Russell Higgins and Ruth Carlyle own and run Brumby Farm Horsemanship Centre in Te Awamutu, New Zealand, and provide Horsemanship Clinics - across New Zealand, and in 17 other countries so far.  Between them they have decades of horsemanship teaching experience and they continue to study regularly with world-renowned equestrian clinicians to expand their skills. They provide natural horsemanship clinics across New Zealand and overseas. Both Ruth and Russell are passionate about helping horses and humans to understand each other better. Caring for new OTTB and an older thorough ..read more

By Dr Erin Roddy, DVM As an Equine Veterinarian I often hear my colleagues and other professionals in the industry exclaim with confidence that horses don’t “need” supplements.  Often this argument is followed by statements that supplements aren’t natural for horses, and that the supplement industry is unregulated and purely trying to scam horse owners.  I wanted to unpack some of these ideas and statements both for my Veterinarian colleagues and peers as well as for horse owners and trainers. Equine professionals and horse owners only want what is best for their horses, and what we ..read more

by Linda Goldspink-Lord How can we tell if our horses are in pain, and help them feel better? As a horse owner, there’s nothing worse than seeing your horse in pain. Especially if you have no idea what is causing it - or what to do about it. Even worse, your horse can be in pain without you realising anything is wrong, meaning they live through each day quietly dealing with constant pain. Horses have evolved to not show pain and vulnerability to predators, and we also train them not to be reactive. As a result, horses have become so stoic that they will often tolerate high levels of pain befo ..read more

By Dr Ethan Romas-Hill BVSc., BVBiol In the realm of equine health, maintaining the delicate balance of allostasis is paramount for optimal performance, and good gut health in our horses is a key to achieving this. As a veterinarian deeply immersed in the world of dressage, I've personally witnessed the profound impact of robust allostasis on a horse's overall well-being. In this article, let's explore the science behind allostasis and discover how the powerful combination of Stress Paste and Digestive EQ (or Digestive RP) could revolutionize your horse's health and perform ..read more

By Nikita Stowers, MSC, BSc, BBS Getting any hay is difficult this season, let alone getting low sugar hay that is suitable for our horses.  So what can you do if you can’t get hold of low sugar hay - or any hay at all for that matter?  I’d like to share some feeds and strategies here, to help you provide effective amounts of forage for your horse to maintain a healthy gut and good condition. First let’s talk about why Hay is so important for our horses. All horses need at least 1.5% of their bodyweight per day in dry matter fibre to maintain a healthy gut. ‘Dry matter fibre’ me ..read more

An Equine Nutritionist explains: The truth about how grass can affect horses. By Nikita Stowers, MSc (Equine) BSc BBS The term grass affected is often used by horse owners and equine professionals - but is “grass affected” based in science, or just a made-up term when we don’t know how to explain our horse’s behaviour? The truth is, it’s a bit of both. Rather than trying to debunk all the myths around why horses can be grass affected, let’s focus on a specific list based on science and up to date expert knowledge, of what is in grass that can affect our horses. In my opinion there are really f ..read more

By: Sam Potter (BSc(Hons), MPhilVSc (Equine Nutrition) Horses who are often overweight are likely to be at higher risk of health complications, including Insulin Resistance or Deregulation, and Laminitis among others. Keeping your horse at a healthy weight level is an essential step to long term health and wellbeing. Here are our top tips for achieving weight loss in 'easy keeping' horses. 1. Restrict pasture access by limiting grazing time. Keep in mind this may not be sufficient as some horses (mainly ponies) will just increase their rate of pasture intake when given access to pasture for a ..read more

By Dr Joe Ahrens Welcome, equine enthusiasts! I am Dr Joe Ahrens, physiologist and specialist in equine health. Today, we delve into the fascinating world of flavonoids and their potential benefits for horses suffering from laminitis. Any condition with the ending “itis” means inflammation. In this case, it is inflammation of the laminae tissue which bind the hoof wall to the toe bone of the horse. It is extremely painful and distressing for both horses and their caretakers. However, nature has provided us with some incredible compounds that hold promising therapeutic properties. Join us as w ..read more

Study conducted by Dr Erin Roddy, DVM.  Meet Shadow A 25 year old, 13 hand Welsh Pony, Shadow is retired from riding. In his long riding career, Shadow was a successful show pony and then did many years of pony club and riding school lessons before finally retiring a few years ago. He was purchased by his current owners 10 years ago to be used for pony club and lower level showing, and they have also used him as a lesson and lead rein pony as he has gotten older.  Shadow has always been an easy keeper; often becoming significantly overweight.   A History of Laminitis Shadow ..read more

By Dr Erin Roddy, DVM Here’s How to Minimise the Impact and Risk of Travel for Your Horse. We all know of horses who are mentally stressed by travel – but even horses who travel calmly are likely to be concealing mental and physical stress. Travelling can often be unpredictable and uncontrollable for horses. They use a lot of energy balancing, can become stressed by having an empty gut, or being too hot, and can be worried and on edge because of noise and being in a confined space. There has been so much research in the last few decades into how horses handle and display stress that ..read more