Tag: grass

Spring Grass – Why does it cause problems?

24 October, 2024

As spring arrives, many horse owners face concerns about the impact of lush grass on their horses’ health. The high nitrogen and potassium levels in this new growth can disrupt not only digestion but also brain, nerve, and muscle function, leading to various issues commonly referred to as ‘grass-affected’ behaviour. The Effects of Spring Grass During the growth phase, grass has increased leaf area, which boosts its ability to produce soluble sugars. These sugars are quickly absorbed into the bloodstream, causing an insulin response and resulting in excess energy. This can lead to anxiety, over-reactiveness, and spooky behaviour in horses…

Horses on Pasture

18 March, 2024

If you’ve been fortunate enough to encounter no issues with your horses grazing on your lush pastures, you may skip ahead. However, if your horse is among the numerous experiencing any of the following problems or similar variations, then this is essential reading. Problems Caused by Lush Pasture If any of these issues resonate with you, please read on… The notion that allowing horses to freely roam lush meadows, selecting vegetation to balance their diet instinctively by day’s end is ideal, is far from reality. In our experience, such thinking often contributes significantly to the aforementioned list of issues. Conversely,…

Grass Choices: Which is best for our Horses

20 June, 2023

Understanding Horse’s Digestive Needs Horses possess a unique digestive system that thrives on a continuous supply of nutrient-dense, high-fibre forage. This forage is digested through fermentation in the hindgut, providing essential nutrients and energy. Impact of Grass Moisture Content The moisture content of grass significantly affects fibre intake. Green grass typically has lower fibre content compared to dry, mature grass. Horses grazing on lush grass day & night, without adequate fibre are at risk of imbalances in their gut microbiome. A horse’s hindgut is a fermentation vat that digests fibre, producing fatty acids for energy and absorption of essential nutrients….

Grasses & The Problems They Present

18 April, 2023

Grasses are a common component of a horse’s diet, but not all grasses are created equal. Some grasses can contain compounds that cause symptoms and health issues in horses. In this article, we’ll explore some of the common grasses that can cause problems for horses. Fluorescing pigments are found in some grasses, such as rye, clover, lucerne, St John’s wort, buttercup, and plantain. These pigments give the grass a dark green color, but they can also cause photophobia and photosensitization in horses. Horses that consume these grasses may develop symptoms such as mud-fever and sunburn. Oxalate is another compound that…

Worms ~ How long do they survive on Pasture?

30 March, 2023

Hint: It’s longer than you think. The lifecycle of many gastrointestinal parasites of livestock and horses (in particular, those of the Strongyle family) is such that a vast majority of the worm’s life may be spent on pasture. After eggs are shed in the manure, the eggs will develop and hatch into larvae. These larvae will then further develop, going through stages known as moults. Eggs will hatch into L1 (stage one larvae), which will moult to L2 (stage two larvae), and then a further moult into L3 (stage three larvae). It is at the L3 stage where livestock will…

Pasture Management for Healthy Horses

9 July, 2021

There are two different approaches to the whole subject of pasture management depending on what sort of horses you own. If you just want the quiet ride at the weekend and safe ponies for your children then you will do things somewhat differently from someone who has performance and/or breeding horses. In either case: NEVER apply commercial fertilisers: No super, no potash, no NPK, no urea, they will all cause the grass to be even more unsuitable for your horses. Sufficient nitrogen for grass growth can come from occasionally (but not frequently!) harrowing manure. Originally, we thought it was just…

Why do dogs eat grass?

4 April, 2018

If you’ve ever wondered…. Why do dogs eat grass? Well, there are a few reasons and we have outlined some of the common reasons below: Dogs will occasionally eat large amounts of grass to make themselves throw up. If they seek out any type of grass or weeds frantically then this is most often due to – 2.. Dogs may eat grass because they want to If your dog is very selectively picking out certain grasses and uses his front teeth to nibble and eat them. If they are not frantic and doing it almost with intention selecting a few…

Equine Lethargy Mystery Solved!

