One of the foundational elements of horse health is bone strength. Proper nutrition plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy bones and optimal skeletal structure in horses.
For the purposes of this newsletter we are separating nutrition for bone health from supplements for joint health. If you're interested in supporting joint health specifically you can find that here:
Calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D are vital for maintaining strong bones in equines.
Vitamin D plays a crucial role in bone health, muscle function, and the immune system. It helps regulate the levels of calcium and phosphorus in the blood, which are vital for normal skeletal development.
Abundant vitamin D is supplied by sunlight. It can also be found in forage, but sunlight is far more potent. Often in Australia, once the winter coat is shed the cotton rugs and fly veils go on and stay on, but it is important to give your horses a nudie day out in the sunshine for the vitamin D.
If you are worried about coat fading then read this:
Our preference is always to supply nutrients in feeds rather than supplements if we can. Calcium is high in lucerne and phosphorous is high in wheat bran. A good rule-of-thumb ratio is 1.25kg lucerne to 1kg of bran.
Bran is a great feed option to supply phosphorous for horses if you balance it against lucerne. It has the same calories as oats but has half the starch. It is 17% protein. It's an excellent natural source of phosphorus, which is often lacking in hay or pasture. Its high palatability makes bran mash a great choice for picky eaters - particularly for mixing in less tasty sups, and a mash is perfect for older horses with worn-down teeth. Bran is a common ingredient in weight gain products.
Rice bran is also a good source of phosphorous (and weight gain), but it has to be stabilised otherwise it will go rancid.
Bran is not a good option for horses that are already overweight. The easiest way to supplement phosphorous for overweight or metabolically compromised horses is adding di calcium phosphate (DCP), which is on average 22 – 24% calcium and 18 – 19% phosphorous. We can't recommend a dose without knowing way more about the whole diet.
There are plenty of bone supplements on the market but be aware that most of them are just calcium (lime), DCP and salt. Read the label carefully. In preparing this newsletter I was looking at the label of one supplement that is mostly lime and is $100/kg!! Good Lord!
Another very popular bone supplement, available in every saddlery and produce store across the country, that's ingredients are stated as "microfined limestone and di calcium phosphate" is $11/kg, but in the same retail outlet you can usually buy a 25kg bag of DCP that doesn't have a picture of a horse skeleton printed on the label for $50.
Bone Issues
Our favourite source for information on diagnosing and resolving bone issues is Dr Ian Bidstrup, because he will discuss options for osteopathy, chiropractics and acupuncture alongside more invasive veterinary practices.
Dr Bidstrup estimates that 80% of horses he sees have some form of sacro-illiac joint complex dysfunction.
"Common horse specific symptoms that may be a result of SIJC dysfunction include shortness of stride of one hindleg; squaring of hind hooves; crossing hindlegs towards the midline while walking; difficulty in holding up one hindleg when being shod; poor or uneven muscle development over the rump; tenderness over lower back and pelvic areas and differences in the height of the mid points of the pelvis."
Understanding birth trauma, which is almost universal, will help you see how small issues contribute to the whole, and visa versa. Did you know club foot is usually not a hoof issue? It's generally a rib thing. Read on.
And you can go deep into stifle lock here.
Plus much, much more. It's a very useful website.
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