Quality, compassionate care for horses.

While not always an easy task, maintaining a healthy body condition for your horse is one of the most important aspects of horse ownership.

When given the chance, most horses will eat far more food than they actually need.  Although this may make your horse "happy," being overweight can have disastrous effects on their health.  Some of these negative side effects include:

• increased stress on all organs, especially on the heart and lungs
• increased risk of insulin resistance or insulin dysregulation
• increased risk of laminitis/ founder
• increased risk of injury, such as tendon or ligament or muscle injury
• increased pain associated with arthritis and increased rate of arthritis progression
• reduced fertility and increased risk of foaling complications
• impaired ability to maintain appropriate body temperature, especially in warm weather

Just as over- nutrition is harmful to your horse's health, so too is under- nutrition.  Horses that are in a negative energy balance are expending more calories to simply survive than they are taking in.  An underweight body condition can cause harmful effects on their overall health such as:

• increased risk for infections and illness
• impaired ability to maintain appropriate body temperature, especially in cold weather
• reduced athletic ability due to poor muscling
• reduced fertility and increased risk of foaling complications
• increased risk of colic when reintroduced to greater nutrition

In addition to the amount of feed consumed, there are many other conditions that can cause a horse to be under or overweight.  If your horse needs some help achieving the ideal body condition score of 5, please contact your veterinarian so that a safe and effective diet and health plan can be made.