01239 832 019 Make sure you bookmark this page and check back every month for updates. Within these tips I will provide different information and pearls of wisdom every month. If you have any questions please feel free to email me via our Contact Us Page. September 2009:                          Autumn Nutrition I am often asked by my farrier what on earth I feed my ponies because they have such good hooves.  The honest answer is not much but I do believe in good quality forage and timely nutritional supplementation with seaweed, particularly at this time of year when the quality of the grass is less than optimal. The key signs I look for are when they start chewing my stables and fences or when they start licking soil.  I’ve found, over the years that seaweed, which I often start offering towards the end of July dramatically reduces the ‘criminal’ damage!  Some winters have seen me still offering it through November but, generally speaking my ponies like a rest from for a couple of months until the daylight starts getting stronger – but that’s another story.  Seaweed is renowned for being a good source of minerals and vitamins not least of which is its iodine content which has particular benefits to the immune and metabolic systems.  As student of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it is not something I would personally want to feed to in-foal mares without very careful consideration because of its use to expel phlegm.  In TCM a foetus is considered phlegm and as such it would not be impossible to cause a mare to abort under such circumstances. Check Out My Blog For More Information. Copyright 2009 GaerEquine.Com © All Rights Reserved Sites Design & Hosting by www.DesignItHostIt.Com