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Orla is back for another Happy Horse Nutrition Q&A, although this one very quickly becomes a reverse Q&A, a Pony Camp debrief and a collection of slightly random, but useful, horse nutrition observations. We talk about a stomach with a pH of 1.2, why water matters more for gastric health than we sometimes give it credit for, and how Dr Nerida, yes the PhD equine nutritionist, managed to give her own horse colic! Nerida and Orla also revisit straw for horses with EMS and weight issues, why the right low-energy forage is essential for feeding hay 24/7, and why it is so essential to feed a properly balanced diet when using straw. Then they head back down the ryegrass rabbit hole with a fascinating real-world case of a horse showing extreme behavioural changes on ryegrass pasture, and what happened when his owner added a targeted mycotoxin binder. Plus horse drinking habits, Pony Camp survival, and apparently… kangaroos can get staggers too. As always, there’s science, horse geekery, plenty of side tracks and lots of laughs plus hopefully a few things that make you look at the way your own horse eats, drinks and behaves just a little differently. 📲 To check your horse’s diet and KNOW you are feeding right, download the MyHappy.Horse app ⁠https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324⁠ 💛 We’d love if you would leave us a rating, follow the show and share this episode with a friend, it truly helps us get this information in front of more horse owners. 🩺 And if you’d like to get in touch with Orla, [email protected]

Ever looked at the feeding recommendations on a bag of horse feed or a bucket of supplements and wondered who decides how much you should feed? And do you really need to follow them? In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida takes you behind the scenes of horse feed and supplement formulation, drawing on more than 25 years of experience developing products and writing the feeding recommendations that appear on their labels. You will learn why some feeds recommend feeding large amounts while others recommend very little, how those feeding rates are calculated, and why feeding less than the recommended amount could leave your horse short of essential vitamins and minerals. We also explore what happens when you combine fortified feeds with vitamin and mineral supplements, why a 30 g supplement isn't necessarily better or worse than a 150 g supplement, and why feeding half the recommended dose of a gut health or hoof supplement might mean you're wasting your money. Plus, what should you do if your horse gets fat on the recommended feeding rate, or needs more feed than the manufacturer suggests? And Nerida mentions several times that the best way to know exactly what your horse is getting from its diet, is to run an diet analysis thorugh MyHappy.Horse, the equine nutrition app designed to help you feed with confidence and accuracy! You can check out MyHappy.Horse here 🩵https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324

Knowing better is one thing. Actually changing what we do is something else entirely. In Part 2 of this conversation, Dr Nerida and veterinarian and social worker Dr Katherine Goldberg go deeper into the very human reasons horse management practices can be so hard to change. They use one of the simplest horse welfare changes as the perfect case study: feeding hay before you ride. Why does something so easy, with such clear benefits for our horses around gastric health, comfort and behaviour, still meet resistance?  Then Nerida and Katherine jump back on after Pony Camp for a real-world update and put the psychology into practice, looking at decisional balance, why being the only person doing something differently can feel hard, and why sometimes the best way to create change is simply to keep modelling the better way, loudly and positively.  Connect with Dr Katherine Goldberg Dr Katherine works with horse owners through Horses First Stewardship, helping people navigate horse care, feeding, track systems and those tricky situations where you know something needs to change, but you’re not quite sure what to do next.  Website: ⁠https://www.horsesfirststewardship.com⁠   Email: ⁠[email protected]

Why is it that we can be told something is better for our horse... and still find it incredibly hard to change what we do? In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Dr Nerida is joined again by Dr Katherine Goldberg, veterinarian and social worker, to turn the microscope away from the horse for a moment and onto the humans making the decisions. Because improving horse welfare and horse nutrition isn’t always as simple as giving people better information. Human behaviour is messy. We have habits, beliefs, identities, fears, practical limitations and social pressures, and sometimes the benefits of staying exactly where we are feel bigger than the benefits of changing, even when the science is telling us otherwise.  Dr Katherine walks us through the psychology of behaviour change, including readiness for change, decisional balance and why some people simply aren’t ready to hear a new message yet.  And then there’s information overload: the vet says one thing, the trainer says another, Facebook says something else again, and suddenly doing nothing feels easier than working out who to believe. If you’ve ever wondered why you or the horse people around you resist change, why better information isn’t always enough, or why knowing better doesn’t automatically mean doing better, this episode is for you. Part 2 continues next week. Connect with Dr Katherine GoldbergDr Katherine works with horse owners through Horses First Stewardship, helping people navigate horse care, feeding, track systems and those tricky situations where you know something needs to change, but you’re not quite sure what to do next.  Website: https://www.horsesfirststewardship.com  Email: [email protected]

