Changing of the Food

 Changing Lilly's Food

I have been transitioning her to different food because her previous food she was eating at the breeder has some things I do not want her eating. 

First, it has wheat. Most horses are fine with wheat - but I am not and I think it is a factor in why I am having such a big flare right now. So I need to get her off the wheat so I do not have to touch or be around wheat. 

Second issues is soy. Soy really messes with mammal hormones. It is also inflammatory. So I want to get her off as much soy as possible. Before I started transitioning her to  her new food all THREE of her supplements had soy in them. So I am weaning her off the two major ones. But the Triacton is for bone growth and I will leave her on it through the winter to help her with her bone growth. I As soon as this last container of Triaton is gone I will no longer use soy products.

To get her off the feed I had to do a lot of research on what foods were best. 

From my research it looks like:

Hemp Seed Ground: good protein, amino acids, omega 3, healthy omega 6 (gamma linolenic acid) supports anti-inflammatory process

Flax Seed Ground: calories, fiber, excellent fats, omega 3, ground stabilized form

Chia Seeds: high fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, high fatty acids, high ALA, eases pain, prevent and cure ulcers, colic prevention

Split Peas: tasty way to add crunch and protein, high protein, low sugar, high fiber

Raw Pumpkin Seeds: nitrous oxide, rich in vitamins and minerals

Rice Bran Meal/Oil: good fat, vitamin B, Phosphorus (helpful to balancing calcium/phosphorus when feeding alfalfa)

Alfalfa pellets and cubes: nutrient dense, more digestible energy, crude protein, calcium, lower sugar and starches, is a forage when feed as cubes

Teff Pellets: lower in non structural carbohydrates *sugars - BUT horse either love it or hate it - since Lilly is sensitive to foods and usually hates all new foods (more on this later) I am hesitant to buy a big bag of this

Timothy Hay:  a good low level sugar and protein - (to help balance the alfalfa), is a forage when feed in cubes

Beet Pulp: low sugar and starch, helps horses gain weight, lower potassium, higher calcium, good protein, is a forage

People also feed horses oats (too much sugar), wheat bran (I'm allergic and many horses are too), corn (too much starch and sugar), orchard grass (she already has this as her main hay), soy products (causes lots of issues, cheap source of protein).

Another consideration - horses Lilly's age do not have their teeth. She will not be getting molars until 9-12 months of age. This means that she can not grind up hay as effectively so I have to give her good sources of food as her supplements. 

So based on this information Lilly's diet will be:

Feed Hay 3 times a day from the boarding place

Supplements 2 times a day consisting of:

Hemp Seeds Meal: 1/2 cup

Flax Seeds Meal: 70 grams from her vitamin supplement and 70 grams from NutraFlax 

Chia Seeds: 50 grams

Raw Pumpkin Seeds: 4 oz 

Split Peas: 1/2 pound

Rice Bran Oil: 1/2 pound

Alfalfa Pellets: 2 Pounds

Alfalfa/Timothy Hay Cubes: 2 pounds

Learning About Horses - Smell & Nose

 Learning About Horses - Smell

Horses have a strong sense of smell. Horses can detect each other with just this sense. Horses remember the unique smells of the horses in the herd. These smells remain in the horse's brain for a long time. A horse is able to smell human sweat because of fear or anxiety and then respond accordingly. 

Horses use their sense of smell to identify friends, seek sexual relationships, recognize territory, find appetizing meals, and sense danger. Humans are predators so they are much more vision-oriented. "Horses depend on their sense of smell the way we depend on language."

Dogs have the most sensitive noses but horses are not far behind. 

Horses can smell water and food if it is clean or not. 

Nostrils are designed to take in a greater number of molecules. 

Because humans have such a poor sense of smell and do not understand all the complications that can occur during such research. We do not understand the actual range and acuity of a horse's sense of smell. 

Nasal Anatomy

Horses have long cavernous nasal passages that facilitate the intake of large quantities of air during exercise, as well as all the chemical messages in air. 

Horses olfactory receptors are amazing. They have millions of elongated nerve cells (specialized to analyze smells) located in the mucous membranes in the upper portion of the nasal cavity. When airborne odor molecules come into contact with the lipid and protein material of the mucous membranes, they interact with the microscopic tufts of hair protruding from the receptor cells. When the horse sniffs if can intensify the currents of air in the nasal passages. This provides more contact between the odor molecules and the receptor cells and gives it more time for analysis. 

The olfactory cells send out two branches: One extends over the surface of the olfactory mucosa. One acts as a direct pipeline to the brain. 

The horse has twin olfactory bulbs (distinct areas of the brain responsible for identifying scents). They are located at the very front of the cerebrum - one on each lobe of the cerebrum. They are connected via the main olfactory nerves to the receptors in the nasal passages. The olfactory bulbs are one of the only brain structures that do not cross over. The receptors in the left nostril are connected to the left olfactory bulb. Right is connected to right. 

Horses have TWO olfactory systems

Horses have a second pair of olfactory organs under the floor of the horse's nasal cavity - the vomeronasal organs (Jacobson's Organs). Almost all animals have vomeronasal organs (VNO) EXCEPT humans, cetaceans sea mammals which do not have them. Lots of research has been done with reptiles and rodents but not much for equines. 

VNOs in horses are tubular and cartilaginous and are about 12 centimeters long. Even though they are so big they are carefully concealed. They are lined with mucous membranes. They contain more sensory fibers of the olfactory nerve. They are connected to the main nasal passages by a duct called the nasopalatine duct. Because horses are NOT mouth breathers the VNOs only communicate with the nasal passages. VNOs seem to expand and contract like a pump with stimulation from strong odors. They have their own pathways to the brain. They function almost completely as separate sensory organs. 

