By Kentucky Equine Research Staff

In Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, the renowned fictional detective Sherlock Holmes assesses the quality of a portrait by stating simply, “I know what is good when I see it.” For some horsemen, high-quality pasture may be viewed in the same way—difficult to describe but easy to identify.

What attributes separate high-quality pasture from middling or poor pasture? Some characteristics include species and growth stage of plants, density of desirable plants, weed population, and presence and extent of sacrificial areas. These barren areas are often found around feeders, waterers, or fencerows because of high traffic.

Pasture quality is often intrinsically linked to pasture care. Are soil tests conducted to inform owners how to fertilize? Are pastures mowed and dragged regularly? Are weed-control measures performed?

Kentucky Equine Research prompts horse owners to complete a detailed form when they request a ration evaluation. Every component of a horse’s diet must be depicted accurately. One question asks owners to describe their pastures in one of five ways: drylot, sparse, moderate, lush, or high in oxalates. By knowing the quality of pasture, especially the availability of forage, nutritionists can estimate potential intake levels and the nutrient contribution to the diet.

Drylot. A drylot is any area where horses are turned out and able to move around freely, but the area contains no forage. Drylots are often sand or gravel runs connected to a stall or turnout paddock. A drylot is ideal for horses that must consume carefully regulated diets such as easy keepers or those diagnosed with certain metabolic diseases. Horses with drylot turnout only will be entirely dependent on supplemental forage sources such as hay, chaff, forage cubes or pellets, or alternative fiber sources. If horses spend more than an hour or two in a drylot, forage should be provided to them.

Sparse pasture. Sparse pasture provides some forage for horses, though quality may be poor. The forage may be overmature, which can be determined by the presence of thick stems and seedheads, or it may be yellowing or brown, as in the case of drought-stricken plants. Sparse pasture may be due to overgrazing, which often leads to a flush of weed growth. Sacrificial or loafing areas may start small but spread wider, giving weeds a chance to take a foothold. Sparse pasture may also be due to inappropriate management, such as infrequent mowing, inadequate weed control, or lack of fertilization. This pasture will not support optimal dry matter intake per day but may be appropriate to meet the needs of easy keepers.

Moderate pasture. Moderate pastures may have a mix of grasses interspersed with weeds. Pasture will be unevenly grazed but will have minimal bare spots. Plant height will typically be inconsistent. Moderate pasture generally does not have consistent care with some mowing and minimal or no fertilization. Like sparse pasture, moderate pasture will not support the maximum dry matter intake per day.

Lush pasture. Lush cool-season pasture contains thick stands of grasses with few or no bare areas and even distribution of grazing across the pasture with minimal weed proliferation. Plants are kept at a height of 6-10 inches by regular mowing. This pasture will support maximum rate of dry matter intake. Cool-season grasses grow best during cool, moist periods of the year, such as in spring or autumn. They thrive in the temperature range of 59-77° F. Common cool season grasses include tall fescue, orchardgrass, ryegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, and bromegrass. Warm-season grasses grow best during warm periods of the year, flourishing when temperatures are in the range of 86-95° F. Bermudagrass and bahiagrass are typical warm-season grasses. When grasses are faced with temperatures outside of their ideal range, growth may slow considerably, decreasing yield.

Legumes such as clover, lespedeza, and alfalfa are most often used in pastures as components of mixes with grasses. Both grasses and legumes provide essential nutrients to horses, though legumes will convey more energy and protein as well as certain minerals.

The fifth category, high-oxalate pastures, pertains primarily to horse owners in tropical regions. Oxalates bind calcium in the gastrointestinal tract of the horse, thereby prohibiting its uptake into the bloodstream and its subsequent use throughout the body. Ingestion of these plants is typically not an issue unless they represent a large fraction of available forage or if oxalate-laden plants are more palatable than other species in the pasture landscape. Kikuyu, buffel, pangola, and green panic grasses all are potentially dangerous because of high oxalate levels.

Read more: Evaluating Pasture Quality for Horses

Is your horse feeling his oats? Incorporate calming supplements for horses.

While colder weather is perfect for watching a movie or reading a book indoors, it is often less-than-ideal for equestrians who prioritize riding and training year-round.

Now is the time to incorporate calming supplements for horses.

Are your riding lessons a bit more spirited these days? For many horses, the addition of calming supplements, which include specific herbs, vitamins and minerals, can modify the neurotransmitters in the brain, changing the horse's reaction to stress-inducing environmental factors.

