With Thanksgiving behind us we are now in the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa Countdown. To keep you company while you slowly lose your mind, we decided to do our favorite things episode.  Michelle and Clair share a few products that bring them delight, everything from hoof picks to hay balls to saddles and masterclasses!  Whether you are buying a gift for yourself or your trainer, there is something for everyone.

***We received no compensation and have no affiliation with any of the products mentioned.... they don't even  know we are talking about them yet!

https://ifeednaturally.com/
https://www.thehaypillow.com/
https://hooftrimmersupply.com/products/heller-red
https://coloradonaturalbalms.com/
https://ultimatehoofpick.com/
https://eqclusive.com/en-us/collections/haas
https://equiformancebands.com/
https://www.jilliankreinbringinspired.com/
https://redhorseproducts.com/shop/hoof-care/artimud/
https://www.aviarsaddles.com/
https://enviroequine.com/product/equine-show-ring-ready-shampoo/
https://eqclusive.com/en-us/collections/haas

Do you have questions about feeding your horse? Contact us at [email protected]

Thanks for riding along with us!

In this episode, Clair and Michelle get more than a little nerdy about equine supplements! They are joined by Dr. Lydia Gray to talk about supplement regulations and how new products come to market.

Dr. Gray spent 16 years at SmartPak, where she served as Staff Veterinarian and Medical and Research Director. She has also worked in equine welfare and rescue. She's now an independent consultant and helps equine-related organizations with things like strategic planning, product labeling, and research and development … plus she does writing and speaking … and judges and competes in dressage and combined driving. That’s all to say she’s very busy! We are thankful she took time to have this conversation with us!

Do you have questions about feeding your horse? Contact us at [email protected]

Thanks for riding along with us!

Proper hay and feed storage saves money, keeps horses safe, and gives rodents one less reason to move into our barns during the cold winter months. In this episode, equine nutritionist Dr. Clair Thunes and horse owner Michelle Anderson discuss hay and feed storage strategies, health risks related to horses accidentally accessing and gorging on feed (spoiler alert, it's laminitis!), ways to keep rodents out of your bins, and how to know when feed has spoiled or "gone off."

Do you have questions about feeding your horse? Contact us at [email protected]

Thanks for riding along with us!

Do you have questions about feeding your horse? Contact us at [email protected]

Thanks for riding along with us!

In this episode internal medicine specialist Laura Javsicas, VMD, Dipl. ACVIM, of Rhinebeck Equine, in New York, joins us to discuss pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID, or more commonly “equine Cushing’s disease”). This syndrome results from an enlargement of the middle lobe of the pituitary gland, which leads to elevated levels of cortisol and other hormones. An abnormally shaggy coat is a telltale sign. Horses with PPID are also at a higher risk for laminitis. PPID is mostly identified in horses during their teen years and beyond, although onset can be earlier than we horse owners might recognize. Most researchers believe up to 30% of horses will develop the disease.  

Listen as we cover:  

• What is an equine internal medicine specialist? 
• What is PPID? 
• Clinical signs and how to catch PPID early. 
• How veterinarians test for the disease. 
• Treatment options. 
• Management strategies.
• And how an equine nutritionist can help. 

Thanks for riding along with us!

Do you have questions about feeding your horse? Contact us at [email protected]

Thanks for riding along with us!

Join us for a walk down the supplement aisle as we discuss what horses might—and might not—need added to their diets. 

It seems like there's a supplement for just about anything your horse might need. In this episode, we cover:  

• The difference between food supplements and health supplements;
• The types of supplements you might find (hoof, digestive, calming, joint, coat, calories, etc.); and
• Why you might, or might not, need to add supplements to your horse's ration.

Plus, Clair gives Michelle advice about transitioning her horses to a new load of hay.

Do you have questions about feeding your horse? Contact us at [email protected]

Thanks for riding along with us!

It's hot outside! As the U.S. faces extreme heat advisories across the country, ensuring your horses stay hydrated is critical to support their natural evaporative cooling systems (that's sweating). In addition to water consumption, electrolytes are an important part of the cooling equation. But knowing if your horse is getting enough, or selecting the right kind to feed, is often confusing. 
 
In this episode, Dr. Clair Thunes explains how electrolytes work and why and when horses need them (and it's not just during hot weather and summer exercise!).  Michelle shares how Clair's advice changed how she incorporated salt into her horses’ diets.
 
 Plus! Michelle Asks Clair for Free Advice
 
Feed prices keep going up, and Michelle's looking to save some money. Can whole flaxseeds replace stabilized ground flax in her horses' diets? Clair weighs in.

About Us

Clair Thunes, PhD, is an equine nutritionist, busy Pony Club mom, and a dressage and eventing enthusiast. She also owns Clarity Equine Nutrition, an independent consulting company based in Gilbert, Arizona. She works with owners and veterinarians to create diets for individual horses, ranging from retired pasture pets to Olympic athletes. Her services also include formulating feeds and supplements for companies, and there's a good chance you've scooped something she helped develop into your horse's bucket. Clair taught equine nutrition and physiology as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Davis, is a highly sought after speaker. 

Michelle Anderson is a lifelong horseperson  who spent more than two decades writing for and editing equine magazines and websites. In 2022, she started Cadence Marketing + Media, in Bend, Oregon, to support equine-related brands and delivery quality educational content to horse owners. Her clients include equine veterinary hospitals, trainers, boarding stables, and businesses offering professional services for the industry. Her own herd lives at home and includes an aspiring FEI dressage mare, a fiery Arabian-cross trail horse, and a retired Quarter Horse gelding Michelle bred, raised, and (her husband points out) has been feeding for the past 20-plus years. Michelle's goal is to educate owners so they can best care for the horses they love. 

