Horse Behaviour Linked to Poor Nutrition

that could be the cause especially if youve moved them to a fresh pasture and especially if that pasture has grass that is toxic.
So what is toxic grass?
Any grass under stress or climatic conditions such as those of early spring and autumn especially in droughtbreaking rains or cool cloudy wet weather including frosts is subject to acute spikes of potassium and nitrate at the same time becoming low in sodium. This is exacerbated by nitrogenous fertilisers.
The potassium nitrate ingested is highly toxic and the body eliminates it by latching on to calcium and magnesium so is excreted with them. Hence the necessity to feed adequate calciummagnesium and sodium while not adding to the potassium load with lucernemolasses many herbsgarlichigh protein feedssupplements containing potassium.
Grass that is too high in sugars NSCs Non Structural Carbohydrates such as rye grass or has oxalates binds up calcium such as Kikuyu Setaria Buffel Green Panic Pangola Para Grass Guinea Grass Signal Grass and Purple Pigeon grass or has mycotoxins that are produced by endophytes in grasses such as rye and paspalum or has mouldspollens or is drought stressed is toxic.
Its also a good idea to find out from your local Department of Primary Industries what weeds are prevalent in your area that could be dangerous to horses.
Grass is a huge topic and I recommend you start by reading the article further down this page Why do I need to know about grass then Jenny Patersons web site Calm Healthy Horses. It has a huge amount of information on the physical and behavioural issues that come from grazing the wrong types of grasses for horses.
In the past week Ive had two people contact me about their geldings behaving like stallions and others noticing their horses have changed and are becoming pushy and not listening.
Clover is implicated here because it contains phytoestrogens that upset hormones and also contains pigments that lead to photosensitivity which looks like mud fever greasy heel and sunburn.
The best way to figure out if grass is implicated in behavioural issues is to remove the horse from the grass feed nonryecloverpaspalum grass hay and supplements to assist with correcting mineral imbalances that can exaggerate the behaviour.
Here are some wonderful success stories of horses and ponies who have overcome major behavioural and physical problems by changing their diet.
Missy more relaxed with magnesium supplement
And heres how magnesium supplementation helped Missy.
I started using Alleviate on my gelding