Know Before You Tow

Show season has kicked off and is important prepare for traveling and the show. Here are some helpful hints for a successful show season.

Tailoring:

· Needed health papers (negative Coggins test, health certificate, registration papers)

· Brushes, hoof pick

· Shipping Boots

· Water Buckets

· Hay bags

· Equine first-aid kit

· Pitch fork and/or manure bucket

· Check hitch, safety chains, lights, brakes

Showing:

· Show Tack

· Grooming supplies

· Hoof oil

· Packing paste

· Nippers and rasp for hoof emergencies

· Bands and/or yarn for mane banding or braiding

· Baby whips

· Pledge and rag for stubborn dirt

· Clippers and/or razor

· Hemet or cowboy hat

· Show clothes, gloves, boots, belt, spurs, crop

· Pen and paper

· Sport Medicine Boots

· Vet Wrap

Other:

· Quality feed (if needed)

· Ulcerguard

· Probios

Out With The Old In With The New

Hello, this is Jess Biddle the “old” Equine Specialist. I will be leaving Hueber Feed to pursue a career as a paramedic. I have enjoyed my time with Hueber, the dealers and customers. I will miss everyone apart of the Hueber family. Thank you all for allowing me to be apart of your lives. I wish you all good luck with your horses and business! Happy Trails!

Thanks again,

Jess Biddle              

Hi, I’m Laura Sadecki. I am the new Equine Specialist at Hueber Feed, LLC. I grew up in Peotone, in Will County, where I own three American Quarter Horses. My riding career has taken me to AQHA breed shows, 4-H, Illinois High School Rodeo, team penning, reining, & open shows, which have made me a very versatile rider. I graduated from Murray State University, in Murray, KY. At MSU, I received the Master of Equine Nutrition and the Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in  Animal/Equine Science and Ag Business. I was involved in Equestrian Team- Captain for two years, Horseman’s Club Secretary, and received Outstanding Senior in Equine Science. I am very excited to start my career here at Hueber Feed, LLC and look forward in helping improve your horse’s performance.

Look forward to working with you,

Laura Sadecki

The Hind Gut

Lately there has been talk about probios in a horses diet. To see why or if they need them we need to look at the horses anatomy. Once the digesta has moved through the small intestine most of the soluble products have been removed. What usually remains after the small intestine is fiber and ingestible portions.

So, after the small intestine the rest of the tract is called the hindgut. The cecum is the first of three large fermentation sacs and contains microbes. This is where bacterial degradation or fermentation begins and this fermentation produces volatile fatty acids. VFA’s are simple fats that enter the metabolism as a source of fat. 

Next is the colons. There are two colons: the dorsal and ventral colons. These are sacs that also continue the process of bacterial fermentation. The walls of the colons are also able to absorbed VFA’s and water soluble vitamins. The two large colons are joined by a small narrow transverse colon; this combination of large sacs joined by a small narrow pipe tends to cause blockages, also called impaction colic. The horse maintains an important population of beneficial bacteria in the hindgut. These bacteria break down the fibers. Because this hindgut is located after the small intestine in the GI tract, enzymes are no longer directly digesting the gut content, including bacteria. Therefore bacteria pass intact from the hindgut through feces— it’s the by-products of the bacterial digestion that the horse absorbs and uses. Anything that damages the bacteria will upset the vital balance. Drugs like dewormers, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and oral antibiotics. Sudden food changes, dehydration, increased temperature, dehydration can overwhelm the good bacteria.

Probiotics supply beneficial bacteria in the form of dose of dried bacteria to the gut with the intention of resupplying good bugs. They are not needed to be fed every day; they are only necessary only from time to time, examples are following deworming, if drugs are being given orally, or if the horse overheats.  There are other products that “feed” the beneficial bugs and help them grow. One option is yeast. These can also be called prebiotics. Feeds that are high in soluble fiber help beneficial bacteria thrive. How ever if they grow too quickly then they can lead to over growth which is not a good thing. So like everything or the horse balance is key.

The Rhyming Foal

I thought I would try to be like Dr. Baxter Black,                 

and try to give this poem writing stuff a whack.

Too many topics and so little space,                                  

but I don't want to write about foal growth in haste.

So it has been about 3 months and the foal is doing great on mom,                                        

but you know the foal will need more shortly or it will bomb.

But what to feed it or when should you start?                  

You know that these answers are the hard part.

First look at your animal, and see what it is we need to improve.      

Is it the right weight, height and condition, or down its back, is there a groove?

If the foal looks good, and it appears hard to beat,          

then don't goof up by giving it a creep.

When it’s time to help nature and take away the mare,        

give the little foal an extra little thought and care.

Try to already have the foal eating the feed he will be on         

to try to minimize all the stress when mom is gone.

So on his own but what to do,

we want the foal to keep growing strong and true

Depending upon the forage, maybe a good grass hay,     

usually a good 16% feed is the perfect complement of the day.

