Joint and hoof supplements are among the most commonly used supplements for horses and until now we (at FeedXL) haven't been able to offer any real assistance with keeping track of these supplements in your horses diet.

That has just recently changed. Late last week we unveiled the new 'Health' tab which allows you to keep track of the amounts of the following nutrients on your horse's diet:

Hyaluronic Acid - Hyaluronic Acid is an integral component of joint fluid and articular cartilage; it provides lubrication and shock absorption.

MSM - MSM is a source of sulfur for building and repairing cartilage; it helps to minimize discomfort and stiffness caused by training and competition.

Chondroitin Sulfate - Chondroitin Sulfate is a building block of hyaluronic acid (HA) and also inhibits the effects of various enzymes that degrade cartilage. Research has shown that it appears to work synergistically with glucosamine to stimulate new cartilage production and inhibit cartilage breakdown.

Glucosamine - Glucosamine is the building block of chondroitin sulfate and increases the production of new cartilage. Glucosamine has also been shown to inhibit the free radicals and enzymes that break down cartilage therefore playing a role in both the production and protection of cartilage.

Biotin - Biotin is a co-enzyme for enzymes that control fatty acid synthesis, amino acid metabolism, gluconeogenesis and metabolism of cholesterol and some fatty acids. Biotin is essential for cell proliferation. Biotin is produced by hindgut bacteria and is naturally present in most feedstuff so most horses don't require supplemental biotin. Biotin has however been shown to improve hoof quality in horses with poor quality hooves when fed at therapeutic doses.

While none of these nutrients have an actual recommended daily intake (RDI) set by the National Research Council (NRC), FeedXL provides suggested intakes for each of these nutrients that will give you the best effect based on what research there is available on these nutrients (and admittedly for some there isn't much).

Perhaps the most useful aspect of being able to see how much of each of these nutrients is in your horse's daily diet is you can easily compare supplements against one another to see which provide better levels of the nutrients you require (for example 2 hoof supplements fed at the same dose for approximately the same cost per day may provide 10 mg or 20 mg of biotin per day ... the one providing the higher amount per dose is going to represent much better value for money if biotin is the nutrient you are most concerned about).

The joint nutrients are now available on all FeedXL plans while biotin is available only in FeedXL Pro plans. Check them out when you have a chance, I know they have made sorting through hoof and joint supplements much easier for me!

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Cottonseed meal is a relatively common ingredient used in horse feeds. It is most often found in pellets or cubes and will usually be listed in the ingredients as a generic 'protein meal' or vegetable protein meal'.

The problem with cottonseed meal is that it contains poor quality protein (ie lacks essential amino acids which are amino acids that absolutely must be provided in the diet) when compared to better quality protein meals like soybean or canola meal. Cotton seed meal contains less of the three most limiting amino acids (lysine, methionine and threonine) and less of the 3 branched chain amino acids which are also essential amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine). The graph below shows a comparison of the amino acid content of cottonseed meal versus full fat soybean.

In addition to containing less amino acids, cottonseed meal also contains amino acids that are less available for absorption by the horse. Raw cottonseed contains a toxic compound called gossypol. To deactivate gossypol, cottonseed meal is heated. During this process the gossypol attached itself to amino acids. This deactivates the gossypol and makes it safe to feed, however it also means those amino acids the gossypol has attached itself to are now not able to be absorbed by the horse.

So if you have young horses, lactating mares or horses needing to build muscle mass cottonseed meal based feeds are not ideal. Look instead for feeds that use higher quality protein meals like soybean and canola.

Protein_Quality.pdf Download this file

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Cushing's disease is tough to work with, making life complicated, painful and expensive for a horse and its owner. With the prevalence of Cushing's disease seemingly increasing around the world as many of our equines live well into their late 20s and 30s, researchers at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan are beginning a research project to explore new treatment methodology for this disease.

This is welcome news, but to get started they need our help in collecting information about:

• the current prevalence of disease
• the most common treatment protocols being used by practitioners
• the need for developing new treatment methodologies.

If you have a horse affected by Cushing's disease or know someone who does, please encourage the veterinarian treating the horse to complete the Five-minute Cushing's disease survey for veterinarians.

For more information about the survey and research project you can go to http://www.usask.ca/wcvm/veterinarians/cushings_survey.php or contact Dr. James Carmalt, Associate Professor, Equine Surgery Western College of Veterinary Medicine University of Saskatchewan Tel: 306-966-6522Email: james.carmalt@usask.ca

If you can help out please do, as I personally would rather not see more horses like our great Victory Salute lost to Cushing's Disease if we can help it!