Do you have questions about feeding your horse? Contact us at [email protected]

Thanks for riding along with us!

Have you stood in your feed store staring at shelves of bagged horse  feed and felt overwhelmed by the options?

You are not alone! 

In this episode we cover:

• The differences between ration balancers, concentrates (aka performance or "life stage" feeds," complete feeds, and bagged whole grains.
• How to properly weigh and measure feed.
• The reasons you should read the manufacturer's feeding instructions and plan your horse's diet accordingly.
• Why not all senior feeds are the same.
• Considerations for metabolic horses.
• And more!

About Us

Clair Thunes, PhD, is an equine nutritionist, busy Pony Club mom, and a dressage and eventing enthusiast. She also owns Clarity Equine Nutrition, an independent consulting company based in Gilbert, Arizona. She works with owners and veterinarians to create diets for individual horses, ranging from retired pasture pets to Olympic athletes. Her services also include formulating feeds and supplements for companies, and there's a good chance you've scooped something she helped develop into your horse's bucket. Clair taught equine nutrition and physiology as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Davis, is a highly sought after speaker. 

Michelle Anderson is a lifelong horsewoman who spent two decades writing for and editing equine magazines and websites. In 2022, she started Cadence Marketing + Media, in Bend, Oregon, to support equine-related brands and delivery quality educational content to horse owners. Her clients include equine veterinary hospitals, trainers, boarding stables, and businesses offering professional services for the industry. Her own herd lives at home and includes an aspiring FEI dressage mare, a fiery Arabian-cross trail horse, and a retired Quarter Horse gelding Michelle bred, raised, and (her husband points out) has been feeding for the past 20-plus years. Michelle's goal is to educate owners so they can best care for the horses they love. 

Do you have questions about feeding your horse? Contact us at [email protected]

Thanks for riding along with us!

Hay, equine nutrition gets complicated quicky! So, to keep things simple, we're taking a step back and covering the basics. In this episode, we discuss why forage is the most important part of a horse's diet. 

Forage comes in several forms. Most commonly, horses consume forage as baled hay or grass pastures. But beet pulp, alfalfa pellets, hay cubes, and even some complete bagged feeds count as forage.

Join our conversation to:

• Find out how much forage a horse should eat each day;
• Learn how many times a day horses should get hay servings;
•  Get tips for feeding horses who can no longer chew hay;
• And more!

About Us

Clair Thunes, PhD, is an equine nutritionist, busy Pony Club mom, and a dressage and eventing enthusiast. She also owns Clarity Equine Nutrition, an independent consulting company based in Gilbert, Arizona. She works with owners and veterinarians to create diets for individual horses, ranging from retired pasture pets to Olympic athletes. Her services also include formulating feeds and supplements for companies, and there's a good chance you've scooped something she helped develop into your horse's bucket. Clair taught equine nutrition and physiology as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Davis, is a highly sought after speaker. 

Michelle Anderson is a lifelong horseperson who spent two decades writing for and editing equine magazines and websites. In 2022, she started Cadence Marketing + Media, in Bend, Oregon, to support equine-related brands and delivery quality educational content to horse owners. Her clients include equine veterinary hospitals, trainers, boarding stables, and businesses offering professional services for the industry. Her own herd lives at home and includes an aspiring FEI dressage mare, a fiery Arabian-cross trail horse, and a retired Quarter Horse gelding Michelle bred, raised, and (her husband points out) has been feeding for the past 20-plus years. Michelle's goal is to educate owners so they can best care for the horses they love. 

Do you have questions about feeding your horse? Contact us at [email protected]

Thanks for riding along with us!

It's Kentucky Derby time and the beginning of Triple Crown season, a five-week stretch when horse-related searches online surge and the general public's interest in horses peaks. In honor of the horses, we took this episode as an opportunity to talk about feeding Thoroughbreds as they transition from life on the track to their second careers and beyond.

You'll learn about:

•  How racehorses are fed and how that might differ from other horses.
• Why horses newly off the track still need a lot more calories than you might imagine.
• Why people in general consider Thoroughbreds "hard keepers" when it comes to feeding them.
• Getting off-track Thoroughbreds (OTTB) to eat forage-first diets.
• And the role gut health plays in the OTTB diet.

About Us

Clair Thunes, PhD, is an equine nutritionist, busy Pony Club mom, and a dressage and eventing enthusiast. She also owns Clarity Equine Nutrition, an independent consulting company based in Gilbert, Arizona. She works with owners and veterinarians to create diets for individual horses, ranging from retired pasture pets to Olympic athletes. Her services also include formulating feeds and supplements for companies, and there's a good chance you've scooped something she helped develop into your horse's bucket. Clair taught equine nutrition and physiology as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Davis, is a highly sought after speaker. 

Michelle Anderson is a lifelong horsewoman who spent two decades writing for and editing equine magazines and websites. In 2022, she started Cadence Marketing + Media, in Bend, Oregon, to support equine-related brands and delivery quality educational content to horse owners. Her clients include equine veterinary hospitals, trainers, boarding stables, and businesses offering professional services for the industry. Her own herd lives at home and includes an aspiring FEI dressage mare, a fiery Arabian-cross trail horse, and a retired Quarter Horse gelding Michelle bred, raised, and (her husband points out) has been feeding for the past 20-plus years. Michelle's goal is to educate owners so they can best care for the horses they love. 

Do you have questions about feeding your horse? Contact us at [email protected]

Thanks for riding along with us!