If you followed our recent series on combating wintertime weight loss but have a horse that’s more prone to packing on extra pounds than losing weight during the winter, then lucky you! You own an easy-keeping horse.

Even though an obese horse is less likely to draw attention from the SPCA than an underweight horse, the health risks are just as serious. So before caving into that plaintive whinny at feeding time, keep these realities in mind:

Health Risks for Overweight Horses

Saddle Sores, Back Problems and Lameness Caused by Ill-Fitting Tack

Horses gain weight around their loins first, so even a slight change in body shape may create new pressure points that require veterinary or chiropractic care.

Poor Performance Due to Stressed Respiratory System

Surplus bulk requires more energy and oxygen to move, and puts additional strain on your horse’s joints and bones. Additional layers of fat also compromises your horse’s cooling system and make it harder for him to breathe. As a result, he’ll be tired, sweaty and blowing long before you’re ready to dismount.

Increased Risk of Founder and Laminitis

Overweight horses are more prone to developing Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS), a condition that is typified by excess fat deposits, insulin resistance, and a predisposition to laminitis. Insulin spikes caused by concentrated carbohydrates or sugary spring grass trigger the so-called “pasture laminitis” that frequently targets obese horses.

How Can You Limit Calories While Keeping Your Horse Healthy (and Happy)?

The key to weight loss is always exercise and reduced caloric intake, but how do you reduce calories while mimicking your horse’s natural eating schedule of near-constant munching?

Simple. Cut back (or eliminate) high-sugar grains and concentrates completely and feed a diet of pure roughage, supplemented by SUCCEED. Because SUCCEED promotes and maintains good GI-tract health, it allows horses to absorb the full value of the vitamins and minerals in roughage. So, an overweight horse can be in full work on a roughage-only diet without compromising his health. Here are some general tips to keep in mind:

Strategies for Maintaining Easy Keepers

Tip 1: Replace Grain and Other Concentrates with Roughage

Despite popular belief, most horses don’t need grain on a daily basis, and can get all necessary vitamins and minerals through a diet of hay, grass and other types of roughage. Try replacing your horse’s daily feed with soaked beet pulp. It provides the same caloric value as feed, but without the hard-to-digest starches and sugars. If you must feed grain, avoid feed with corn, excess sugar (molasses) or high starch levels. Aim to feed grain with less than 3.5 percent fat — and feed as little of it as possible.

Be sure to consult with your veterinarian to ensure your horse is getting all the nutrition he needs. You may want to consider adding a balancer supplement to his diet to provide any vitamins and minerals that are missing. (Of course, if you keep your horse’s digestive tract in optimal condition with SUCCEED, the horse is more likely to get more of these nutrients from its feed. This can reduce the need for other supplements.)

Tip 2: Double-Bag Hay Nets

Make your horse work harder to get at his hay and it’ll force him to eat more slowly. Double-bagging also keeps him chewing longer, providing constant saliva and food that help to buffer acids in the stomach and protect from ulcers. And it’s also good for his brain: alleviating food-envy issues that might arise when he sees his stall mates eating normal rations.

Tip 3: Re-evaluate Your Horse’s Hay

Horses are quite amazing at extracting what they need from their natural food sources. Avoid feeding protein-rich alfalfa and clover hay, which is higher in calories than mature timothy or grass hay. While mature hay is often called lower-quality hay, be sure it is still sweet-smelling and fresh — “lower-quality” refers to caloric content only, not to its overall quality.

Tip 4: Limit Access to New Spring Grass

While most horses are happier and healthier with regular turnout, it’s important to acclimate your horse to new spring grass slowly, whether he’s on a diet or not. New grass can cause digestive-tract issues and an increased risk for colic and laminitis, so be sure you know how and when to introduce your horse to grass. Avoid turning an obese horse out from noon to 6 p.m. in the spring, as the sugar/carbohydrate content of the grass peaks during those times.

Tip 5: Use a Grazing Muzzle to Encourage Exercise without Overindulging

Strap on a grazing muzzle when your horse goes out in the field. Rambunctious pasture mates (or just the freedom to roam around) can induce additional calorie burn that your horse won’t get in his stall.

Tip 6: Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!

