If you are in this drought and your horses are on grass there are some things to consider.
Grass that is trying to survive with little water is in a state of stress. It will almost always test lower in nutritive value if the water has been absent very long. Vitamin e is one very important thing to think about in a drought state if you are grazing your horses.
Not only will the grass have less E at this time, but your horses also won’t have the opportunity to store it to get through the winter with a lack like nature designed them to do.
If your horse has an illness or injury, E is one of the things that the equine body uses to help heal itself. Therefore, if it is short already in the grass, then your horse has to fight something off, he/she may be whoppingly short and start showing symptoms of ataxia (More people will mistakenly assume EPM but will not have the spinal tap performed ) or itchiness or eye issues.
If you are living in drought, you really might need to consider supplementing with a quality source of Vitamin e and maybe even continuing in some form throughout the winter.
This really dry grass is usually found to be much lower in protein content also. You may notice that your horses look kind of meh or perhaps your youngsters don’t quite appear to be thriving. It may be necessary for you to add a commercial source of protein if you are seeing these things. It is also important to remember that your hay grown during drought will Also be lower in protein, so getting equines through winter looking great may take more effort on your part.
We already know that stressed grass is grass that high in NSC, and going into fall this can be a double whammy.
Make sure that you are watching the crest on your horse and also how they are walking and turning a curve at least once per day and preferably twice.
If you have horses that already struggle with laminitis or EMS or Cushing’s then you REALLY REALLY need to take protective measures.
Once a horse has had a bout with laminitis then you owe it to them to never let it happen again. This is Work with a capital W and takes a lot of love, effort and diligence on your part.
During this drought and the following winter, it may help you to take similar stance pictures in 3-week intervals for comparison. Sometimes we have a “blind” effect because we see them every day and are not as apt to notice changes.
