Can I feed straw to any horse?

Straw is a great choice for many good doers to both reduce their calorie intake and increase eating time. However, ensure it is clean, high-quality, and introduced gradually to give the digestive system and their eating style time to adapt. Avoid feeding straw to horses with poor teeth or those prone to impaction colic.

How long should a change of hard feed take?

Smaller amounts of feed can be changed over a few days but for bigger meals aim to changes over 7 to 14 days. Ideally adopt this habit to changes of forage too – risk of colic increases greatly with sudden changes of diet and as forage makes up the majority of their food it can have the greatest impact.

Can autumn grass trigger laminitis?

There are many triggers for laminitis and there’s still much work to be done to understand more about it. However, we do know that excess NSC (non-structural carbohydrate – aka sugars) intake is a main driver for laminitis risk. Sugar levels in grass constantly fluctuate, even by the hour, but we know lush grass can be very high in sugars in spring and autumn and there’s plenty of it, meaning horses can easily eat an excess. For many laminitis in prone individuals this is a high-risk time of year and access to pasture should be carefully managed.

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The team are available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm on 01908 226626.

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FAQs

All Questions Autumn Flush

Can I feed straw to any horse?

Straw is a great choice for many good doers to both reduce their calorie intake and increase eating time. However, ensure it is clean, high-quality, and introduced gradually to give the digestive system and their eating style time to adapt. Avoid feeding straw to horses with poor teeth or those prone to impaction colic.
How long should a change of hard feed take?

Smaller amounts of feed can be changed over a few days but for bigger meals aim to changes over 7 to 14 days. Ideally adopt this habit to changes of forage too – risk of colic increases greatly with sudden changes of diet and as forage makes up the majority of their food it can have the greatest impact.
Can autumn grass trigger laminitis?

There are many triggers for laminitis and there’s still much work to be done to understand more about it. However, we do know that excess NSC (non-structural carbohydrate – aka sugars) intake is a main driver for laminitis risk. Sugar levels in grass constantly fluctuate, even by the hour, but we know lush grass can be very high in sugars in spring and autumn and there’s plenty of it, meaning horses can easily eat an excess. For many laminitis in prone individuals this is a high-risk time of year and access to pasture should be carefully managed.