Hailing from Scone racetrack in NSW, Bernie Kelly is a trainer who has the patience to take the time necessary for a horse to reach his potential. The recent run of Bobbing in The Kosciuszko at Randwick on the 19th of October shows that fortunes favour the patient. Of his run in The Kosciuszko, jockey…
Managing the Equine Gut for Optimal Health and Performance! When it comes to the gut health of your horse, getting the right advice and help is so important especially when we suspect the digestive health of our horses is suffering. We turn to people we trust for education and help. We team up with our…
Did you know? Electrolyte supplements are designed to replace the minerals lost in sweat – sodium, chloride, potassium and magnesium. It’s a particularity hot summer so far and good quality electrolyte supplements are important to replace lost minerals for your #sweatybetty so #shopsmart. Some commercial electrolyte products contain a lot of filler (e.g. glucose) to improve palatability. This…
What Is Rice Bran? Rice bran is the outer brown layer of the rice kernel that is removed during the milling process, which yields white rice. Rice bran has become increasingly popular as a feed ingredient in the equine industry due to its fat content (around 18-20%). However, rice bran is also very unstable and…
There is nothing worse than trying to handle – let alone ride – a spooky, hyper-reactive horse who just won’t listen. When it comes to the spooky horse though, there are a couple of things you need to remember. First, it’s in a horse’s nature to follow its “flight” rather than “fight” response, and secondly,…
Saying goodbye to summer means we’re leaving the hot, dry weather behind and saying hello to the wetter conditions of autumn. While this will bring some relief for our horses, the change in weather provides an ideal environment for gastrointestinal parasites. Just think, when the grass is growing so will the worms (well, they will…
Daily aches and pains are something every horse (and their owner) experience at some point in their lifetime. However, even low-grade lameness could be indicative of a bigger problem such as Osteoarthritis (OA). OA is a complex, progressive disease that affects a large proportion of the horse population. In fact, studies have shown that more…
When exercising, the horse’s working muscles generate heat… The body heats up… The horse sweats… Excess heat is then dissipated through evaporative cooling. As simple as that! Right? Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for all horses. Picture this – it’s a typical Summer’s day in Australia. Hot. Humid. Plagues of flies and other bugs. Cicadas…
The muscle fibres of a horse are a huge asset to the racing or performance horse. Without them, there’s not much to work with – so as well as building muscle mass, the muscles also need to be protected! Low intensity exercise at an easy pace, allows for oxygen to replenish the muscles as he moves. In…
What you feed can have a huge impact on how well your horse performs. Nutrition, supplies the protein to build muscle and the energy to fuel muscle, but there is much more to feeding the performance horse than just providing energy and protein. Let’s be clear though, nutrition is never going to improve a horse…
Chelated (Key-lated) minerals are minerals already bound to a small piece of protein. For minerals to be absorbed they need to be attached to a protein or a sugar which is easily absored in the small intestine. Chelated minerals don’t rely on this ‘attachment’ happening by chance, as they are all ready to be ‘smuggled’…
Managing the Equine Gut for Optimal Health and Performance: PART TWO. In this episode “The stress factors for Horse Digestion” Dr Begg takes us into some of the factors that can lead to inflammation, ulceration and what can leave the horses stomach vulnerable to acid exposure. When it comes to the gut health of your…
Meet the EQUITANA People’s Choice reigning champion, the stunning Braggo S. Terarossa Lodge Friesian stallion, Braggo S was imported to Australia in 2013 and is a Ster stallion with a KFPS breeding permit. At Equitana 2014 the stunning Braggo S stole the show. He was not only selected to be in the Dressage Masterclass and a Private “one on…
One of the most essential items to have in your truck or float when you are out competing is a quality clay poultice. Applied to the horse’s leg, a poultice can reduce inflammation quickly, decrease pain and keep you and your horse in the competition. Travelling, warm-ups, standing in stalls and actually showing or competing…
