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Target Feeding

With the competition season in full swing you may be looking for ways to improve your horse’s performance. Offering a Target Feed may just be the ticket...

Spring grass, summer grass, mature grass - is it all the same?

At Simple System we think grass can be great for all horses, but before those with lamineits stop reading let’s clear up some common misconceptions...

Is lucerne / alfalfa good for horses with ulcers?

Lucerne (known as alfalfa in America) is an amazing forage, known in different languages as ‘Prince of Feeds’ and ‘Best of the Best’. Lucerne has been grown for horses for around 5,000 years so has stood the test of time and there are many benefits of feeding lucerne to horses, but in particular those prone to gastric ulcers…

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Feeding young horses

Young horses rarely follow the theoretical growth curves. They have growth spurts which can coincide with spring grass coming through, or coincide with nothing in particular! Spring grass is great for supporting growth but when there is not the high quality of grazing available to support them, growing young horses can suddenly look very scrawny. They will need additional feeding, but especially with growing horses, it is important to keep sugar and starch levels low, as these can be associated with developmental issues in bones and joints. Plenty of protein and calcium are really important and forage sources will ensure good levels of quality fibre to support gut health.

Diversity

It is said that variety is the spice of life and certainly the more we look, the more evidence we find that diversity and variety is good in all sorts of ways. 

Horses evolved on a very diverse diet, with a wide range of grasses, legumes, forbs and herbs available, not to mention shrubs and small trees to browse on as the need arose.  Their natural diet varied from season to season and even day to day. Choice, they had aplenty! Once we came along and the grazing and hay became predominantly ryegrass and the “short” feed the processed by-products of the human food industry, it must all have seemed pretty poor by comparison. Taped off paddocks with no access to hedges and over-grazed grass is a very limited substitute for plains abundant with diverse plant forms.

Atypical Myopathy in horses

Sycamore saplings have started springing up. They can be extremely dangerous for horses and ought to be removed from horse paddocks. Ingestion of any part of the sycamore, even seemingly dead looking 'helicopters' or leaves, can cause atypical myopathy - a disease that is often fatal to horses.

Whilst there are fewer sycamore saplings than in 2023 - where they were more widespread than we have ever noted before - they ought to be removed promptly as ingesting even just a small number can have devastating effects. We recommend fencing off affected areas, or better still remove your horses altogether. Even if you don't have sycamore trees in and around your paddocks, we would encourage you to give them a thorough checkover before you allow your horses to graze.

Laminitis questions answered

There are many common misconceptions about what causes laminitis and how it ought to be managed. Simple System Director of Nutrition, Jane van Lennep, answers some of the questions that are frequently asked by customers who contact our Feed Line. 

My horse is currently on box rest with laminitis, but I am really upset they are not actually overweight. Why do they have laminitis? Laminitis is a metabolic disorder and many but not all, are overweight when they develop the condition. It is associated with Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS), pituitary pars intermnedia dysfunction (PPID) - more widely known as Cushing's disease, and insulin dysregulation. Once a horse has suffered a bout of laminitis, it takes less to trigger an episode. Stress can also be involved, so it is important to keep all horses, but especially susceptible ones, stress free. Company, access to enough forage and outside space are all important. Horses with fat pads, such as a cresty neck, are more susceptible, even if the rest is lean. 

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Maintaining horse paddocks

Mares and their seasons

Mares are in season for around 6 days every 3 weeks from spring until autumn. Some mares will cycle all year. When they are cycling, their hormones are fluctuating and, in many mares, will trigger changes in behaviour. This is perfectly natural and something we should try to understand, not criticise her for. Mares are as entire as stallions, the difference being that their drive is periodic, not constant.

For many mares, short days, cooler temperatures and less available food cause their cycle to stop, then warm weather, longer days and growing grass trigger the process to start up again, until either she becomes in foal or winter comes again. Veterinary intervention can also control her cycle.

Ulcers in horses

The more we look, the more we find gastric ulcers in horses. They are being increasingly diagnosed across all horse populations (including leisure horses) likely due to greater awareness of the signs and symptoms. There have also been developments in technology allowing vets to make earlier and more conclusive diagnoses. Overall, more horses now seem to have ulcers than don’t. 

