Inside Out Equine Health

12/12/2025

‼ Why it's important to support small business ‼

It's the Xmas period. Things are busy. People are stressed. Sh*t gets harder. Things take longer.

It's a busy time, both my clients and I know it. People plan for when they need to buy more products and most take into account how long it usually takes for something to arrive. No one is expecting things that used to get there overnight to get there overnight, but when things are well over a week to several weeks late, it's fair enough that they get a little worried it's not going to arrive at all.

Enter small business owner...

Over the past three days I have spent probably twelve hours on the phone, email and in person trying to sort out missing, delayed and damaged parcels for my clients. When things didn't arrive in any sort of reasonable time, and horses were missing supplements, I express posted small bags of minerals to tide them over AT MY EXPENSE, knowing that I may or may not get compensated for this at some point.

This is what small business owners do. I don't think you'll find the manager of 'HUGE EQUINE SUPPLEMENT BRAND' on the phone for hours trying to find things and sending replacements via Express Post, it just doesn't happen.

Small business is hard. Harder than ever at the moment. My manufacturers, freight companies, internet, phone, packaging etc etc put their prices up all the time and small business owners are forced to absorb and absorb and absorb. And we still provide good service to the very best of our abilities.

It's so important to support small business, especially now; otherwise we're all at the mercy of big corporations, the power they wield (and their service).

*This post isn't about having a go at my freight company, I get that things happen, it's probably the same everywhere at the moment. It's definitely not good enough, but they have been amazing for the past three years, so hopefully this is a Xmas 2025 blip and next year things will improve.

**photo of me doing the past of my business I enjoy more

03/12/2025

‼ 20kg H**P PROMEGA GOING CHEAP ‼

If you live anywhere in South Australia and would like a 20kg bag of H**p Promega sent to you with NO SHIPPING COSTS and at $30 off RRP please get in touch ASAP.

Nothing wrong with it, I just mucked up and sent someone the wrong thing and it's too expensive to get it couriered back here.

H**p Promega is perfect for:

🐴 Young horses
🐴 Old horses
🐴 Skinny horses
🐴 Horses in lots of work

H**p Promega is a big protein boost, with the added benefit of a natural anti-inflammatory.

It gives you a lot of bang for your buck. 30% protein, 25% h**p oil and plenty of fibre.

You only need to feed a small amount, but your horse gets a lot out of it.

A 20kg bag would last a large horse between 150 and 250 days.

PM to grab it 🥰

24/11/2025

ONCE UPON A TIME...

In a land very, very close, there was a lovely princess with a gorgeous little unicorn and she was very much hoping that they would have a lovely life together, cantering bridleless through meadows full of beautiful flowers...

But in all seriousness, she is a lovely lady and she has an adorable little QH (no horn). She hadn't had him for long, and when she got him he looked okay, but a little under, so she started feeding him.

So far, so good, yes?

Well, he wasn't gaining weight so she added more and more feed to his diet. The people at the feed store kept telling her to add some of this, then some of that, then something else. Then a gut supplement. Then some oil. And so on and so forth.

They might as well have suggested she do an interpretive dance in a princess costume with unicorns while waving turmeric in the air for good luck.

Anyway, I digress.

By time she got to me, he was eating SEVEN kilos of hard feed a day.

SEVEN.

And he's not big.

And that was pretty much all processed, bagged feed with pretty, fancy labels, full of grains (mostly not heat-treated) and therefore sky-rocketing in sugars and starches that his gut can't digest. Especially when each feed was pushing 3.5kgs.

Plus two biscuits of lucerne hay. So if he weighs 450kgs and is in very light work, he needs around 9kgs of feed per day. Given he was eating his hard feed and his lucerne hay, that meant that he was eating two kilos of feed more than he would usually, naturally regulate his intake to.

Ouch.

Of course, he refused to eat any pasture hay at all. I mean, who's children happily tuck in to their steamed vegies right after trick or treating?

He had become what we nutritionists refer to as, 'fussyAF'. (We like to use long fancy words to sound smart)

Now I'm absolutely not blaming anyone here. There is no villain in this fairy tale. She was trying her hardest for her horse. Spending lots of $$ and tearing her hair out. The feed store may also have been trying their best to help out.