A good diet means nothing if your horse isn’t being worked regularly. Weight loss for humans and horses boils down to a simple equation: exercise more and eat less.

Tip 7: Assess Carefully Before Putting Your Horse on a Diet

Some breeds are predisposed to a higher number on the Henneke Body Condition Scoring scale, so assess your horse before arbitrarily putting him on a diet. Stay on top of your horse’s normal weight ranges with monthly check-ins. Knowing your horse’s average weight is a powerful tool for keeping him healthy and avoiding more drastic measures.

Next week we’ll discuss how SUCCEED is a key weapon in maintaining a healthy weight for your horse, and how to maximize its use as a weight-management tool. Be sure to subscribe to the SUCCEED blog to follow the ongoing discussion.

With just a box label to go on, it can very difficult to learn just what’s in your horse’s supplements and why it makes a difference. In Parts 1 and 2 of What Goes In SUCCEED, we explained how equine supplements are regulated and how that affects our label followed by the benefits of Oat Flour in SUCCEED. In Part 3 we will discuss the benefits of Oat Oil (it’s the polar lipids) in SUCCEED. Subscribe to the blog for parts 4 and 5 on the benefits of the irradiated dried yeast on our label and the synergy of all of the ingredients in SUCCEED.

If you’ve already read parts 1 and 2 of this series, you’re probably starting to understand why there’s a lot more to SUCCEED than what you see on the label.

As with oat flour, we have to follow state feed regulations and AAFCO guidelines when it comes to how we describe all our ingredients. One of the primary ingredients in SUCCEED is listed on the label as oat oil. But what is truly useful in our oat oil is the high concentration of polar lipids it contains.

Benefits of Oat Oil in SUCCEED are in the Polar Lipids

Polar lipids provide several benefits that can help your horse’s brain function, energy, digestion, and overall wellness. For healthy equine digestion, polar lipids play a key role in improving the structure and function of cellular membranes responsible for nutrient absorption. Polar lipids:

• Act as a ferry for other nutrients - Polar lipids provide an ideal nutrient delivery vehicle for both fat- and water-soluble vitamins, minerals and other nutrients (including other ingredients in SUCCEED). This increases their bio-availability, so the horse gets the maximum benefit from these nutrients.

• Improve ability to absorb nutrients fully – Fat-soluble nutrients include vitamins A, K, D, and E. Polar lipids have been shown to increase the digestive tract’s ability to absorb these vital nutrients from a horse’s feed.

• Strengthen the protective barrier in the intestine wall - Dietary polar lipids are important in forming the tight junction between the epithelial cells lining the gut. Cells connected in this way create a unified barrier that naturally blocks digestive juices, toxins, and pathogens. Adding polar lipids to the diet has been shown to protect the intestinal membrane and strengthen this barrier.

• Boost the immune system - SUCCEED oat oil is also rich in powerful antioxidants that sweep free radicals out of the system before they can damage the surrounding tissue.

• Promote healthy brain function - Lipids are also essential to the brain and have been found to maintain neuronal organization and function.

• Increase energy needed for training and performance - After transporting nutrients, polar lipids are absorbed in the gut where they supply extra energy to your horse.

All of this means your horse will get more from less food – grains and concentrates specifically (we always advocate free access to quality hay or pasture grass). This is good for your horse’s weight, health, and hindgut – as well as your bank account.

Oat Oil in SUCCEED is Specially Processed to Retain Polar Lipids

Oat oil in its natural state has the highest concentrate of polar lipids of any other plant product known to man. There are various methods of extracting oat oil from the oat – and not all retain the polar lipids. That’s the difference between most oat oils and the oat oil in SUCCEED:

Hexane extraction destroys polar lipids - Manufacturers commonly use a process called hexane extraction that actually destroys polar lipids. This method of extraction is generally what you will find in the oat oil you might find on the shelf at the grocery store, giving your horse very little benefit.

Ethanol extraction retains polar lipids - SUCCEED uses a method called ethanol extraction that retains a greater proportion of the polar lipids.
Our extraction process is proprietary – which means you can’t get the same concentration of polar lipids from any other forms of oat oil.

