November 2007 Newsletter

[Clair Thunes]

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanks Giving, mine was spent rather
unconventionally, camping at the coast which was great fun. I was
asked a couple of very good questions after the last newsletter, the
first about my comment of walnut oil being a good source omega-3
fatty acids and whether this oil would be safe to feed to horses. I
want to clarify that I was not meaning to suggest feeding walnut oil
to horses. I was using it as an additional example of an omega-3
fatty acid source. I do not know whether walnut oil comes from black
walnuts, but black walnuts are known to be poisonous to horses the
most common poisoning seems to occur in horses that develop laminitis
from being bedded on black walnut shavings. It is thought a substance
in black walnuts called juglone (black walnuts biologic name is
Juglans nigra) is the culprit, although direct application of isolated
juglone to horse's hooves does not necessarily result in laminitis.
When administered with aqueous extracts of black walnut by stomach
tube laminitis is induced suggesting that toxicosis may in part be due
to ingestion or inhalation of the juglone. If black walnuts are used
for oil production I do not know whether the toxic substance passes to
the oil or not. I have researched the topic fairly extensively and
have come up with no information. My recommendation for an omega-3
fatty acid source is to stick with flax. There are several great flax
products out there but I like Omega Horse Shine which you can purchase
from Smartpak or from www.omegafields.com and also Horsetech's flax
products that are sold at www.horsetech.com

I was also asked about feeding vegetable instead of corn oil.
Vegetable oil is a generic term for a class of oils coming from plant
sources, corn, cottonseed, grapeseed, soybean, canola, safflower,
peanut, flax, linseed, coconut and palm. Many people feed corn oil
because it is cheap and readily available in large quantities. Plus
it was promoted over other oil sources after studies showed that
horses ate diets with up to 15% added fat without palatability
issues. Corn oil is just fine as an energy source. It is great for
getting more calories into a diet cheaply without adding anything
else. However, it does have drawbacks. The fatty acids in corn oil
are 58% linoleic acid (omega-6) and only 0.7% linolenic acid
(omega-3). Compare that to flax at 12.7% omage-6 and 53.5% omega-3.
If we are trying to provide out horses more omega-3 fatty acids in
relation to omega-6 fatty acids to reduce potential inflammatory
response, corn oil tips the scale the wrong way. If feeding a flax
product is not an option you might try canola oil from rapeseed at
22.1% omega-6 and 11.1% omega-3, or soybean oil at 51% omega-6 and
6.8% omega-3. All other common plant oils contain less than 1%
omega-3 fatty acid.
Keep up the good questions and have fun preparing for the Holidays,
Clair
PS If you would like any of the previous newsletters in hard copy they
are available in PDF format from my website www.equilibrateequine.com
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Should you be feeding more/less or different feed this winter?
Some special considerations for getting your older horse through the
winter.
What are extruded feeds?
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SHOULD YOU BE FEEDING MORE/LESS OR SOMETHING DIFFERENT THIS WINTER?

The clocks are well and truly back, it is dark by 6pm, for some it is
getting pretty chilly and for those of you who are in school you are
in the thick of assignments and homework. However, for others of you
such as those in Arizona, while many of these things are true it is
finally pleasant enough to ride after 7am and before 6pm. So are you
exercising your horse as much as you did in the summer? Maybe you are
riding more! One of the rules of feeding, that certainly those of us
familiar with Pony Club will have heard, is feed according to work
done. This is one rule I see forgotten all the time, it does not get
forgotten so much when a horse is injured and laid-up, although that
does happen, but somehow we forget about it when our life changes and
impacts our horses level of exercise. We do not seem to think that
much about the fact that during the summer we were riding 5 days a
week and feeding our horse a couple of pounds of grain a day, and now
it is dark and cold we are only riding at the weekend and have not
changed diet to reflect this change. So I encourage you to ask
yourself whether your riding pattern has changed and adjust your
feeding schedule accordingly. Of course like those in Arizona, you
may in fact be riding more now than you were in the summer in which
case you may need to give your horse more.
After you think about this and realize that yes indeed you are riding
less and have not made any changes to your horse's diet do not panic
and run to barn and throw out all grain in sight because like always
there is a catch. You need to consider the whole picture. While it
may be true that you are riding less than you were, it may also be
colder than it was in which case your horse will need extra energy to
keep warm (see October 2007 newsletter). Therefore, depending on how
much he was working, he may actually need as many calories now working
less, as he did when he was working more. The problem might be that
the calories that he is getting are coming from grain and to keep warm
he would be better off with more hay (see October 2007 newsletter).
If he is a hard keeper then he may still need the support of some
additional grain perhaps from something like sugar beet pulp though
rather than from a product high in cereal grains.

