In addition to providing honest advice, we at AskHELTIE believe it's important to have a wealth of information available for horse owners. This way, you can expand your knowledge and help your horse to the best of your ability. Together, we ensure that horses come a little closer to nature.
Weight
Hooves
Insulin resistance
Organs
Digestion
Feeding
Why can horses get laminitis from grass?
In spring, at the beginning of the grazing season, it is always advisable to start slowly with grazing. Your horse's intestines and digestion need to adapt to eating grass before your horse can spend whole days in the pasture. In addition, there is the risk of laminitis. For some horses, this danger remains present throughout the entire grazing season. How does this actually happen? What does grass do in your horse's body? And which horses are at increased risk of laminitis?. Grass is the most delicious thing for most horses. 'Nibble-step' all day through the pasture; there is no greater pleasure for them. However, it is not always healthy. This is due to the way in which sugars from grass are processed in the horse's body. Sugar metabolism: fast and complex carbohydrates During the grazing season, grass is the main source of carbohydrates for many horses. Carbohydrates can be divided into complex carbohydrates and water-soluble carbohydrates. The latter are the 'fas...
Respiratory
Sneeze! The 5 differences between pollen allergy and dust allergy in horses
Tickle in the nose, snot, coughing, and even shaking the head... sometimes your horse suddenly experiences respiratory problems. And it's not pleasant to ride a horse with an itchy nose or phlegm in its throat. But where does this come from? Is it a pollen allergy? Or is it due to dust? And what can you do about it?. We list the 5 differences between pollen allergy and dust allergy in horses: Difference 1 - summer or winter? If your horse sniffs, coughs, throws its head, or constantly wants to rub its nose, the first question is: what season is it? In autumn and winter, when horses are indoors more often, a dust allergy is more likely. But in spring and summer, when the trees and grass bloom, you should think more about a pollen allergy if your horse suddenly develops symptoms. Difference 2 - hay or grass? D...
Others
Tendon Protectors and Heat? Is that a correct combination?
Leg wraps, you can get them in the cutest colors, patterns, sizes, and all with different underlying techniques to protect your horse's tendons. But are leg wraps really a protection for tendons? And what about warm weather? In this blog, we provide more background on the sensitivity of tendons in combination with heat!. What are the tendons in the lower legs? The tendons in the lower legs consist of tendon tissue, which are all individual cells that lie in line with each other and are held together by small bands. This provides the strength and elasticity of tendons. Tendons are located on the surface, are not surrounded by muscle tissue, and are always "on". The horse uses these tendons both at rest and in motion. They have a function of stretching and pulling, which actually means that they can stre...
Electrolytes
Minerals
How do you support your horse in warm weather?
The warm months are approaching and some horses really thrive in that weather! They soak up the sun's warmth and truly enjoy it. But there are also horses that don't handle the heat as well, sweating and panting at the first ray of sunshine. How can you best support these horses during the warm periods?. Shade!! ALL horses need to have access to shade during the summer months. Whether your horse can handle the heat well or not, there should always be shade available. This can be provided by trees, a shelter, or by hanging a shade cloth. Horses should have the choice to escape the sun if they want to. A horse can also overheat or suffer from heatstroke (resulting in death). Always make sure your horse has a place to stand in the shade. Does your stable not provide this option? Then put your horse...
Electrolytes
Minerals
Feeding
Replenishing Minerals: Balancer, Electrolytes, or Mineral Supplement?
When it's hot, your horse loses a lot of salts and minerals through sweat. But how do you best replenish them? Aren't minerals also present in hay, grass, concentrate feed, and balancer pellets? Is an electrolyte supplement really necessary? What about horses that need to eat a low-sugar diet, for example, due to laminitis, sweet itch, or EMS?. Horses need a wide range of minerals to function properly. Some of these minerals are required in larger quantities (macro-elements), while others are needed in very small amounts (trace elements). Minerals cannot be stored as reserves in the horse's body for long periods. This means that these important substances must be supplied through food. Whether it is through grass, hay, concentrate feed, balancer pellets, or supplements. What are the most important minerals? The most important minerals,...
Skin
Others
Three tips to quickly and safely cool down your horse
Summer has begun! Wonderful of course, but it also means that your horse can get quite hot during training. Horses heat up faster than humans and have a harder time getting rid of that heat. Properly cooling down after work is therefore very important. How do you do this best? We give you three tips.. Tip 1: Cool water over the entire body The most important way to quickly and effectively cool down your horse is with cool or cold water. Eventers/endurance riders throw buckets of ice water over their horses when they come out of the cross-country/ride, but you don't have to go that far. You can start by spraying cool water over the entire body. In the second round you can maybe continue with cold water. It is important to make as much of your horse wet as possible. This gives the fastest resul...