Ulcers are painful for the horse, can impact on their handlers or riders as they react to that pain, and may even reflect our failing to provide a calm and healthy environment. That's not to say all owners of horses with ulcers are to blame - but it really ought to trigger all of us to think more about how we can better care for our horse's needs. Ulcers should not be inevitable or acceptable.

Faecal Water Syndrome in Horses

What is Equine Faecal Water Syndrome?

Faecal Water Syndrome (FWS) refers to the passing of excess free liquid before, during or after the passing of droppings. It can also happen independently of defecation, where no physical droppings are passed. The droppings themselves may appear quite normally formed or may also be quite loose. In some horses, the issue is persistent whilst in others it can be seasonal or sporadic and entirely random.

Repairing your horse's paddock

Does your paddock need a boost? We are hearing that many customers have a lack of grazing due wet weather and very muddy paddocks.

We are frequently suggesting Blue Bag Grass Pellets and Red Bag Grass Pellets as they are an excellent way to top up lost grazing. We are also recommending addressing the paddock itself.

Our Natural Grazing Mix is ideal for repairing patchy paddocks. It is a balanced, ryegrass free mix of hardy, creeping and drought resistant grasses and legumes. One bag will cover 1 acre of bare land or 3-5 acres when re-seeding patches. This mix is also suitable for hay cropping.

Your soil may also need a helping hand after heavy grazing, and the rain may have increased acidity as well as washing out nutrients. The next few weeks are ideal for applying Natural Paddock Recovery to the soil. This is natural, non toxic product will help balance the acidity and provide trace elements and organic matter to help the grass develop more vigorous roots. This in turn will give a longer growing season, yet avoiding the flush of growth that can occur with a traditional fertiliser.

Nutritional Advice for Horses

Have you ever talked yourself out of asking for feeding advice? Picking up the phone to ask for advice can be daunting, especially if your horse is not in optimal condition. Rest assured that no matter what your horse's issue is, it's highly likely that we've helped other customers overcome something similar, or we've dealt with such an issue with our own horses.

Although we are happy to advise by email or online, our Feed Line's preference is to speak with customers wherever possible. Having a conversation helps paint an overall picture of your horse, allowing the team to give the best possible advice. After all each horse is an individual, so we need to get to know them. 

What happens when you phone the Feed Line? When you phone the Feed Line we want to hear as much about your horse as possible.

Laminitis

Don't let laminitis catch you out! Our Feed Line have received several calls relating to laminitis this week.

The weather is currently warm enough for grass growth in most areas of the UK, with Scotland, the South West and South East seeing the most growth in the last week. New spring-like grass is potentially problematic for those prone to laminitis. 

Did you know? It is thought that around 90% of laminitis cases are believed to have a hormonal cause, i.e. Cushing's disease (PPID) or equine metabolic syndrome (EMS).

Choosing a horse feed balancer

It can feel overwhelming when trying to find the correct feed balancer for horses because there are so many on the market and some people question if they even need one at all.

Whilst a forage only diet can go a long way to meeting all of our horses requirements, if the diet is restricted for health reasons or natural grazing access is limited, topping-up omega oils, minerals and vitamins is advisable and most easily done with a feed balancer.

Feeding a balancer can also help provide support for the horse's hooves, coat, digestion and immune system – or support more specific issues - to keep them in tip-top shape, feeling and performing to their best.

Veteran Balance +

Q. What are the ingredients?

A. Veteran Balance +has been carefully formulated and contains just 7 ingredients, all of which are functional for horses.

• Sainfoin - the base forage, naturally high in nutrients and condensed tannins which can aid the absorption of protein. It also adds variety and supports gut function.
• Cooked full fat linseed - an oil source with anti-inflammatory properties, having the optimal balance of essential omega oils.
• Seaweed meal - providing natural vitamins and amino acids to support the coat, hooves and overall health.
• Stabilised dried yeast - a natural prebiotic, rich in B-group vitamins, aiding the absorption of nutrients.
• Sodium chloride – salt is essential in for all horses to maintain electrolyte balance.
• Spearmint – aids digestion and supports gut function.