Each horse is different and what works for one may not work for
another. The key is to be conscious about your feeding program, to
know why you are doing what you are doing and watch your horse for
cues such as body condition, weight, skin coat and hoof condition, and
temperament to tell you that something may need changing. If you are
unsure what to change or you make changes with no effect then seek
advice from your vet or nutritionist.

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SOME SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR GETTING YOUR OLDER HORSE THROUGH THE
WINTER?

When I was a kid I used to ride my pony Timmie in the Best Veterans
classes at the local shows. These were for horses 15 years and older
and were judged on condition and way of going, they were like hunter
classes. The entrants (horses) were normally in their late teens and
there would typically be one or two horses in their early twenties and
these would typically win. Timmie and I were active members of the
local Pony Club, competing in all disciplines and fox hunting often
more than 10 days a season. I grew out of him when he was 19 at which
point we leased him to a local family who used him for Prince Philip
cup games which he excelled at. He later returned to us and continued
to teach numerous pony clubbers the basics and hunted a least a couple
of days a season until he died age 24. This was a good age then.
Today horses are commonly active well into their twenties; my
subsequent pony club horse is pushing 30 and takes my mother on
adventures most weekends.

While there are many vibrant active older horses there are equally as
many who look tired, whose coats no longer have luster and who act as
though they are biding their time. Whether your older horse is still
full of life or not looking quite as he did in his youth, winter is
probably the older horse's toughest season. Not only do older horses
have a harder time keeping warm, they may have dental problems and
their bodies are not as efficient at utilizing food as they used to be
so they can often be hard to keep weight on. On top of that, once
they have lost condition it is particularly hard to get it back. Add
to this the fact that their immune systems are likely not what they
were so they are perhaps more at risk of picking up respiratory
conditions and may not have the defenses to fight them. It is pretty
clear that the older horse takes very careful management. The
management corners you were able to cut in your horse's younger days
will have far greater consequences in old age.

Your older horse may require things that he has never needed in the
past. Do not think that just because he did not need it in the past
that he does not need it now. For example, you need to take extra
precautions to insure that your horse is warm and this may mean using
blankets even if you have never needed to use one in the past. If he
is no longer an easy keeper consider feeding good grass hay free
choice. Sugar beet pulp, rice bran, flax, are all good feeds for
older horses, those who are still working may need the added benefit
of feeds such as oats, barley and senior feeds. Senior feeds are
often "complete" feeds meaning they can be fed without the need of hay
if fed in the quantities recommended by the manufacture. This is
typically only necessary if you have a horse with serious dental
problems meaning that it is unable to eat long stem hays. The cost of
senior feeds makes such feeding strategies inhibitive for most people
unless absolutely necessary. Plus, eating hay as the roughage source
is preferable for maintaining good gut health. There is also the
concern that many senior feeds contain high levels of molasses and
corn. Older horses are more susceptible to cushings disease which is
a chronic progressive disease of the intermediate pituitary gland of
older horses. Horses with this disease also tend to suffer from
hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia and therefore should not be fed
feeds that contribute substantial amounts of glucose to the blood
stream which corn and molasses do. (Note that horses may suffer from
hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycermia often called insulin resistance,
metabolic syndrome or syndrome x, without having cushings). The
National Research Council this year stated that it may be prudent to
feed older horses diets lower in these types of ingredients.
Strangely enough despite the name sugar beet pulp, if un-molassed,
sugar beet pulp is actually a great feed to feed horses with this
condition as it has a very low glycemic index. Another option for
horses with poor teeth is to feed hay cubes or pellets that have been
soaked in water to make them soft. Extruded and/or micronized feeds
are good for older horses. The nutrients are more easily digestible
which is good for the inefficient digestive system. If straight
barley is fed as a grain source it should have been heat treated in
some way to make the starch more available.

