Articles, case studies & advice

Senior Nutritionist, Lizzie Drury, explains what to look out for when managing horses and ponies with equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), based on her own management techniques with her pony Rita, whose body shape illustrates very well where fat pad areas and higher risk areas are.

During intense exercise, horses can lose up to 12 litres of sweat per hour, approximately 4% of their total body water.

Choose a low-calorie, fully fortified balancer to support health and well-being when your horse or pony is on a weight management program.

Forage is essential to satisfy both the horse’s physical and psychological needs. The physical need for forage is to provide bulk and help to maintain a healthy digestive system, whilst the psychological need is that horses have a natural “drive” and need to chew as they are “trickle feeders”.

Exercise is an essential part of a weight-loss program; a horse will only lose weight if he is expending more energy than he is consuming.

Obesity remains prevalent in the UK leisure sector of horses and ponies and is now also commonly found in the sports and elite horse sectors. It is of great concern to all equine communities from both veterinary and welfare points of view.

Obesity remains prevalent in the UK leisure sector of horses and ponies and is now also commonly found in the sports and elite horse sectors. It is of great concern to all equine communities from both veterinary and welfare points of view.

Tying-up or ER (exertional rhabdomyolysis) is a problem that every yard will encounter at some point in time with reports of 5-7% of the thoroughbred population being affected.

There are some simple dietary adjustments that can put into place to help reduce the risk of tying-up, or other symptoms of muscle myopathies.