Grey Horse Equine Nutrition

05/12/2026

A common question about supplementing vitamin E... answered!

Watch for an incoming article on the chemistry of vitamin E to learn why vitamin E is so unstable.

Content generated by Dr. Rachel Mottet of Legacy Equine Nutrition & Dr. Nicole Vita from Centerline Equine Nutrition :) Enjoy!

05/10/2026

I’ve had my table set up this weekend at the Bluebonnet Classic Dressage show in Taylor Texas at the Williamson County Expo Center. What a beautiful facility and a really lovely show!

05/02/2026

Did you know I send all my new clients a scale so they can weight the hay and feed they are using. Feeding by scoop or by flake is very common, but you have no idea of how much you are actually feeding.

Flakes of hay can vary in weight.

One flake of grass hay can weigh as little as 3lbs, and upwards of 5lbs, so occasionally weighing your hay may help with weight issues in some horses.

Here are a few examples of a grass hay testing at 800 calories per pound. (Per day)

4 flakes at 3lbs per flake = 12lbs and 9600 kcal.
4 flakes at 5lbs each = 20lbs and 16,000 kcals.
6 flakes at 5lbs each = 30lbs and 24,000 kcals.

Weighing hay can be key in managing both over and underweight horses who are “meal-fed” as they may be getting much more or much less than expected. Using a hay net or basket and fish scale or digital kitchen scale is an easy way to get an idea of how much is being fed and should be done on a regular basis (at least with each new load).

Who weighs their hay?

Borrowed this great photo from- Merriewold Morgan’s

04/29/2026

🐴 Horse Post of the Day: Psyllium, Sand, & Supplement Side-Eye

Random Horse Person Question:
“Is it safe to use generic Metamucil vs. SandClear… or should I just buy SandClear?”

Ah yes. The age-old question:
✨Fancy horse-labeled psyllium✨ vs. ✨human fiber with a rebrand and a markup✨

Let’s unpack this without getting… too gritty.
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First—why psyllium at all?

Psyllium is a water-loving soluble fiber. It absorbs water, forms a gel-like substance, and adds bulk to the gut contents.

In theory:
👉 That gel helps “grab” sand and carry it out of the digestive tract like a tiny, overpriced Roomba.
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What do people actually do?

Many horse owners in sandy areas will feed psyllium:
➡️ 1 week per month
➡️ As a preventative strategy against sand accumulation

Also commonly used when sand is already suspected.
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Now the uncomfortable question… does it actually work?

Short answer:

Not nearly as well as people want it to.
• Routine feeding of psyllium?
👉 Not an effective prevention method
• Feeding psyllium by itself to clear sand?
👉 Also not particularly effective
(Yes, I said what I said.)
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Let’s talk research (aka where vibes go to die):
• Studies often use ~500 grams/day
• Your average supplement?
👉 ~100 grams/day or less

So we’re feeding 1/5 of the researched amount and expecting miracles.

Even better?

That research shows about a 25% “success” rate…
👉 May not even be due to the psyllium in the first place.

So now the real question becomes:
Is 100 grams doing anything… or just making us feel productive?
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Could psyllium help at all?

Sure. Possibly. Sometimes. Maybe.

But let’s keep expectations grounded in reality:
👉 This is not a magical sand evacuation system
👉 It is not a substitute for proper management
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So… Metamucil vs. SandClear?

Ingredient-wise?
👉 Psyllium is psyllium

Differences usually come down to:
• Flavoring (because apparently horses are connoisseurs now)
• Marketing
• Price tag that makes you question your life choices
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Big picture (aka the part that actually matters):

If you’re worried about sand:
✔️ Feed off the ground
✔️ Use mats, feeders, or hay nets
✔️ Feed free-choice, long-stem forages

04/26/2026

04/16/2026

I see this a lot on FB posts, I commented on a post just like this today. Horse owners are very confused about what exactly a forage only diet means. Some horses get fat looking at hay and you just need to add a ration balancer to balance out the vitamins & minerals in the diet. Other horses, especially hard working horses or OTTBs require more calories & fat to maintain good body condition. Facebook groups have done a good job at shaming people that feed more than hay and some kind of balancer but your horse requires what they require to maintain that weight, so you need to adjust your thinking and not get shamed by providing what your horse needs to stay healthy.

🐴 Horse Post of the Day: “Forage-Based… or Calorie-Based?” 🐴

Random Horse Person Question:
"I recently switched my 6 yr old OTTB to a forage-based diet… and now he’s losing weight. What do I do?"