24 September, 2015

One day I noticed my horse had suddenly become very stiff, and was dragging his front legs and appeared quite lethargic. I knew something was wrong as he was normally very forward moving and this particular day, he just seemed really tired. I had only had Chief for about 5 or 6 months but he was always energetic. I had noticed he was spooking at things a lot more frequently than he had when I first got him, but didn’t make any connection with this at the time. I took him to our vet who said he was most likely tying-up so we treated…

Flash’s suspected Fractured Pelvis Recovery

24 September, 2015

Our 15 year old stock horse developed what we thought was arthritis around 3 months after we purchased him (he had been fully vet checked prior to purchase and passed with flying colors). He was intermittently lame which would come and go randomly and he would often drag his hind feet when walking and struggled walking down steep hills. Flash was a successful show jumper with his previous owner and we eventually had to retire him from jumping a year later as we didn’t want to put any more strain on his joints and he was struggling to lift his legs high enough to clear…

Spooking and Shying Violently

24 September, 2015

I have been using the whole Calm Healthy Horses Plan for over a year now with amazing results and would like to share the experience. I had searched for the right horse for months and a friend found him in the Eastern States for me and I was assured that he was very quiet and would suit me well. He had come from fairly drought conditions, and he was fine for a short while until my green pasture hit his system. He then became unmanageable for me, both to handle and ride, shying violently and becoming highly reactive to stimuli…

Sore Back and Nipping

24 September, 2015

I bought Duke in early January, 2010. When I went to try him he was a calm, unflappable horse who seemed to take everything in his stride. My mother and I brought him home and put him in a large paddock with lots of feed because he was a little skinny. The first few times I rode him, he was just as good as when I looked at him but he soon deteriorated and every time I caught him, he would try to bite me. One time he even reared up and started lashing out at me with his front…

Leg Splints Disappeared

24 September, 2015

Barry was broken-in in March, 2009, at four years of age and quietly worked through the winter, attending some winter clinics. After shedding the winter woollies and going from the ugly duck to a beautiful swan, he was shown three times in August for a promising start with three Champions and one Supreme. Things looked good for his newcomer season. On the 1st of September things started to crash with Barry starting to get a bit scratchy, a subtle lameness that would seem worse on corners and not real evident which leg it was. We decided to put a set…

Suspected Fractured Pelvis or Sacroiliac Injury

24 September, 2015

Great news! The horse with the suspected fractured pelvis is back to normal! I know a lot of people will bethinking ‘How can this be?’ Actually it is not at all difficult to understand when you realise how much mineral balances have to do with nerve and muscle function. When Susan bought ‘Millie’, a Sir Tristram bred TB in March of 2007 for her daughter Carmel, she was everything she was wanting for her next horse. Calm and quiet, with a fantastic temperament, she had already proven herself as a Show Hunter finishing 6th nationally on the 2006 Circuit. She took to…

Sacro-illiac and Saddle-fit Problems

24 September, 2015

These are so common and more often than not are NOT the result of an injury. They can easily be just another manifestation of a serious mineral imbalance, that of excess potassium relative to sodium, chloride, calcium and magnesium! Often this goes along with the other symptoms of being touchy, not wanting to be groomed, saddled etc. If you put your horse on the lunge, at the walk they may appear normal, the trot may be normal or they may appear stiff or tight behind, not tracking up. Where it really shows up is at the canter especially the first few…

Calm Healthy Horses Plan

8 September, 2015

Tick off any symptoms that you find from the Horse Symptom Checklist. Make the recommended diet changes in the CalmHealthyHorses Plan for one month, then, revisit the Checklist. If necessary continue the process for another month or until your horse is completely back to normal. This may take several months for more serious problems such as Head-Flicking. The Calm Healthy Horses Plan will help eliminate digestive flora problems, mineral imbalances, mycotoxin overload and correct the natural buffering system. Your horse will be calm and healthy and riding will be enjoyable again. Introduce any new feeds or supplements slowly, over a period of…

Grass Tetany

8 September, 2015

I now believe various degrees of grass tetany is the fundamental root cause of most of the health and behavioural issues with our horses. Because the symptoms are so wide and varied it has taken a long time to put two and two together. Read More Mysteries Solved to learn how excess dietary potassium affects your horse while the following paragraphs explain how potassium-nitrate can become a major problem. For those who get bamboozled by science, in very simple language, the cool, cloudy, wet weather of spring and autumn (including frosts and freezes) cause acute spikes of potassium and nitrate…