An older horse's internal organs may not function as effectively as
they did so feeding diets that do not put a lot of strain on them may
be wise. For example feeding a diet high in excess protein is of no
great concern (although it has been shown to reduce performance) as
excess protein is broken down and processed by the kidneys which
excrete the extra nitrogen as urea in urine. Except in an older horse
the kidneys may not function as well as they once did. In addition,
the process takes energy (that is one of the principles of the Atkins
diet) which is something you do not want in a horse that needs to
conserve as much energy as possible. You need every possible calorie
to go to maintaining body weight. It has been estimated that the
older horse's energy needs are 10% higher than that of a younger
horse. The older horse's digestive tract may not absorb nutrients as
well as it did in the past so making sure nutrients are high quality
and easy to absorb is important. Feeding chelated or proteinated
minerals (minerals attached to a protein or amino acid) are important
along with high enough levels of essential amino acids such as lysine
and methionine.

Dental check-ups are a particularly important part of your older horse
management and should be performed once a year or more often if your
horse has a problem. Older horses are more likely to have missing
teeth or not enough tooth to be able to chew their food adequately.
If they have not received regular dental care during their lives,
sharp edges may have built up on the teeth at the back of their mouths
that may dig into and lacerate their cheeks. All these can make
eating a hard or even painful process. If you watch your horse eating
and notice he is dropping food out of the sides of his mouth, known as
"quidding", it is a sure sign that he needs dental work and you should
call your vet or equine dentist. Even if he is able to keep food in
his mouth, if the food is not adequately chewed before it is swallowed
he will be at a higher risk for compaction colics. Check your horse's
feces and see how large the hays particles are. If you see hay that
looks like it was not adequately chewed, call your vet and/or equine
dentist to get teeth checked and to discuss the potential need to feed
pellets or cubes.
As to what constitutes an older horse, the National Research Council
(2007) considers 20 to be the threshold for old age in horses,
although there will be variation around the number based on the
individual horse; in some it may be as young as 15. The National
Animal Health Monitoring System estimated that in 1998 7.5% of the
total US horse population (total estimated at 7 million) were 20 years
or older. Having an older horse often means more work for you, and
yet you will be richly rewarded for your efforts with a horse that has
a wealth of knowledge and experiences to share with you. Plus, your
careful management may just buy you more time with your special
friend.

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WHAT ARE EXTRUDED FEEDS

Sometimes when you look on feed bags you will notice that it says that
a feed or perhaps an ingredient is extruded. What exactly does that
mean? Extrusion and pelleting are very similar. Both start out with
a ground feed or feed ingredients that are then compacted and passed
through die openings. On leaving the barrel pressure drops suddenly
which causes steam to be released and the feed expands violently. When
pelleting a feed the pressure in the system is low resulting in a
compacted feed as opposed to an expanded feed. Extruded feeds are
about a half as dense as pelleted feeds and loose feeds made of the
same ingredients. Heat is often applied to the system either as a
result of friction or due to injected steam. Due to the process of
expansion, extruded feeds have greater surface area on which digestive
enzymes and microbes can work. In addition the heat in the system may
alter the structure of the feed components making them more available
to the digestive process. Both these processes help to increase the
digestibility of the feed.

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Services offered by Equilibrate Equine Consulting include phone
consultations on both nutrition and management issues, hay sampling
and interpretation, ration balancing and diet formulation for all
horses, custom vitamin and mineral mixes and packages for ongoing
care. For more information please visit www.equilibrateequine.com or
email in...@equilibrateequine.com