Rosehips for horses joints

Ingredient spotlight | Rosehips

Rosehips are an important, functional ingredient in Veteran Balance +, our pelleted balancer with joint support for older or hard-working horses.

Rosehips are naturally high in a wide range of antioxidants, and it is these antioxidants that are particularly beneficial when caring for our horse's joints and overall health. Many of us have heard of antioxidants and we all know they are good for us, but why do we need them in the horse's diet?

Although oxygen is vital to support life, the natural process of oxidation produces free radicals, which are harmful to horses (and humans). They cause damage to cell membranes, contributing to the aging of tissues like cartilage, and diseases like inflammatory arthritis. Antioxidants work to neutralise these free radicals, reducing and even sometimes preventing them from causing damage.  

February

February is probably the most testing month for our horses!  The days are noticeably longer, on mild days the grass is growing and must smell delicious with promises of spring so near, but yet, it’s still winter and not yet ready to relinquish its chilly grip. Horses can be tetchy, itchy as their coats are starting change and restless with the extra daylight. How can we help them?

Make the most of any fine or dry days to turn out for a bit longer, ideally without a rug.

Take advantage of finer spells to take your horse out with friends for a hack, maybe even boxing up to somewhere more interesting to ride than the usual home beat.

Put the different ingredients of your horse’s feed in different feed bowls in different places in the stable so there is some choice. 

Chops for Mallenders and Sallenders

Q. Can I add a chop to MalleMash?

A. Yes, but choosing the right chop is crucial!

This is one of our most frequently asked questions when it comes to MalleMash - our feed created for those prone to Mallenders, Sallenders, CPL and dry itchy skin. 

MalleMash was formulated to be fed on it’s own as a quick soak mash. Adding a chop / chaff will add additional texture and prolong eating time. Deciding which chop to feed can be crucial. Here at Simple System we avoid molasses, cereal, cereal by products, straw, soya and preservatives. These can all irritate sensitive horses.

The history of HayCare

Our best-selling forage is HayCare but we are sometimes asked how we came to produce this popular feed.

For several years, we had wanted a pure forage that could replace hay directly. It had to be grass, as hay is grass! It had to be high fibre, as hay is high fibre. And it had to be low in sugar so it is suitable for all horses, even those with issues.

We opted to use Timothy grass as this is one of the best grasses for horses (click here to read our ingredient spotlight). There is plenty of grass grown in the UK for making into pellets, but most of this is harvested at optimum nutrition at an early stage of growth and much of it, varieties that are not optimal for horses. The grass can then grow again, and the farmer can take three or even more cuts a year. Persuading a farmer to allow their grass to become fibrous and go to seed goes against the farming grain! 

Feeding horses in cold weather

The MET office has weather warnings in place for much of the UK. Please ensure your horses have sufficient intake of forage and water to minimise the risk of gastric issues, impaction colic and dehydration.

Here are our Feed Line's top tips for feeding in winter weather.

• Provide additional forage. Keeping warm in cold weather requires calories. Simple System pelleted forages can all be used in greater quantities to give extra nutrition. As they are digested in the same way as hay or grazing, they can be fed as generously as needed. There's no limit to meal size with Simple System forage feeds so the horses can be left with large feeds to see them through.

Joint Care for Horses

Forage for horses...

Simple System Brix - Forage blocks for horses

Grass Pellets for Horses

Can horses cope with sudden cold weather?

In winter, the weather can change dramatically for the worse. Out kept horses may suddenly find their grass is under a thick layer of snow so will need additional feeding. Hay is an obvious answer, but sometimes more nutrition is needed – keeping warm is very calorie demanding. Horses can survive and even thrive in what we consider to be very inhospitable conditions, but they do need plenty of feed to fuel them and keep them warm.

Horses have trillions of microbes which ferment fibre in their hind gut and this releases fuel, vitamins, gas and heat. It is like having a central heating boiler in their gut! However, not all fibre can be fermented – old, tough lignified fibre escapes this process. The fibre needs to be good quality, such as from early made hay and dried forages. Straw, late made and old hay may not be as effective at keeping the microbes fed and generating heat.