Me: stares into the void while my soul leaves my body for just a moment
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Let’s translate what’s happening here.

You took a Thoroughbred horse fresh off a racing career—aka a creature that has historically survived on “pour the calories to it and pray”—and said:
✨ “What if we… did the opposite?” ✨

Bold. Brave. Questionable.
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🚨 Reality Check Time 🚨

“Forage-based diet” does NOT mean:
➡️ “Feed a bunch of low-calorie stuff and hope the good vibes are enough”

It means:
➡️ “Meet calorie needs primarily through forage”

Those are… not the same thing.
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Where This Went Sideways

Let’s break it down:

Current diet:
• 1 lb alfalfa pellets
• 1 lb beet pulp
• 1 lb balancer
• sprinkle of flax (adorable, but irrelevant calorically)
• hay access (Tifton 44 = respectable, but not exactly rocket fuel)
• 4 lb alfalfa hay (helpful)

Fed twice daily sounds impressive until we ask one inconvenient question:
👉 Where are the CALORIES?

Because spoiler alert:
Your horse is not photosynthesizing calories.
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Important Concept People Keep Missing
A ration balancer is like a multivitamin.

It is NOT:
❌ Weight gain feed
❌ Performance fuel
❌ Magical calorie fairy dust

It is:
✔️ Nutrients… with minimal calories

So feeding 1 lb of balancer twice a day is basically saying:
“Here, have excellent nutrition…twice… while slowly disappearing.”
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OTTB Translation Guide

An off-track Thoroughbred hears this new diet and goes:
“Ah yes. We are dieting now. Against my will.”

These horses often need:
• HIGHER calorie density
• More digestible fiber AND calories/fat
• Time to adapt metabolically

Not… a wellness diet retreat.
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What You Actually Need to Do

If your horse is losing weight, you don’t need more philosophy—you need more calories.

Try:
• ⬆️ Increase alfalfa (hay) for more energy density
• ➕Add a fortified performance feed that will actually meet the caloric needs of the horse and feed at recommended rates to encourage weight gain
• ➕Add a fat source (oil, stabilized rice bran, higher flax amounts)
• ⚖️ Evaluate total intake in lbs/day vs body weight

And most importantly:
👉 Stop being afraid of feeding your horse enough.
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Final Thought
“Forage-based” is not a badge of honor if your horse is slowly becoming a hat rack.

Feed the horse in front of you.
Not the idealized, low-intake, easy-keeper unicorn from the internet.
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👇 Interactive Question
What’s the biggest feeding myth you’ve seen lately that made you question reality?
(Be honest. I know you’ve got at least one. 😏)

04/13/2026

I cannot say it enough, broodmare nutrition is critically important to your foals health.

The final trimester is one of the most influential stages in a foal’s life. 💙🐴

Nutrition during these last few months helps shape foal development, colostrum quality, and the transition into lactation.

As demands increase, consider:
• Energy needs as the foal grows rapidly
• Changes in forage intake
• Vitamin and trace mineral support
• Overall balance without unnecessary excess

Both underfeeding and overfeeding can create challenges, making a thoughtful feeding program especially important.

Read more ⬇️
https://bit.ly/the-final-trimester

04/10/2026

🐴 Horse Post of the Day: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐨𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐔𝐬)”

A social media article circulating that paints soy as the weekly villain in equine nutrition, misquoting or misrepresenting peer-reviewed research, and passing it off as fact.

Apparently soy:
• Wrecks hormones
• Blocks protein digestion
• Destroys thyroids
• Causes food allergies
• AND gives your horse metabolic syndrome

Impressive résumé for a soybean, if I say so myself.

Me: They are citing research in HUMANS…NOT horses…humans. How many times do we have to tell ya’ll HORSES ARE NOT HUMANS!!!

Let’s reality check this real quick:

Phytoestrogens:
Yes, soy contains them. No, there is zero solid evidence they’re wrecking reproductive health in horses at normal feeding levels.
Horses ≠ humans ≠ sheep ≠ lab rats.

Trypsin inhibitors:
Present in raw soy.
You know what feed companies don’t use? Raw soy!
Heat processing says hello. Problem solved.

“Soy allergies”:
Possible? Sure.
Common? Not even close.

Most horse owners blaming soy are actually reacting to… something else entirely . But they do an elimination diet (e.g. eliminating multiple ingredients at the same time) and somehow the soy is the ONLY problem.