The SUCCEED Difference

The SUCCEED difference is in the processing we use that maintains the highest concentration of polar lipids possible in our oat oil. Our mission is to give your horse a product that will help it consistently perform at its best. We believe that one of the most beneficial things we could offer is optimal nutrient absorption. Without the right nutrition, your horse will not be able to be who it needs to be.

Next Up: Irradiated Dried Yeast in SUCCEED

The oat oil is only part of the whole that makes SUCCEED what it is. Along with the magic of oat oil are other ingredients that contribute to total internal wellness. And when your horse is feeling well on the inside, it’s going to feel well on the outside too.

Subscribe to the blog to see parts 4 and 5 of What Goes In. In Part 4 we’ll be exploring the Irradiated Dried Yeast that helps your horse safely eliminate potentially harmful pathogens from its body.

Your opinion as a horse owner or manager is really important. You are the one who primarily cares for your horse, you know what you’re feeding it, and you know what supplements you give it. To get your opinion heard, we recommend taking the American Horse Publications 2012 Equine Survey.

AHP has created this survey to analyze trends in equine management practices across the U.S. and to gather information regarding important issues facing the industry today. Specifically, this survey will ask you questions about what you feed your horse, who influences your decision, and what sort of supplement you give your horse and why.

If you own a horse, we encourage you to take this survey. Your experience as a horse owner and/or manager is crucial and will help AHP create a well informed survey that will raise awareness for the future of horse care across the nation.

The AHP survey is for anyone who owns or manages at least one horse, is at least 18, and lives in the United States. This is a confidential survey, meaning that your answers will not be shared with anyone, not even the research team.

The deadline for the survey is May 15, 2012 so take some time to answer the questions and get your opinions heard!

AHP is a nonprofit association which promotes excellence in equine media. Along with SUCCEED, members include other equine-related publications, digital media, professionals, students, organizations and businesses.

With just a box label to go on, it can be very difficult to learn just what’s in your horse’s supplements and why it makes a difference. In Part 1 of this series, What Goes In SUCCEED®, we explained how equine supplements are regulated and how that affects our label. In Part 2 we will will discuss the benefits of the Oat Flour (it’s in the high beta glucan content) in SUCCEED. Subscribe to the blog for parts 3-5 on the benefits of what’s really in the oat oil and irradiated dried yeast on our label – and the synergy of these ingredients in SUCCEED.

Have you ever taken the time to read or research the ingredients in SUCCEED? If you have, you’ll see that the label is very simple. As a result, we’ve started hearing people ask a lot of questions. Questions like, “Can’t I just feed my horse oat flour once a day and get the same effect as SUCCEED?” or, “If it’s so simple, is it worth the expense?”

Thanks to state feed regulations and AAFCO, we have to list oat flour as an active ingredient in SUCCEED. But what’s useful in the product is really the high concentration of beta glucan, the soluble fiber that come from oats. And that’s not what you find in the oat flour you find on your store shelf.

Benefits of Oat Flour in SUCCEED are in the Beta Glucan

The oat flour in SUCCEED is beneficial to horses because it contains a high concentration of beta glucan. Beta glucan is a soluble fiber found in oats, as well as barley, yeast and more. It has several important benefits for horses:

• Stimulates the immune system – in fact, beta glucan is considered the most powerful natural stimulant of the immune system available. Keeping the horse’s immune system in high gear is important for overall health, especially for horses under the stressful conditions of performance and training, and helps keep the digestive bacterial environment in balance.

• Forms a hydrogel in the stomach that helps normalize the transit speed of feed matter through the digestive tract – this is especially important for horses with grain in their diet. Processed grain feeds are rich in simple carbohydrates (sugars) and are often consumed quickly. If these simple carbohydrates reach the hindgut undigested, they can lead to an array of hindgut health problems, starting with hindgut acidosis. By reducing the rate at which they move through the intestines, there’s more time for those sugars to be digested and absorbed there, so they are less likely to reach the hindgut.

• Regulates the release of sugar into the bloodstream – given the significant amount of sugars in processed grain feed, and that we feed horses two or three times a day, we can induce the same sugar highs and lows we see in kids after they eat candy. This can affect a horse’s attitude and can make your post-feeding training regimen a challenge. By moderating the release of sugars, you can reduce these highs and lows for a more even temperament.

