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When Sweet Turns Sour
Written By: Sue Blair - Carpe Diem Farms | Issue: 2016/05 - May
Blessings abound at Carpe Diem Farms. The first hint of Spring comes with the show of white blossoms by the magnificent Bradford Pears. You can’t help but smile at their beauty.
Spring also brings a dangerous time for our horses. As temperatures fluctuate and the grass begins growing, the horses are attracted to each sugar-filled blade. Having spent the winter munching on the Kentucky orchard grass we truck in only after having it tested at Cornell for low sugar and carbohydrates as well as its mineral content, the spring grass with its sugar is addictive. In order to get the best balance, we can we also soak all our hay to reduce sugar and carbs by 25 percent.
So you say, “So what?” As big as horses are, they have a very fragile digestive system. Unlike us, their gastro-intestinal fluids never shut off. They eat and chew constantly to avoid ulcerating. A slight imbalance in their gut can give rise to colic and it can have huge implications that bring on laminitis; the number one killer of horses. (Secretariat and Barbaro both were humanely euthanized because of laminitis and we lost our Delta in 1999 and her sister Gracie in 2005 to laminitis.) Their battles with laminitis and consequent deaths taught us so much about the ramifications of grass, hay, feed, stress, exercise, and weight maintenance.
Sugar and carbohydrates as well as mineral imbalances because of the lack in our soils are all critical for a healthy herd. For nearly 20 years I have been a student of nutrition and Safer Grass (a non-profit organization, funded by the Laminitis Foundation started in memory of Secretariat, dedicated to the study of grasses and their impact on horses of all breeds.)
Life is balance. The horses teach us that daily.
Carpe Diem Farms is located at 544 Western Rhodes Drive, Highlands, and can be reached at (828) 526-2854 or by visiting carpediemfarms.org or on Facebook.
