Lindale Veterinary Clinic / Nutrition

Equine Nutrition...

You ought to consider nutritional counseling for your horse, if any of the following apply to you and your horse:

1. You have a performance horse - whether it be a racing thoroughbred, a hunter/jumper, a dressage artist, a rodeo performer, or even a competitive trail rider. All performance horses have increased nutritional needs and just feeding more food is not necessarily the best approach.

2. You have a broodmare. Breeding has special considerations, both in promoting a pregnancy and in maintaining one. The health of the foal depends upon a healthy mare. And, once the foal is born, the lactating mare needs your nutritional care to maintain her health and to produce nutritious milk.

3. Your horses are more than performers, they are your family. Horses are special and the bonds we form with them are like no other. For all their large size, they are really quite delicate and they rely on us to keep them healthy. Feeding them appropriately for their age, body condition, physical requirements, and even their emotional temperament, requires more than hay and sunshine.

4. You have a horse that, in your opinion, really could be healthier. Your horse is fine, basically speaking, but not in glowing health.  Perhaps all your horse requires is a little tweaking of his/her diet to add that vitamin or mineral that's lacking.

5. Your horse is ill. Perhaps your horse has suffered from laminitis, or arthritis, or allergies, or ulcers, or recurrent colic, or diarrhea.   Maybe your horse is having trouble holding his weight and has too much weight to hold. Perhaps your horse is recovering from a surgical procedure or is enduring large amounts of stress. Nutritional support, along with proper medical intervention, can be enormously helpful in speeding up healing, boosting the immune system, and even preventing future problems.

6. You're confused by all the supplements that are available on the market. They all sound great. But, which one is ok to use? And, if you use more than one, you may be concerned about overlapping too many nutrients and causing a new set of problems. A qualified equine nutritionist can help ease the confusion and provide a simple plan for you to follow, using the proper supplements, in the correct amounts.

If you relate to any of the above items, a sound nutritional approach, in combination with good medical care, is critical to your horse's health.