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The America Association of Equine Practitioners is calling for assistance to help unravel the long list of 'unknowns' in laminitis. With a total of $1 million in funding, the projects first study is going to utilize the wealth of information that can be gathered from across the USA in real cases of laminitis to try and piece together information that will help us better understand this devastating disease. More information about the project can be found here: http://www.aaep.org/laminitis_project.htm

If you are a horse owner with a horse at risk or affected by laminitis, ask your veterinarian to join the project by first registering to participate. (Please note that horses with a history of laminitis are excluded from the study.)

This is a wonderful initiative that we encourage you to support.

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I have been asked quite a few times in the last month about alfalfa (lucerne) and its non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) content. It seems that alfalfa has gained itself a reputation of being a high NSC (with NSC = water soluble carbohydrates + starch) forage when in fact it contains one of the most consistent AND lowest NSC contents of all forages.

Dairy One (Ithaca NY, USA) give us an average water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content of 7.5 % (based on 334 samples) and an average starch content of 1.5% (based on 411 samples) giving it a total NSC content of 9% on an as fed basis. So total NSC content is below 10% which is perfect for those of you who may be looking for a suitable low NSC forage.

The NSC content of alfalfa is also consistent with the WSC minimum and maximum for those 334 samples being 5.8% and 9.2% respectively while the minimum and maximum for starch is given as 0.3% and 2.7% respectively. So, compared to something like oaten hay or chaff that can vary (according to the data from Dairy One again) from 8.1% to a huge 21.9% WSC and from 1.5% to 7.5% starch there is very little variation in the amount of sugar and starch alfalfa contains which means you can more confidently change from batch to batch of alfalfa hay without worrying too much about variation in NSC content (which is not something you can do with most grassy or cereal hays).

It is because of alfalfa's low and consistent NSC content (and its high quality protein) that I am regularly recommending it for horses that need low NSC diets including horses with laminitis or Cushing's disease. That recommendation does come with a caution or two however. As with all new feeds for these horses, introduce it slowly as it can have high levels of nitrates and potassium that may exacerbate the condition (alfalfa isn't alone in this respect, all forages can have high levels of these nutrients if grown under the right conditions). Good quality alfalfa is also high in digestible energy and protein, so it does need to be fed in moderation to ponies and horses that have problems with being overweight.

For more on alfalfa, read our newsletter Alfalfa Hay: Friend or Foe or listen to the podcast about alfalfa on the Horse Radio Networks Horse Tip Daily Show.

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For the next 24 hours we are offering $20 off everything!

This is for new accounts and account renewals. Such a good deal that you can even pick up a 1-month low volume plan free.

This is the laast deal and will end at midday, Thursday the 26^th of October, Eastern Australian time, which is the evening of Wednesday the 25^th for those of you in North America.

This offer isn't likely to be repeated any time soon, so get in while you have the chance.

More information about times can be found on our website.

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For the next 24 hours we are offering 50% off all 1-year memberships and 33% off all 1-year memberships!

This is for new accounts and account renewals. We believe that FeedXL is best used all year round so this is a great chance to make FeedXL available at your fingertips whenever your horse or your conditions change!

Our next special deal will appear at midday, Tuesday the 25^th of October, Eastern Australian time, which is the evening of Monday the 24^th for those of you in North America.

More information about times can be found on our website.

If you'd like to receive email notifications when each deal goes live then subscribe to our blog by clicking on the "Subscribe by email" link on the right of the main blog page.

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For the next 48 hours, we've enabled 1-day, 1-horse Lite plans, free of charge for all new accounts!

This is a fantastic opportunity to try out FeedXL if you haven't done so before, you'll have up to 2 days to fiddle and find out how useful FeedXL is!

Our next special deal will appear at midday, Monday the 24^th of October, Eastern Australian time, which is the evening of Sunday the 23rd for those of you in North America.

More information about times can be found on our website.

If you'd like to receive email notifications when each deal goes live then subscribe to our blog by clicking on the "Subscribe by email" link on the right of the main blog page.

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FeedXL is turning 3 and we think this is cause for celebration!

This Saturday, the 22^nd of October, will be three years since we first released FeedXL for Australian horse owners and since then FeedXL has run 600,000 diet analyses for close to 20,000 horses in 13 countries on 4 continents around the world and won the award for Best Software Product in the recent Australian Business Awards.