VNOs main purpose is the detection and analysis of pheromones, the chemicals signals emanating from other horses. The main purpose of pheromones is to indicate an animal's sexual status. The VNO is a sex organ. VNOs help stallion identify when a mare is in heat and receptive to breeding, when she is out of season & reject his advances, and when there is a rival stallion in the area ready to steal his mares. 

Stimulation of VNOs has a profound influence on the animal's endocrine system. 

"Flehmen" posture is when horse tilt up his head, curl upper lip in a "horse laugh" appears to help horses trap pheromone scents in the VNOs so they can be analyzed more closely. After the horse draws in the organic odor (several seconds of olfactory investigation), he curls up his lip up to temporarily close the nasal passages and hold the particles inside. Then an upward head tilt seems to help the airborne molecules linger in the VNOs. A horse performing a flehmen is giving you an outward demonstration of a stimulated vomeronasal organ. Stallions flehmen the most. Mares will also flehmen will do it smelling the birthing fluids on a newborn foal often triggers the response. 

Horses also flehmen when they come in contact with an unusually strange or pungent inorganic odor-smoke from a fire or fresh paint. 

A horse's olfactory systems never rest. Horses analyze smells every second of the day-barn smells and herd smells, water smells, plant smells, and the smells of the humans, dogs, and cats that enter his environment every day. In a domestic setup, a horse's olfactory senses might be overwhelmed with artificial odors like liniments, fly sprays, and deworming drugs.

Domestic horse's sense of smell is a marvel, capable of identifying his owner at 100 paces, helping to bring him (and you) home from the woods even then the trail has disappeared, alerting him to the presence of yucky medications in his sweet feed even though you've doctored them with applesauce and molasses. 

https://lvperformance.com/blog/facts-on-horses-senses-you-need-to-know/

https://thehorse.com/13971/equine-sense-of-smell/

Learning About Horses - Taste & Mouth

 Learning About Horses - 

Taste (gustation)

Sense of taste in horses is probably not as important as sense of smell. It is difficult to separate behavioral responses due to taste or olfactory sense. 

Horses use their sense of taste to differentiate between different types of feed. If a horse has access to multiple forage species the horse will select different types and species more than sheep, goats, or cattle. 

Horses are NOT "nutrition wise." Based on research it seems like horses will not balance their own rations when provided with a variety of feeds. Horses will also consume higher levels than necessary to meet their nutrient needs. However, they are selective grazers basing their choices on taste and texture. They will USUALLY avoid toxic plants if there are better choices available. BUT will eat them if pasture or hay is limited. They choose to graze on younger more tender plants.

Tip of the tongue

The tip of a horses' tongue is very mobile. This helps the incisors and lips select, grasp, and move it into the mouth. The tip of the tongue is also very sensitive and allows the horse to choose what it wants in its mouth since it can not see right in front of its nose. 

Use their tongue

The top of the tongue is covered with papillae (tiny protuberances) that provide traction. The papillae help move the food down to the esophagus for swallowing. As the horse eats, the food mass will stick to the top of its tongue. The horse presses this to the roof of their mouth and move it to the teeth for mastication. The more the food is masticated, the more it breaks down, releasing nutrition, and more saliva is released to help in digestion. 

They also use their tongues to clean their teeth, poke out leftover food, and allow saliva to wash over them. 

Horse taste buds are located on the base of the tongue or the soft palate and are ovoid in shape. They function as chemical receptors and the Glossopharyngeal nerve or the Trigeminal nerve may become activated. Horses also have some extra taste buds on the Epiglottis. The epiglottis covers the windpipe opening during the swallowing process. So when a horse swallows he gets an extra burst of flavor. Horses do not have any taste buds on the tips of their tongue. 

Horses prefer sweet and salty flavors. They can taste salty, sour, sweet, and bitter. 

The cheek teeth grind the food which mixes with alkaline saliva. There are 3 pairs of salivary glands: Parotid, Submaxillary, and Sublingual. 

The Parotid (located behind the jaw and under the ear) are the largest. Partly under the Parotid glands and partly inside the jaw bone itself are the Submaxillary glands. The Sublingual gland is found under the tongue and can be felt under the skin in between the bones in the jaw. It's like a little bubble that will flex when you push on it. 

Adult horses can secrete up to 10 gallons of salvia a day!!!

Horses should eat slowly. Grain should take 5-10 minutes PER POUND to consume. Hay should be consumed at their leisure and usually takes 15-20 minutes to eat a pound of hay. Hay will absorb four times its weight in saliva. 

Saliva is the digestive juice that acts on starches and sugars and lubricates the food to help with swallowing. The tongue helps push the food towards the pharynx. 

When a horse drinks the tongue is used like a suction pump like we do when we drink from a straw. The horse consumes 1/2 pint of water per swallow. 

https://www.equisearch.com/discoverhorses/horse-taste?li_source=LI&li_medium=m2m-rcw-expert-how-to-for-english-riders

https://www.communitynewslinesville.com/horsin-around-with-roseanne/2258-the-horses-sense-of-taste#:~:text=Horses%20have%20taste%20buds%2C%20just,Trigeminus%20nerve%20may%20become%20activated.&text=The%20horse%20does%20not%20have,the%20tip%20of%20the%20tongue.

https://horse-canada.com/magazine/miscellaneous/10-amazing-facts-equine-sense-taste/

Learning About Horses - List of Lessons

 Learning About Horses - 

List of Lessons

• Basic Needs
• Digestive System
• Grooming

• Hoof Care
• Brushes
• Hooves
• Life Cycle
• Nutrition - Young Horses
• Senses
• Eyes & Sight
• Ears & Hearing
• Taste & Mouth
• Smell & Nose
• Touch
• Training

• Creating Connection
• Focus Work
• Principles of Training
• Weight Calculators

Learning About Horses - Hearing & Ears

 Learning About Horses - 

👂Hearing👂

When thinking about training and working with Lilly - hearing is another consideration. 