Magnesium plays an important role in the nervous and muscular systems. An adequate level of magnesium helps with stress management, muscle tension and irritable, unpredictable behavior, which is commonly experienced with chilly winter temperatures ongoing across the country. Vitamin-B complex also is important in various metabolic functions within the body and is proven to help relieve anxiety and stress.

There are a number of equine calming supplements available to choose from to help manage your horse's apprehension. Our customers consistently share powerful stories of success with the use of Command Serene. It is an all-natural, herb-free calming formula for horses, available in pellets, powder and paste forms. Command Serene contains concentrated levels of B-vitamins and magnesium. It counteracts the stress that leads to irritable, nervous, unpredictable behavior, and allows the horse to be more focused.Command Serene is completely natural without the addition of any sugars or fillers, and it will not test.

Help your horse find relaxation and focus, so you may enjoy more serene rides.

This article originally appeared on Valley Vet and is published here with permission. Valley Vet Supply was founded in 1985 by veterinarians for people just like you - people who want the very best for their four-legged friends and livestock.

All photos courtesy of Valley Vet.

There are more informative articles in our section on Health & Education.

by Equine Info Exchange

We had a great opportunity to speak with Dr. Anna Dunaway, Equine Nutritionist from Purina Animal Nutrition, about the challenges people have helping their horses achieve and maintain a healthy weight, while balancing their feed choices with what makes sense economically for owners.

Dr. Dunaway travels around the country and helps owners with their specific needs. She explains, “When we enter a barn, we have the best interests in mind of the owner and their horses. We’re not there to sell a particular feed or supplement, but to understand help and address each horse’s unique needs.”

Here are her 3 quick wins owners can use to help their horses maintain healthy weight.

1. Select the right product

An owner may not be seeing an increase in weight, not because the product is bad, but perhaps they misapplied the product for the horse. If you have a high performance horse, are you choosing the right product? What can people do to choose the right product?

Read the package and descriptive support and look at the tag. For example, a tag which reads “Maintenance of Adult Horses” is not for high performance horses. If you feed 1-2 pounds a day, that is a ration balancer and is not meant to put weight on your horse. She recommends reading the purpose statements and directions. Dr. Dunaway has been writing content for feed tags for over seven years, helping guide owners to select the appropriate feed for their horses’ needs. She cautions that “Horses don’t eat feed tags” so the tags alone won’t tell you how the feed will perform for your horse.

To help choose the correct product, Purina has a Feed Finder tool! Try it!

2. Don’t think the cheaper feed will actually cost less to feed

There are a lot of false economies! Cheaper feed is not always cheaper to feed, especially if you need to add supplements for weight gain or retention. Most of the time, cheaper feeds are less expensive for a reason. When you buy a bag of feed which is a couple of dollars more, you may be getting a much better product. You may not need to buy costly supplements, your feed room will be less cluttered and there will be fewer feeding errors.

3. Good forage and preventing waste

Purina cares about the overall health of the horse and although this is not product related, Dr. Dunaway added that she often sees forage and hay waste as a big issue. Most barns she sees underestimate the amount of hay they throw away. She also sees that horses don’t eat poorer quality hay and it tends to get pushed around and wasted. Good forage is important in conjunction with feed. The poorer the hay quality, the more grain you will have to feed. She also advises farms to use a hay feeder as well since this simple step can reduce up to 50% of hay waste.

We know the challenges of horse ownership and Purina is supporting you for your horse’s good health. Have more questions? Let us know! Email us at info@equineinfoexchange.com.

About Anna Pesta Dunaway , Ph.D.

Anna Pesta Dunaway is a Nutritionist on the Equine Technical Solutions team at Purina Animal Nutrition. Her role includes bringing innovative solutions like the Equine MQ™ Platform from the research team out to the field. Dr. Dunaway’s Ph.D. research at the University of Nebraska focused on the use of high fat diets and manipulating the microbial community in the gut.

You can find more informative articles in our section on Health & Education.

Dylan Dombrowski from Purina tells us about their MQ Systemiq Probiotic Supplement.

"Beyond Expectations: An Extraordinary Equestrian Journey from Deadly Diagnosis to the Paralympic Games"
by Sydney Collier and Heather Wallace.

BUY NOW on Amazon
Paperback | Kindle

Read more: Beyond Expectations - Book Trailer

The following is an excerpt from Beyond Expectations: An Extraordinary Equestrian Journey from Deadly Diagnosis to the Paralympic Games by Sydney Collier and Heather Wallace.

Typical tweens and teenagers worry about grades, crushes, and fights with friends. I yearned to experience those things, but my life continued to be much more complicated than that.