Thyroid drama (goitrogen panic):
Cool biochemistry theory.
Missing piece? Actual cases in horses.
If your horse has a thyroid issue, first look at iodine—not the small amounts of soybean minding its business.

Metabolic horses can’t have soy:
This one’s my favorite.
Soybean meal is relatively low NSC and routinely used in diets for horses with
Equine Metabolic Syndrome.
But sure, let’s blame the ingredient that isn’t sugar and/or starch.
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Bottom line:

Most of the anti-soy narrative is built on:
• Studies in other species
• Raw ingredient chemistry
• And a healthy dose of internet panic

Meanwhile, in the real world:
👉 Properly processed soy is one of the most well-researched, high-quality protein sources in equine nutrition.
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If soy was actually as dangerous as the internet claims…
we’d have a lot more infertile, hypothyroid, allergic, metabolically exploding horses.

We don’t.

But we DO have a lot of dramatic Facebook posts.

04/09/2026

I see this kind of post on the feed groups everyday. Things don’t need to be this complicated or expensive to balance out your horses feeding program. But you need to know what you are actually feeding in weights not by scoop and not fall prey to feeding a supplement because someone on FB shamed you into it. Trying to educate horse owners about science based nutrition is becoming an important part of my business.

🐴 Horse Post of the Day: “Judge My Feed Program!” Edition 🙃

Random Horse Person:
“Judge my feed routine!
Ottb
Two flakes of Timothy 2 flakes of alfalfa
Product X
Product Y
Magnesium supplement
Chasteberry
Ulcer supplement
Any big groups of vitamins and minerals I’m missing?”

Me: eye twitching so hard I can hear it
________________________________________
Alright, let’s unpack this beautifully chaotic charcuterie board of horse nutrition.

You’ve got:
✔️ A Thoroughbred (OTTB, aka “high-performance engine in a sensitive wrapper”)
✔️ Some hay (in… flakes… we love a mystery unit of measurement)
✔️ A couple branded feeds/supplements (without specified quantities fed. I guess we are just expected to consult the Ouija board for confirmation?)
✔️ Magnesium
✔️ Chasteberry
✔️ An ulcer supplement that’s… doing its best, but probably not cutting it

And then the grand finale:
“Am I missing any vitamins and minerals?”
________________________________________
Respectfully… we are missing ✨information✨.
Because right now, this isn’t a diet—this is a guessing game with expensive ingredients.

Let’s review the questions that actually matter (aka the ones nobody wants to answer before buying 6 supplements on the internet):
• What does the horse weigh?
• What do your “flakes” of Timothy hay and alfalfa hay actually weigh?
(Because “2 flakes” could mean anything from “adequate” to “this horse is surviving on air”)
• Does total forage intake hit the minimum 1.5–2% of body weight?
• Is there pasture involved, or are we in a hay-only situation?
• How much of the concentrate feed is being fed… in actual pounds per day, not scoops of hope?
• Why magnesium? Deficiency? Behavior? Internet told you so?
• Why chasteberry? What are we trying to fix—hormones, mood, moon phases?
• What issue is the ulcer supplement supposed to address—and has anything been diagnosed?
________________________________________
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Throwing supplements at a horse without a defined problem is like:
• Taking random vitamins because your neighbor’s cousin’s dog walker felt tired once
• Fixing your truck by duct-taping random parts under the hood and hoping for horsepower

Could it work?
Sure.

Is it smart?
…NO.
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Also, quick reality check:
That ulcer supplement?
Let’s just say it’s not exactly going head-to-head with omeprazole anytime soon.
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What you ACTUALLY need before asking for judgment:

A balanced diet starts with:
1. Forage first (measured, not vibes-based)
2. A properly dosed concentrate and/or ration balancer
3. Supplements only when there is a clear reason and known gap

Not:
“Here is my horse’s nutritional Jenga tower, what block am I missing?”
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Final Thought:
If you don’t know why each item is in the diet…
…it probably doesn’t need to be there.
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Interactive Question for the crowd:
What’s the wildest ingredient list you’ve seen in a horse feed program?
(Be honest. We’ve all seen the 10+-supplement special at least once 👀)

04/07/2026

Yes!!! This is how I formulate feeding programs for broodmares. The mares nutritional needs increase during the last trimester of her pregnancy and again during lactation. This is the biggest thing I encounter when talking about broodmare nutrition. Owners do not realize the increased demands on the mare. Straight from Dr Young’s mouth😊😊