But regardless, this is where we ended up.

So, first thing's first, we needed to get him off the grains. Slowly. So we didn't shock the hell out of his unhappy, stressed gut.

She also needed to get her to drive around town buying every a small bale of every variety of hay she could find (which is bugger-all at the moment).

Three days in and we're transitioning him off so much hard hard feed and reducing the grain. He isn't fussy at all with the new hard feed. He loves it. We're reducing the lucerne hay to try to make him less fussy. We're adding in plain, wholefood-type hard feed options that are low in sugars and starches and high in fibres and guess what?

He starts eating some Teff.

A week later and on less grains he starts eating pasture hay. Not enough, but it's a start.

It has been around four weeks since the start of this story, and he's totally off the grains and processed feeds, the number of ingredients in his feed bucket have HALVED, he is licking his bucket clean, eating more plain hay, and people are commenting on how great he looks.

He's still eating far more hard feed than I would like, but he's getting less than HALF of what he was and is gaining weight.

It's not rocket science people.

Horses. Need. Hay. Not. Hard. Feed.

If this story continues like I think it will, we will slowly reduce his hard feed until it's minimalAF and basically just a vehicle to carry his important supplements, like minerals and salt.

The majority of his diet will be plain hay, which he will happily tuck into, and he will be fat and happy and sound and we will all live happily ever after.

Except we won't.

Cos horses.

But at least his diet will be sorted.

The end.

14/11/2025

🤦🏽‍♀ I STUFFED UP 🤦🏽‍♀️

I sent someone the wrong order and now there's a 20kg bag of Lucerne Lovers and a 20kg bag of H**p Promega in South Australia that needs a new home.

Anyone in SA wanting these minerals can have free postage!

And if you're close to Springton and would be happy to pick them up I'll give you $30 off each product 🥰

26/09/2025

So happy to be a small part of helping these horses!

893 Followers, 623 Following, 434 Posts

23/09/2025

THE UNTALENTED HORSE | Why do we keep going?

I want to do dressage. My dream is to be able to do all the fancy moves on my horse that likes me, isn’t in pain, and can do these moves in relaxation, using its body correctly.

HOWEVER...

My current horse is a downhill Paint gelding that I rescued from a property where he was abandoned for god-only-knows how long. He windsucks like a m**o, has a hole in his soft palate, has teeth that confuse the dentist, his feet are awful, he’s a headshaker and has movement like pinocchio (before he came to life). He sometimes pulls up lame after a big canter in the paddock and is terrified of the girth, saddle, whips and flags. He is, however, a very nice colour so I’m told! His one major talent is that he can eat and windsuck at the same time (see pic below).

I’m not really sure why I keep going with him. Part of it is because I’m really stubborn and I won’t quit until I can ride a balanced and relaxed trot circle on that horse. Part of it is because if I can’t get him going okay, who the hell is going to want him and what the hell am I going to do with him? Part of it is because, despite being broken AF he really is a very nice person, easy to handle, gets along with every other horse ever, and is very smoochy. He always wants to be caught and he always tries his heart out. Part of it is because I want to prove all the nay-sayers wrong and do something resembling dressage on that bloody horse!

He came to me sort of handled (you could catch and halter him), but with zero education, terrified, and not broken in. His feet hadn't been done, he was wormy and full of ulcers. He went around with his head jammed in the air and his back as still as a board.

After 18 months of owning him and doing A LOT of in-hand work, he can now walk really nicely, despite having zero overtrack and no swing. He can trot a pretty decent circle on one rein on the lunge, the other rein comes and goes, but isn’t too bad. The canter is a total sh*tshow, but at least he can now actually canter, he couldn’t even canter in the paddock when I got him. He can do in-hand shoulder in, travers and a couple of steps of half pass in both directions and I can trail ride him. That’s literally it, for 18 months of pretty consistent work, numerous clinics and several vet visits.

