Wholesome Equine Nutrition, LLC

11/02/2025

This is the time of year to be vigilant!

When the temperature dips below 40°F, it’s not just your fingers that get cold. The grass changes how it metabolizes fuel.
Here’s what’s happening:
During daylight, grass uses sunlight to make sugars through photosynthesis. Normally, those sugars are used for growth or stored in the roots overnight. But when nighttime or daytime temperatures drop below about 40°F, the grass can’t grow, meaning it stores those sugars instead of using them.
This means high sugar levels in the blades of grass, especially on bright sunny days followed by cold nights.
For horses with metabolic syndrome, high insulin, or a history of laminitis, that sugar spike in the grass can be risky. It’s like turning the pasture into dessert.
What to do when it’s cold out:
Avoid turnout on frosty mornings. This is when sugar levels are at their highest.
If possible, wait until late afternoon for grazing because sugar levels tend to drop as the day warms up.
Use a grazing muzzle or limit turnout time to control intake.
Rely more on tested, low-NSC hay when temperatures are consistently cold.
Keep tabs on your horse’s insulin and body condition. Early management prevents flare-ups. Ask us about insulin testing. It's quick and easy.

Cold weather doesn’t mean you have to lock your horse away from the pasture forever. It just means being strategic. Knowing how grass changes with the weather can help you keep your metabolic horse safe and comfortable all winter long.

10/24/2025

My experience with flat soled horses is that there aren't very many "truly" flat soled horses. Not that I don't see very many to begin with, but after making the necessary changes...the concavity of almost every hoof can be improved.

Concavity=sole thickness, in most cases. Concavity must be built or developed over time, not carved out. There is a big difference between exfoliating dead sole material and removing valuable live sole. When you create the proper conditions the sole of the hoof thickens. I picture it raising the coffin bone off of the ground like the rim of a wheel when you pump up a tire. When you get the diet right...get the horse moving (especially on a clean 3-4" deep footing like sand, chat, or pea gravel) ..and keep the outer wall from making contact with the ground you will see the improvements almost immediately (sometimes literally overnight).

The horses coffin bone is naturally concave and the hoof capsule is produced from this bone. The sole is a reflection of the bottom of the bone. The problem is that the growth continues whether it's getting worn or trimmed away. The direction of growth is predominately forward so the hoof capsule will usually slough forward like a sock that's lost its elasticity and ends up bunched around your toes. Careful management can prevent, or correct, this situation so that hoof capsule is aligned with the coffin bone.

The tragedy is when this overgrown situation ensues for a long period of time... this changes the stride of the horse as well as the contact points of the hoof that were specifically designed for proper weight bearing. This breaks a horse down over time causing damage to the inner structures of the hoof as well as all the structures above the hair line. The upside is that the hoof is continually growing and you can use this constant supply of new material to fix the situation. Once you get the hoof wall perfectly aligned with the coffin bone you will see the concavity of the sole mimicking the concavity of the solar surface of the coffin bone. The only exception that I've seen to this is when the solar corium has been crushed for too long on a poorly conformed coffin bone and the bone has become flat or even convex. Even in some of these cases I've seen the horse restored to some level of comfort.

My goal is to educate horse owners to be able to detect hoof capsule deformation before it gets to the point of lameness and to take advantage of the healing abilities intrinsic to the hoof... to develop the best foot possible for the individual horse. “Bad” footed horses can improve and even good footed horses can be better.

(David Landreville, 2014)

08/28/2025

🔥MYTH🔥
Once a horse has had laminitis and/or rotation they will never have a normal foot.

Did you know it is entirely possible to have a healthy functional hoof after laminitis?
The hoof below suffered a bout of laminitis resulting in a small bit of rotation last season. So, how did we get back to a healthy hoof?

🔥How?🔥
Identify the causal factors in the first place.
Diet, Exercise, veterinary care, and hoof care all play a role getting your horse back on track. This is a team approach, everyone works together for the good of the horse.

- What dietary chages can you make for your horses health? chronically overweight horses and easy keepers are prone to metabolic issues. Look at your hay, pasture time, grain amounts, and treat in take to see what can be better managed on your end.

- Your veterinarian is your biggest asset!
Blood work to address insulin and acth levels.
Pain management medications to control inflammation within the foot and keep your horse as comfortable as possible. Radiographs to assess what damage has occurred inside the hoof capsule and help guide your farrier through the rehab process.