Immediately following my stroke, occupational and physical therapy were a key part of me regaining my ability to walk and to use my left side again. With my dad for company, I had inpatient rehabilitation for that entire summer before returning home to Michigan. Once back, I began outpatient physical and occupational therapy. I dreaded doing occupational or physical therapy. It seemed like that was all I did. I had good days and bad days. The bad days far outnumbered the good days, so much so that I grew sour and difficult to deal with.

My personality was much less “happy, social Syd” and much more of a dark, depressed teenager.

Hey, does that mean I was “typical”?

The only thing that kept me going back were my great relationships with my physical and occupational therapists. I especially loved occupational therapy because at the office, there was a kitchen. Baking and eating the gooey goodness that was the result of my labor was an added incentive. Therapies that didn’t feel like “work” were most effective with me at this time. Repetitive exercises were boring, and it was harder for me to commit to those. But working on real-life tasks that could cause cookies to appear? Yes, please. I was willing to try.

My foray into therapeutic riding was an accident. Life has a way of bringing things to you when the timing is right, even if the reason isn’t clear in the moment of synchronicity. I was struggling personally with accepting myself and my body, and the world accepting me in return. My mom saw how difficult reintegrating into my “new” life was. My body had been irrevocably changed, both through my trauma and the fact that I was no longer the small child I once had been. After my fall from Spirit, and then the rehab I did on him with some success, Mom suggested I take lessons at a therapeutic riding facility to help me find my balance again with horses—maybe, if found there, it would reflect on my life outside the barn. To me, horses had always been a “port in the storm,” where I could focus my attention and forget about all the other things I couldn’t control. Horses were a safety net I clung to for peace of mind. Life, for me, was going to be harsh—but perhaps I could find some stability in this one aspect that had always brought me joy.

Still, I was hesitant. I’d been eventing, which included galloping cross-country and jumping solid fences in open fields. Then, when it became necessary to scale back, I focused solely on show jumping, which even though it took place in a fenced arena still involved leaping over obstacles. To me, “therapeutic riding” seemed a little boring. I was a little “too cool for school” and initially fought the idea of it. In the end, though, I decided to at least try, because I had nothing else to lose.

Luckily, we found that Therapeutic Riding, Inc., in my home state of Michigan, embraced my previous experience with horses and supported me completely. I started in a “traditional” way on what might be thought of as “typical” therapy lesson horses that were chosen for their stoic personalities and forgiving hearts. Therapy horses are truly angels on this earth for the work they do and the confidence they create in so many people with physical and mental disabilities or traumas.

As I spent time at the barn, speaking with the trainers and engaging in conversations about horses, they quickly sensed my experience level. It helped that I’m not exactly the “quiet type” and openly shared plenty of thoughts and stories! Also, the fact that I was able-bodied until I was 11 meant I had a completely different perspective and was never afraid to raise my voice and ask for what I needed.

When I’d found my seat on a horse again and felt ready to push myself, I asked my trainers at Therapeutic Riding, Inc., for a challenge. The basic coordination exercises and hippotherapy were too easy for me. The trainers were very receptive to adapting my program in a way that would improve my riding skills to meet my needs. I was in a unique position because I had come to the barn with four years of eventing experience under my belt.

I think society encourages individuals with disabilities to be quiet. Many don’t want to ask for help, cause problems, or worse, be “an inconvenience.” Moreover, therapeutic riding programs are often hyperaware of “staying within the protocol” and keeping activities extremely safe—not that there is anything wrong with that. But I believe there is so much more potential for riders to learn and compete using adaptive measures “outside the box,” and not just focused on a prescribed program.

The cultural difference between the protective bubble placed around those with disabilities who ride horses in the United States and other countries was starkly apparent a few years later when I went to try a horse in Germany.

When it became clear that Spirit was not comfortable with my body post-stroke the way we needed him to be, we realized it was time to look for a horse for the “new” me. Outside of my time at Therapeutic Riding, Inc., I continued riding with my original trainer, a no-nonsense German with no experience with therapeutic riding or para dressage. We planned a trip to Germany to try to find the “perfect horse.” (The United States commonly imports horses from Germany for use in equestrian sports. A 2020 article in the journal Society and Animals reported that “over $300 million dollars in horses are imported into the United States, and over a third comes from Germany.”) None of us considered how my trainer would know what my body needed without any experience with adaptive riding—we just rolled with it. It was thrilling. I had never been out of the country other than driving through part of Canada on my way to my grandparents’ house in Maine. It was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Before you think I and my family were being dramatic, going “all the way to Germany to find a horse,” it’s important to note we had attempted to try a few horses in the United States, but my trainer and I had met with a lot of resistance when I showed up with braces on my left arm and left leg. Immediately, sellers would refuse to go forward with the trial, informing us their liability insurance didn’t cover someone with a disability, and I couldn’t ride their horses. This was incredibly disheartening. I already felt different in a body that wasn’t yet “my own,” and now I was being judged, the assumption being that based on my appearance, I could not ride safely. To me, it seemed everyone was just afraid of getting sued. I may not have been “able-bodied,” but I was a skilled rider.