But as a year flies by and time picks up speed,                    

and your horse’s growth is starting to wane

Now is the time to adjust the feed to a 14%                          

so nutritional problems like DOD he will not gain.

It’s a lifetime of enjoyment for you and your horse,           

doing anything from eventing to just riding around the pen

But your foals nutritional need will also need to be adjusted   

so the protein can be reduced to a 12% or a 10

Please remember the feeding rules of thumb                      

are usually just general guides

You need to constantly adjust your total ration                  

according to type of forage and animal size.

Almost any type of forage will be okay for you foal                   

but try to aim for grass with some alfalfa as a goal.          

And total food intake is usually about 2% of body weight      

 with 1% grain so it will still go through the gate.

You and your horse are a winning combination                

That has been around since the time before Rome

But hopefully you have enjoyed this first attempt                   

of an article about “feeding a foal” poem.

by Dr. Ed Bonnette, Ph. D., Hubbard Feeds Inc., Equine Nutritionist

Feeding The Laminitic Horse

Laminitis is a condition when the blood circulation to the  hoof and laminae decreases. This causes inflammation and swelling which causes pain and pressure in the foot. If separation of the hoof wall tissues and bone occurs then it is called founder. There are different ways that cause laminitis; toxins, interference, and environment.

Toxins will cause loss of blood supply to the foot. The bacteria that live in the hind gut of the horse can produce these toxins if there is interference with their normal activity. This will cause the “wrong” bacteria to multiply.

Interference (shortage of nutrients or oxygen to laminae) is caused by insulin resistance or shock, and/or stress.

The environment will cause laminitis by having toxins enter the foot. Examples is if the horse stands on hardwood shavings such as black walnut.

So what do we feed the laminitic horse? The idea is to feed them as a diabetic. How we do this is by providing feed with low glycemic I  index. These type of feed is grass hay and lower starch feed. We should try to avoid corn, barley and molasses. Fats should be fed in forms of rice bran if extra calories are needed. The Cool Command feed is a low starch feed and has no corn in the formula. When feeding your horse it is ideal to feed them multiple small meals in the day. It is also very key not to have your horse overweight.

Reference Lower Starch aricle for more information.

Yeast in a Horses Diet

Yeast in animal feed has been around for years. It is typically added to beef and dairy nutrition and rarely to equine. Lately there is talk about feeding yeast to horses.

So, what is yeast culture?

Yeast culture, by definition, is “the dried product compost of yeast and the media it was grown in, dried in such a manner as to preserve the fermenting activity of the yeast. “

The benefit of feeding yeast culture comes from the metabolites produced in fermentation in the hind gut. It is thought to stimulate the bacteria therefore increasing activity which then will result in an increase in digestion. Research has found that bacteria which digest fiber in the hind gut of the horse increased in numbers when the yeast culture was supplemented.

This means the horse can use more nutrients because they can break down dry matter and fiber resulting in volatile fatty acids which is an energy source for the horse.

The use of yeast cultures in the performance horse is not fully researched. Some studies showed that horses that horses supplemented with yeast culture had a reduction in blood lactate. This can be beneficial   because the horse will not get lethargic as quickly and be able to perform longer.

Feeding yeast to broodmares have shown improved fiber, protein and phosphorus digestibility and a short term increase in milk production. This increase lasted for the first two weeks of lactation. An analysis of milk from yeast fed broodmares showed improvements in the nutrient contentment for the first 8 weeks of lactation.  The protein level and gross energy content were also increased.  This increase in quality of milk improved the growth of the foals during the first 8 weeks of life.

As a recap, feeding yeast to horses has many benefits. It improves the digestibility of fiber in diets that have high forage diets, also improved protein digestion. It is important to meet your horses needs from his diet, yeast will help insure the digestion of the nutrients.

The complete line of Front Runner feed all contain yeast to insure maximum usage of nutrients in your horses diet.

What Initials on Feed Bags Mean

DE: Digestible energy (calories), used to fuel chemical reactions within the body and muscle contraction.

CP: Crude Protein, the major component of muscle, enzymes and hormones.

Ca: Calcium, a mineral making up 35 % of bone structure, involved in muscle contractions and blood clotting.

P: Phosphorus, a mineral making up about 17% of the skeleton, also involved in energy transfer reactions.

Cu: Copper, a mineral involved in synthesis and maintenance of elastics connective tissue

Zn: Zinc, a mineral involved in chemical reactions that are necessary to form bone, skin and connective tissue.

Se: Selenium: a mineral involved as an antioxidant in the body

Mn: Manganese, a mineral involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and for the synthesis of chondrotin sulfate necessary for cartilage formation.

I: Iodine, a mineral necessary to form thyroid hormones that regulated basal metabolism

Lys: Lysine, an amino acid, the first limiting amino acid in diets for growing foals

VitA: a vitamin important for vision and born formation

VitE: a vitamin that functions with selenium as an antioxidant

Starch: chain of glucose from plants, when digested glucose is released

NSC: non structural carbohydrate is old term used to describe carbs