What do horse's hear? How much better is a horse's hearing compared to a humans. These are the questions I wanted answers to.

Knowing how a horse hears can help you understand the horse's behavior and help you anticipate and avoid dangerous spooks or reduce his anxiety in noisy environments. 

A horse's hearing is much better than ours. They use their hearing for 3 purposes. 

Detect Sounds

Determine location of sounds

Provide sensory information to identify sounds

Horse hearing is similar to that of humans. 

Shape of the ears

Horses external ears are called pinnae. The pinnae act like satellite dishes to capture sound waves and funnel them to his inner ear. The horse's large dish like ears  capture noises that you might miss with your small flat ears. 

Horses can move their ears 180° using 10 different muscles (humans only have 3 muscles) to single out a specific area to listen to. This allows a horse to orient itself toward the sounds to be able to determine what is making the noise. The ears can also rotate independently. The ears are shaped to locate, funnel, and amplify sounds. 

Type of hearing

Horses have binaural hearing (like all animals) meaning his ears hear sound concurrently. 

Range of Frequencies

A horse can hear low to very high frequency sound 14 Hertz to 25,000 Hertz (55-35,500 Hertz) (humans can only hear 20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz). Horses hear the best in the 1,000-16,000 Hertz The decibel levels are about the same between humans and horses.

This means that horses can hear things that we do not hear. In contrast to dogs - dogs can hear even higher sounds as high as 45,000 Hertz. 

This means that horses respond to training commands that are very low in volume. Horses are also sensitive to tone of voice. We need to have a confident tone. Avoid overly emotional tones such as shrill, high pitches.

Horse needs to hear predators

Horses are hard-wired to listen for the sounds of stealth-the snap, crackle, pop of grass and twigs under a predator's paws. These telltale rustling contain high-frequency sounds, which your horse uses to locate the direction from which they came. They do not need to hone in on a precise location only an approximate indication of where the sound erupted so he can run in the opposite direction. 

Steps in the hearing/fleeing process for horses

1. hear a sound
2. eye movement
3. raise and turn head
4. freeze his body so as not to give away his position (quit chewing)
5. perceives danger
6. spook & run

Emotional Hearing

Horses have very strong emotional (fear) response to whatever sensory input they might receive. Fear triggers your horse's flight mechanism. This hair-trigger response is an important thing to have. A brave horse is a dead. His best shot for survival is to run first and think later. 

Watchdog of the Herd

Some horses react more strongly to sound because they are the watchdogs of the herd. They have to be more alert to warn the whole herd of danger. To help reduce the "watchdog's" reactivity you can block out a majority of noise with earplugs. Most importantly watch your horse's ears. They tell you where his attention is. If you see a piece of plastic blowing to the left - look at his left ear if the open part of the ear swivels toward the bag (Pyer Reflex) he's tuning into it. 

They use their great sense of hearing to pick up on changes in their environment. 

Horse's Use Body Language

Horse use body language as a key component of their communication. Since horses are herd animals they communicate via body language rather than vocalisation and sound. Subtle body and head cues, twitch of an ear, widening of an eye to communicate. 

They use their ears to communicate what they are thinking and feeling. A horse that puts its ears back means that they are angry, threatening, or warning. Ears forward means the horse is attentive and listening. If the ears are tipped forward, stiff and nostrils are flared the horse is scared or really interested in something. 

Hearing issues can affect their behavior. 

Check a horse's ears every day to make sure it does not have insect infestation or infection. (redness, scratching, hair loss (could indicate rubbing)).

Horses are not as affected by hearing loss as humans. Hearing loss happens with age, disorders, brain disease, head trauma, ear infections. 

10 Facts on Horses' Hearing

Learning About Horses - Sight & Eyes

 Learning About Horses - 

👀Horse's Eyesight👀

As I was thinking about training Lilly and getting a flag to use with her I had a thought - what CAN horses see. I know that dogs can not see the same colors as humans so it made me think about what colors will Lilly be able to see. This lead me to the following discoveries. 

Scientist are still learning about horse vision. There is many contradicting facts out there in the world of horse vision. This is what I have found that seems to be the most accurate/uptodate information we have about horse vision. 

"Equine vision is different from human vision in almost every way---acuity, range, eye contact and detection of peripheral motion, just for starters." 
Acuity - humans have 20/20 vision. This means that you can see something 20 feet away. A horse's acuity is 20/30 (20/60 one study showed) which means that details we can see from 30 feet (60 feet) the horse can only see them if he is 20 feet away. The horse has to be 50% closer to see the same details. Horses can also be nearsighted or farsighted. Horse acuity also changes with age. The best acuity in horses occurs around 7 years old. Before that it is still developing. After that, it is declining. The size of the nose also factors into acuity. Long convex horses have better acuity than horse with short concave noses. 

Points of View

The horse sees 4x more area than we do. This means they are going to see things before we do and since they are prey animals more things are going to be threatening. The horse's vision is poor above and below his eyes. A horse can not see the person standing directly behind him so always approach the hindquarters from the shoulder.

