There is a method to the madness!

I kinda looked into horse nutrition today. I kinda found out that I've been a complete and utter ignorant fool for not paying more attention to what gets served out to my horses. You know, those little analysis labels and nutritional info actually do come in handy. They actually do determine the health, fatness, and energy level of the horse. They can even affect how sound the horse is, or whether they develop things like DODs or other problems.

What a concept!

...

Honestly, sometimes my ignorance astounds me. Absolutely floors me to the point where I have to pause what I'm doing and just think really, really hard about just how little I actually know. Take, for instance, that I, someone who actually considered becoming a professional rider, thought that I could do so without any knowledge of what NSC means in relations to food, or how protein, fats, fiber, and even the insignificant little minerals in the horse's food have a major impact on the horse's health and well-being. Did I take the time to wonder, "Well, gee, could Roli be cranky because of gastrointestinal problems? Could Pasadena be ripping the reins out of my hands and literally cantering in place because she's getting stuffed like a roast turkey with sugars and fats? Could Perfect be doing somersaults around the ring because he's getting Ultium and kept in a stall for all but one hour of the day?" No, I did not. I beat myself up and cursed myself for being a bad rider, threatening to just give up altogether without considering that what they were eating might actually have had an affect on their performance.

My last trainer did help me believe that I was not a bad rider (not that I am a particularly great one, either), but unfortunately I did not have the attention span to realize how important it was when she gave me the name and number of an equine nutritionist. The ADD child was rearing its ugly head at the most inopportune moments, and now I can only look back in surprised recognition and realize the importance of what she was trying to teach me. The light bulb has finally been switched on!

Seriously, though, I don't think I would have checked into this (vital!) equine nutrition stuff at all if not for my gf's horse (and sort of my horse too, I guess, although I still stubbornly refuse to acknowledge partial ownership), Sophie. Like all the rest of the horses I have worked with, I approached Sophie no differently. I ignored her resistance to work, failed to see her anxiety as anything other than the personality of a young horse (she's only 4). I simply chalked it all up to her being "blocked"--which I'm sure she is--and thought that by working her without a rider on the lunge and doing some consistent massage therapy, I would see improvements. What I could not understand is how her condition got worse. On the lunge, she would twist out in two particular corners and just generally resist what I was asking her to do. Was it too much for her? I tried lessening the difficulty, but still no improvement. Puzzled and discouraged, I lost motivation to work with her, feeling that I had failed both my gf and her horse. I thought that it must be me, that I must just be increasing the blockages with my own body and transmuting my own imbalances to her. Now, while I'm sure this is also true along with the blockage theory, I now understand that her attitude goes much deeper than just her persona while under tack.

That's about when I was minding my own business at college when I got a revealing call from my gf.

"I think Sophie has ulcers."

Ding, ding, ding!

Now, I have had a horse with ulcers before. I know that she received vet-prescribed GastroGuard for a period of time and that the problem seemed to go away after that. However, I had absolutely no idea what specifically caused the ulcers, or how common they were, or how greatly they could affect a horse's attitude. All I knew was that the problem was there, and then the vet magically appeared, prescribed a magic medicine, and all was well in Roli land. Roli aka Rolita being the horse who had the ulcers.

Really? Ulcers can do all that? They can completely change a horse's character?

That's when the "ohhh" factor set in. So changing venues for a four year old can be a huge stressor?! And abruptly changing feeds from one low in NSC to one higher in NSC with less positive nutritional value can mess up her metabolic system?! And, believe it or not, what you feed a horse does, in fact, matter?!?!

Yep, it clicked.

Soon after that, I got on the internet and, for the first time, actually read my "The Horse" nutritional newsletter that usually goes straight to my "deleted" folder, and then the avalanche of research began. I learned things I had never known before about the importance of sugar and starch content in a horse's diet. I learned the difference between hays. (I had always known there was a difference, I just, err, didn't... know what that difference acually was.) I learned about how much protein, fiber, and fat you should feed to different horses, and how much a difference that little percentage change can make in a horse's health and activity level.

You know, I can't help but thank The Draft Mare (aka Sophie, the Friesian/TB who is all Percheron in appearance). I will admit that it makes me a little sick now when I look at her glossy, dull eyes and see how uncomfortable she looks, but her SmartPak of SmartDigest Ultra is on the way to amend her humans' erroneous mistakes, and thank God that horses are one of the most forgiving creatures alive, or else I probably would have been trampled eight years ago for my ignorance and stupidity. At least, from this wrong will come a right, and the nutritional needs of future horses I am involved with will be acknowledged and taken care of.