HSF Equine Nutrition

04/05/2026

04/03/2026

🐴📚 New Educational Opportunity at the Farm!

Looking to expand your knowledge of horse care, welfare, and advocacy? Join us for our Equine Wellness & Welfare Series. Attend one class or attend all!

From equine care, to lameness, to first-aid and emergency preparedness, this series is perfect for horse owners, equine professionals, and anyone passionate about improving the lives of horses. Whether you’re new to horses or looking to grow your skillset, this series offers practical, real-world knowledge you can apply immediately.

Limited spots available—don’t miss your chance to learn from our experienced team and guest speakers!

🔗 Register here: https://my.cheddarup.com/c/equine-wellness-welfare-series/items

03/27/2026

Friday focus…balancers will not make your horse fat!!

I know I can be a bit repetitive with this at times, but it is for good reason as feed balancers still seem to be very much misunderstood!

Balancers have been a fabulous addition to the equine feed room and they have made it easier than ever to provide your horse or pony with a nicely balanced diet (as long as it is a good balancer!). The overall calories they contribute to the diet is very small and they provide a balanced diet in a small amount of feed.

However, they need to be fed at the recommended rate to provide your horse or pony with the nutrients they need; typically 100g per 100kgs of bodyweight, so a 600kg horse, needs 600g per day and a 250g pony, needs 250g per day.

Balancers unfortunately still seem to be very much understood and underfed! If you are not feeding the right amount and giving just a handful of balancer or half the required amount, you are wasting your time feeding it!

They will not contribute to weight gain; it is the forage side of the diet so hay, haylage and grass that will have the biggest influence on your horses weight along with exercise and over rugging! If your horse is on box rest or poorly, they need those nutrients more than ever to help their bodies recover, so please do not reduce it or cut it out if they are not working.

So if you are feeding a balancer as the sole source of vitamins and minerals, please do feed it at the recommended rate or your horse will not be getting the benefit of it and his or her diet will be missing vital nutrients!

03/27/2026

03/25/2026

It's time to dream of warmer weather ☀️

Are you a barn with a summer camp looking for more activities to add to your camp days this year??
Look no further!

I'm a certified equine nutrition advisor and I love teaching younger horse enthusiasts all about feeding horses!

With a variety of mediums including posters, feed samples, books, print outs, a 4D anatomy puzzle, and A REAL HORSE SKULL we can explore how & what horses eat and how their digestion works.

I can tailor talks to kids ages 4 and up, and their adults!

Reach out anytime to schedule me at your camps, and get 50% off nutrition consultations for all of your camp horses! 🐴

03/24/2026

If you have a horse that is

🥕 Metabolic
🥕 Senior
🥕 Over or under-conditioned
🥕 Living in a new environment (barn, field etc)
🥕 Taking time off for rest or rehab
🥕 Getting ready for warm weather riding
🥕 Young & Growing
🥕 Presenting with a "hay belly", or GI upset
🥕 Suffering from free f***l water syndrome (ffws) with grass changes
🥕 On a long list of supplements

Plus so much more!

Now is a great time to set up a consultation with me, either virtually or in person! We can evaluate your horse's current feeding plan, see where they may or may not need changes as we head into warmer weather so they can be set up for success this summer!

03/24/2026

One of the most misunderstood behaviours in horses is aggression.

It can be very shocking and frightening when an animal that typically responds with flight instead opts for fight.

Where do aggressive behaviours stem from and what are the safest and most effective means of addressing them?

In this webinar, hosted by Certified Horse Behaviour Consultant, Shelby Dennis, we will go over the following:

🟢 What is aggressive behaviour?

🟢 Common causes of aggression

🟢 Aggression in training

🟢 Herd aggression

🟢 How to de-escalate aggressive responses

🟢 Training to avoid aggression

🟢 Altering the behaviour of already aggressive horses

🟢 Troubleshooting aggression

🟢 Environmental factors

🟢 Trauma

🟢 and more…

if you have been looking for guidance on how to approach aggressive behaviour and horses this webinar will provide you with skill sets to start troubleshooting behaviour and de-escalate aggressive response responses.


Sliding scale ticket pricing to allow accessibility for all budgets.

Comment “Aggression Webinar” to get sent the link to sign up and more information!

Patreon subscribers of the Milestone Student tier get to attend free.

Facebook subscribers get 50% off!

03/21/2026

I wish I could say that the only risk that this career comes with is the inherent risk of being around horses, but that isn’t reality. Reality is that harassment, stalking, sexual harassment and assault are also a risk. From clients, their spouses, their parents or friends.

When you’re used to normal business, trimming normal horses, at a normal barn, having a normal conversation… the sudden comment of insinuation or flirtation is strange or uncomfortable.

They’re married and/or twice my age, why are they speaking to me like that? Why do they keep trying to hug me? They’re touching me all the sudden? Why are they doing this? They were a normal client a minute ago?

In the moment, it’s shocking and you freeze initially- that’s what movies and books always get wrong. You don’t immediately draw a boundary, smack their hand away, or shout at them. You’re frozen for a moment or longer, your brain trying to rationalize this unthinkable scenario. Then afterwards you’re running it through your head “I should’ve done this, I should’ve said this, should I have called the police”.

It’s not your fault, you didn’t do anything wrong. THEY are the perpetrator, THEY should’ve kept their uncomfortable comments and/or hands to themselves.

A few years ago I was trimming a clients horses. Their father was present and was talking to me about trimming and the modern approaches. The client went into the house for a few minutes, the father stayed to chat. Normal conversation. He said that my hoof stand was fancy. I said “yeah, I think the horses appreciate the fabric cradle”. To which he replied “well right now I’m looking at YOUR cradle” and smacked my buttocks.

I froze for a moment. Did that REALLY just happen??? My stomach felt like a pit and I felt violated. Disgusted. Angry. The client came back outside, the father tried to resume conversation but I stayed silent the rest of the appointment. Accepted payment and left. I didn’t reply back to the client for a few texts but eventually did and asked if we could schedule a day when her father wasn’t there. When I went out there she asked me if everything was okay and if she’d done anything to offend me. I told her what happened. Her jaw dropped. We sat in silence for a minute. Eventually she said “I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe he did that. I’m shocked. I’m so sorry.”
We agreed it would be better to no longer do business, and she would only hire male farriers from then on.
I spent the next few days running it all through my head. Should I have yelled at him? Hit him? Called the police? Should I have immediately packed my tools and left?

No, I shouldn’t have had to do any of that, because he should’ve been a decent person and treated me like a human being and not an object, and kept his damn rotten hands to himself.

03/21/2026

03/20/2026

A quick reminder to all of my clients & future clients because I've unfortunately caught another bug -

Please be respectful & conscious and reschedule appointments if you, anyone in your family or anyone who is going to be near us around the barn is sick 🤒🤧

With norovirus going around, surges of covid and the flu, holiday colds and so much more, it's important we keep each other safe and healthy by keeping our distance when we're sick.

And being sick is not subjective- if you have a cough, congestion, runny nose, fever, stomach ache, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, sore throat, red/runny eyes, rash, new onset fatigue, chills, etc. these are ALL symptoms of illness and should be taken seriously for up to 48 hours after symptoms disappear.

In return, I will also always reschedule appointments or offer a virtual appointment instead anytime I'm sick. As an immunocompromised person, I'd always rather reschedule that pass around illnesses!

There is a note about this in my intake forms as well as a reminder ☺️

03/20/2026