reactiveness, hypersensitivity, excessive separation anxiety, digestive disturbances related to gut motility, travelling hollow, sacro-iliac issues, tail clamping/scooting off, muzzle sensitivity, head-flicking/shaking, staggers, grass tetany, eye-sight is affected, claustrophobia, itchy, tender on hard ground, ‘bad’ with needles, explosive, canter transition issues, locking stifles, stringhalt and many more.
When you feed ‘plain feeds’ or ‘straights’ (eg grains, protein meals including linseed/sunflower, copra, rice bran) it is necessary to balance the calcium:phosphorous ratio.
When feeding green grass it isn't just about sugar levels. You need to be aware of certain other nutrients that need balancing. Potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium - these elements run the nervous system and imbalances in these are a major cause of the neurological issues listed above.
Neurological issues are not caused by high sugars.
Our CHH nutritional recommendations take both the grass and the supplementary daily feed into account, with particular emphasis on the minerals that run the nervous system.
After all, for most horse owners, grass and /or hay make up the largest proportion of their horse’s daily food intake and the influence (from forage) on health, movement and behaviour is significant.
As we have said many times previously:
Grass (unless it is mature and stalky) is the most unbalanced item you can feed a horse but it can work for many horses if you understand it and know what to feed to lessen potential adverse effects on the horse’s metabolism and nervous system.
One obvious example being to add salt to feeds rather than relying on salt licks.
For horses with serious grass related neurological issues, it is actually easier not to use green growing grass as their primary forage. For these horses hay is naturally so much better balanced for the equine metabolism to process.
Horses that are ‘down’ on their nutrition tend to be affected more often and more seriously. Especially when it rains after a dry spell and the grass greens up!
Well mineralized horses are more resilient and tend to be less affected.
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