Proper feeding for a healthy horses

 The vast array of feeds available in-store these days can make choices confusing, but working out a horse's nutritional requirements does not have to be complicated. Horses have nutrient needs that can be calculated from bodyweight and activity levels. What does make horse nutrition complicated is the process of selecting feeds to balance the nutrient intake with each individual's nutrient requirement, and providing the feeds in a form that suits the digestive system of the horse. It is often a lack of understanding about the relationship between the digestive system of the horse and the form of the feed, and how this affects the horse, that causes confusion.

It is well established in humans that they are what they eat. Obesity is now one of the major disorders in the western world - in both humans and horses. Can correlations and similarities be found between the two species, that can help improve health and well-being?

In order to know where to start it is helpful to look at some known facts. Firstly, pasture alone often does not provide enough nutrients for horses. Consequently, they are fed supplements in the form of concentrates and hay but some concentrates can be considered 'fast foods' - full of energy in the forms of sugars and fats. Many horses are overfed on fast foods, yet under-worked, which can lead to obesity, health and behavioural problems.

MEASURING ENERGY

The non structural carbohydrates (NSC) index in horse feeds equates to the glycemic index (GI) in human foods, and is a way of measuring the energy in foods by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on blood glucose levels. Insulin resistance - now identified as a serious and life-threatening condition in horses, equates to Type 11 diabetes in humans. Many metabolic disorders in horses are associated with high NSC feeds.

Digestion in horses

Digestion in horses is not the same as in cattle and sheep, which have large fore-stomachs. These animals are called ruminants, because they can ruminate, i.e store food in their fore-stomach, or rumen, and regurgitate and re-chew their food to gain more nutrients. By comparison, horses have a small stomach, and have to graze little and often to maintain nutrient intake. Horses graze at least 18 hours per day, i.e. they are 'slow feeders', meaning they eat slowly and the nutrients are absorbed continuously throughout the day.

Slow feeding

The relatively 'new' idea of devising ways to 'slow feed' horses makes a lot of sense. It provides a semi-continuous supply of nutrients to a digestive system designed to digest nutrients on a natural, continuous basis. This can be achieved with roughages and pastures, but is difficult to achieve when feeding high-energy concentrates. Human lifestyles add to the difficulty because many people don't have time or aren't available to feed concentrates little and often throughout the day.

Pulse or shock feeding

Unfortunately, with modern day horses, they often graze pastures designed for cattle, and are held in small paddocks or yards, which means than pasture intake may not be sufficient to deliver the required nutrient intake - especially for active horses in work. To meet the total nutrient demand, the horse often must be supplemented with other feeds, including hay, and processed feeds usually containing grain. Living conditions for horses and the lifestyle and work hours of their owners often determines that most horses are only fed twice or even once per day.

This style of feeding can deliver large loads of nutrients into a digestive system that is designed for a continuous supply. Termed pulse, or shock feeding, it is exacerbated when the feeds contain levels of some digestible nutrients (particularly sugar and starch) that exceed the digestive capacity of the horse's intestines and cause spikes in the concentrations of blood glucose. These concentrated feeds can be considered as 'fast foods'. 'Pulse' feeding 'fast foods' is one of the major factors contributing to the range of metabolic disorders found in horses today.

Feeding concentrates

Horse nutrition is based on mathematics. The nutrient requirement of horses can be calculated, and the nutrient composition of feeds can be measure and described in feed tables. The amount of feed required is a simple calculation; the difficulty is in knowing the effects of feeding concentrated feeds as 'pulse' feeds, rather than 'slow feeds', and knowing when one is over-feeding concentrate feeds.

What is a fast food?

Studies over recent years have identified the sugar and starch content of feeds as being one indicator of the 'fast food' status of a feed. All feeds contain sugar and starch, which are the major energy supplies to the horse. As said previously, the sugar and starch content is called NSC (non structural carbohydrate) and is equal to the glycaemic index (GI) in human nutrition.

