Holistic Nutrition
Is your horse having difficulties with weight, health, or digestion?
Many horses encounter challenges due to diets that are not suitable for their needs, resulting in struggles with weight, digestion or health conditions. Several factors contribute to this dietary inadequacy:
1) The diet may not align with the individual's nutritional requirements, thus failing to provide essential nutrients in the correct amounts
2) While the right nutrients may be present, the ingredients could adversely affect the horse's digestive system due to incorrect processing or harmful chemicals from GMO products. This results in poor digestion and utilisation of nutrients
3) There may be mineral imbalances which can impair absorption, resulting in mineral deficiencies eventhough the diet supplies enough of those minerals
4) Even with proper balance, the ingredients may not be appropriate for the horse's digestive system, lacking species suitability.
Signs that your horse's diet may be unhealthy or inappropriate for the body include:
- Inability to maintain a healthy weight resulting in being either overweight or underweight.
- Persistent skin issues like mud fever, rain rot, or sunburn that don't clear up with topical treatments.
- A dull, rough coat lacking shine.
A coat and mane with faded colours (for instance, black horses showing brown areas, chestnuts appearing yellowish, bleached tips in the mane or lack of pigmentation around the face, especially near the muzzle and eyes).
- Digestive problems such as diarrhoea or frequent colic episodes.
- Signs of ulcers, like sensitivity around the girth or back area.
- Stereotypical behaviours, such as crib biting.
- Ongoing hoof problems, including thrush, white line disease, and cracks.
Nutrition is the foundation of your horse's health, without a suitable diet your horse's body can't function effectively
An inadequate diet may not show visual symptoms for several months or even years, but once signs of pain become apparent, recovery can be a lengthy process. Nutrients play a critical role in all bodily functions, including energy production, muscle development, cellular activity, and hoof growth. A deficiency in nutrients can compromise these functions and eventually lead to chronic issues.
Merely increasing food intake isn't always the solution, whether it concerns forage or supplements. It's essential to understand the underlying reasons for your horse's difficulties before devising effective solutions.
My 'aha' moment
Oubaas was our beloved senior family horse who was really struggling with his health to the point where we even thought about humane euthanasia to ease his pain. He dealt with some serious issues like thrush, white line disease, rain rot, and would occasionally get mud fever. On top of that, he had a tough time keeping weight on during the winter, getting dangerously thin, even though we fed him six times a day and gave him plenty of extra hay.
We decided to give it one last shot with a custom diet before making any tough decisions. We removed all commercial feeds and GMO foods, took a good look at his diet, and added some minerals to help with absorption, plus supplements and herbs to boost his digestion. Fast forward a year and he improved drastically! He put on weight, his thrush and WLD improved, and the rain rot was almost completely gone without needing a bunch of topical treatments. The whole journey really showed me how crucial the right diet is and that proper nutrition can truly give a horse a second chance.
TrulyTrust's philosophy on nutrition centers around a holistic, species-appropriate diet tailored to meet the unique needs of each horse.
As Hippocrates said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food."
I am a firm advocate for feeding horses their natural diet, mainly composed of forage with limited grain, customised to each horse's specific requirements. Additionally, I include whole foods and herbs to enhance healing and overall health. Due to the high costs of whole foods and imbalances in hay and pasture caused by modern agriculture, achieving a balanced diet can be difficult, so I suggest incorporating mineral and vitamin supplements as needed. I focus on choosing healthy, (and where possible) non-GMO ingredients, that aid in the horse's healing journey and are processed for optimal digestion.
Let's start improving your horse's health through his diet
Diet Analysis & Custom Diet Formulations
To truly understand what is going on with your horse's nutrition we need to analyse the diet. This may happen through looking at generalised figures of the current feed and comparing it with NRC values, or having a lab analyse the feed for exact numbers and comparing that to NRC values. This will give insight into whether the needs of your horse is met through his diet, whether the minerals are sufficient and balanced and where possible shortfalls may be.
After analysing the diet and understanding where the shortfalls are, I then carefully calculate a new diet specific to your horse's needs, and your budget.
Afterwards, we maintain communication to monitor progress over the following weeks or months, and adjust the diet as needed.
Zoopharmacognosy Consults OR Herbal Testing Kit
Our horses have an amazing ability to self-medicate when given the opportunity to do so. Unfortunately many of our fields and pastures do not have a wide variety of herbs for the horses to choose from.
Through Applied Zoopharmacognosy we can supply the herbs so our horses can choose what their bodies need, thus preventing and even treating many health issues. Through using this valuable tool our horses can treat themselves, even before we notice symptoms. Doing self-selection can be a great stress reliever for your horse as well, and give your horse more choice and enrichment in his life, improving overall wellfare.
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After your horse have selected his herbs, I then formulate a custom herbal mix for your horse based on his choices.
There are in-person consults available and at home testing kits
Prices start at R200 per horse
Back2Basics & Herbal Supplements
TrulyTrust is the retailer in Bloemfontein for Back2Basics supplements and various Herbal products. You can thus order the following at TrulyTrust:
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ImmunoHoof - an excellent mineral supplement supplying commonly deficient minerals. Has a range of benefits including improving hoof health, reducing thrush and hoof infections, improving coat health and immunity.
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MuscleUp - supplying commonly deficient amino acids. Helps the horse use protein in his diet more efficiently, helps to build topline and improve hoof health
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Variety of herbs at affordable prices to help with various health issues and improve overall wellbeing.