https://equinebalancedsupport.com/

Equine Balanced Support, 393 Mt Eve Road, Goshen, NY (2025)

12/13/2025

🎁 It’s Day 13 of the Little Horse Advent Calendar! 🐴
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Today’s feature? The Daily Bonding Kit — a full set of 6 KBF99 grooming brushes, all in one bundle!
This set includes the face brush, hoof brush, dandy brush, long bristle dandy brush, and body brush — with your choice of black or blue for the last three. Antimicrobial, ergonomic, and beautifully matched to help you bond through grooming every day. 🧼💙🖤

12/13/2025

Forage-Based Treats & Diet Considerations: Maintaining Body Condition

While treats are often high-energy and palatable (e.g., carrots, apples, grain-based treats), overuse can lead to unwanted weight gain or metabolic stress. Scientific work on reinforcer efficacy of different feeds for horses shows that even standard grains and processed feeds function as effective reinforcers — meaning horses will work for them — but caloric value and composition affect long‑term body condition.

To incorporate treats responsibly, it’s often better to use low-calorie or forage-based treats (e.g., small amounts of hay, chopped hay pellets, grass cubes, or specially formulated low-sugar treats) rather than high-calorie treats. Mixing treats into the forage ration or feeding small forage-based rewards helps maintain normal gut function, supports digestive health, and avoids excessive calorie load.

This approach aligns with the principles of equine nutrition and welfare: use treats as reinforcement but account for total daily energy intake, body condition, and metabolic health. When treats are appropriately balanced within the overall diet, they can support training without compromising weight, insulin regulation, or metabolic risk.

12/12/2025

Enjoying an evening of CDI dressage at The World Equestrian Center

12/12/2025

🎁 It’s Day 12 of the Little Horse Advent Calendar! 🐴
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Sign up now via .blue and follow along daily for each new reveal! 🎁✨

Today’s feature? The KBF99 Mane & Tail Brush — built for beauty and barn life.
With strong, flexible bristles and antimicrobial protection, it detangles smoothly while keeping things clean and healthy. 🧼✨

12/12/2025

Thermoregulation: Circulatory Adaptation to Cold in Horses

Thermoregulation — the horse's ability to maintain internal body temperature despite changing external conditions — relies heavily on circulatory control. In cold weather, horses reduce blood flow to the skin and extremities through a process called vasoconstriction to minimize heat loss from the body's surface and preserve warmth around vital organs, especially the heart, brain, and gastrointestinal tract.

The circulatory system dynamically redistributes blood in response to thermal demand. In cold conditions, vessels near the skin contract, reducing perfusion to the surface. Meanwhile, blood is retained in the body's core, maintaining internal temperature. This strategy is so effective that healthy, acclimatized horses can remain comfortable in ambient temperatures as low as –15°C (5°F) or even colder, provided they are dry and out of the wind.

Interestingly, the legs — often exposed and lacking in muscle — are less vulnerable to cold injury than one might expect. The reason lies in a specialized vascular system: blood vessels in the limbs use countercurrent heat exchange, in which warm blood traveling outward transfers heat to cooler returning blood, preventing heat loss while maintaining circulation and reducing the risk of frostbite.

Thermoregulation works in conjunction with other adaptations, such as coat growth and fat insulation. However, when ambient temperatures drop drastically or wetness compromises insulation, the horse may be unable to maintain body temperature without additional calories or protection.

12/11/2025

Just arrived for dinner at Black Prong Whiskey Bar & Grill! Looking forward to great food and supporting 10-42 Police Horse Retirement Home and their wonderful mission of creating a sanctuary for first responder horses 🐎

12/11/2025

Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis (DSLD)

Degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (DSLD) is increasingly recognized as a heritable systemic disorder rather than a localized injury, affecting the suspensory apparatus and, in some cases, other soft tissues throughout the body. Tendon and ligament disorders are notably prevalent in gaited horses, driven not only by biomechanical stresses but also by underlying genetic predispositions. Breeds such as the Tennessee Walking Horse, Paso Fino, and Saddlebred often inherit connective tissue abnormalities that weaken the structural integrity of tendons and ligaments.

These genetic vulnerabilities are compounded by the demands of specialized gaits, which impose repetitive, high-strain forces on the animals' distal limbs. Training methods that involve the artificial enhancement of movement—such as using weighted shoes, chains, or stacks—further strain tendons and ligaments. Poor conformation, including upright pasterns and long, weak backs, often observed in these breeds, exacerbates these issues by altering limb mechanics and load distribution.