The NSC content in a range of Australian horse feeds is shown below (Richards, N. Proc. Aust. Equine Sc. Symp., Vol 2, 2008)

This figure shows that commercially available horse feeds contain a range of NSC concentrations.

Grains also contain varying amounts of NSC, oats 46%, barley 57%, corn 65%, whereas hay contains as low as 7% NSC.

Feeds with higher NSC content are suited to horses in active work with higher energy demand, ie as work load increases, energy supply must increase.

For metabolically sensitive horses, e.g. older, overweight and/or laminitic horses and ponies, and some breeds, the suggested 'safe' NSC requirement is 10-12% in dry matter. It is proposed that feeding more than 12% NSC, and not increasing the horse's work load is a possible reason for the metabolic disorders associated with over-feeding and under-working, because the horse is unable to burn off the additional energy from the glucose derived from the NSC.

NSC Digestion

Carbohydrates are composed of monosaccharides, which can only be absorbed from the intestines as glucose or fructose. Therefore all carbohydrates must be broken down to monosaccharides by various enzymes including amylase, maltase, sucrose and lactase. Amylase is the most important enzyme for digestion of starch. Unlike humans, amylase is not present in saliva in horses, and the horse only produces small amounts of amylase from the pancreas. The horse therefore has limited capacity to digest starch in the intestines.

Metabolic Disorders

The possible effects of overfeeding NSC feeds, in combination with pulse/shock load feeding rather than slow feeding, can be outlined as follows.

The Stomach

The horse's stomach is divided into two sections. The second half has a thick cell wall lining, and the front half has a thin cell wall lining. With slow feeding, the feed enters the first part of the stomach and the horse releases acids into the stomach continuously, to help digest the food. With 'shock' feeding (feeding only twice per day) and feeding high NSC feeds, the horse releases higher levels of acid into the first stomach. The pH level declines, and can cause damage to the thin cell wall lining, causing ulcers. It is preferable to select low NSC feeds to reduce acid release into the first stomach, and feed little and often to avoid pulse/shock loading.

Small Intestines

The small intestine is designed to digest and absorb proteins, carbohydrates, oils, minerals and vitamins. The intestines have a maximum digestive capacity, and this capacity can be overloaded by feeding too much at any one time. They contain a large population of benign micro-oganisms, which live in symbiosis with the horse, i.e. they live together, where the horse provides the 'home' and the food supply, and the microbes digest the feed and provide nutrients to the horse. Dysbiosis occurs when the relationship between the host and the microbes is disturbed, usually when the feed supply to the microbes increases and there is rapid growth of the benign organisms, which can colonise the cell wall lining in the intestines. This may cause Leaky Gut Syndrome, which allows leakage of molecules such as glucose into the blood stream together with microbial toxins and other compounds. Leaky Gut Syndrome is known to occur in humans, and is implicated in Candida albicans. It is possible that Leaky Gut occurs in horses fed high NSC feeds, and causes increased blood glucose. What happens to the increased circulating level of glucose? If the horse does not use the glucose for energy (i.e. for exercise) the glucose has to go somewhere.

The horse releases insulin to enable the passage of glucose into the muscle cells. If there is too much glucose, the horse continues to produce insulin, but the cells lose insulin sensitivy and cease transporting glucose into the muscle cells. The cells become insulin resistant, which is the same as Type II diabetes in humans. Blood sugar levels rise, and insulin levels rise too. The blood sugar must go somewhere, and some can be stored in the fat cells, causing obesity. Increased insulin causes increased cortisol production, which in turn is implicated in laminitis, Cushing's Syndrome and Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS). In some breeds, the glucose can be converted into an unusual polysaccharide and stored in the muscles, causing tying-up. It is well known that low NSC feeds should be fed to those horses susceptible to tying-up. Some glucose can also combine with proteins, forming a proteoglycan, which is deposited in connective tissue in the legs, possibly causing swelling and stocking up, lameness and DSLD. It is suggested that selecting low NSC feeds that don't overload the intestines, causing abnormal growth of benign microbes (Dysbiosis), may be a possible means of reducing the effects of some of the feed-related metabolic disorders.