A horse also can not see from his eye level to the ground below his nose. He can not see the grass, the bit, the fingers that stroke his muzzle - he uses his mouth & whiskers to sense these objects.

Visual field - this is the area that an animal can see.
Horses' eyes are positioned on the sides of head (laterally).

Range of vision is 350°
65° binocular vision (humans have 90° binocular vision)
285° monocular vision
The range of a horse's monocular vision, blind spots are in shaded areas

A horse has two blind spots = in front of the face 3-4 feet and right behind its head which extends over the back and behind the tail when standing with the head straight forward.
Horses have a smaller field of vision for depth perception than humans.

A horse can use binocular vision to focus on distant objects by raising its head.

A horse with the head held vertically will have binocular focus on objects near its feet

From what I am seeing it is really important to use loose reins when riding so the horse can see where is it going. Being able to move their head up and down so they can use their binocular vision is going to help the horse.
Horses are also more objective when it comes to what they are seeing. Human brains are more prone to illusions and assumptions.

Looking Sideways

Trying to make a horse look at something head-on is making the horse use their worst vision. The horse needs to look at something sideways in order to see something clearly. How to help a horse - if a horse is scared of something they see - allow the horse to more in circles or loops at the closest distance she considers safe. Use vicarious learning - let the horse see a familiar human (or even better another horse) walk to the object, stand next to it, and speak calmly. She will recognize the voice. Stroke her neck and encourage her to approach. A step or two more than she wants is success. Stop and come back at it another day. When the horse is relaxed at a distance ask her to walk back and forth past the object. Than if she is willing ask her to advance head-first and allow her to sniff the object. Stroke her neck and speak calmly. She will probably jump a few times. Touch the object to make it make a soft noise so she can learn more about the object by using her excellent hearing. Always listen to the horse. Do what the HORSE is comfortable with. You are able to see things differently than her. Remember that!

Predator and Prey

We are predators. Horses are prey. This is a biological fact. Our forward facing eyes tells our horses that we are predators. Prey animals identify predators by smell and sight. Human eye contact has a warning effect. Use it as a reprimand ONLY it is the human equivalent of an alpha mare's flattened ear. If a horse is moving too quickly slow down. Look down, watching and listening to her feet. If a horse is hard to catch - look to the side and slowly walk backward toward the horse while speaking quietly.
Horse MUST be highly aware of peripheral motion. It doesn't matter if they know WHAT they saw they just need to notice peripheral motion immediately so they can leave at a high speed before a potential predator begins to approach. 

The human brain takes half a second to process - this half second is out of the question for a horse in the wild. Every millisecond delay could mean death. Nothing is lost from running from a harmless object.

To help the horse - sharpen YOUR peripheral senses. Become MORE aware. If a horse is more nervous in an area he was not been nervous in - he notices something that you do not and is trying to tell you about it.

What People See	Why	What Horses See	Why
A large opened silver gate	Your eyes auto-focus using flexible disc-like lenses that are attached to powerful ciliary muscles. These muscles flex or relax as needed to adjust your lens shape so you can send a sharp image to your retina.	A hologram with a collage of silver arms, shimmering in and out of focus reaching forward as he approaches and passes it	They have eyes monocular vision because they have eyes on the sides of their heads. Their eyes work independently sending separate images to separate sides of their brain. Only when your horse has directed both eyes on an object can they see in binocular vision. The horse has much less flexible ciliary muscles. In order to help his eyes focus he must move his head, adjusting the distance between his eye and the gate.
____________________	____________________	____________________	____________________
10 pound yellow cat sitting on a stump to the right of the driveway	Your eyes autofocus and instantly sends your retina a sharp image of the cat	A cat the size of a Cocker Spaniel	Horses have the largest orb found in a land mammal and has an oversized retina. This means that up-close objects look 50% larger than they appear to you
____________________	____________________	____________________	____________________
You see a couple of white-tail deer 50 years below and to your left, grazing in front of some trees	As you get to the top of the hill, you turn your head slightly so that the deer remain directly in your binocular line of vision, as you turn your attention back to the driveway the deef fall into your peripheral vision and they become fuzzy clump of tan blobs	Depends on his position he may not notice the deer since they are slightly ahead and to the left of him at a lower level than his head. As he passes over the hilltop the deer enter his peripheral vision and become crisp, sharp images	He can't see them clearly from the hilltop because his eyes operate in a manner similar to bifocal glasses. Looking through the lower half of his eyes - as he would at the deer below - he can clearly see up-close objects but not those in the distance. Looking through the upper half of his eye he can clearly see distant objects but not those close up close "visual streak" a 215° area area horse's vision is the sharpest due to the density of nerve cells - superb peripheral vision. He is genetically programmed to pick up slight, invisible to you movements.These slight or invisible to the human eye are big-screen occurrences to your horse. If deer are quietly grazing the horse will not be worried about it. If the deer where to suddenly bolt into the woods the horse would spook (and you would not have seen anything)
____________________	____________________	____________________	____________________
You see your German Shepherd trotting in from the field to join trail ride he zigzags "herding" your horse	Your forward facing eyes see the whole scene when you turn around - you are convinced your dog's herding is harmless and you turn around and face forward	The horse's right eye sees a pony-sized dog. The dog disappears and another pony sized dog appears in his left eye.	The horse's monocular vision makes his brain process the information separately. The dog is a new threat. Each eye sees the dog for the first time.
____________________	____________________	____________________	____________________
Neighbor standing ahead at end of driveway wearing Panama hat, hot-pink hatband, brown and yellow striped shirt, unsightly bilious-green stretch pants	You see the world in lots of colors so your neighbor's fauz-paus leaps out at you - you wish you were color blind	Horse sees a large human with green legs, yellow and gray toned body brown/gray straw-looking thing on her head which may or may not be edible	Horses can perceive SOME colors. The most vivid color is yellow, followed by green, then blue. Brillant colors are not important to horses. His predators tend to be brown so red is seen as a brown/gray - a non color. Your horse is not frightened by bright colors. As long as the neighbor does not make any sudden movements he will quietly accept her presence.
____________________	____________________	____________________	____________________
Neighbor offers a piece of pie while motioning to a small, grassy paddock we can put the horse	Your eyes works as one and you can see each part - you untack your horse and turn him loose in the paddock and eat the pie	Horse sees grass immediately drops his head and digs in	Unless something catches the horse's eye he will munch away. While grazing, horse remains aware of his surroundings to detect potential threats by looking through the tops of his bifocal eyes. If he perceives anything he will raise his head and arch his nect so he can continue to use the top halfs of his eyes.
____________________	____________________	____________________	____________________
Dusk settling in, dimming your ability to discern shapes or see long distances	Your eyes are poorly designed for night vision because they lack the light absorbing/reflecting mechanisms to see clearly in dim light - you hurry to finish your pie, retack horse, and hurry home	Head back home images look brand new to each side of his brain - he can see clearly despite the lack of light	Due to low-light perceiving receptors in his eyes your horse's night vision is about 50% better than yours. He also has reflective panels on his retinas that catch small amount of light still available at night. He will probably stroll home with complete ease because he can see well at night and there are usually fewer activities. He will be less spooky UNLESS you are nervous which you can easily transmit to him.