Hoof care! Finding a professional that is familiar with working on laminitic/ foundered horses. Do they have tools to help your horses comfort ? Are they willing work with your vet and have an open mind to trying new things? Are they skilled at reading radiographs? Do they understand the biomechanics of trimming a rotated hoof?
Is their way the ONLY way?!
💣several groups have proclaimed they have the secret to fixing these cases…. the magical recipe everyone wants….Do your homework, there are many ways to achieve results. Right handed farriers don’t cause rotation, leaving toes grow for months biomechanically doesn’t help your horse, and poor trimming is not the cause of every case of laminitis💣

Exercise?
Once you get to a comfortable state and have a healthy enough hoof movement/ exercise helps with metabolic issues and increases blood flow!

08/17/2025

Cool season grasses🌱 such as Timothy, Orchard and Rye because of the wet💦, cool climates where they are grown, cut, cured, and baled and alfalfa. Larger bales require lower baling moisture percentages; the risk of preservatives present in large square and round bales increases dramatically.

Grass hay grown in arid climates🌞 (mostly warm season grasses) rarely if ever are sprayed with preservatives; the expense is not necessary. The moisture content reduces at a rapid rate naturally. Feeding a combination of warm and cool season grasses is beneficial due to the diverse amino acid profiles and reducing the risk of preservatives in 100% of the hay fed.​

Unfortunately hay preservatives are necessary for farmers otherwise too many crops would be destroyed and the price of hay could skyrocket💸. To be as proactive as possible, ask your grower if they use preservatives. If so, what cuttings/loads/fields received the lowest concentrations and choose that hay. Inhalation is as much if not more of a health risk as ingestion.

Slow feeders may minimize inhalation of acid/chemical dust because they cannot bury their nose in the hay. Feeding from ground level allows the nasal passages to drain💧 effectively. If you experience skin or respiratory irritation handling hay, preservatives could be the cause. Whether these additives and preservatives are safe is debatable. If given the choice, I would rather not handle or feed hay treated with chemicals. Being well informed about the forage you are feeding is prudent and enables you to make educated choices on behalf of your beloved companions.

Preservatives in hay can have an adverse effect on you and your horse's health. Learn what hay types are likely to contain preservatives and what the 5 common ingredients are👉 https://www.thehaypillow.com/blogs/news/hay-preservatives-5-ingredients-you-need-to-know-about

08/13/2025

08/06/2025

Top - last day of steel shoes for a 10 year old Arab. I outlined the hairline in red to show the soft tissue atrophy and hairline distortion/degenerative displacement.

Bottom - same foot after 18 months on a 3-4 week simulated wear trim schedule. I outlined the current hairline in red, showing the regenerative improvements in the shape and position of the hairline. The green line outlines the future hairline position that the foot is revealing.

The space between the red line and the green line will fill in with hair as the digital cushion gains more depth and the hoof capsule regenerates in a lower relationship to the coronary band and coffin bone.

08/06/2025

🤙🏻TLDR
The grass will explode when the sun comes out again. Get ‘em off the grass.

Laminitis is a disease of prevention…

🌧️ Weird Weather

The last few days have been unseasonably cool and rainy. For those further out, it’s August in Georgia and it’s been raining nonstop and in the 60s… Like chili and scary movie weather. We love the relief from the 100s but what’s to come is in fact said scary movie.

GRASS

Photosynthesis is how grass converts sunlight to energy and food, aka sugar. Right now the sugars in the grass are low because of the consistent cloud coverage, as it significantly slows photosynthesis. Right now, it’s relatively safe for most horses. (Of course there are exceptions)

But this won’t last long…
In a few days Georgia will start to act like herself again and try to burn us all to a crisp. That’s when the grass will make up for lost time and will kick into hyperdrive. The sugars will be astronomical. Please be aware of this and plan accordingly.
👏🏻If you have a metabolic horse or a grass sensitive horse (yes, they can be grass sensitive with pristine labs), please consider ‼️muzzling, limiting grass turnout, dry lot, turnout in early morning, have boots on hand, etc. ‼️

Typically sugars are lowest in the grass in the morning. In a perfect world, turnout at the witching hour (2-3am) and back in about 10am. But that’s not real life. I have some turnout at dawn and back to dry lot at lunch with success. Just remember that the longer the grass cooks under the sun the higher the sugars. Late day and early evening can be dangerous.

Another factor is also the onset of abscesses. The ground has been quite hard up until we’ve had this weather system. With a few inches of rain the ground is soft and mushy. If your horse is going to abscess this is prime time.
Last week I ordered extra cloud boots and stocked up on diapers and baby powder. Hopefully none of which I have to use but I’m ready for it all.

Keep an eye on your horses and be proactive.

Laminitis is a disease of prevention…

07/21/2025

An important concept.
Support, suspension and direction of motion.

The DDFT trumps everything.
Too tight or too loose and problems start. Just right and all is good.

Think about the DDFT being too tight where will problems start?

Or too loose? Think caudal foot collapse.

Dr Redden has a lot to share about the DDFT.

Credit R Redden.