Laminitis week - day 3 - and this time it`s a giveaway day! We want to hear about your special care horse or pony. Have they had laminitis and need careful management? Do they have metabolic concerns and at risk of developing laminitis?

Tell us their story in the comments and share a photo, to go into the draw to win 100kg of feed from our laminitis-safe range.

How to enter:
1. Tell us about your horse or pony, including their name, age and breed and share their laminitis or metabolic health story.

2. Tell us why they`d benefit from our ultra-low sugar and starch feeds. Maybe you already feed them or maybe you are keen to give them a try?

3. Share a photo of your horse or pony (it means our team gets to admire them!)

The prize:
The winner will receive 5 x 20kg bags of their choice of Calm Care Plus, Lupin Fibre Boost or Lupin Fibre Cubes.

The winner will be chosen by the T&R team and must be located in WA. The prize cannot be changed or redeemed for cash.

Entries close Tuesday 20 October at 5pm 2026, and will be announced on our social media page.

Please be scam aware. We will never send you a friend request, invite you to a new page or to click a link and enter personal details.

❓Got a question for our nutritionist about laminitis? Laminitis is taking over our social media channels next week from Monday 12 - Friday 16 October. It`s a very relevant health issue at the moment with early heat and rain sending grass into overdrive in a lot of areas.

We`ll be covering topics about laminitis each day, and we`re giving you the chance to ask our nutritionist Jill Davies from Feed Your Steed nutrition your laminitis question.

❓How it works:
- Ask your question in the comments below.
- Jill will choose a few questions to highlight and answer on our page next Friday, to close out Laminitis week.

BONUS: If you ask a question, you`ll also go into the draw to win a FREE bag of Lupin Fibre Boost, our low starch, laminitis safe complete mash.

Get ready, get asking and stay tuned to our Facebook and Instagram pages, there will be more chances to win free bags of feed throughout the week.

#laminitis #horsehealth #horsenutrition

Nobody wants to be over or underfeeding their horse! Do our simple "diet audit" and ask yourself these easy questions to help you work out if you are feeding your horse enough (and if it`s the right feed)...

◻️What is my horse telling me? If only they could talk!
But really, have a good look at the overall picture.
- Are you happy with their condition?
- How does their coat look?
- Have they got good topline?
- How are their hooves?

TIP: Take a photo of them from both sides, front and back to use as comparisons.

◻️ What is their Body Condition Score (BCS)?
Crack out the charts and do a BCS score. It`s a great, objective measure of their condition and an important baseline to have.

◻️ How are their energy levels?
- How do they behave in the paddock and on the ground?
- If they`re in work, can they complete their normal workload?

◻️ How is their performance?
- Can they maintain their usual performance levels?
- If you are increasing training, are they getting stronger and fitter?
- Do they recover adequately between sessions?

◻️ What is your goal for their current diet, and is it working?
- Do you want them to gain, maintain or lose weight?
- Are they maintaining or building topline?

◻️ How is their appetite, are they consistently eating their feed and forage?

◻️ Are they getting enough forage, hay or pasture? They need a minimum of 1.5% - 2% of their body weight in forage daily.

◻️ HAVE YOU NOTICED CHANGES?
- Has anything in their appearance changed?
- Has their workload or type of work changed (without adjusting diet to match?)
- Has their appetite changed?
- Is their body condition changing?
- Have they lost muscle without a change in exercise or diet?
- Has their behaviour changed?

What do your answers tell you?
◻️ If you`re happy with your answers, their diet is balanced and any changes are in the direction you want them to go, that`s a great start.

◻️ If your answers aren`t ideal...they`re telling you that something has changed and their diet is likely not supporting their needs. Now it`s time to investigate why...

Need help? You can reach out to us for a custom diet, or use our free FeedSmart Calculator on our website.

Your feeding decisions today impact your young horse`s tomorrow. While genetics influence joint structure and soundness, nutrition impacts the way the bones and cartilage develop and that is something we can help with.

Horse Grower Weaner Pellets have been formulated to fuel careful growth and sound bone development, with high levels of key vitamins and minerals to avoid deficiencies that can occur on WA pastures.

✔️Balanced Energy:Protein ratio to avoid excessive energy intake and weight gain to reduce the incidence of OCD.

✔️ High in calcium and key minerals to support cartilage and bone formation, and carefully balanced in the ratios needed.

✔️ Added Lysine & Methionine, essential amino acids for milk production and building blocks for growth and development

✔️ Actigen® (Prebiotic) and Probiotics to support gut health and function, and build a healthier microbiome. Actigen® has extensive research on its role in supporting milk production , colostrum quality and improved feed conversion.

! Oxalate pastures like Kikuyu can have a catastrophic impact on a horse`s structural soundness. Broodmares, foals and growing horses are most at risk when grazing these pastures due to their substantial calcium requirement. A lactating mare on oxalate pasture that is not correctly supplement can even produce calcium-deficient milk.

If you have a ‘hot’ or ‘fizzy’ horse, handling or riding them feel like a challenge. While training is a big part of management, making sure their diet isn`t working against you is important and there are some simple feeding rules that can help.

→ Go for plenty of quality fibre:
Horses are built to consume fibre and it has many health benefits AND is a great, slow-release energy source, especially those fibres and forages low in starches and sugars.

→ Avoid overfeeding:
If they are getting too much energy for the work that they are doing, it will result in excess energy which can come out as fizzy behaviour. Match the amount of feed and energy levels to the amount and type of work.

→ Not all energy is the same:
Energy (calories) in feed can comes from different sources and will have different actions in the body as it is digested. There are fast-release energy sources and slow-release energy sources, and you need to choose the right one for the type of work. A leisure horse may not need lots of fast-release energy, but a racehorse or eventer does.

→ Look for low starch and sugar:
Starches and sugars supply energy through glucose and are considered to be a `rapid` energy source. Some horses can be more sensitive to them, and low starch diets can be less likely to cause starch overload in the hindgut, which upsets the bacterial populations and can lead to behavioural changes.

→ Avoid deficiencies or imbalances:
Some vitamin or mineral deficiencies can impact a horse’s behaviour, in particular magnesium or thiamine (Vitamin B1). Always check that their diet is balanced if you notice issues.

→ Check your grass:
High oxalate pastures (i.e. C4 grasses like kikuyu) can cause not only a calcium deficiency but may impact magnesium too. Oxalate poisoning can also lead to structural issues causing pain and discomfort.

Grass that is rapidly growing and ‘lush’ can often be high in potassium and low in magnesium and calcium, and also very rich in calories. Know what’s happening with your pastures, so you can adjust their diets or grazing to suit.

→Need help with a `hot` horse? Reach out to our team for help with balancing or checking diets.

Bumped in and ready at @perthroyalshow! LP Catwalk is ready to go, with an Equi-Restore on arrival to help her settle in and recover post-trip.

#showhorse #perthroyal #equirestore @leearapark