In short, this means that a horse’s food has more time to digest properly in the foregut without passing starches and sugars to the hindgut and potentially causing digestive issues such as hindgut acidosis, colonic ulcers, and even colic.

Oat Flour Specially Processed to Retain Beta Glucan

So, if all oats are rich in beta glucan, can’t we just feed our horses oats or add a cup of oat flour a day to get the same benefits?

The truth is, oat flour you see in the grocery store doesn’t come close to including the concentration of beta glucan that’s in the oat flour in SUCCEED. Worse, store-bought oat flour can be downright dangerous for horses because it’s full of the starches that create hindgut acidosis when fermented in the hindgut.

The Difference in the Oats

Oats contain both bran and starch. Horses need the bran that is rich in beta glucan – not the starch that their digestive systems aren’t designed to digest.

The oats used in the production of SUCCEED are different than those used to create most flours. Our oats have more bran, which is rich in beta glucan, and a low starch content. Oats used for most flours and have a much higher starch content and less of the beta glucan-rich bran.

The Difference in the Processing

When generic oat components are separated to produce flour, what actually ends up on the store shelves is primarily the inside of the oat – the part that is high in starch and low in beta glucan.

On the other hand, the oat flour in SUCCEED is made by separating out the more beta glucan rich parts of the oat.

The beta glucan content of an oat is only about 4%. The special oats and our unique processing increase the concentration of beta glucan in the oat flour in SUCCEED to 14%.

The SUCCEED Difference

The SUCCEED difference is in the oats we use and in our precise and intentional processing designed to retain high concentrations of the very beneficial beta glucan. We believe in creating the best supplement possible for your horse to consistently perform at its best as a result of total internal wellness – despite the challenges of modern care, training, and competition.

Next Up: Oat Oil in SUCCEED

Subscribe to the blog to see parts 3-5 of What Goes In. In Part 3 we’ll be exploring oat oil and its patented process for retaining polar lipids.

SUCCEED’s own veterinarian Dr. Frank Pellegrini sits down with Horse Girl TV’s Angelea Walkup to discuss equine digestive health. Watch and learn as he explains the importance of equine digestive health and the background and benefits of SUCCEED.

All Horses Are Stressed

Dr. Pellegrini begins with his belief that if your horse is not in the wild, that it’s undergoing some sort of stress. Whether they are in a stall, riding on a trailer, or performing, anything that’s out of the “norm” for a horse’s natural living environment is stressful. Because of this stress and the fact that most horses do not get to eat and exercise like they naturally would, the digestive tract is affected greatly, increasing the likelihood for gastric and colonic ulcers and other digestive issues.

Equine Ulcer Research

In Dr. Pellegrini’s research, he did approximately 1500 necropsies in 9 years (most vets only do 10 in their entire career) and found that 90% of those horses had gastric ulcers. What was most unique about his research was that he found that 63% of the horses he examined had colonic ulcers, something that most people weren’t even aware of at the time.

Why SUCCEED?

SUCCEED was developed to address the issues that occur inside of your horse so that it can perform at its best on the outside. The ingredients improve nutrient absorption, and help cleanse your horse on a daily basis. From the polar lipids to the beta glucan and MOS, Dr. Pellegrini explains that all of the SUCCEED ingredients work together to provide a stronger, healthier digestive process.

What Can You Expect Out Of SUCCEED?

Dr. Pellegrini explains that all stress can lead directly back to the inside of your horse–the digestive tract. What people can expect to see from SUCCEED is a change in attitude, appearance, and performance. “When an animal gets their proper nutrition and it’s utilized properly by the body, they are able to perform at their optimal level.”

The SUCCEED Fecal Blood Test

Dr. Pellegrini finally introduces the SUCCEED Equine Fecal Blood Test that helps veterinarians diagnose hindgut and/or foregut issues. This 15 minute stall side test takes a simple combination of manure and water to see whether or not your horse has an issue in the hindgut, foregut, or both. Instead of paying for a costly procedure like scoping, Dr. Pellegrini explains that this test will get extremely valuable answers quickly and accurately to help your vet further diagnose your horse. He also mentions the new SUCCEED veterinary formula that will be available through your vet later this year.

To learn more about the ingredients in SUCCEED, check out our “What Goes In” series where we explain what’s different about our ingredients and why they are so beneficial.