It seems like very little now that I’ve written it all down. But it is progress. And in some ways it’s actually more rewarding than a talented horse, one who’s sound(er), been bred to perform and hasn’t had previous trauma. Just getting him to the stage where I can leave the farrier to trim him by himself is a big thing.

So back to my dream of doing fancy moves - why spend so much time on a horse that has zero talent and is totally unsuitable for what I want to do? Well, when I look at my dream, there is actually no reason I can’t achieve it. The dream isn’t for the fancy horse, it’s for the fancy moves. My horse likes me, I like my horse and I like working with him, so I’m well on my way.

So, for all those people out there who keep on with their untalented horses, keep going!

I do realise that this post isn't completely aligned with equine nutrition, but it's worth noting that I tried ALL the supplements and vet prescribed medications that are recommended for horses with headshakers and none even touched the sides.

The only thing that has improved it is in hand work. Shout out to the brilliant Tori Jeffress- Equine Functional Movement and Rehabilitation for her constant support and guidance. He headshakes less when being worked than at other times. It is somewhat seasonal as it gets better and worse throughout the year, but I'll know more as we go on and he keeps unravelling like an onion. He is definitely teaching me a lot about a lot!

Note also that this post isn't about tips for dealing with headshakers or rescue horses or anything other than it has been on my mind and I wrote a post about it.

If you have an untalented horses, particularly one that does some cool stuff DESPITE this, I'd love to hear it!

18/09/2025

I'm so thrilled to announce that I am officially sponsoring Harry Berg of HB Performance Horses. Harry contacted me a couple of years ago to do diet plans for his endurance horses. If I'm being completely honest, despite enjoying the challenge, I don't do a lot of diet plans for endurance horses. So I was both chuffed and slightly nervous about creating diets for horses that do the Tom Quilty, a 160km endurance race, that's completed over just 24 hours. And this year's race was in Tasmania which meant the added stress of a ferry ride prior to the race!

Harry and his stunning horse Sadyk not only WON the heavyweight division, but they won BEST CONDITIONED and the Pat Slater cup which is awarded for the horse's beauty and athleticism.

I am so proud of Harry and Sadyk, and super happy that Inside Out Equine Health could play a part in their journey.

Endurance horse diets are tricky as the horses are all quite unique in their needs and the distances they are ridden are pretty epic, so it's great to know that I can apply my ten years of experience to create a great diet for Harry's horses.

I'm really excited about this ongoing partnership and look forward to future results

17/09/2025

‼️ RANT ALERT ‼️

I could rant online all the time about equine nutrition, but I usually get distracted and move on, but this has REALLY ground my gears.

I am doing a diet for a client, and I am looking at what the (underweight) horse is getting fed at the moment. I have never heard of this particular feed so I Googled it to find the ingredients. I have changed a couple of the names a little, to anonymise the feed, but you get my drift.

The ingredients...

Equine Pellet® Other Equine Pellet®, Lucerne Chaff, Oaten Chaff, Superfibres® Balancer Pellet (vegetable protein meals, Bioplex® minerals, organic selenium, vitamins, digestive aids) Molafos Gold, Soy oil, De-oderase®.

So all that I can determine is ACTUALLY in it is lucerne chaff, oaten chaff and some soy oil. Other than that everything is trademarked with a non-specific name which could be LITERALLY ANYTHING!!!

There are vegetable protein meals which may be good or may not be (what kind of vegetable protein is the meal made from???) and there are some minerals too.

The feed rate for this feed is:
Pony: 2-3kgs per day
Small horse: 2-4kg
Medium/Large horse: 3-6kg

Well that's just super specific isn't it!?!?

How big is a big horse?

And does work play a part in how much to feed the horse?

Selenium has a relatively narrow safe margin, so what if I have a REALLY large horse in work? Is 7kgs okay for my very large horse? Is that too much selenium?

Urgh.

Sigh.

Grrr.

This is just one feed in a long list of feeds that read almost exactly the same. This isn't unique. I have seen in before, many, many times.

Please people, for the love of God, get interested in what's in your feed.

Read it, understand it, and if you can't, don't feed it!