Electrolytes
Skin
Minerals
Feeding
Why are electrolytes important for horses?
If you train in the summer months, your horse can sweat a lot. You often hear that you should give electrolytes. Why is that? What are electrolytes actually? When should you give them and what is the most absorbable form?. The official description of electrolytes in chemistry is as follows: they are ions of salts, acids, and bases that are in liquid form in the body. Sounds complicated, but what it comes down to is: they are soluble salts. The most important electrolytes for mammals are sodium, chlorine, and potassium. Sodium chloride is also known as table salt. In addition, magnesium and calcium are also important electrolytes for the functioning of the nervous system and muscles of both horses and humans. Elect...
Guest blog
Feeding
Vitalbix guest blog: Does your horse still have energy when you feed grain-free?
Many horse enthusiasts believe that a sport horse always needs grain-based concentrate feed for sufficient energy. That a horse becomes sluggish or unable to perform without the grains and sugars from concentrate feed. That's not true. Horses don't naturally derive their energy from grains, which form the main component of many types of concentrate feed. We discussed this with Madelief Jambroes from Vitalbix. What's the exact situation with energy, vitamins, and minerals in horse feed?. Madelief is the "Manager Nutrition & Education" at Vitalbix. She provides daily nutritional advice to horse owners and is jointly responsible for product development and knowledge dissemination. Madelief says, "I have a degree in nutrition and initially worked in human nutrition. Horse nutrition has always been of interest to me, and partly thanks to my own horse, I got involved in this field." What is a balancer? Often, you hear that it's best to provide a horse with suf...
Others
Teeth grinding in horses, can EOTRH be the cause?
When your horse suddenly starts grinding its teeth, you naturally wonder why. One of the causes may be a painful dental disease called EOTRH. What is this condition and how do you recognize it? And what other reasons for teeth grinding are there. EOTRH stands for Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis. Quite a mouthful. The name means that it is a horse disease involving bone-resorbing cells. The teeth dissolve, and too much cement (tartar) is formed. EOTRH usually begins with the outer incisors, which are often the most affected. The disease occurs most often in horses over 15 years old. We see it more frequently in geldings and stallions than in mares. Also, certain breeds (such as Icelandic horses) seem to be more s...
Nettle
Cannabinoids
Skin
Clove
Sweet itch
Itchiness? These herbs help support your horse!
The summer is the season of itchiness in horses. Insects, heat, grass, fertilizer, and many other reasons can cause horses to itch. Itchiness is not only extremely annoying for the horse, but also for us as horse owners. How can you support your horse so that it has less itchiness?. There is no miracle cure Unfortunately, there is no miracle cure that can eliminate all itchiness in all horses, if only it were that easy! Each horse is different and each horse reacts differently to herbs. What works perfectly for your horse may not work at all for your neighbor's horse. The effectiveness of the herbs also greatly depends on your horse's diet. Therefore, do not expect miracles from the herbs below, but see them as an additional support. Don't forget to examine the diet! You ca...
Tendons
Silicon
What does silicon do for the tendons of a horse?
Silicon! That is usually our first answer when customers contact us about their horse with a tendon problem. But why do we insist on silicon, because it is not a supplement that works directly? We are happy to explain it to you in this blog.. What is silicon? Silicon is a trace element that has always been very underrated. However, we have known better for a number of years now. It is a mineral that is involved in a huge number of processes in the body and has a much greater influence than was thought. Silicon is found in very limited quantities in the feed of horses, and often in a form that is not easily absorbed. That is the extremely tricky thing about silicon, almost no form is easily absorbable for horses. Sand, for example, is...
Cannabinoids
Skin
Insulin resistance
Clove
Sweet itch
Summer Itching: Why does my horse have itch?
The sun is shining, the grass is green, and the evenings are long. A delightful time. But spring and summer are also the time when some horses get a lot of itching. Often this is immediately thought of as sweet itch: an allergic reaction to the bite of small midges. But there can also be other causes for itching. Why does your horse have itching? And what can you do about it?. During the transition from winter to spring and summer, many horses spend more time outside. Typically, the diet also changes from hay to (partially) fresh grass. With the higher temperatures, insects also become active again: flies, mosquitoes, midges, horseflies, and ticks can be troublesome for your horse. Not all itching is sweet itch! It is important to find out why your horse is scratching in the summer months. The reason is not always sweet itch. A horse can also get itchy as a reaction t...