About the brand The Horse Therapist
Custom made horse feed
The wrong feeding practices can cause a lot of problems; luckily balanced nutrition can prevent and solve these problems!
The Company The Horse Therapist has emerged to provide solutions to owners of horses and ponies who have problems and diseases related to their diet. Our vision is that every horse and pony is unique and has its own needs. Our goal is for every horse with nutritional problems to become physically and mentally healthy and remain balanced, by providing the nutrition and support that suits that individual horse. Even if the horse is healthy, proper nutrition remains essential. Not just to maintain good physical condition, but also to keep the horse well trained and injury- and disease-free.
Needs
We measure these needs by testing herbs, food and supplements individually for each horse, every 5 weeks. Horses have to deal with a lot of variables; the changing seasons, being in contact with diseases, the degree of training and many other factors in their living conditions. We strive for a horse to be fed as naturally as possible, within the abilities of the owner and the management around the horse. Therefore, we also do our best to work together with, for example, practitioners, trainers and veterinarians.
Collecting
Horses are not grazers, but collectors! However, the pastures where horses are turned out and the roughage they are fed often contain a limited range of plant species, so the horse can no longer select what to eat. For this reason, we have developed herbal mixes that consist of a unique combination of selected herbs for each horse, in which we largely use native herbs and plants. Our way of measuring allows the horse to choose the herbs and plants it needs, that way we try to approach the natural behavior as closely as possible. Every herbal mix that we measure is therefore unique!
Basic nutrition
A herbal mix not only supports existing problems, but also works preventive and therefore forms an excellent basis for the daily feed ration. One hand of herbal mix a day, keeps all the problems away! This way the horse gets the most out of their feed and will need little extra in addition to the roughage and herbal mix. Even if the horse participates in a high level of competition! When a horse is in balance, they can perform well on the energy they extract from fiber fermentation and the resulting fats instead of starches and sugars. For the horses that this is not sufficient for, we will look for an additional product that fits the horse, the training and the energy it needs.
Additional measurements: feed products
There are many horse feed manufacturers that create nice and decent products that can be added to the feed management of the horse to provide an even wider range of nutrition. We have collected many of these products and made testers of them, so that we can measure which product suits the horse best and in what quantities. A list of these can be found in ‘Feed Evaluation’ on this site. We do not sell these feed products ourselves.
Additional measurements: pain evaluation
We have also developed an extensive pain protocol, where we map out the entire body. This can be used to get an idea of the overall condition of the horse and what might need a little extra attention, to figure out vague health issues or to point practitioners and veterinarians in the direction of a possible problem.
About us humans
This also makes us collectors! We gather everything around us that we can use to provide a solution to the problems we see with our horses. A search that never ends, an investigation that never finishes and brings us a lot of knowledge, beautiful insights and experiences during the journey.