Improving Your Horse's Health and Nutrition in the Spring

We've just come through one of the hardest and coldest winters that anyone can remember. If you had horses living outside, I'm sure they're showing the effects of all that cold. Now that the long, hard winter is finally over, the grass is turning green and the days are getting longer. What can you do to improve your horse's health and nutrition this Spring?

As the days get longer, all that winter hair will start to shed, and your wooly yak will soon become a sleek and shiny horse! Here are some things you can do to help the process along:

*Add 2-4oz of whole flax seed to your horse's diet.
Flax provides the fatty acids needed to create a shiny, glossy coat and increases the ability to heal and shed infection. It can help with skin conditions that may be hiding under the winter coat, such as rain rot, scabs or lesions.

*Make sure your horses are getting top class protein with minerals so the new coat grows as strong and healthy as possible.
Zinc and copper are particularly important for the strength and health of hair shafts with plenty of pigment. Zinc and copper salts can be purchased and mixed in the feed, or LinPro contains 125% of NRC requirements for zinc and copper and provides protein with 8 essential amino-acids to provide for strong hair and hoof growth.
 
*Grooming.
A curry comb, brush and some elbow grease will go a long way to help the winter hair shed out and the new coat come in glossy and shiny.

Slow hair loss may mean onset of Cushing's Disease in older horses and ponies, signaling it might be time for a vet visit to take blood and get the ACTH level checked.

Spring also equals mud, which actually helps with shedding, but watch out for conditions associated with excessive leg wetness such as mud fever or greasy heel. Some field kept horses and ponies can be hard to get dry and keep dry, especially if there's a lot of rain. Using Vaseline on the bulbs of the heel helps protect skin from wetness. Always wait until the legs are dry before you brush them, and avoid washing the legs any more than needed. If you can, bring your horses in to a dry area and get them as dry as possible.

Spring grass is high in sugar and can be especially dangerous for easy keeper horses and horses with metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance or Cushing's Disease. If you have one of these horses you need to be vigilant about turning them out on grass. Horses that live out 24/7 probably don't need to be reintroduced slowly to grass, but stable kept horses that are not used grass will need to have their access limited by either fencing off a smaller area for them to use at first, or by limiting time out. A grazing muzzle will also help with this. As Spring proceeds and days get warmer, grass growth will get going in full force and sensitive horses may need a dry lot to severely limit their access to grass.

If you have an easy keeper or a horse with insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome or Cushing's disease, any of these signs need to taken seriously:

*Cresty neck
*abnormal fat deposits around the tail head, shoulders and above the eyes
*short striding and soreness in front

If you see any of these symptoms, add 20g per day of Magnesium to the horse's diet and start monitoring the feet for a digital pulse.

A digital pulse is found by placing your fingers just below the swell of the fetlock and feeling for the vein and artery that pass down toward the foot. If you feel a pulse or throbbing in that artery, you are feeling a digital pulse, a sign that all is not well in the hoof. Take action immediately! Pull the horse off of pasture, stop any grain they might be getting, and call your vet. Cooling the foot with ice water or a cold hose sometimes helps, but this important sign should not be ignored.

So, I'll leave you with a few last tips. Check your tack and equipment for fit and repair and get out and start riding again. Competitions have begun and you and your horse should be as fit as possible to avoid unnecessary injuries. Have a great Spring!



Melyni Worth, Ph.D.
www.FoxdenEquine.com

 

For further information, contact DR Melyni Worth at melyni@intelos.net or call 540-942-4500.

Dr. Melyni Worth Ph.D. - 2009 (c)

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