Horse and Rider

Inside a horse's eye

Retinas

Most animals the retina is consistent, smooth, concave surface - the horse's eye is different. Its retina is more concave in some places than in other places. Some sections are nearer the cornea than others. Horses are dependent on the retina for good focus and clear vision. Horses CAN NOT focus its eyes like we do. Instead it makes sure of the irregular surface of the retina by lifting, lowering, and weaving its head. 

Ciliary Muscles

Ciliary muscles in humans and many other animals are strong to help facilitate lens adjustment - Horses have undeveloped and it does a poor job in helping the horse focus.

Pictures

It also sends two separate pictures at the same time with each eye. It would be like if a human was trying to watch two TVs at the same time. 

The eyeball is like bifocal glasses. While it is grazing it is looking through the upper portion of the eye and will lift its head to examine the object using the lower portion of its eye. 

Biggest Eyes

Horses have THE BIGGEST eyeballs found in ANY land mammal. This means they also have an oversized retina. That means objects are magnified. It is about 50% larger. A large dog might appear as a large as a small pony. 

The horse also needs to be trained with BOTH eyes. It must see the same things first with one eye and than with another eye. 

Horses and Color 

What does this mean? This means if you want a horse to see something really well - use YELLOW!!!! But DON'T wear or use yellow when training the horse. For example, don't wear yellow clothes or use yellow flags as this will be too startlingly for the horse. 

But research shows horses react more to yellow, white, black, and blue floors - so these are NOT good option for floors. “Adverse reactions of the domestic horse to environmental stimuli can be problematic in training and management. Hesitation and alarm reactions to visual features of the ground can occur in both ridden work and when handling horses.” It is better to have floors that are green, red, brown, or gray

 Learning About Horses - Different Types of Brushes

Lilly is coming home in 47 days and I need to be prepared for her. One of the things I will be doing every day with her is grooming. Grooming helps us bond as well as keep her skin and hair healthy. So I wanted to find the best brushes I could that would work the best. I found a company Eqclusive that makes grooming kits specific for different horse hair types. But they are in England so shipping would be expensive. The packs are made with HAAS brushes. BUT they do not reveal their secret brushes in the pack or the order to use them..... So I looked up who sells HAAS brushes in America and found Riding Warehouse where they talk about the specific HAAS brushes for each part of grooming. I also found another blog with a review of the Eqclusive pack for black horses - Brace Yourself. So with these three resources I am putting together my own HAAS grooming kit. 

I am comparing them below:

Making My Brush Kit
Eqclusive Set	HAAS Brush	What the Brush Does
Eqclusive New Generation Curry Comb	1. Haas Striegel New Generation Soft Curry Comb Blue	Made of a flexible yet durable plastic, this curry comb's "teeth" maximize the massaging effect while grooming. The softer plastic is also great for removing caked on mud and dirt from your horse's coat without causing irritation
1st brush removes the dust and that matt effect that each of those horses has	2. Haas Parcour Horse Hair Bristles Body Brush	Used to remove dust from deep within the coat. This brush stands up to the toughest grooming jobs and effectively removes dust and dandruff to reveal a soft, shiny coat.
2nd brush removes sweat, sweat combined with oil and really clears the skin underneath the coat	3. Haas Lipizzaner Brush Haas Lipizzaner Brush (had to get from Amazon)	Removes sweat and oil to really clear the coat. The border is lined with longer bristles which work to remove dust while the shorter bristles in the center provide a more gentle cleaning and lasting shine.
3rd brush removes all the dirt that was brought up by the previous two brushes to the top coat	4. Haas Cavaliere Medium Horse Hair Bristles Body Brush	This brush removes the dirt brought up by the previous brushes. lift dirt, loose hairs, and dander from your horse's coat.
4th brush still removes residue in the top coat and gives a gloss	5. Haas Fellglanzburste(Coat Gloss) Grooming Body Brush	Removes any final bits of dirt whilst providing a shine to the coat. It is ideal for removing dust and dirt from the body and legs while enhancing the natural shine in the coat.
5th brush gives a final show ready polish look	6. Hass Diva Exclusive Horsehair and Lambswool Center Brush	The final brush makes the coat super glossy for a show finish! Combining the softest horsehair and lambswool, this luxurious brush leaves your horse's coat silky smooth with an incredible shine that is sure to be the talk around the stable. The black wood-look-alike back and exclusive silver writing add a touch of elegance
HAAS Mane and Tail brush	7. Haas Brenig Madoc Grooming Brush Purple	Gentle 5 cm bristles effectively lift mud, dirt, and dander from your horse's coat, mane, and tail to reveal soft and silky hair.
SleekEZ for Horses	8. SleekEZ Horse Grooming Shedding Blade 10"	Shed loose hair and dirt from the coat year round without irritating the horse. Provides the perfect massage and relief for animals, while giving them a beautiful, shiny coat in the process.