To celebrate, we have 5 days of special deals from the 22^nd to the 27^th of October.

The first 2 days will be something especially for people who have never tried FeedXL before, so make sure to tell your friends to watch our website! Then, for the remaining 3 days we'll have a new deal every day, each lasting for only 24 hours from when we announce it. This is your chance to grab a bargain but you'll have to keep an eye on our web site.

Our first special deal will appear at midday, Saturday, the 22^nd of October, Eastern Australian time, which is the evening of Friday the 21st for those of you in North America.

More information about times can be found on our website.

If you'd like to receive email notifications when each deal goes live then subscribe to our blog by clicking on the "Subscribe by email" link on the right of the page.

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If you are feeding an old horse with few effective teeth left it is REALLY important not to forget about fibre. Quite often I come across people with old horses that can't hold their weight despite being fed what seems a lot of hard feed. They also frequently have diarrhea.

More than 80% of these horses, if they are otherwise in healthy condition, start to put on weight and their problems with diarrhea cease as soon as a lot more forage is worked into their diet.

If they can no longer chew hay or graze pasture you must find other ways to put fibre in their diet. Using chopped hay (chaff) or chopped haylage is ideal. If your old horse can't eat any hay or pasture at all you should feed a minimum of 1 kg/100 kg of bodyweight per day in chaff. Ideally you should feed 1.5 kg of chaff per 100 kg of bodyweight. If using haylage you will need to feed up to twice this amount to allow for the water content of the haylage.

High energy fibres like sugarbeet pulp can also be used, but be aware that because beet is so easy to digest it provides very little fibre that will remain in the gut, so it will help with energy intake and weight gain but often won't help where gut fill and diarrhea are an issue. So if you wish to feed a fibre like beet, stick to the rule of a minimum of 1 kg of chaff per 100 kg of bodyweight per day and then add the extra fibre on top.

It is also very important to weigh your forage. Chaff is a bulky feed and it is deceiving if you feed on a volume basis. As a rough guide, 8 litres of chaff will weigh 1 kg.

In most cases you will still need to feed some sort of hard feed. An extruded feed is an excellent choice for horses with very few teeth as these feeds can still be easily digested, even if they are not chewed. They can also be soaked to a mash.

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There is currently much debate over whether the use of organic minerals (minerals that are chemically attached to an organic compound like a small sugar or protein) are more bio-available than inorganic minerals. There are some largely unproven claims made about how much more bio-available the organic minerals are, and perhaps worse still, claims are being made that inorganic minerals are not able to be absorbed at all.

A study published in the 2011 proceedings of the Eqine Science Society Symposium (Dundon et al.) found that there was no difference on daily calcium balance or apparent calcium digestibility between calcium carbonate (limestone, an inorganic source of calcium) and calcium proteinate in exercised two and three year old geldings. This study is in agreement with Highfill et al (2005) but disagrees with results shown by Baker et al (2007).

The study by Dundon et al. did have a flaw in its design whereby horses on the calcium carbonate diet received more calcium than horses on the diet that substituted 40% of the calcium carbonate for calcium proteinate. This design flaw is acknowledged by the authors as making it difficult to interpret the data between diets.

There are certainly some studies that do show an improved bio-availability from some organic minerals, but there are many claims being made without good scientific evidence to support them. If you are considering paying a premium for a mineral supplement because it is organic, ask the manufacturer for the research that supports the product and their claims for superior bioavailability.

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Whey protein is the highest quality protein you can get, with an amino acid profile that almost perfectly matches the profile of amino acids that muscles need to build and grow. Whey protein is also high in branched chain amino acids which provide muscles with a valuable source of energy. Not surprisingly, whey protein is sought after by horse owners and trainers to add to diets where horses need to 'muscle up' and particularly in cases where additional topline is needed.

However, there is a bit of a catch that many people fall into when purchasing this ingredient. You can buy 'whey powder' which is relatively cheap and sounds like what you should be buying to provide your horse with whey protein. The catch is, whey powder is 'whole whey' which only contains around 13% whey protein and is over 50% lactose. Using 'whey powder' provides horses with very little whey protein (there is only 13 grams of protein in every 100 grams of whey powder) and puts a lot of lactose into their gut. Adult horses don't have the lactase enzyme necessary to digest lactose (essentially they are lactose intolerant) so feeding 'whey powder' can lead to diarrhea and colic if too much is fed.