Bentley had been a healthy horse for years, until an injury, prolonged antibiotic treatment and a cascade of gut problems changed everything. Persistent colic, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, gastric ulcers and gas eventually led us to look more closely at his hindgut microbiome. In this episode, Dr Nerida shares Bentley’s roller-coaster ride case study, from microbiome testing and low microbial diversity, through increasing dietary fibre diversity and two faecal microbiota transplants (FMT), to the gradual return of a comfortable, happy horse. We also look at free faecal water, faecal pH, vitamin B2, fibre-fermenting bacteria and what Bentley’s before-and-after microbiome results might tell us about equine dysbiosis, gut health and colic risk.  It’s a brilliant example of just how complex the horse hindgut is, and how much we still have to learn about rebuilding a disrupted microbiome. Have a listen and be sure to hang on for the highs and the lows of Bentley’s story ❤️ Big thanks to Bentley's beautiful owner Saskia for allowing us to their incredible story! 🙏🏼🥰

When it comes to fuelling performance, muscle glycogen and grain feeding get most of the attention, but that’s only half of the story. In this episode, Dr Nerida breaks down the dual fuel tank theory of performance horse nutrition: the finite store of muscle glycogen used for speed and high-intensity work, and the continuous supply of energy in the form of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) produced via fibre fermentation in the hindgut. We explore how these two fuel systems work together, how forage is an essential performance fuel, how the VFA acetate contributes directly to working muscle energy, and why overfeeding grain can undermine the hindgut fuel system that helps horses conserve glycogen for when they really need it. If you feed a racehorse, eventer, polo horse, endurance horse or other high-level athlete, this episode offers a different way to think about the way you structure your diets around forage and grain, to maximise muscle glycogen, gut health and performance. This episode is proudly brought to you by EquiGI's microbiom analysis, order a test kit at https://www.equigi.com 📲 Download the MyHappy.Horse nutrition app to check your horse’s energy intake and build better, more balanced performance horse diets  https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324   💛 Follow the podcast for more practical, science-based horse nutrition. And we’d love you to share this episode with a fellow performance horse owner or trainer to help them feed for better performance.

Has your horse suddenly become anxious, spooky, reactive or unpredictable... despite being normally calm and sensible? In this episode, Dr Nerida explores how perennial ryegrass mycotoxins can affect horse behaviour, coordination and performance. Learn about lolitrem B and ergovaline, the toxins associated with ryegrass staggers, tremors, hypersensitivity, exaggerated startle responses, heat intolerance and dramatic behavioural changes. We also look at when perennial ryegrass pasture and hay pose the greatest risk, how quickly horses may improve once exposure stops, and whether mycotoxin binders can actually help. If your horse seems to have had a sudden “personality transplant”, their pasture or hay may be worth a closer look and this episode is definitely worth a listen! Testing pasture or hay for perennial ryegrass toxins Australia: Southern Scientific Services, Hamilton VIC – pasture toxin testing including lolitrem B and ergovaline. Phone 0408 363 061. Contact the laboratory before collecting/sending samples for current sampling instructions. USA: Oregon State University Endophyte Service Laboratory – quantitative testing for lolitrem B and ergovaline in pasture, hay and feed. https://emt.oregonstate.edu/endophyte-lab   📲 For help balancing your horse's diet, download the MyHappy.Horse App https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324   💖 If you found this episode helpful, please follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast and  share it with a horse owning friend who is struggling with their horse's behaviour. 🌟 And we'd love you to leave us a rating and review, it helps us help more horse owners to find practical, science-based nutrition advice.