Mud, not so glorious, mud...

Horse ownership and mud - they seem to go together in the winter don't they?

We’ve all suffered with mud, wet and floods recently and the pundits tell us this is the ways things will be now. It’s either too wet, or too dry, or too hot, or too windy or the 'Beast From The East' blast chills us to the core. We will need to adapt to cope better next time.

Firming up gateways can go a long way to making life just a little easier, or at least less hazardous! We've all slipped in muddy gateways haven't we? Once it dries out a bit, put down hardcore, over-sized stone, crag or whatever is available locally. Level it off as best you can and make sure here are no dangerous bits sticking up. In time it will level off and may even grow grass.

Winter hydration for horses

When the weather turns cold, horses are less inclined to drink. Coupled with sudden changes in management, such as more time spent stabled or eating more hay, this can increase the risk of impaction colic.

Ensure that excercise is part of your daily routine for stabled horses. Walking out in hand helps to keep the gut moving, reducing the risk of impaction and generating warmth in the process. There's plenty we can do to encourage our horses to drink too...

• Ensure water is readily available. An obvious one perhaps but water freezes quickly in cold weather and needs checking regularly. Have your ice breaking kit to hand: a hammer to break up the ice and a colander to scoop out the pieces out are ideal as leaving the ice in there will only help the water freeze over again faster.
• Offer feeds as a warm mash. We always recommend soaking our pelleted forages to restore hydration, aid digestion and reduce the risk of choke. Using warm water instead of cold will speed up your soaking time as well as provide a warm mash feed for your horse.

Feeding broodmares in-foal

Congratulations if you have an in-foal mare! What can be more rewarding than breeding your own youngster?

The growth of the unborn foal is very slow until the last three months of gestation, so your mare will not need additional feeding until this time. In the meantime she will need a good diet with protein and calcium as well as natural vitamins, but not in any greater amounts than she usually needs. A good chop is Build & Shine and a suitable forage balancer, Simple Balance +. If she needs additional feeding due to losing condition, cold weather and so on, Blue Bag Grass Pellets could be a good choice.

Once into the last three months any work should cease and she will need increasing amounts of good quality feed. Nature provides for this with good spring grass but if your mare is due to foal before the grass is delivering its bounty Red Bag Grass Pellets and / or Lucie Nuts will be an excellent substitute. Condition scoring gets challenging when a mare is obviously pregnant, so keep an eye on her neck as this will give a good guide to her overall condition. At this time you will need to switch your forage balancer to Lunar Eclipse.

New Year, New Horse?

Welcoming a new horse, whether it be your first or your tenth, can be an equally exciting and worrying time. 

Regardless of age and experience, moving to an entirely new home away from all that is familiar - routine, companions and surroundings - can be very stressful for horses. It may take weeks or even months for them to truly settle in. A change in behaviour is quite normal and they may seem very different to the horse you first met or trialled.

To help them adapt and settle in, the routine they have been used to should be maintained as much as possible. i.e. similar turning out and bringing in times, or living our 24/7.

Some yards may have a quarantine procedure that you have to adhere for the safety of the other horses on the yard. If their management changes dramatically, this is almost certain to cause stress. 

Environmental Enrichment for Horses

In winter, more horses are confined to their stables for longer. When horses are confined for long periods they can become bored and restless. A wild or free-roaming horse travels around 25 miles per day and a horse out in a typical paddock can clock up around 8 miles a day. How far can they travel in a stable? Not very far at all!

To help make being stabled less tiresome, environmental enrichment for horses involves small changes we can make to take the horse a little nearer to its origins as a free-roaming, herd-living, obligate herbivore.

Finding a little extra oomph during winter

What do happy hackers, endurance horses and showjumpers all have in common? Well, other than them all being equines, the vast majority of them have a change of pace during the winter months. 

This can mean that the horse's Feed Plan needs a tweak at this time of year to allow them to cope with the change in workload, whilst maintaining shape, condition and performance. Although many of us will be replacing lost grazing during winter with Blue Bag Grass Pellets, this doesn't necessarily mean spending more by adding in an extra balancer, or by changing up your chop. Something as simple as feeding before work can make all the difference to how your horse feels and their way of going. 