In Europe, horse sale barns were more open to me riding than those in my own country. Instead of resistance, those in Germany met us with excitement, eager for me to get on and try their horses. I didn’t need to sign a waiver to protect them or me. When I asked, “So…I can just get on the horse?” they looked at me blankly, seemingly surprised by the question, and retorted, “You fall off a horse just like anyone else, yes?”

It was a breath of fresh air to be treated the same as other riders, regardless of my physical limitations. Individuals with disabilities aren’t porcelain dolls who have to play it safe all the time. If someone, and especially a child, wants to push themselves to be better, then we should foster that person’s talent and desire.

This excerpt adapted from Beyond Expectations by Sydney Collier and Heather Wallace is reprinted with permission from Trafalgar Square Books.

Beyond Expectations: An Extraordinary Equestrian Journey from Deadly Diagnosis to the Paralympic Games
BUY NOW on Amazon
Paperback | Kindle

This excerpt from Beyond Expectations is reprinted with permission from Trafalgar Square Books. Visit them online at Horse & Rider Books. All photos courtesy of Horse & Rider Books.

There are more really interesting books and other gifts for equestrian living in our online Curated Amazon Store.

Horses for Mental Health proudly presents a few of our 2024 Seen Through Horses celebrity ambassadors and Charity Partners! We are grateful for the invaluable support of these remarkable individuals whose vision aligns with our mission to increase awareness of the transformative healing power horses can bring to our lives.

Read more: Celebrity Supporters of the Seen Through Horses Campaign! (1:56)

Oklahoma State University professor, Extension equine specialist details poisonous plants impacting horses, shares harrowing first-hand account

The pastures were recently cleared from overgrown trees and brush, and Kris Hiney, PhD, Oklahoma State University assistant professor and Extension equine specialist, closely looked over the brush piles to make sure no poisonous plants or trees had surfaced. "All clear," she thought as she let her two horses back into the field.

"The very next day, they were already showing toxicity symptoms," Dr. Hiney said. "It turns out I did have black locust trees in the pasture, and when the horses had a chance to get to them, it almost killed them. I called my vet and said, 'This isn't colic. This is toxicity. And I need you here now.'"

Of the two horses, one had lower tolerance to the toxic tree. His heartrate was elevated over 90 for a full 24 hours and to save his life, he required three days of supportive care in the veterinary clinic. Luckily, both horses survived, but the situation could have been life-ending, if Dr. Hiney was not familiar with poisonous plants and signs of toxicity.

There are many poisonous grasses, plants and trees that can gravely impact horse health, such as black locust trees, Johnsongrass, white clover, maple trees, locoweed, tansy ragwort and black walnut trees. Fescue grass can be toxic to broodmares and their foals, causing thickened placentas and even abortions. Look to this University of Minnesota poster for pictures of poisonous plants and to better understand signs of toxicity.

Know these common toxicity symptoms:

• Change in behavior
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Neurologic issues
• Seizure
• Abnormal gait
• Tremors
• Stocking up or founder
• Elevated heart rate
• Brown or discolored urine
• Mouth blisters
• Colic

If horse owners fear their horse might have ingested a poisonous plant, "Call a veterinarian immediately," Dr. Hiney said. "If horses do not receive the right care, toxicity can be a big deal. Death is often a real possibility."

As the weather affects forage available to horses in turnout situations (especially with summer drought or winter conditions), horses are more inclined to ingest unfamiliar plants or leaves. To help prevent plant toxicity, make sure horses have adequate rations of quality hay or grass in front of them. Dr. Hiney encourages horse owners to work closely with their county extension agent to identify potentially harmful grasses, plants or trees that may surface in their pastures. Horse owners can also invest in a spray system to eliminate unwanted plants and weeds.

"Anytime there is something novel in their pasture, horses are going to investigate it," Hiney warned. "I thought everything in my pasture was safe, but it turns out I was wrong. Be very careful, and take a look at what now is accessible to the horses, because they will take advantage."

This article originally appeared on Valley Vet and is published here with permission. Valley Vet Supply was founded in 1985 by veterinarians for people just like you - people who want the very best for their four-legged friends and livestock.

All photos courtesy of Valley Vet.

There are more informative articles in our section on Health & Education.