A Question About Soybeans
The objections to using soybean meal in horses as a protein source are addressed here: GMO, glyphosate, feminization. How SBM is made and my conclusio…
Category: Nutrition
Betrayal
We are told to trust the experts mainly because we cannot be all experts in everything. We need to become experts in how to feed horses because how th…
Carbohydrate Dependency – Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition Part 6 of 12
Feeding sugar every day in excess of horse's needs creates a dependency no different than drugs and alcohol. This blog explains why.
Cheating On The No Grain Diet
I need to come clean with all of you. I have been cheating on the no grain diet. Please forgive me but I and Melissa have been put into an impossible…
Cheese Doodles, Chocolate Bars and Candy Won’t Hurt You
When is it OK to eat sugar? Enjoy this comical video which basically explains how sugar is necessary for body functions and is OK even in abundance at…
Chronic Protein Deficiency In Horses
An introduction to the biggest health issue in horses today. Due to modern feeding, horses are consuming their own protein PLUS they are being fed eno…
Chronic Protein Deficiency In Horses – HorseTalk
Chronic protein deficiency in horses is at the root cause of many injuries and illnesses I see in horses. This 2016 video presentation is from my Hors…
Complexicate
Horses are becoming too complicated to keep as I watch everyone try to better others as to why their theories are better. So I made a new word - compl…
Constantly At War
In every moment of life in our horses, there is a battle between the body and the invading organisms surrounding them. To win, the immune system needs…
Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition – Introduction
Complexicate - to complicate things to make people look more intelligent and feel more significant and usually agenda based. I decomplexicate horse fe…
ECEIM Consensus Statement On Equine Metabolic Syndrome
The European College of Equine Internal Medicine (ECEIM) issued a statement on a problem affecting horses called Equine Metabolic Syndrome. I summariz…
Feeding Horses – The Frequently Asked Questions
The most frequently asked questions about feeding horses asked in emails, comments and in social media. These equine nutrition questions are the bare …
Feeding Salt To Horses
All horses need salt but what is it, why do they need it and how do we get it in them? Is a lick enough or should it be added to the food? Can excess …
Feeding Senior Horses
When do horses become "seniors?" Why have I never found "senior feeds" for squirrels or other wild animals? Could "senior feeds" just be a marketing g…
Feeding The Horse As Simple As 1-2-3
This is for horse owners who just want to know how to feed horses in a simple action set. Step 1) stop inflammation, Step 2) add protein, Step 3) writ…
Food Does Not Equal Love
The purpose of eating is to survive. How sugars are used, the development of uric acid and the association of disease in horses is discussed and a sol…
GMO, Pesticides and Fertilizers – Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition Part 9 of 12
An objective discussion about feeding horses with GMO foods treated with pesticides and herbicides. Why to worry and why we should not worry.
Grazing Not Browsing -Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition Part 1 of 12
All equids graze ground plants. They avoid taller plants with more woody cellulose (lignin). Ruminants browse eating short and tall plants.
Gut Inflammation – Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition Part 4 of 12
The digestive tract of the horse has a 1 cell thick lining with an army of defense cells behind it. Attacks on this cause the immune system to respond…
Gut Microbes – Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition Part 3 of 12
You are not feeding the horse but you are feeding the trillions of microbes within their gut and they, in turn, feed the cells of the horse. Happy gut…
Honesty – A True Story
When the words of this man I met settle into your consciousness you will either be shocked or say that this is the problem with the world (and our hor…
Hormesis, Hay And Horses
Hormesis is the cellular process of resting which helps to clean up cellular debris, remove damaged cells and help the mitochondria switch their fuel …
Horse Metabolism And Hormones – Anhidrosis (Non-sweating)
No one has determined why some horses in the same environment stop sweating while others do sweat but we know that every horse is different with diffe…
Horse Nutrition – An Introduction
There are two things to be said about nutrition in horses. The first is to feed horses the way they were created to eat. The second is that no one…
Horse Nutrition – Body Condition Score
The Henneke horse body condition score was published by a professor at Texas A&M University in 1983 and is named after him. He wanted to use a simple…
Horse Nutrition – Carbohydrates (Sugar)
Carbohydrate is a word that describes sugar. Other words include saccharide, monosaccharide, disaccharide, polysaccharide, glycogen, starch, cellulo…
Horse Nutrition – Concentrate Feeds
Concentrate rations are the opposite of forage for horses. They developed a while ago when people moved from the country farms to the industrialized …
Horse Nutrition – Fats
It is not necessary to feed a fat source or supplement to horses. The reason for this is based on understanding what a fat is and where the horse get…
Horse Nutrition – Feed By Weight, Not Volume
Horse owners feed by volume which most will call a “scoop.” This is irrational. If we all decided to pick one size for a “scoop,” would th…
Horse Nutrition – Ground Plants
Horses are one of 3 groups of animals with similar digestive tracts in the world. Beside all equids (horses, asses and zebras), the other two are the…
Horse Nutrition – Growing Horses
Foals at some point transition from nursing mother's milk to eating solid food. This is normal but sometimes some problems can occur.
Horse Nutrition – Hay
Hay is last summer’s grass. It is a new supplement and it could also be called the original supplement. The purpose of hay is to add calories to…
Horse Nutrition – Lectins
Lectins are found in the outer coverings of seeds, fruits and leaves of all plants. Animals have adapted to these toxins in many ways. Horses have l…
Horse Nutrition – Minerals And Electrolytes
Minerals and electrolytes in horses are elements (atoms) that are NOT carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. They include the macro-minerals of calci…
Horse Nutrition – Physiology
Knowing how nutrition works in the horse down to the cellular and molecular level is important. You may not think so or you may not feel capable of un…
Horse Nutrition – Proteins
There are about 35,000 DIFFERENT proteins in every cell of our bodies and about 1 to 3 BILLION total proteins in each cell. Protein is important.
Horse Nutrition – Supplements
I don’t believe in any supplement for horses unless there is a deficiency. With the exception of starvation, mineral and vitamin deficiencies are r…
Horse Nutrition – Top Line Score
The Top Line Score came out in other animals, primarily meat animals (hogs, cattle), as a way to determine how much meat was on the hoof. And ultraso…
Horse Nutrition – Treats
Most treats fed to horses are not only filled with inflammatory ingredients but are fed for the wrong reason.
Horse Nutrition – Water
Most people don’t “think” about feeding water - they just do it. Water, along with air, is more important than food as removing either will br…
Horse Nutrition – Weight Control
I see weight control as two issues in horses. Either the horse remains underweight no matter how much they are fed or the horse remains overweight n…
How Long Do I Need To Feed Soybean Meal To My Horses?
Soybean meal is a high quality protein for horses lacking it in their environment and from the chronic loss through auto-digestion in high sugar diets…
Lectins
Lectins are plant proteins developed by plants to protect their seeds from being eaten and killed by animal digestion. They cause autoimmune disease, …
Lectins – Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition Part 11 of 12
Lectins are plant proteins made to discourage animals from eating their seeds by making the animals sick. Insidious over years, they confuse the other…
Mineral Deficiency In Horse Hay And Pasture
Minerals are elements necessary for life. Horses get their minerals from their environment. This discusses deficiencies, excesses and regulation of mi…
Mitochondria and Making Energy – Decomplexicating Equine Nutrition Part 5 of 12nut
Inside every car is an engine needing fuel and inside every cell of your horse are engines called mitochondria. They both need maintenance.
No Sweat!
Horses living in climates with high temperatures and high humidity are often affected by anhidrosis (non-sweating). This is a highly effective cure th…