I also watched videos (and read blogs) on how to groom horses with the brushes. Here is the video from Brace Yourself I like her technique that she used she had the curry comb in her other hand to clean the brush between brushing the horse (EXCEPT FOR THE DIVA BRUSH) it was a great way to keep the brush clean during brushing

1. Parcour - made out of a mixture of grey and black horse hair - creates an superlative cleaning effect
2. Lipizzaner - made of an exclusive horse hair mixture - removes dirt whilst giving a gloss to the coat
3. Cavaliere - made of robust main and tail horse hair - creates a shiny coat
4. Coat Gloss - made of light, soft, thickly woven horse hair - finishing brush good for sensitive horses
5. Diva Exklusiv - made from lambswool with a soft horsehair border - perfect for glossy finish

Horsin' Around 

I absolutely LOVE how shiny he is!!! WOW! I can not wait!

It is also really important to keep them clean so watched a few video the best one is from Eqclusive. You should wash them monthly. 

Things to Prepare:

• Tub with warm/hot water
• Tub with cold water
• Soap or shampoo that you use for your horse (this helps them not be allergic to their brushes after they are cleaned as well as the brushes are made with horse hair so it makes sense to clean them with what you use on your horse's hair)
• For best results - use the Haas Striegel New Generation Soft Curry Comb Blue
• Get your brushes ready
• Fill tub/sink with warm/hot water and a little of the soap to make sudsy water
• Place brushes brush side down in to soak
• Use curry comb rub the brushes as shown (about 1:15 in video)
• DO NOT USE CURRY COMB ON DIVA BRUSH!!!!!!! Use ONLY your hands. The brush is too soft
• Soak brushes again for a few more min in the warm sudsy water
• Drain water
• Remove any soap from the brushes using COLD running water and curry comb and your hands
• Shake brushes to drain them
• Special instructions for DIVA brush
• squeegee out the water on the DIVA brush with your hands (about 2:58 min)
• rinse again under cold running water
• shake water out
• Once washed and drained make sure there is NO soap left if there is go back to previous step and put them under the running cold water again
• Once soapless and Drained place them on your radiator or in your stable to Drip Dry
• Brushes usually dry within 12 hours so it is best to dry them overnight

Now I run into the problem of how to carry all these brushes with me every day. Since they are not cheap - I do not want to leave them at the boarding place - PLUS I have nowhere to leave them. So I need to have a way to carry them all as well as the other things she needs. So I am now looking for how to carry it all in an organized way.

I feel very confident in grooming Lilly and caring for the brushes! Looking forward to her first brushing session! 

 Learning About Horses - Young Horse Nutrition

In my quest of knowledge I found out about a webinar "Young Horse Nutrition" from Kentucky Equine Research featuring Dr Clarissa Brown-Douglas PhD. It was being held in Australia (7pm Melbourne time - so 3am my time) so the time difference was a bit of a problem as I was teaching during it so I could only be in the live part for 30 min. But I rewatched it and this is the information I got from it. 

1. Equine growth rates and monitoring growth
2. Nutrition for foals
3. Feeding weanling and yearling
4. Developmental orthopaedic disease - prevention and management
5. Bone development

1. Equine growth rates and monitoring growth

• high growth rates undesirable
• balanced growth is vital

• similar growth between birth and 18 months
• mature size around 4-5 years
• future of horse determines how rapidly they are grown
• slow and steady growth important for skeleton soundness
• monitoring weight gain against a growth curve allows
• KER GrowTrac

Birth weight

• birth weight @10% of mature weight
• Heavy horse @7% mature weight
• Shetland ponies @13% of mature weight
• Bone mineral content at birth @17% of mature BMC
• Larger mares deliver larger foals
• Mares 7-11 and those that have foaled before have larger foals
• Colts heavier than fillies
• Foals born early in season smaller than later born

Foal to Weanling (0-6 months)

• rapid growth
• 5 weeks of age - double birth weight
• Average Daily Gain (ADG) 0.8-1.5kg, declining with age
• 6 months - 43% of mature weight 83% of mature height
• ponies mature earlier than larger horses
• Birth month effect on growth
• winter born foal smaller than spring/summer
• winter born foals grow faster at 3 months than spring born

Weanling to Yearling

• seasonal factors, nutrition, genetics
• weaning can influence growth (ADG - average daily gain)
• ADG declines throughout winter months and increases in spring
• spring pasture flush
• onset of puberty
• 12 months 61% of mature weight 92% of mature height

2. Nutrition for foals

• future equine athletes
• period of rapid skeletal growth
• minerals being deposited in bone
• poor nutrient intake = poor skeleton
• nutrition mistakes result in reduced performance potential
• feed for different growth stages
• foal
• weanling
• yearling
• sales prep