Large Intestines

The small intestine has a maximum capacity to digest sugars and starch. Feeding too much starch can cause starch overload, i.e. the sugars and starch flow on into the hindgut. The hindgut contains a population of microorganisms similar to that in the rumen of cattle. If cattle are overfed on grain, this causes acidosis (grain poisoning); the same effect occurs in horses. The additional sugar/starch is fermented by the microbes, and converted into acids, which are normally absorbed across the wall of the hindgut gut to provide energy. If the rate of fermentation is too high, the microbes produce high levels of acids, which are both absorbed, and also cause a decline in pH (acidity). These acids can cause cell wall damage and leakage of nutrients and microbial toxins into the blood stream. The effect of hindgut acidosis causing laminitis is well described by Dr Chris Pollitt in 'Equine laminitis' for Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Pub.No.01/129.

Hind gut acidosis is also implicated in causing hot and fizzy behaviour in horses.

Feeding low NSC feeds will reduce the flow of fermentable carbohydrates into the hindgut, and therefore reduce the production of acids.

Pulse Feeding

A pasture trail was conducted in which feeds with various levels of NSC were fed to grazing horses (Richards 2010). These included a sweetfeed (33% NSC), a pelleted feed (25% NSC), and CoolStance copra meal (11% NSC). The supplements were fed in two equal feeds, morning and night, in nose-bags to ensure all the food was eaten.

Circulating glucose was measured for six hours after pulse feeding.

Although the sweetfeed had a higher NSC, the digestible NSC was much lower, suggesting that some of the starch in the sweetfeed was passed undigested through the horse.

The results indicated that there was an immediate glucose spike after 'pulse' feeding the sweetfeed and pelleted feed with NSC>20%.

The CoolStance copra meal (NSC 11%) did not increase blood glucose levels above that in the pasture fed horses.

Is low NSC enough?

The pasture trial suggests that some energy feeds such as copra meal can be pulse fed, and yet be digested as a 'slow feed', ie they don't cause a glucose spike. These feeds are low NSC and high DE (digestible energy) because they contain a combination of oil and digestible fibre. Some low NSC feeds are created by diluting the high NSC concentrate with poorly digestible, low NSC fillers, so they are low NSC and low DE, however, these feeds are usually unsuitable for performance horses.

High NSC Feeds and Horse Behavior

There is an age old expression that a horse is 'feeling his oats'. This usually reflects a horse that is grain fed, and underworked, causing it to become 'hot', 'excitable', or 'fizzy'. It is suggested that the glucose spike, and changes in insulin sensitivity arising from feeding high NSC feeds causes some horses to become hyperactive and difficult to manage. Reducing the NSC intake by feeding 'cool feeds' containing oils instead of grain, or increasing roughage is often recommended.

Whilst 'slow feeding' is the natural state for the horse, supplementary feeding is necessary for the modern horse, but shock/pulse feeding is, unfortunately, a function of human lifestyle and work hours.

Some concentrate feeds are 'fast foods' yet there are no labelling requirement for NSC levels in a feed, which is regrettable as feeding above 12% NSC and not increasing the work level may contribute to many metabolic disorders of performance horses. Careful consideration must be given to match the feed to the horse's activity level, so as not to overfeed a high NSC feed and under work the horse. Horse owners can gain much by surfing the web, typing in keywords and following the links to reveal an amazing amount of information, and traditional thought is being challenged all the time.

