Horse Health and Wellness tips

You may wish to incorporate the following tips into your horse's daily routine/living. These may prove beneficial in managing your horse's condition and increasing energy levels:

Living Environment

• Try to avoid known allergens, chemical irritants and harsh cleaners that your horse is exposed to on a daily basis. These substances are absorbed through the skin, lungs, eyes and digestive tract, and may seriously impact a horse's health.
• Make sure their is proper airflow to ventilate your horse's living quarters; if feasible, install air filtration devices in stalls to decrease the amount of foreign compounds your horse's lungs, eyes and skin must filter out. (Clean air and good air-flow positively impacts your horse's health.)
• To decrease exposure to moulds and bacteria that can aggravate or initiate inflammatory conditions and discomfort, frequently change bedding so that your horse has a dry place to sleep.
• Make sure your horse always has a dry spot of ground that it may go to to avoid overexposure to dampness that can degrade hoof and leg tissue leading to scalding and abscess.

Diet and Nutrition

• A premium quality feed is very important to help maintain your horse's optimum health.
• Limit the administration of refined sugars (e.g. sucrose) as they can lead to abnormal fluctuations in blood sugar. This fluctuation results in irritability, lowered immunity and decreased energy levels.
• Administer probiotic cultures from reputable food and/or supplement companies. Healthy bacteria within your horse's digestive tract aid in the proper digestion of food and produce B - vitamins for his/her body to utilize. (e.g. healthy bacteria within a horse's intestines produce the essential B-vitamin Biotin from the essential amino acid l-methionine, which is subsequently absorbed into the horse's bloodstream)
• Give your horse plenty of water, preferably purified, to assure adequate fluids are present for healthy biochemical interactions.
• Supplement your horse's diet by feeding healthful whole foods such as berries and vegetables, which are full of phytochemicals and fiber. These plant compounds aid in maintaining health and digestive regularity.
• Feed flax as it contains omega-3 fatty acids required by cell membranes to maintain structure and function. (These fatty acids are damaged by heat, light and oxygen so make sure they are stored in a cool, dry and dark area. Do not purchase flax or cold water fish oils if premixed with other vitamins and minerals, as they will likely be rancid.)
• Feed betaine HCL and digestive enzymes with meals to increase your aging horse's ability to breakdown food particles; this decreases the absorption of large foreign particles into the blood stream. (These particles may provoke inflammatory, spasmodic and degenerative reactions in the intestines, lungs and skin.)

Exercise and Attention

• Make sure your horse maintains some type of activity each and every day to keep weight in-check, muscles toned, joints stabilized and circulation flowing. This helps to improve health and decrease susceptibility to injury.
• Give your horse lots of attention and praise to improve their mood and disposition.

Proper Shoeing

• It is essential that you find an experienced and qualified farrier to assure that the individual hoof structure of your horse is specifically addressed. Hoof instability and structural problems are a leading cause of lameness and susceptibility to lameness.