How high can the starch content of clover really get? Can lupins be too high in protein? And does adding lots of different fibre sources actually help your horse’s hindgut microbiome? In this Q&A episode, Dr Nerida and Orla unpack a mix of practical horse nutrition questions, including clover and insulin dysregulation, faba beans and resistant starch, high-protein diets, gastric ulcers, and why even a skinny horse can still be metabolically at risk. They also explore one of the biggest emerging areas in equine nutrition: forage diversity and the gut microbiome and how much ingredient variety may be enough to make a meaningful difference to the microbiome. Plenty of practical feeding advice, a few fun rabbit holes on human and ruminant nutrition, and one genuinely scary clover statistic!   📲 To check your horse’s diet and KNOW you are feeding right, download the MyHappy.Horse app ⁠https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324⁠ 💛 We’d love if you would leave us a rating, follow the show and share this episode with a friend, it truly helps us get this information in front of more horse owners. 🩺 And if you’d like to get in touch with Orla, [email protected]

Did you know the microbes living in your horse’s hindgut may be influencing how well they perform? In this episode, Dr Nerida explores research linking hindgut microbiome diversity, fibre fermentation and performance in horses. We look at studies in Thoroughbreds and trotters showing that higher microbial diversity and greater fibre-fermenting capacity are associated with better racing performance, while greater starch fermentation is linked with poorer performance. You’ll also learn practical ways to support a healthier, more diverse microbiome through forage, fibre diversity and smarter grain feeding. Whether you own a racehorse, performance horse or simply want to support better gut health, this episode may leave you in a state of mind-bogglement… which will make perfect sense once you listen. 😂💛 Research mentioned in this episode Leng et al. (2024)Early-life gut bacterial community structure predicts disease risk and athletic performance in horses bred for racingScientific Reports, 14:17124https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-64657-6 Park et al. (2024)Comparison of the fecal microbiota with high- and low performance race horsesJournal of Animal Science and Technology, 66(2):425–437https://doi.org/10.5187/jast.2023.e45 Vasseur et al. (2024)Fibrolytic efficiency of the large intestine microbiota may benefit running speed in French trotters: A pilot studyPhysiological Reports, 12(21)https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.70110 Hansen et al. (2015)High nutrient availability reduces the diversity and stability of the equine caecal microbiotaMicrobial Ecology in Health and Disease, 26:27216https://doi.org/10.3402/mehd.v26.27216 Grimm et al. (2020)Dietary composition and yeast/microalgae combination supplementation modulate the microbial ecosystem in the caecum, colon and faeces of horsesBritish Journal of Nutrition, 123(4):372–382https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114519002824

Managing a laminitis-prone horse through spring can feel like a full-time job! Especially when pasture non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) levels can change dramatically with the weather. In this episode, Dr Nerida and Orla talk through the practical realities of managing horses with laminitis and insulin dysregulation, including why frosty nights and sunny days can make spring pasture particularly risky, when grass is likely to be safest to graze, and how grazing muzzles, strip grazing and low-NSC hay can help. They also discuss clover, forage testing, nitrate risk, exercise and insulin sensitivity, and the challenge of keeping horses eating enough fibre while still controlling calorie and sugar intake. A useful follow-up to our conversation with Dr Luke Wells-Smith, for anyone navigating laminitis and spring pasture with a metabolic horse or pony. 🤖 If you have questions about laminitis, or any other feeding and nutrition related question, give Dr Nerida AI a go: https://www.myhappy.horse/nerida-ai   💛 And to really look in detail at your horse’s diet, download the MyHappy.Horse nutrition app: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324

In this episode, Dr Nerida is joined by Dr Luke Wells-Smith, dual qualified  equine veterinarian and farrier, for a unique perspective on laminitis. Dr Luke unpacks what’s happening inside the hoof during laminitis, the early warning signs horse owners can watch for, insulin dysregulation, digital pulses and hoof growth rings.  Nerida and Luke also get into nutrition, misleading “grain-free” feed labels, beet pulp, the microbiome, and why identifying and controlling the underlying cause of laminitis is so critical. A fun and practical conversation for anyone wanting to better understand laminitis and protect their horse’s hooves. You can find Dr Luke Wells-Smith at the Motion Equine Centre:https://www.motion-equine.com.au/ Telehealth consultations with Dr Luke Wells-Smith:https://motion-equine.com.au/telehealth

