PROBLEM
PLANTS DO YOU KNOW WHICH ONES ARE TOXIC?
MASH UP
How to create a healthy meal for your horse
LESS IS BEST Rethinking equine dentistry
HEALTHY GUT, HEALTHY HORSE
HOW PROBIOTICS HELP
LOOSEN UP
BODYWORK FOR CONTRACTED MUSCLES
VOLUME 8 ISSUE 5
displaY until novEMbEr 25, 2013
$5.95 uSA/Canada
october/november 2013
DentAl neeDs A crAsh coUrse equineWellnessmagazine.com
equine wellness
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Contents 22
40
Features 10 DENTal NEEDS – a CraSH CoUrSE horses in the wild may never need their teeth floated, but yours does. here’s why!
16 looSEN UP Contracted muscles could be the reason your horse is sore.
22 balaNCING aCT A healthy gut is the basis for a healthy horse. here’s how probiotics can help.
28 DoN’T DrEaD THE DENTIST! preparation and training for dental procedures.
31 IT’S ElEMENTal
19 FEEDING a HEalTHY MaSH
the positive and negative impacts of metal on your horse.
Creating a balanced nutritional meal for your horse.
34 lESS IS bEST
20 GET SITTING!
When it comes to your horse’s teeth, “less is more” may be the way to go.
top tips to get your farm sitting business up and running.
40 HorSE aS TEaCHEr
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equine wellness
reconnecting with Equine facilitated psychotherapy.
46 WHY FEED FaT To HorSES? Supplementing the equine diet with essential fatty acids.
52 ProblEM PlaNTS do you know what plants are toxic to your horse?
56 a bIT aboUT bEDDING What bedding you select plays a big role in the comfort and health of any stall-bound horse.
58 bITlESS brIDlES Giving horses and their riders new hope all over the world.
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20 Columns 8 Neighborhood news 25 Purica’s recovery corner 32 Holistic veterinary advice 45 The herb blurb 49 Dream jobs 50 To the rescue 55 Green acres
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Tips, contests and more! Like us /EquineWellnessMagazine Updates, news, events @ EquineWellnessMagazine Product reviews and tutorials EquineWellnessTV
Departments 6 Editorial 15 Heads up 26 Product picks 38 Wellness resource guide 59 Social media corner 60 Marketplace 62 Classifieds 63 Events
56 equine wellness
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Did you know of that your horse’s body weight is
60%
skeletal muscle?
loosen UP By Lorrie Bracaloni
Contracted muscles could be the reason your horse is sore
Occasionally you’ll come across a horse whose pain just seems unexplainable. I’ve had caring owners come to me in frustration because their horses remain “off” even after they’ve tried every traditional and holistic health option they could think of. What’s next?
Muscles in motion There is always a reason a horse is sore. Often, it has to do with how his muscles support his skeletal system. Muscles contract and release – when they tighten and cannot achieve a full release, they remain tense and will shorten over time. This puts strain on the surrounding areas. Because muscle tightening and spasms are an extension of the normal contraction process, these problems do not show up on x-rays or with 16
equine wellness
standard testing procedures. The problem can be a muscle misalignment, something that is often overlooked. Every move the horse makes produces stress upon a specific point. All muscles pull, so all skeletal motion is performed in this manner too. Tight muscles can lead to spasms, knots, misalignment and blocked energy. When this happens you may start to see: • Choppy strides • Loss of impulsion • Jump refusals • Back soreness and hollowing • Resistance to lateral flexion and bending • Girthing problems • Biting and other “bad” behaviors • The horse being off and on “for no reason” • Improper tracking forward, back or laterally Covering up minor problems most often ends up creating major ones. Did you know that 60% of your horse’s body weight is skeletal muscle? His muscles need oxygen and glucose from ingested foodstuffs. Oxygen is carried to the muscles by the circulation of blood. Any excess degree of muscle contraction or spasms will interfere with the free flow of oxygen into the muscle tissue, and with the outflow of toxins, and will have an effect on the horse’s performance.
Understanding and checking pain points Muscles are arranged in pairs of opposites and have two functions – to contract and release. In order for a muscle to release, it must not have opposition and be able to stretch out. Muscle fibers attach to bone, so when muscles remain in a contracted state and are not released properly, this is where your horse’s pain points come in. When the
Lifting your horse’s back can help release tension in the withers. Check out Tip 1 on page 18 to learn how. equine wellness
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