Crystal Tinsley - Equine Nutrition Consultant

12/29/2025

Is your horse getting everything they need from their hay? 🌾

For many horses, especially those on average or lower-quality forage, fiber digestion is where performance and condition can quietly slip.

Hay Fix™ is designed to help optimize forage utilization from the inside out. In a 4-week controlled trial, horses fed the active ingredients in Hay Fix™ showed 31.7% higher feed efficiency, with improvements in dry matter, fiber, starch, protein, and fat digestion compared to a placebo.

Why that matters:
✔️ Better use of the hay you’re already feeding
✔️ Support for horses with persistent “hay belly”
✔️ More consistent manure and digestive comfort
✔️ Improved nutrient absorption that supports overall condition, immunity, and metabolic balance

With a targeted blend of pre-, pro-, and postbiotics plus digestive enzymes, Hay Fix™ helps maintain a healthy gut environment; especially during feed changes, seasonal forage shifts, or when hay quality isn’t ideal.

Because better digestion means better results, without changing your entire feeding program.

👉 Learn more at bluebonnetfeeds.com

12/22/2025

❄️➡️🌤️ Did you know, winter temperature swings can be harder on horses than steady cold?!

Warm days in the 40s–60s followed by sharp drops into the 20s, teens, or single digits (especially if there is moisture) can stress digestion, hydration, and temperature regulation.

How to help your horse stay comfortable and healthy:

🐎 Support hydration

Horses often drink less in cold weather, increasing colic risk.

• Offer lukewarm water when possible
• Add soaked feeds or hay-based rations
• Provide free-choice salt

🐎 If you blanket, adjust with the swings

A warm day + a heavy blanket = overheating.
Cold, wet nights = chills.

• Layer when needed
• Remove or swap blankets as temps rise
• Check under blankets daily

🐎 Keep forage consistent

Long-stem forage helps regulate body temperature and gut health.

• Free-choice hay supports digestion and warmth
• Avoid sudden feed changes during cold snaps

🐎 Nutrition matters in the winter

Cold stress increases calorie needs and digestive demand.

• Balanced fat sources can help maintain condition
• Gut-supportive feeds and supplements help keep digestion steady through stress

Rapid weather changes are tough, but with consistent management and smart nutrition, horses can handle winter swings comfortably and safely.

12/16/2025

🌟 FLORIDA - NEW DEALER 🌟

We're thrilled to welcome our newest dealer Sparr Building and Farm Supply - Williston, FL ! Stop by to explore everything you need for performance, special care, breeding, and more.

📍 240 S. Main Street, Williston, FL
📞 (352) 528-6177

Not sure what Bluebonnet® solution is right for you? Get a FREE nutrition consult with one of our experts 👉 https://bit.ly/bluebonnet-consult

12/11/2025

Horse people things 💙

Find out who made the list 👀

❄️ Bluebonnet’s Favorite Things 2025 is here! ❄️

Looking for the perfect holiday gifts for the horse lovers in your life? Our team of experts rounded up the barn-tested essentials we genuinely use and trust. No sponsors. Just real favorites that make winter chores, horse-life, and nutrition a little easier and a lot more enjoyable.

Shop our favorites: https://bit.ly/bb-favorites

💙 Tap in and start building your holiday lineup.

Turtlebox | ORORO Heated Apparel | Hay Chix | Lucky Chuck | Equi-Analytical | Freeze Miser | Forever Fork | Drinking Post Automatic Waterers | The Converse Cowboy | Troy Flaharty Bits and Spurs | Ariat Equestrian | Schneider Saddlery |

12/11/2025

12/06/2025

When hay quality drops, your horse’s digestion doesn’t have to.

In a 4-week trial, the active ingredients in Hay Fix™ delivered 31.7% higher feed efficiency and improved digestion of fiber, protein, fat, starch, and dry matter compared to placebo.

More nutrients absorbed.
Less forage wasted.
A healthier horse from the inside out. 💙

11/24/2025

Your horse’s immune system is working 24/7, fighting off bacteria, viruses, and everyday environmental stressors.

Here’s what keeps it strong:

🛡️ Two Key Defenders
• Innate immune system: the fast, first responder
• Adaptive immune system: learns, remembers, and responds to specific threats

Both depend on consistent nutritional support.

🌾 Nutrition Matters
• Antioxidants (Vitamins E & C) help protect immune cells
• Trace minerals like zinc & selenium support repair and normal immune function
• Essential amino acids = building blocks for immune cells & antibodies

A well-balanced diet helps keep all these processes running smoothly.

💙 Gut Health = Immune Health
Since much of the immune system is tied to the gut, clean forage, adequate fiber, and a healthy microbiome are non-negotiable.

🐴 Year-Round Support
Along with great nutrition, stay connected with your vet, keep vaccinations up to date, and follow AAEP guidelines to help protect your horse from the inside out.

Stay healthy, stay safe!

11/20/2025

👇🏼

If you’re considering adding lysine, here are two simple example diets, using as-fed values based on average-quality hay fed at 2% of body weight, plus a little feed, for perspective.

An 1,100lb horse in heavy work needs at least 37 g of lysine per day.

Lysine contributions:
Diet 1
• Feed: 5 lb/day at 0.70% lysine → 15.9 g

• Alfalfa: 5 lb/day at 1% lysine → 22.7 g

• Coastal hay: 17 lb/day at 0.30% lysine → 23.2g

Total lysine: ~62 g/day

Diet 2

• Alfalfa hay: 22lbs/day at .9% lysine → ~90g

Every horse is different, and forages do vary. While meeting the minimum isn’t always the goal, this does show how a common performance-horse diet can easily surpass basic lysine needs.

Extra lysine is considered safe, but fixating on lysine alone can overlook the bigger picture and ignores other essential amino acids and important nutrients that influence performance and health.

Hopefully this helps put things in perspective, eases your mind, or encourages you to chat with a nutrition professional. ❤️

11/18/2025

11/17/2025

11/14/2025