What are the best ingredients for helping a horse gain weight safely? In this episode, PhD equine nutritionist Dr Nerida explains why lucerne (alfalfa), full-fat soybean, lupins, sugar beet pulp and copra meal are five of her favourite horse weight-gain ingredients. Discover how each ingredient supplies energy, fermentable fibre or quality protein, and how the right combination can help horses build body condition and muscle without simply relying on more grain. You’ll also learn why hindgut health matters, when high-protein feeds can become problematic, how to use these ingredients safely and why every weight-gain diet still needs to be properly balanced. Soycheck test kit for checking whether soybean products contain active trypsin inhibitor: https://cbsbioplatforms.com/Store

Join Dr Nerida and Orla as they discuss how exercise can improve insulin sensitivity. Plus they talk feeding for muscle development, and how whey protein, soybean and leucine play a role. They also dive into digestive enzymes, why they are being added to more feeds, and how enzymes may help some horses digest starch more efficiently when grain-based feeds are used. This leads into a bigger discussion about diet analysis, nutrient deficiencies, toxicities, misleading “grain-free” labels, and why horse owners need a way to check whether a diet is genuinely safe and balanced. The episode finishes with musings on raw grain, stomach pH, hindgut pH, gastroscopy, omeprazole, acid rebound, and has a few classic Orla and Nerida side tracks along the way. 📲 To check your horse’s diet and KNOW you are feeding right, download the MyHappy.Horse app ⁠https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324⁠ 💛 We’d love if you would leave us a rating, follow the show and share this episode with a friend, it truly helps us get this information in front of more horse owners. 🩺 And if you’d like to get in touch with Orla, [email protected]

Preventing squamous gastric ulcers takes more than just feeding enough forage. In this episode, Dr Nerida explains four additional nutrition strategies: feeding a balanced diet, controlling grain and starch intake, supplying high-quality protein, and using lucerne or alfalfa strategically. Plus she covers why grain is not automatically the problem, how key nutrients support stomach repair, and why lucerne is so valuable for gut health.  Here are some of the papers referenced: Effects of feeding alfalfa hay in comparison to meadow hay on the gastric mucosa in adult Warmblood horses https://pferdeheilkunde.de/files/20200105.pdf   Evaluation of diet as a cause of gastric ulcers in horses https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10895901/ Risk factors associated with equine gastric ulceration syndrome (EGUS) in 201 horses in Denmark https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19927579/ 📲 For help assessing your horse’s diet and making sure you are feeding a balanced diet to prevent gastric ulcers, download the MyHappy.Horse App https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324  💖 If you found this episode helpful we'd be so grateful if you would follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast and  share it with a horse owning friend who is struggling with gastric ulcers. 🌟 And please leave us a rating and review, it helps us help more horse owners to find practical, science-based nutrition advice.

Gastric ulcers are incredibly common in horses, but before changing feeds or reaching for an ulcer supplement, there are three far more important foundations to get right. In this episode, Dr Nerida explains why forage is central to preventing equine squamous gastric ulcers and reveals the three practical steps every horse owner should prioritise: feeding enough forage, minimising the time horses spend without something to chew, and feeding hay before, and ideally after, exercise. You’ll also learn why simply providing hay does not necessarily mean your horse is eating enough, how herd dynamics and restrictive hay nets can reduce forage intake without you actually noticing, and why weighing your horse’s hay may be one of the most useful things you can do for their gastric health. Here is the link to free full text research study mentioned in the podcast: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/22/3512   📲 For help assessing your horse’s diet and making sure you are feeding enough forage to prevent gastric ulcers, download the MyHappy.Horse App https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324  💖 If you found this episode helpful, please follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast and  share it with a horse owning friend who is struggling with gastric ulcers. 🌟 And we'd love you to leave us a rating and review, it helps us help more horse owners to find practical, science-based nutrition advice.