If you feed horses, then you are constantly managing risk and we all have very different tolerances for that risk. This article gets the micro-nuances of feeding horses, and why well-meaning advice on social media isn't helpful. Let's face it...if we own horses than we are by nature addictive gamblers. No matter how much money you spend on a pre-purchase exam, there is no guarantee for your horse's health on any given day of the week. When we buy a new horse, we gamble that the horse won't get kicked by a pasture mate upon arrival or colic in the first week. Even when the PPE is perfect, th ..read more

Several weeks ago, a client with an unusual metabolic case started sending me link after link of supplement products with the word “metabolic” in them. Some of them I had recommended over the years for various EMS and PPID horses, but others I had never taken the time to review. I wanted to explore a greater range of products on the market using the term “metabolic” and do a comparison of the companies, ingredients, guaranteed analysis, and cost per serving of this supplement category. This article reports my findings. As usual, it is beyond the scope of this comparison to argue the efficacy o ..read more

Imbedded in many modern management strategies is the assumption that we are trying to prevent two horrible diseases; ulcers and laminitis. We incorporate slow feed devices like hay nets and grazing muzzles, monitor body condition, do routine bloodwork, and feed low carb diets to prevent obesity and related metabolic disease which predisposes our horses to laminitis. We feed forage based diets, maximize turnout with herd mates, mix potions of supplements, and incorporate slow feed devices to increase time chewing and prevent gastric ulcers. But if we had to prioritize the prevention of one dise ..read more

What ingredients are important to have in an equine electrolyte supplement? How much should be in there? How do the most popular products on the market compare? These are the questions that I explore in this week's supplement comparison article. Two things have me thinking about equine electrolyte supplementation this week; 1) a client with an unusual tying-up case, and 2) my own long distance travel to warmer climates. I've written about electrolyte use in several other articles; "[Your Secret Weapon] 5 Steps to Predict Water Consumption" (April 2021), "Nutritional Considerations for Shipping ..read more

You know how sometimes you hear or experience something at just the right time in your journey and all of a sudden the universe gets a little bit clearer? Maybe you've heard the same thing yelled at you from the center of the ring or written on your test sheet a hundred times, but you didn't get it until...the timing was right...you heard it said in a different way...or a new viewpoint made you see the big picture- like seeing a glass building from a new perspective and all of a sudden you can see through the glass to know what they are doing inside. That happened to me in 2023 when I embarked ..read more

Every year I use my own budgeting data to summarize for you the average diet for horses. This year, I compare forage and feed prices between Western Montana and Southern California. Check out my daily cost chart comparison below. I'm snow birding! In exactly 28 days, my horses and I will be in Southern California- a 1,280 mile pilgrimage from Southwest Montana. The current temperatures across Montana are anxiety inducing. We reached -20 degrees Fahrenheit locally, but other parts of the state reached -50, so I suppose I can't complain too much. Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty good about my ..read more

I'm keeping the "husband horse card" in my back pocket until I find the cutest, sanest little blue roan Quarter Horse mare to pack me into the Bob Marshall Wilderness of Western Montana and see the Chinese Wall in person! She'll be maintenance free but completely broke in the backcountry, gorgeous, young, and less than $10,000! *If you have this horse, call me! I'll tell everyone that she's my "husband's horse", but he''ll rider her 2 times a year during which she'll be a perfect angel. She needs to be this nice, because the cost to feed an extra horse these days is immense. In this article, I ..read more

I have three more supplements in my feed room this week compared to last week. That's a 200% increase! I compare supplements for a living, and I can't help but leap to the "scoop" when nothing else is working. In this article, I explore the emotional, situational, social and mostly subconscious reasons why supplements get out of control in our feed rooms. Last week a gentleman scheduled a free discovery call. Before I even dialed, I knew that he was calling to ask if I'd help design a new supplement. How did I know...because first off he didn't take the opportunity to describe his horse in th ..read more

I wanted this to be a happy story; a simple comparison of options, a confident purchase, and a problem solved. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. It ended up being the same old frustrating story; a spiral into an unknown kingdom, unanswered emails, shocking calculations, unfulfilled promises, and an unopened product returned. You might think that I'm being overly dramatic, but there is a personal twist. My young horse was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory airway disease, and I've tried EVERYTHING. I started with all the management strategies, the nebulizing, the steaming, the anti-infl ..read more

I wanted this to be a happy story; a simple comparison of options, a confident purchase, and a problem solved. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. It ended up being the same old frustrating story; a spiral into an unknown kingdom, unanswered emails, shocking calculations, unfulfilled promises, and an unopened product returned. You might think that I'm being overly dramatic, but there is a personal twist. My young horse was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory airway disease, and I've tried EVERYTHING. I started with all the management strategies, the nebulizing, the steaming, the anti-infl ..read more