As a lover of chestnut horses, and a nutritionist, sunbleaching had frustrated me for YEARS!

My gelding Poet, a stunning almost liver chestnut in the spring, would bleach to a homeless looking colour by the end of our hot summers… leaving me wondering if perhaps his mineral balance wasn’t quite right.

That was until one particularly hot summer when Poet and I did an unintentional experiment over our Christmas break… which seemed to show that the sunbleaching that occurs in some horses over summer is a combination of sun and sweat.

Long periods of slow work for racehorses has long been thought of as the best way to ‘leg up’ young horses, preparing them physically for a life of racing.

BUT, three decades of research conducted by Professor Brian Nielsen of Michigan State University and his team and students is telling us, definitively, that we have got it all wrong and that speed is essential for bone health!

There are few equines I respect more than an amazing kid’s horse or pony. The patience these creatures have with their precious little cargo is incredible. And their ability to meet their little riders where they are at is something that always staggers me.

Being a reasonably rare commodity, we want to do everything we can to look after our childrens’ horses and ponies to keep them, fit, mobile, healthy and happy for as long as possible.

Here are my 5 best tips for feeding your child’s mount.

As a rider, it really is hard to top the feeling of a ride on a horse with beautiful calm, yet responsive energy. And for most of us, there is nothing quite as unnerving or unenjoyable as riding a horse that is completely full of itself and constantly reacting before thinking.

Well… it depends! If your horse is light in condition and possibly losing some weight and feels tired and lazy then yes, feeding more is probably the solution. BUT! If your horse is overweight or gaining weight, more feed is not the answer to overcoming your horse feeling tired or lazy when being ridden.

The gut health of our equines plays a significant role in determining how healthy or unhealthy our horses will be. The equine digestive tract is a large and relatively complex system. Your horse’s health depends on how well you look after this digestive system and importantly, how well the microbial population within it remains “balanced”.

Laminitis is horrible. It is distressing and painful for your horse or pony and it is gut-wrenching to watch as their owner. And if you are anything like me, it also creates a feeling of guilt…  the ‘how could I let this happen to my horse’ kind of, keep you awake at night, guilt So, for both our equines and our own sakes, we need to understand laminitis more so we have a better chance of preventing it in the future.

They sure are! Here is how: Vitamin B1 has been observed to have an influence on behaviour in multiple animal species, including horses. A horse will meet its vitamin B1 requirements via the vitamin B1 it eats in its diet and from vitamin B1 produced by the bacteria in its hindgut.

Equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) is a major equine health problem worldwide. Multiple studies have reported a 90% incidence rate of ulcers in performance horses.

Ulcers negatively and sometimes severely affect a horse’s ability to perform. They cause pain and discomfort. They may reduce your horse’s appetite which in turn limits their capacity to maintain bodyweight and ulcers can lead to the development of vices like windsucking and crib biting.

While gastric ulcers have long been recognised as a major health concern there is an evident lack of understanding in the horse owning community about what causes them and how they can be prevented.

You may have heard it recommended that horses with ulcers should be fed a ‘grain-free’, low starch diet. It is believed that any starch may make ulcers worse. Or stop them from healing when the horse is being medicated to resolve ulcers. But is there any scientific basis for what has now become a popular recommendation? Let’s take a look!

Cereal grains such as oats, barley, triticale, corn, rice, rye, sorghum and wheat are commonplace in horse diets. When fed well, cereal grains form a valuable component of many horse’s rations.

But fed improperly, and they will cause large shifts in your horse’s gut microbial population, causing dysbiosis and a host of serious health and behavioural issues. Issues that can be so severe they will end the performance career of your horse and in the worst cases, even lead to death!