Problems with incorrect feeding.
You may recognize this ...
The feeling of making little progress with the development of your horse, recurring ailments such as changing manure and skin conditions, injuries or poor general condition and resistance, the cause of which is difficult to determine. You may never have thought that an unbalanced nutrition can be one of the major causes. An important thing to know is that Horses are not grazers, but collectors!
The Horse Therapist is happy to solve your problems by giving individual advice and a custom-made herb mix for the horse.
Of course the best!
The Horse Therapist makes the feed for your horse or pony complete with the best products from nature and I have more than 50 different herbs in stock!
Herbs contain:
vitamins
minerals
protein
fiber
essential oils
antioxidants
tannins
glycosides
flavonoids
bitter substances …… ..etc…
Each horse has different needs and that is why the 'correct' food differs per horse. A horse should be able to eat roughage for at least 16 hours in a day and during that time must ensure that it receives the recommended daily amount of building materials. This means that the horse must always have hay at its disposal and take small, careful bites. For example, you can use a slow feeder for this.
In practice, this often means 'back to how it used to be', by feeding the horse with natural food sources, such as herbs, sufficient roughage (hay), vegetables and suitable grass (no ryegrass). If necessary, these are supplemented with extra supplements, such as vitamins, minerals, oil, vinegar and possibly a horse feed product that is suitable for your horse. The goal is to provide the horse with sufficient building materials to keep the body healthy, in balance and energetic.
The products that The Horse Therapist sells are produced for human and animal consumption and of course. This means, among other things, that no synthetic or genetically modified products are used.
The symptoms
How can you determine that there is a nutritional issue with the horse? The following symptoms in the horse or pony may result from a nutrient deficiency:
Skinny or very fat (bloated belly)
Does not create muscle or fat
Bad coat and / or hooves
Listless or very stressed
Not easy to train
Colic, diarrhea, or other digestive problems
Often injuries, stiff muscles or a stiff and hard body
Stable legs and other edemas
Too much stomach acid or stomach ulcers, causing the horse to suck air
Or does your horse have sweet itch, allergies or even worse laminitis, insulin resistance (EMS) or Cushings disease?
These symptoms can indicate that your horse may be short of essential building materials and therefore cannot function properly. In severe cases, always consult your vet first!
Often the 'right' food can already offer a solution, together with good housing and training.
Now and then….
We have now been conditioned by our society in such a way that we generally find it common that horses eat a lot of pellets, grain, muesli or only (ry) grass. Have you ever wondered if this is so common? What did the average horse eat less than 40 years before the industry started manufacturing the current feed? And before there were neat, without "weeds", uniform green meadows of ryegrass, with high values of sugars and proteins?
Because horses are collectors, they (and fortunately some still are) mix different types of fiber-rich grasses, all kinds of herbs (naturally occurring in Ireland) according to their own needs, roots, leaves and branches.
In every season the horses took what was in stock and that was not the same every day, so they collected what they needed. One season there was a lot, the other season not so much. The horse also ate a certain amount throughout the day and not two to six times per feed.
What do we feed the horses nowadays?
We hear more and more within equestrian sports (also human) about the influence of the most commonly given food source, namely:
That the carbohydrates and starch of the grains in the pellets, do not work as positively on the horse's body as is thought. The horse has only a limited amount of enzymes in the body to digest starch.
Most grains do not provide a better absorption, but instead bind essential vitamins and minerals, which then leave the body unused via the manure.
That there are types of pellets that usually contain too much or wrong sugars, fats, proteins, starch and carbohydrates and that the vitamins in pellets are often synthetic and therefore difficult for the horse to absorb.
That the proportions between minerals can be skewed, so that more than 50% of the horses have a magnesium deficiency.
That the tasty molasses used in many products is actually a residual product of sugar and that most sugars in horses imbalance the sugar metabolism.
That the corn that is often used in the delicious-looking muesli has been genetically manipulated in such a way that it no longer provides the good nutrients or cannot be properly digested by the horse.
That often puffing, crushing and chopping food, high heating of the products for the longer shelf life and the use of binding agents in the pellets, do not promote the digestion of the horse over time.
And then there is the human tendency to put more food in to the horse if the horse gets worse ....
In summary; many syndromes, behavioral problems and injuries are the result of incorrect nutrition.
How does The Horse Therapist work?
The Horse Therapist measures the need for nutrients in the form of herbs and supplements for your horse individually, because each horse (or pony) is different due to differences in breed, age, gender, build, equestrian use and physical or mental problems. After the measurement, a herb mix is made with the herbs chosen by the horse, possibly supplemented with supplements and advice on extra nutrients to give. The manner of keeping and training the horse also influences the digestion and well-being of the horse and is included in the advice. If you want to order a herb mix for your horse, register on this site and fill in all information about the horse so that we can measure specifically.
From feeding to nutrition and from grazer to collector, how does it work?
You order the herb mix by creating an account on the website. The Horse Therapist measures your horse remotely using the data provided. You will then receive a herb mix of 300 to 600 grams for about five weeks and give an advised amount of 8 to 23 grams per day to your horse or pony. That advice also includes the nutritional recommendations and a description of the striking aspects that have arisen from the measurement. Think of indications of too much sugar or that a horse wants to detoxify strongly.
Giving your horse a herb mix is a different way of feeding. It often takes some getting used to, because you give less or no concentrates or muesli and such. You think: but does my horse need that ??? Herbs in combination with sufficient and good roughage ensure that in the horse the correct fermentation takes place in the cecum and that he can support himself by 'own production' of proteins and fats from the roughage. This gives the horse its natural element.
Because the horse chooses the herbs and supplements itself, it becomes a collector again.
Measuring is knowing, the sequel
It is not useful to give a certain herb mix for more than six to eight weeks in a row, after that it loses its strength / effect, because the horse gets used to it (the medicine effect). You will receive a herb mix for about five weeks, because experience shows that the horse would like to change food again; they have different needs every season.
If you like this way of feeding, you can order a herb mix every five weeks, so that it belongs to the feed management. The herb mix ultimately works as maintenance for your horse and supports health and condition.
* written by Jente Driessen from HorseComplete and translated by Sharon Bronsveld from The Horse Therapist