With competitions, rallies and outings being kept to a minimum, it’s time to turn social distancing into a positive for you and your horse. 

From a nutrition perspective, this period of reduced stress is a great opportunity to concentrate on feeding your horse to restore balance in their gut. 

One of the most difficult things to find in a drought is forage. The problem is, forage is the most important, and therefore the least negotiable item in a horse’s diet. Their gut needs forage. Without it, the risk of gastric ulcers, colic, sand or dirt accumulation and other hindgut disturbances like dysbiosis (imbalance of the hindgut bacteria) is high!

Gut health can greatly influence the overall health, performance and behaviour of your horse. There are some very simple changes to make in your horses' diet in drought conditions to make sure your horse maintains its gut health. We've listed them here.

As a horse owner, you may see problems like anxious behaviour, girthiness, laminitis, poor performance, loose manure and weight challenges and accept them as ‘normal’ for your horses. But are they? And if they aren’t, what is causing them? 

There are so many different types of hay and it can get confusing when you start to try figuring out which hay to use and why. Or which hay to avoid and why. Here is my hay by hay take on… hay!

Part of the problem with recognising gut health as a ‘problem’ for your horse is that symptoms of poor gut health can be very subtle, even when issues are severe. Plus, each horse may show different signs for the same issue.