Balancers | Costly or cost-effective?

The festive season, being perhaps the most expensive time of the year, may have you asking yourself if everything you're adding into your feed bowl is really necessary? It's a sensible question to ask at the best of times and the answer can vary.

At Simple System Horse Feeds we typically advise feeding a pellet, a chop and a balancer. The soaked forage pellet providing the bulk of the nutrition, the chop adds the right amount of 'chew' and the balancer tops up the essential vitamins and minerals that your horse needs to thrive.

So what about the balancer, is it essential? For us the answer is YES. But, given we are a horse feed company that's no surprise, so allow us to explain...

Mud Fever in Horses

Should horses eat straw?

Simple System was founded on the principle of supplying you with the food nature intended your horse to eat. Horses evolved on the grassy, mainly treeless plains of Central Eurasia, and their digestive system is adapted to suit what grows in their natural environment: grass, herbs and shrubs.

Straw is the dried stalks of cereal grains - such as wheat, barley and oats. Although by definition members of the grass (Gramineae) family, cereals are the product of human engineering over thousands of years. They have been selectively bred for traits that improve cereals as a food source for humans. One of the traits is stiff straw that will not tend to break or bend, thus protecting the valuable grain that is used to make foods such as bread and pasta. Modern cereals are so far from their origin that they have lost many of their natural mechanisms (such as seed dispersal) making them unlikely to survive 'in the wild'.

Straw is very high in lignified fibre, meaning it cannot be fermented by the horse's gut microbes. To increase the feed value of the fibre in straw, it can be treated with sodium hydroxide to make Nutritionally Improved Straw (NIS). Sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda, is frequently used as an industrial cleaning agent. It is used in the manufacture of wood pulp and paper, as well as soap, detergent and drain cleaner. NIS was originally developed for cattle, not horses, as a cheap source of fibre.

Mallenders & Sallenders

Mallenders and Sallenders is an unfortunate and incurable skin condition causing scaling, crusting and scabbing on the legs. Specifically, sallenders occurs at the back of the knee on the front leg whilst mallenders affects the front of the hock on the hind leg. A more technical term for the basis of the condition is hyperkeratosis which is the over-production of keratin: a vital component of skin, hair and hooves.

Finding a Hay Replacer for Older Horses

The UK has an aging poplation of horses, wIth over one third of the UK horse population considered veteran. The average age of a horse in the UK is 14 years. For comparison, the average age was 10 years old in 2006 and veterans accounted for less than a quarter (only 23%) of the UK horse population.

Older horses can be a concern, particularly over the winter months when they no longer seem to do as well. The efficiency of the digestive tract often reduces with a major issue being worn, loose or missing teeth.

Even if your older horse still has all of their teeth, after years of chewing and grinding, the roots become progressively more shallow until they are insufficient to keep the tooth stable inside the jaw. A wobbly tooth may be less efficient to chew on, and may become uncomfortable. Horses with poor dentition or that find chewing uncomfortable, can often lose condition as they find eating hay or haylage difficult. They may also be more prone to episodes of colic if there is insufficient fibre intake. 

What do horses eat?

So just how much do horses eat?... Well, we know they eat a lot! Ideally, they will eat for up to 16 hours a day, grazing on high fibre forage, walking slowly as they do so. This is fine if they have free range on the right sort of pasture but when it comes to us having to work out just how much is 'lots' it can be confusing.

Horses need plenty of fibre to keep their incredible guts working well. Fibre gives plants strength – it’s their skeleton. Not all fibre is the same. What our horses need is fibre from forage – edible green plants. Horses are not adapted to the fibre in cereal grains or straw for instance.

As horses evolved and became larger, a whole host of microorganisms evolved with them. They convert the right sort of fibre into fuel the horse can utilise. The wrong food can kill off good microbes and allow harmful ones to proliferate. So, basically, we are feeding a gut full of microbes and they in turn look after the horse.

Back to how much... A horse needs to eat 2.5% of its ideal body weight in dry matter of forage per day. This will keep the gut functioning well and the microbes happy. We go by ideal weight as this is a constant, as is the gut’s capacity that counts.