Most people do not put much thought into stall bedding. Generally they use what is easiest and cheapest to buy and dispose of after it looses it's luster. A research project reported yesterday in the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science by German researchers shows that we should pay more attention to our bedding choices.

The group monitored the behaviour of a set of horses bedded on Straw, Shavings and Shavings Pellets. The horses lived in stalls with each bedding type for 2 weeks at a time. They monitored the time for several behaviors including standing, eating, lying, occupation (playing) with bedding material, and other events.

They reported "Compared with straw pellets and wood shavings, the use of straw bedding led to a significantly higher frequency and longer duration of occupation with bedding material and in turn, shorter fractions of standing and other behaviors. The total duration of lying was significantly longer on straw than on straw pellets ( and longer than on shavings)."

The long and the short of it! Horses prefer straw, They lie down more and fiddle with it more, thus occupying their free time and enhancing their stall experience.

Some of the "older foggies" like me will see the truth in this. Younger readers wil not appreciate how much technology has made things easier. When I was learning to ride over 50 long years ago there was a message pounded into our heads as we rode round and round the big ring at the Tuxedo Riding Club in Winnipeg.  Heels Down - Toes In.. It was like religion and was certain to ensure that your legs ached until you had it mastered. To this day the one decent thing about my position on a horse is my heels  down and my toes in.

Attending numerous events as a spectator it appears to me that while heels down is obviously still a coveted position, many instructors have abandoned the toes in half of the rule.For those of us who still strive to ride the way we were taught, but whose bodies are not completely in agreement, technology has made life in the saddle much easier. The English stirrup remained pretty much unchanged for hundreds of years then things took a change for the better. Yes there were offset stirrups and also stirrups with the foot plate angled to make things more comfortable but now we have true high tech stirrups.

The advent of flexible stirrups made (at least for me) the heels down position much more comfortable. Then some genius decided to put a twist in the top so the stirrup hung more perpendicular to your foot., another brain wave. Now you can get stirrups with hinged loops for the leathers, composite materials, special foot plates from those resembling a cheese grater to magnetic boot inserts that match a high powered magnet imbedded in the foot grip.

The lowly stirrup as come of age. If you are older like me and find that riding stresses your knees and ankles, or young and just having problems mastering the perfect leg position I highly recommend laying down the cash for a pair of techie stirrups. Depending on the quality and source be prepared to spend up to $350.00 for a set of what I now consider essential fittings. Your legs will thank you for years to come!

Whenever the temperature rises and the threat of performing in extreme heat is a reality people start thinking about electrolytes. Horses can loose immense quantities of electrolytes like sodium, potassium and magnesium through profuse sweating. Ensure your horse has adequate reserves through feeding electrolytes for a few days before and after your event.

The purpose of this Blog is not to tell you how to feed electrolyte, but how to recognize a good electrolyte.

1) Check the ingredient list.

The first ingredient should be Sodium Chloride (salt).

The second should be Potassium Chloride.

Third is typically a magnesium compound like Magnesium Citrate.

From here in in there will be other micro mineral ingredients depending on the manufacturer.

2) There should not be SUGAR in any form. Dextrose, Sucrose, Fructose, Lactose etc. Sugar is not an electrolyte and in some cases can actually draw fluids out of the body into the intestines instead of moving fluids and minerals into the body.

If the label shows a sugar compound as one of the main ingredients, keep on shopping!

3) If you cannot get access to an electrolyte your next best move would be to force feed salt in the grain portion of your horses diet. Manufactured feeds  contain salt but typically not in levels sufficient to meet the needs in high temperature stress conditions. Under high temperature conditions when you expect your horse to sweat to a significant degree it would be reasonable to force feed up to 2 ounces of salt a day.

A salt block won't do the job. To get 2 ounces of salt a day by licking is just not a reasonable expectation.

You can use anything from table salt to loose livestock salt. Blue, red, brown or white makes no difference.

I was recently quizzed by someone trying to compare an American feed product to those available  in her part of Canada. A friend was all excited about some " wonder" feed and since it was not available here in Canada an attempt was being made to find something similar based on the feed tags. This turned out to be an all but impossible task.

It is important to remember that when looking at feed tags, and even advertising in US magazines for feeds and even wormers, fly repellants etc that the USA is a different country, with different rules and regulations that in many cases are not even remotely similar to the Canadian guidelines.

In this case the US feed had an ingredient list where the Canadian products had the familiar "A list of the ingredients used in  this feed may be obtained from the manufacturer or registrant". If you really need to know, you need to ask. You are not entitled to the formula, just the ingredient list.  The US label is not much more help. In the USA they can use "and/or" statements and what are known as "collective terms". That means they can say "plant protein products" and/or "grain products". In total that tells you virtually nothing. In the USA ingredients are supposed to be listed in order of quantity, however I am told the rule is not enforced well if at all.  There is also the potential for "label dressing" where insignificant quantities are added just to enhance the listing.

The guarantee listing is also difficult to compare. Many nutrients in the USA have a range guarantee whereas in Canada we use minimum, maximum and actual. Here Canada shines. Calcium Actual 1% is a better indicator than Calcium Minimum 0.5%, Maximum 1.5%. The USA can require less information in the form of a guarantee.

Essentially a typical end user cannot ascertain with any reasonable expectation of accuracy if a US feed and a Canadian one are at all similar. In addition you cannot ascertain if the US feed has ingredients that are not cleared for feeding in Canada.

Take home message - Don't go chasing rainbows. There are no magic formulas or mystical ingredients on the south side of the border. Stick with a reputable Canadian manufacturer that you can deal with on a one on one basis to get the feeding program your horse needs.