Dr Tim Kempton has a degree and PhD in the basic and applied aspects of nutrition and specialises in the relationships between nutrition and performance of animals. He pioneered the concept of 'cool feeds' for horses in Australia with the introduction of copra meal in the 1980's, which is now fed extensively as a cool feed. More recently, he has researched the role of NSC in horse feeds, and is committed to providing equine education and products based on sound science to avoid harming horses with kindness, through overfeeding and underworking.

Horse feeding

 Owning an old horse can be at time upsetting when you see your old companion fading away. However, nowadays, horses can live happily until a very old age, some well after the age of 30. Hopefully this article will help you and your old mate find the right care.

According to NRC and veterinary bodies, a horse is considered geriatric at the age of 20. In general, a horse is considered a senior horse from 15-16 years of age. In fact, many horse feed manufacturers provide specifically designed feed stuff for horses 16 and over. Whether it is true or not is debatable. Some horses seem to age earlier, others later. The horse will age differently depending on the lifestyle it had therefore it would be wrong to label all 16 year-old horses as old. However, from 20 onwards, a horse is definitely labelled geriatric as its body and organs have started deteriorating significantly.

As a guideline, when the horse reaches 15 or 16, one should pay extra attention to its condition to ensure it stays healthy and its weight stays consistent. From the age of 20, a body condition of 2-3 (Australian body condition scoring 0-5) should be maintained.

Most common problems encountered with senior horses
Feeding the old horse might become a challenge as various factors play an important role in feed absorption.

Teeth

The most common issue is related to teeth. As the horse ages, its teeth will wear off, some might fall off, some might become decayed and chewing of feed will be impaired causing improper absorption of feed and nutrients.

The usual signs for bad teeth are:

- Slow to chew, inability to masticate properly
- Feed falls off the horse's mouth - the horse seems to be messy at feed time and kind of dribbling
- Whole food found in droppings such as grains and long stems
- Bad breath due to rotten teeth
- Thick nasal discharge, usually on one side, may appear if a decayed tooth has been left untreated and has become infected
- Tendency to choke
- More prone to colics. According to an Auburn University study conducted in the mid 90s, impaction colics have a ratio of 88% in older horses in comparison to 29% in younger horses. Out of the 104 horses above 17 years of age, one of the main reasons was dental diseases (as well as poor grazing and tumours). During the same era, another study was conducted in Texas (USA) over a period of 12 months to identify dietary and management factors associated with colic in horses. The results identified that horses aged 10 years and over who are stabled and still get regular exercise are at higher risks than those pastured at all times. Among other factors are recent changes in diet, in type of hay, in weather conditions, in housing and worm infestation. Further studies confirmed similar results in 2000/2001, where 364 horses were examined over a period of 12 months in Texas USA. In summary, changes in diet (type of hay, grain or concentrate) as well as feeding more than 2.7kg of grains, feeding round bales of hay, and decreased access to pasture contribute to high risk of colic.

Worms

As seen above, worm infestation is a primary issue. This also applies to all horses, young and old. If the horse is ridden with parasites, its feed absorption will be lessen. One should follow a worming regime of 6 to 8 weeks.

A horse infested with parasites is more at risk to have colics and difficulties in putting on weight. If the horse has received a consistent worming programme all its life, it is less likely to have colics and more likely to have a long and healthy life.

Poor digestion

As the horse ages, its digestive system seem to become less effective at breaking down food as the horse may have reduced salivation and oesophagus functions. Although calcium absorption does not seem to be drastically affected, fibre and phosphorus digestion reduces with age. The later being even more pronounced in horses with tumours.
When the horse is depleted of important nutrients, its immune system ability to fight illnesses will also be decreased, exposing it to high risks of not only becoming ill, but also not being able to recover easily.

The horse is then prone to lose body condition and weight.

Arthritis

Arthritic conditions are painful and may restrict the horse in walking and grazing.

Other illnesses

Horses who developed pituitary and thyroid tumours may have reduced insulin response and become sugar and starch intolerant. Same applies to founders which is often linked to pituitary tumours.