• Nursing supplies 100% of foal's requirements for 6-8 weeks postpartum (normal mare)
• digestibility of mare's milk 98%
• TB foals drink average 14.7kg milk per day
• Frequency of nursing
• 1st day nursing @ 10 times/hour
• 1st week nursing @ 7 times/hour
• 4th week nursing @ 3 times/hour
• 17th week nursing @ 1.5 times/hour

Orphan Foals

• if orphaned at birth, colostrum should be fed before starting on milk replacer 
• but only permeable to passing large immunoglobulins for 1st 24 hours after birth
• nurse mare is ideal solution
• if orphaned a few days after birth start on equine milk replacer
• bottle feed, teach to drink from bucket
• older foals may develop adequately on diet of high quality forage and creep feed
• orphans on milk replaces can be weaned at 10-12 weeks of age but must be accustomed to hard feed already

Eating Solid Food

• Some foals start to nibble hay or grain within days of birth
• 1 wk old spends 8% of day eating solid food
• 4 wk old spends 25% of day eating solid food
• 21 wk old spends 47% of day eating solid food
• 5 month old spends 73% of day eating solid food
• foals can learn from dams to eat solid food
• Foals kept in stalls with dam more likely to learn faster to consume grains or hay than horses on pastureCreep Feeding

• provide nutrient dense source of feed to nursing foal
• have higher daily gains
• had lower weaning stress
• Advantageous for some circumstances
• unsure of milk production
• mother excluding foal from feed
• higher desired growth rate
• pre-weaning desired adaptation to a post-weaning nutritional program

3. Feeding weanling 

• MOST CRITICAL stage of growth for preventing DOD (Developmental orthopaedic disease) is weaning to 12 months
• Skeleton is most vulnerable to disease
• Monitoring growth rate is vital
• different diet scenarios for different breeds

Weanling Feeding Scenarios

• Slow and Steady 
• Warmbloods, Arabs, Ponies, Heavy, non-sale Thoroughbreds
• good pasture - Balancer pellet
• poor pasture - quality hay + Breeding feed
• Sales or Show Prep
• TB, Standard Breed, Futurity Quarter Horse, etc
• Quality forage
• breeding feed, or balancer plus added grain, beet pulp, oil, Stabilised Rice Bran

4. Developmental orthopaedic disease - prevention and management

• term used to describe a group of diseases that affect the skeleton of growing horses
• often causes young horses to be removed from sales or sell below their value
• include
• physitis
• inflammation of the growth plate also known as epiphysitis or physeal dysplasia
• occurs when endochondral ossification is interrupted in the metaphyseal growth cartilage
• signs are usually seen in the distal radius and tibia and distal MCIII and MTIII (cannon bones)
• affected physes have the typical flared appearance
• often warm to touch with or without associated lameness
• horses generally present between 4 to 8 months of age
• most outgrow condition as bone remodels

• osteochondritis dissecans (OCD)
• disturbance in articular cartilage resulting in necrosis of thickened cartilage causing joint pressure, strain, and fissures in the damaged cartilage
• Dx lameness, swelling, and radiograph
• most common reason to fail pre-sale radiographs
• surgery considered is lesion displaced
• surgical removal if economic benefit of a "clean" joint outweighs the cost of the procedure and convalescence

• wobbler syndrome
• Angular limb deformities

Factors that contribute to DOD

• nutrition
• genetics
• environment
• management
• injury
• stress - mechanical

OCD and body size

• evaluate the relationship between size and skeletal problems
• 318 foals from 12 individual foal crops
• 6 Thoroughbred breeding farms in Kentucky 2013-2017
• Survey radiographs (winter/spring of yearling year) showed 16% had OCD (most in hock) and 24% sesamoiditis
• heavier and taller foals had greatest incidence of OCD
• during their first month, foals that were heavier than the population median (50th percentile) had 3 times greater chance of developing OCD

Irregular Growth Rates

• fluctuating growth rates with periods of slow or decreased growth followed by growth spurts may affect DOD
• non-uniform growth rates can occur due to dietary and environmental stress and puberty
• a pattern of slow, early growth is more appropriate for foals that will not be sold as yearlings
• delaying rapid growth until after the 'window of vulnerability' for bone and joint disease (<12 months of age) significantly reduces the risk of growth related orthopaedic disease

Nutrition play an important role in pathogenesis of developmental orthopedic disease in horses

• Deficiencies
• Excesses
• Imbalances

Mineral Deficiency or Excess

• Deficiency or excess of the major bone and cartilage forming minerals: Calcium, Phosphorus, Copper, Zinc
• Horse can tolerate fairly high levels of minerals
• Excess in calcium, phosphorus, iodine, fluoride, and heavy metals lead and cadmium may lead to DOD
• Calcium (+300% daily requirement) may lead to 2 degree mineral deficiency - interfering with absorption of other minerals P, Zn, I

Inappropriate grain choice or inadequate fortification in grain

• most common scenarios:
• feeding a feed for mature horse to growing horse
• feeding straight cereal grain with no additional vitamin/mineral mix
• feeding a premixed feed below the recommended intake
• feeding a premixed feed diluted with straight cereal grains
• these errors can be easily corrected by feeding a concentrate feed balancer

Mineral Imbalance

• Ratio of minerals to one another is as important as the actual amount of individual minerals in the ration
• Ratio of calcium to phosphorus should never dip below 1:1 and ideally should be around 1.5:1
• Ratio of zinc to copper should be maintained at around 3:1 to 4:1

Best method of diagnosing mineral deficiencies, excesses and imbalance is through RATION EVALUATION