Additionally, many gaited horses are prone to metabolic disorders such as insulin dysregulation and equine metabolic syndrome (EMS). These conditions are associated with systemic inflammation and impaired tissue repair, further reducing the resilience of tendons and ligaments. Horses with metabolic dysfunction may also exhibit abnormal fat deposition and compromised circulation, which impede healing and increase susceptibility to injury.

Management must be multifaceted, incorporating early diagnosis, careful rehabilitation, and the use of biologics, such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) or stem cells. Crucially, genetic screening, responsible breeding, and metabolic monitoring are essential to mitigate the high incidence of soft-tissue disorders in these populations.

12/11/2025

🎁 It’s Day 11 of the Little Horse Advent Calendar! 🐴
Want to win a gift basket packed with equestrian favorites?
Sign up now via .blue and catch each new reveal daily! 🎁✨

Today’s spotlight? The Long Bristle Dandy Brush — shown here in a stunning blue! 💙
With longer bristles for maximum flick power, this brush is perfect for whisking away dirt and dust while being gentle on your horse’s coat. A must-have for quick cleanups!

12/10/2025

🎁 It’s Day 10 of the Little Horse Advent Calendar! 🐴
Want to win a gift basket packed with equestrian essentials?
Sign up now via .blue and follow along each day to see what’s inside! 🎁✨

Today’s featured find? The KBF99 Hoof Brush — small but mighty, and a must-have for your grooming routine.
With antimicrobial technology and durable bristles, it’s perfect for cleaning hooves while helping reduce bacteria buildup. 🧼🐴

12/10/2025

Horses Sleep Both Standing and Lying Down

Horses are one of the few large mammals capable of sleeping while standing, a behavior made possible by the stay apparatus. This unique anatomical mechanism allows them to lock their major joints in the forelimbs and hindlimbs. This system enables the horse to remain upright while relaxing most of its muscles, minimizing fatigue and allowing rest without collapsing. From an evolutionary standpoint, this adaptation offers a significant survival advantage: it will enable the horse to remain alert to danger while still getting some rest, supporting its role as a prey species that must escape quickly when threatened.

While standing sleep is beneficial, it primarily supports light, non-REM sleep. Horses cannot experience REM sleep, the most restorative phase, while standing. This is because REM sleep causes a loss of muscle tone, making it unsafe for the animal to remain upright. Thus, horses still need to lie down periodically — either in sternal (chest-down) or lateral (side) recumbency — to complete a full sleep cycle.

Understanding this distinction is vital for horse caretakers. A horse that doesn’t feel comfortable enough to lie down, or that has physical issues preventing recumbency, may become sleep-deprived. Though standing rest is impressive and adaptive, it cannot meet all of the horse’s biological sleep requirements.

12/09/2025

Niacin, Riboflavin, Pantothenic Acid, and Overall Cellular Health

The B‑vitamin complex includes several members — such as niacin (B3), riboflavin (B2), and pantothenic acid (B5) — that play crucial, interconnected roles in cellular metabolism, energy production, and general tissue maintenance. In a horse’s body, these vitamins act as cofactors for enzymes responsible for converting carbohydrates, fats, and proteins into usable energy. This metabolic support underlies muscle function, organ maintenance, immune competence, and overall vitality.

Riboflavin is essential as a precursor to coenzymes (FAD and FMN) that power oxidative metabolism — a process critical for delivering energy to tissues during both rest and activity. Pantothenic acid, necessary in forming coenzyme A (CoA), enables pathways responsible for fat metabolism and hormone synthesis. Niacin contributes to the synthesis of NAD/NADP, crucial electron carriers in metabolic reactions that support energy balance, cell maintenance, and even tissue repair.

Given these foundational roles, optimal levels of these vitamins are essential not just for athletic performance but for basic cellular health. While many horses receive adequate amounts via forage and hindgut microbial synthesis, those under heavy workload, frequent training, or metabolic stress (e.g., competition, fluctuating feed intake) may benefit from dietary supplementation to maintain metabolic efficiency. Ensuring the full B‑vitamin complex is available can enhance muscle recovery, support organ function, and help maintain steady energy levels rather than relying solely on carbohydrate/grain load.

Equine Balanced Support

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