Equine Solutions Catalog Page 8
ABC'S Nutritional Program for Optimum Health
Optimum nutrition for the horse depends on a functioning digestive system. The digestive system feeds the immune system. To have a healthy digestive system it is important to keep the worm count low, provide free-choice long stem fiber in the form of grass or hay (brome), and have a healthy population of good bacteria to digest the food.
After many years of searching for the best way to provide nutrients to horses without overloading the system and making them hyperactive Dr. Joyce Harman believes that products from Advanced Biological Concepts provide the best alternatives.
The mainstay of the system is A.B.C. 's PLUS. a formula designed to optimize the health of the digestive tract thus allowing much more complete absorption of all nutrients. In other words it feeds the digestive system, rather than trying to overload the body with nutrients.
A.B.C. 's PLUS also contains many nutrients in their natural herbal form, vitamins and plenty of minerals in a form that is very available to the body. This is an important concept. Frequently supplements will have a large amount of a certain nutrient, but the body may not be able to utilize it because the nutrient cannot be properly absorbed. Many minerals, including selenium are especially susceptible to this problem, as they are not well absorbed in the chemical form they are sold in. Minerals formulated correctly, such as the ones in A.B.C. 's PLUS, are also useful detoxifying agents and can chemically bind and remove toxins, such as pesticides mycotoxins and herbicides from the body.
Horses that are fed A.B.C. 's PLUS are consistently calmer, easier to keep weight on and have excellent coats. Part of the key to the success of the program is simplifying what you feed your horse to maintain good nutritional health. Feeding A.B.C. 's PLUS along with quality grains, hay and water will achieve the best results instead of feeding multiple vitamin / mineral supplements in hopes that your horse will reach a nutritional balance.
By using the A.B.C. 's PLUS Program you can be assured that the ingredients are balanced for your horse. The optimum feed is a plain grain mix of corn, oats and barley.
For most of the country the mix is (by weight not volume):
45% oats (crimped) 3O% barley (steamed, crimped or flaked) 25% cracked corn (course)
Grain Options (by weight): 6O% oats/40% barley OR 50% oats/50% corn
If you are not sure about your part of the country, have a soil, water and feed sample made to determine
if any other mix would be better. You can make this feed by buying the grains separately and mixing them yourself
or the local mill may be able to mix the feed for you. If a mill mixes it be sure they use pre-cleaned grains or
the mix will be extremely dusty. Normally this dust is covered up by the addition of molasses or by the pelleting
process.
You can add your own oils if you like. I like to hydrate my grain with water, apple cider
vinegar and garlic. They love it.
I also personally like to use Timothy Pellets and whole flax seed (antiinflammatory plus many other benefits of
flax) hydrated with the above mixture. It seems to "stick to their ribs" so to speak, great source of
protein. It's a wonderful addition with some whole oats mixed in if you want your horse to have oats they are the
least starchy of the grains. Horses will eat it without any grain added if your horse doesn't tollerate grains
well as in insulin resistant horses.. My horses don't like to eat dry grain. I also like to add Nutracea Stabalized Rice Bran for the benefits of all 18 essential amino
acids (protein building blocks for health new cell growth) and over 100 antioxidants (to neutralize free radicals
and keep them from damaging those healthy new cells). Don't use unstabilized rice bran. When rice is milled the
enzymes immediately begin breaking down the fatty acids and it begins to go "rancid" in a matter of hours.
Not fit for consumption - human or animal. (Vickie Stevens of My Fine Equine)
The rest of the feeding system can be tailored to the horse. Horses have an uncanny way of knowing what is good for them, and can be fed free choice mineral supplements very easily For most horses the free choice RUSH CREEK 1:1 MINERAL can be fed along with the A.B.C. 's PLUS; they will regulate their intake depending on their level of stress or health. Many horses will eat a lot for the first few weeks then taper off to a maintenance level. Free choice, loose, plain white salt, or better yet REDMOND SALT which is naturally mined and has not been subjected to high heat processing rounds out the program for most horses.
HARMANY EOUINE CLINIC JOYCE HARMAN DVM MRCVS P0 Box 8 Washington. VA 22747
Washington State University Extension - Grains for Horses and Their Characteristics http://www.extension.org/pages/10246/grains-for-horses-and-their-characteristics