If you want to add whey protein to your horse's diet, look for whey protein concentrate or whey protein isolate. These products have had most of the lactose removed (they will contain less than 10% lactose) and will be 75% to 90% whey protein. The whey protein isolate is generally produced for use in human food products and is often quite a bit more expensive than whey protein concentrate, so if you want to use whey protein, the best choice for your horse's ration is a whey protein concentrate.

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There has been a bit of discussion in the last couple of years about whether vitamin K should be added to horse feeds and if so, which form is the most effective in supporting bone development.

Vitamin K plays a complex role in the body. It is best known for its role in blood clotting, but it is also involved in many other functions including bone development.

There are many different forms of vitamin K including K1 (phylloquinone), K2 (menaquinone) and K3 (menadione). K1 comes predominantly from green plants, K2 is produced by bacteria and K3 is the synthetic form of vitamin K. These 3 primary forms of vitamin K are then converted in the body to several vitamin K homologs, with each homolog having a different role in the body. The homolog 'menaquinone-4' is the one that is recognised as being most important in bone formation.

It has been suggested that the synthetic form of Vitamin K (K3 or menadione) is unable to play an effective role in bone formation. However, a recent study published by Terachi et al (2011) in the Journal of Animal Science showed that horses supplemented with K3/menadione had the highest plasma menaquinone-4 concentrations compared to horses supplemented with phylloquinone or menadione-4.

The authors concluded that 'menadione is likely the best source of vitamin K for bone health in horses'.

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Several studies now have shown that biotin supplementation can improve hoof growth and hoof quality. But a biotin supplement shouldn’t be the first thing you reach for when trying to solve a hoof quality problem. Adding biotin to a diet that is mineral deficient or contains poor quality protein with inadequate levels of essential amino acids to support hoof growth is not going to work as extra biotin simply can’t compensate for other kinds of deficiencies.

However, if you have your horses on a well balanced diet that does contain high quality protein and is meeting all requirements for vitamins and minerals and you still aren’t happy with hoof quality, adding additional biotin to the diet is worth a shot to see if it will help. The recommended ‘therapeutic’ amount of biotin to feed for improved hoof growth is 20 mg/day for an average sized horse.

There is more information on Biotin in our FeedXL Newsletter #2.

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It is well known that correct supplementation of breeding and growing horses with macro and trace minerals plays a major role in reducing the incidence of developmental orthopaedic disease (DOD). It may however sometimes be underestimated how important mineral supplementation of the mare is in preventing developmental orthopaedic disease (DOD) in her foal.

Research conducted in New Zealand has shown that mineral supplementation of the late pregnant mare is crucial for reducing DOD in foals. Pearce et al (1998) demonstrated that foals from mares that were supplemented with copper, zinc and selenium had a significantly lower incidence of articular cartilage lesions and a significantly lower physitis score at 150 days of age compared to foals from mares supplemented only with selenium and zinc. Interestingly, copper supplementation of the foals from mares that were not supplemented with copper during late pregnancy made no difference in reducing cartilage lesions or physitis scores, indicating that if your mares are incorrectly supplemented with copper during pregnancy, it is too late to do anything about it once the foal is born.

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FeedXL Newsletter #23 was originally published for registered members in September 2010. It is now available on our public web site for everyone.

Tying up is a painful condition for a horse and a frustrating one for you as an owner. Symptoms can range from severe muscle pain and distress, apparent colic, excessive sweating, elevated heart and respiration rates, a stiff gait, muscle tremors and a reluctance to move to more mild and elusive symptoms that just involve the horse feeling stiff, lazy or slightly lame.

Whether your horse suffers with severe tying up or a mild form, it will limit your horse's performance and sense of well being, so the more you do to reduce the frequency and severity of bouts of tying up, the better your horse's performance and health will be.

Continue reading this newsletter at FeedXL.com.

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Strip grazing is an excellent way to limit your horses pasture intake and can be used to help either control bodyweight or simply prolong the amount of time you have fresh pasture available for your horses. One major drawback to strip grazing however is that by feeding off small amounts of pasture each day horses tend to chew the heck out of the area of pasture they have already had access to which damages your pasture plants and leaves your pastures open to weed infestation.

I saw a neat way to stop this from happening a couple of days ago on a small horse property. The manager had created an electric fence laneway up one boundary of the paddock so the horses could access the entire length of the paddock in a small strip. Then each day a small strip of pasture across the width of the paddock was created for them to graze. Once they had grazed that strip they were shut off from that area and the 'grazing strip' was moved further along so the horses could only ever access a small area of pasture each day - which meant the area they had just grazed was allowed to quickly regrow without being completely ruined.

