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Post by Dawn Perkins on Jun 3, 2014 14:03:02 GMT 1
I hasten to add that I am not promoting the company - it is simply that I stumbled across them while I was trying to find another link to the Farmers Guardian article!
Dawn Perkins
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Post by Dawn Perkins on Jun 3, 2014 18:23:21 GMT 1
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Post by Erika & George on Jun 3, 2014 22:48:53 GMT 1
Hi again, Yes my horses like to eat holly and I seem to be lucky that I have quite a lot of not very spiky holly which the horses love. At this time of the year they are also very keen on hazelnut and beech, I think it is a search for roughage when the grass is so rich. I think that willow is also popular because it contains salic acid (aspirin) but with all these things it is moderation. Very interesting information about ryegrass issues I will have to be more careful on ground that I re-seed.
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Post by Dawn Perkins on Jun 4, 2014 8:20:39 GMT 1
Hi Erika! You have the most brilliant pasture for George (I think I remember you saying that he also has access to water to play in?!), with a natural variety of forage. It seems that many of the problems associated with horse health generally are to do with food which is too rich and which lacks variety. Given the opportunity, most animals seem able to pick out plants to self-medicate. I remember seeing exactly that in a film about chimpanzees who were on the move and one of them - who wasn't well - kept picking and eating a certain plant (which the others weren't eating) along the way. These are two more blogs from Rockley Farm, which I have posted links to before but which are relevant once again. The one about dairy cows is quite an eye-opener. I think there must be many cases of owners who think their horses can't go barefoot because they get "footy" quickly. In fact, the barefoot hoof seems to be a much better barometer of potential problems than a shod one because shoes mask the symptoms until those symptoms have progressed further. Barefoot horses, managed correctly, recover more quickly because action can be taken before too much damage has occurred:- rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/grass-and-lameness.html (posted by Nic in October 2009) rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/the-horse-experts-and-heel-first-landing.html (the grass factor - and how quickly it manifests in lameness - becomes apparent as you read through) Best wishes to you and George, Dawn Perkins
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Post by Dawn Perkins on Jun 5, 2014 12:55:50 GMT 1
I am posting this link to the Rockley Farm blog on this thread and the thread concerning barefoot rehabilitation for lameness issues because it is so important. It is a distillation of the article in The Farmers Guardian concerning sugars in grasses and I think it goes a long way to explaining why horses seem to be suffering from so many lameness and metabolic problems. It could certainly explain why so many people think their horse "cannot go barefoot", since a diet low in sugars is essential for hoof strength and integrity. Shoes can mask the symptoms for some time but a barefoot hoof will signal that something is wrong very quickly:- rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/why-not-all-grass-is-created-equal-and.htmlDawn Perkins
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Post by Dawn Perkins on Aug 5, 2014 11:46:45 GMT 1
Not to do with metabolic disorders as such but I noticed a link on Cynthia Cooper's Facebook page to the EqWest Equine Practice Facebook page for 8th July 2014. (Jeremy Hyde of EqWest was, coincidentally, one of people who helped Nic Barker set up the Project Dexter research into barefoot rehabilitation.) I had known about the effects of stomach acid where horses are not allowed to trickle feed but had not heard of feeding some chaff before working a horse in order to prevent acid splashback into the top part of the stomach during work:- www.facebook.com/eqwest?ref=streamDawn Perkins
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