Feeding practices that contribute to DOD

Overfeeding

• leads to rapid growth rate and increased body fat, which is believed to be a factor in the manifestation of DOD
• Larger foals are more likely to develop OCD lesions and inflammation of growth plates
• Hock and stifle OCDs tend to occur in heavier foals indicating that biomechanical forces probably involved

Avoid Overfeeding

• NO simple rules about how much grain is too much
• forage availability and quality will dictate grain reg
• ration evaluation helpful
• to reduce total intake - grass hay over lucerne
• balancer pellet over complete feed
• regularly weigh and body condition score young stock, ideally would like to see the last two ribs on weanlings and yearlings
• NOT NOT FEED THEM too much
• high protein intake is NOT a factor in DOD

Excessive Calories linked to DOD

• Excessive energy intake = rapid weight gain = increased incidence of DOD
• source of calories may also be important
• Hyperglycemia or hyperinsulinemia implicated in pathogenesis of DOD
• Hyperinsulinemia may affect chondrocyte maturation, leading to altered matrix metabolism and faulty mineralization or altered cartilage growth by influencing other hormones such as thyroxine

Glycemic Response and OCD

• overall 11.5% multiple joints, mostly stifle, hock, fetlock
• about half of lesions identified through routine radiography in Jan-Feb
• Plasma glucose and insulin was higher in weanlings with OCD than unaffected weanlings
• a high glucose and insulin response to a meal was associated with an increased incidence of OCD
• OCD foals were larger
• foals with extreme glycemic responses had atypical incidence of OCD
• high response = high OCD
  
• low response = low OCD
• Glycemic index of the feed a possible factor
• based on results of study - it would be prudent to feed weanlings concentrates which produce LOW glycemic responses

How to reduce the risk of DOD through nutrition

• Broodmare nutrition
• monitor growth rates
• balanced nutrition during growth
• feed low glycemic feed

5. Feeding the yearling

• once horse has reached 12 months less likely to develop DOD
• lesions that are clinically relevant as yearlings are typically formed at younger ages
• correct nutrient balance is important
• growth monitoring important
• if clinical DOD evident, manage nutrition and growth rate

Yearling feeding considerations

• colts may need more calories than fillies
• good spring grass - careful not to over feed
• balancer pellet
• sales or show prep - increase caloric intake but monitor BCS
• quality forage, lucerne hay
• breeding feed plus oil, beet pulp, stabilized rice bran

6. Bone development

Maximising bone development

• maximum BMC not achieved until at least 6 years
• birth 17% of adult BMC
• 6 months 68.5% of adult BMC
• 12 months 76% of adult BMC
• height or long bone growth is the developmental priority for young horses
• Energy, protein, minerals, and vitamins are first directed to maintenance requirements, and any additional nutrients are used for skeletal growth

Exercise and bone development

• free choice exercise and forced exercise increase bone mass
• weanlings that underwent forced exercise up to yearling age had increased cannon bone mass when compared to non-exercised horses
• TB weanlings - controlled sprint exercise plus free pasture exercise associated with increases chondrocyte viability and bone size and strength
• in many cases this positive effect persisted throughout subsequent 2 and 3 year old racing

• Triacton - helps prevent bone growth lose during winter

Conclusion - Nutrition for Growth

• slow, steady growth important for skeletal soundness
• growth of the young equine athlete must be carefully managed
• adjust energy intake accordingly, DO NOT OVER FEED
• Forage is foundation of all young horse's diets
• Remember adequate protein
• Balanced vitamin and mineral intake
• choose low glycemic energy sources

Learning About Horses - Horse Life Cycle

Horse Life Cycle - Birth to Weaning 

Different horses develop in slightly different ways - but these are the general age guidelines. The average lifespan of a horse is 25-30 years. A senior horse that reaches 36 years old is roughly the equivalent of 103 in human years!

Fetus - A horse is a fetus for 340 days inside its mother.

Foal - Birth to Weaning a horse is with its mother from birth to about 4 (3-6) months.

Weanling - a horse is a weanling once it is weaned from its mother at about 4 months of age until about 10 months. 

Yearling - a horse is a yearling from 10 months until about 23 months (2 years old)

Adolescent - a horse is an adolescent from 2 years until they are 5 years old (in the horse world called an adult)

Adult - a horse is an adult from 6 years until about 14

Senior - a horse is an senior from 15 years to 25 years old

Elderly- a horse is elderly 26+ (in the horse world called a senior)

We can use physical and mental responses that horses and humans have to compare them to each other. 

The first year of a horse's life they mature a lot. They are like a 9 year old human. They are still kids but are ready to do a lot more learning. 

Here are some of the Oldest Horses

Shayne, Irish Draught/Thoroughbred cross, 51 years old

Orchid, Thoroughbred/Arabian cross, 50 years old.

Badger: Arabian/Welsh cross, 51 years old.

Sugar Puff: Shetland/Exmoor pony cross, 56 years old.

Old Billy: draft horse, 62 years old.

Lilly's Growth and Development

Lilly as a Fetus inside her Mom Lucky September 22, 2019

Lilly as a NewBorn Foal  April 26, 2020

Lilly 1 month May 26, 2020

Lilly 2 months June 26, 2020

Lilly 3 months July 26, 2020

Lilly 4 months August 26, 2020

Lilly 5 months  September 26, 2020

Lilly 6 months October 26, 2020

Lilly 7 months November 26, 2020

Lilly 8 months December 26, 2020

Lilly 10  months January 26, 2021

Lilly 11 months  February 26, 2021

Lilly 12 months March 26, 2021

Lilly 1 Year April 26, 2021