*actual photo of me looking at this feed 😩

28/08/2025

I've been working with Dr Sabine Ware and her awesome team from Equine HSD for several years now, and she's been using Inside Out Equine Health products on her own horses for quite some time with super results.

I'm therefore incredibly excited to be supplying a range of Inside Out Equine Health products for her rehab horses. Ensuring they're getting the right nutrition during rehabilitation is crucial to their success and it's just great to work with a vet that realises that horse's need more than 'some pellets' and hay to heal from the Inside Out

Trying to provide the service we want is incredibly hard, and we are constantly wanting to do more and do better.
We are so incredibly lucky there are business that share our vision and our passion. They don’t hesitate to come onboard and help us move step by step closer to our goals.

Look at this epic haul 🥰😍 All for our rehab patients!! 💪🥰
Now the patients that come for stays will be receiving only the best from 😍🤩
This will allow us to supplement amino acids, protein and gut support - all things our rehab patients will benefit greatly from.

We are so proud to combine these Inside Out Equine Health products with our already established Hay Cubes 🤩
There is no better combination 🙏💪💚💛

07/08/2025

Lovely feedback is wonderful from any of my clients, but especially when it's from a fellow horse professional!

So pleased that I could help the lovely Adele Edwards from Equine Revive with her horse's diets.

It's amazing what additional benefits getting the diet right can have! 🥰

Send a message to learn more

07/07/2025

This reel was such a hard relate to equine nutrition that I just had to share it.

So many clients ask things like:

❓'But what about the iron in beet?'
❓ 'I can only get ryegrass hay, will my horse get staggers/laminitis/ulcers?'
❓ 'Isn't lucerne/flaxseed high in phytoestrogens?'
❓'Isn't Teff banned for FEI and racing?'
❓ 'Won't spring grass make my horse crazy/get laminitis?'
❓ The list can and does go on for pretty much every possible feed there is, don't even get me started on how soy is 'evil'...

And these clients are right to ask all these questions, they're great questions. But the answer is different for everyone.

The bottom line is, you have to feed your horse something. And lots of it given they need around 2% of their bodyweight in roughage per day, EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

FOREVER.

Unless you can get your hands on affordable, native grass hay that is clean and dry which contains a variety of grasses, is low in sugar, keeps the right amount of weight on all horses no matter their age, workload or breed, and contains the right amount of protein, minerals and vitamins for all workloads, breeds, etc then you're going to need to feed something else.

And that 'something else' will undoubtedly have Karen from Pony Club telling you that it's the devil because 20 years ago she had a pony that ate a handful of 'something else' and dropped dead. Never mind that the pony was 40 years old, riddled with arthritis/Cushing's/laminitis/melanoma/whatever and was going to drop dead anyway.

Will one of the above feeds hurt your horse?

The answer to that depends on what's going on with YOUR horse!

If you feed your laminitic pony spring grass then it almost certainly will hurt it. But if you feed your skinny, old retired thoroughbred spring grass it'll probably thrive.

If you feed your sensitive, hormonal mare who you've been struggling to get in foal, lots of soy, flax and lucerne then it *may* negatively affect her. If you feed your cruisy gelding in lots of work who struggles with top-line these things then you're laughing.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are certainly some feeds I wouldn't feed to my chickens if they were hungry, but a lot of feeds have a place in equine nutrition depending on the needs, health, workload, etc etc of YOUR horse.

P.s. You can pick up the aforementioned native grass hay along with your free rainbow unicorn in never-never land.

02/07/2025

🇲🇳 IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN... 🇲🇳

One week until I head to Mongolia!

While this is super exciting for me, it means you have a week to send emails, ask questions, pop in last minute orders, etc 😉

Someone will be helping out while I'm away, so don't stress that you'll be without Inside Out Equine Health products, but it would be GREATLY appreciated if you could get any non-online store orders in within the next week.

I won't be able to take any poo samples for testing either over this time, so please hold off sending any until my return on 4th August 💩

If you do want to order from the online store while I'm away here's the link 🥰 https://www.insideoutequinehealth.com/shop-equine-nutritionist