Clever idea and a great way to manage pasture intake without ruining your pasture!

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FeedXL Newsletter #22 was originally published for registered members in September 2010. It is now available on our public web site for everyone.

Flaxseed (also known as linseed) is a valued feed ingredient amongst horse people. How it should be used has long been the subject of considerable debate. Its safety for horses has always been under question and methods of preparation are many and varied. This FeedXL newsletter looks at what flaxseed can add to your horse's diet, if it is safe to feed and how it can be prepared for feeding.

Read the full article at FeedXL.com.

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There have been a few studies done over the years that looked at whether supplementing stallions with various antioxidants helped to improve their fertility. There have been some conflicting results with some studies showing that supplementation of antioxidants like vitamin A or a combination of tocopherols (vitamin E) and vitamin C having no positive effect on semen quality.

However, a recent study by Contri et al (2011) found that stallions supplemented with 1500 mg of vitamin E, 2.5 mg of organic selenium and 360 mg of zinc per day had improved sperm characteristics including increased average path velocity, straightness, improved membrane integrity, progressive motility and reduced numbers of sperm with abnormal morphology.

Unfortunately this study failed to specify the vitamin E, selenium and zinc content of the control diet, so while it does demonstrate that these nutrients are important for good fertility, it still isn't clear whether supplementation over and above current recommendations are of benefit.

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Hi Everyone,

Nerida here, just thought I would introduce myself and say welcome to the FeedXL blog before dipping my toe into the world of blogging. Through the FeedXL blog I hope to bring you some tasty little tidbits centred around the feeding and nutrition of horses. It may be from scientific papers I read or just things I see out and about in my normal day job of working with horses. For those of you who aren't members of FeedXL and don't know me, here is a bit about me from the FeedXL.com website:

"Nerida is FeedXL's resident equine nutrition specialist and horse nut. With a degree in Rural Science, a doctorate degree in equine nutrition and going on 11 years of full time, on the ground experience in feeding all types of horses Nerida is here to help you solve any problem you may come up against with feeding your horse.

Nerida's 'day job' is as Managing Director and Principal Consultant of Equilize Horse Nutrition Pty Ltd, a company that specializes in providing independent, professional advice in all areas of equine nutrition. Within her role, Nerida provides high-level technical support to numerous national and international feed and supplement companies, as well as on the ground advice and technical support to breeding and training establishments. Nerida designed, developed and commercialised the Equilize Feeding Management Software (which has now been replaced by FeedXL).

Within FeedXL Nerida keeps up with scientific 'goings on' in the horse world and keeps FeedXL's nutrient recommendations up to date with the latest science has to offer. You will also find Nerida on the FeedXL members forums where she will assist you in working out problems you may be having with your horse. Nerida reckons she learns an awful lot working with all of the funny little problems individual horses have and loves the interaction she has with the FeedXL members.

Outside of FeedXL, Nerida is a wife and mum, avid 'veggie patch' gardener, animal lover (just put a cute puppy near her you will see what we mean) as well as a keen horsewoman and a passionate scientist. Nerida grew up on a beef cattle property south of Tamworth NSW, Australia. This rural upbringing gave Nerida a strong practical grounding in livestock production, livestock health and horsemanship. It also sparked a keen interest in Australia's Agricultural Industries. In 1999, Nerida completed a Bachelors Degree in Rural Science with first class Honours through the University of New England, during which time she was awarded the John Nivison Epworth prize for excellence in animal nutrition. Nerida followed this Degree with a Doctorates Degree in Equine Nutrition. Her PhD focused on the digestion and fermentation of cereal grains in the gastrointestinal tract of horses. In 2003, Dr Richards founded Equilize Horse Nutrition Pty Ltd when she identified a need for professional, scientific and independent advice in the area of equine nutrition in Australia.

Nerida is currently scientific editor for the Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition in Australia Conference and is called upon to referee equine nutrition papers submitted to the Australian Veterinary Journal and the New Zealand Veterinary Journal. She is a published author, has been an invited speaker at national and international symposiums and is currently a contributing writer to several websites and equine magazines. For those of you who receive help with feeding your horse from Nerida, you will agree she has a unique ability to combine what science says is right with good practical knowledge to help you find a solution that works for you and your horse."

Introductions over, now all there is for you to do is settle in and enjoy, I will blog as often as I have something interesting or useful to share with you.

Catch you all soon!

Nerida

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