Horse with renal and liver diseases also require special diet. In case of renal problems, beep pulp and lucerne hay should be avoided due to their high content of calcium. In case of liver and hepatic diseases, high protein and high fat diets should be avoided.

It is important that the old horse be comfortable and enjoy its retirement.

Its teeth should be checked every 6 months and full vet check-up should be done every 6 to 12 months. A full blood test is not expensive and will help you understand how to care for your old companion. It will show many abnormalities and your veterinarian will be able to help you find appropriate treatment.

In case of arthritis, apart from medication to make the horse more comfortable, many natural therapies may help as well. Acupuncture, homeopathy, shiatsu, acupressure, aromatherapy and clay therapy are some. The herb Devil's Claw can work as a natural anti-inflammatory instead of giving phenybutazone (Bute) but should not be given if stomach ulcers are present, in case of diabetes and cardiac disorders. French green clay applied as a poultice to sore area may provide great relief.

Old horses quite often get bullied by the youngsters at feed time. One should ensure that the senior horse is able to eat in peace and all its meals.

- For better digestion, feed small quantities 2 or even 3 times a day.
- A good shelter is essential to the old horse as it is more sensitive to weather changes.
- In cool weather, if the horse accepts it, a rug will keep him warm and will help save his energy.
- Always provide clean fresh water at all time.
- Vitamin C may help the horse's immune system. Vitamin C can be found naturally in Rosehip. 1 to 2 tablespoons a day in the feed.
- Vitamin B group in the form of Brewer's Yeast might be beneficial, especially in cases of renal and hepatic diseases. It will help with digestion as well. Up to 100 g/day.
- Sweet feed should be avoided, especially in founders and sugar intolerant horses. This includes molasses, honey and sweeten feed mixes.

If there is no liver dysfunction, the addition of vegetable oil may help keep its body condition. Up to 2 cups a day, introduced slowly over a 3 week-period. Virgin coconut oil is a rich source of lauric acid, the source of disease fighting fatty acid derivative monolaurin. Cold pressed Canola oil is also an excellent oil for horses. It contains around 10% omega 3 fatty acids, 20% omega 6 fatty acids and omega 9 fatty acids. Omega-3 and 6 are essential to the normal functioning of all tissues and for vision, heart, rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases. These two fatty acids need to be balanced and the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 should be about 2:1, which is provided by cold-pressed Canola oil. Coconut oil can be given in smaller quantity than Canola such as 25-100ml. Canola can complement to reach 2 cups of oil a day. When providing fat and high protein diets to a horse, one must monitor the horse's dropping to see if their consistency stays normal. If the droppings become too lose like "cow pat", reduce the oil and/or the protein content. Too much protein can be seen in urine as it becomes thick, smelly and difficult to pass.

Avoid starch food for better digestion, especially if the horse has a tendency to tie-up or founders.

Because the digestion is not optimal at this age, avoid feeding grains. Extruded grains are much safer and have shown good results with geriatric horses. Feed manufacturers provide extruded/micronized grains as well as especially designed feed stuff for senior horses.

Herbs that may help with gut ulceration are Marshmallow, Meadowsweet, Liquorice and Slippery Elm Bark. A handful each of Marshmallow and Meadowsweet once a day may help with gut ulceration, inflammation and irritation. Liquorice has to be used with caution as it is a laxative and should not be used if the horse is scouring or have loose manure. It should not be used long term either and only 1 teaspoon a day for up to 3 months. Slippery Elm Bark is good for scouring at a dose of 1 to 2 tablespoons a day.

You may provide good quality protein (12-16%, 8-10% if renal diseases are present) in the form of full fat soy meal or stabilized copra meal. Copra meal like CoolStance provide 20% crude protein whilst a full fat soy meal like Soygize (HyFeed) contains 39% protein, so only a small quantity might be needed. If no liver and renal diseases, good lucerne chaff may be added in small quantity for protein.

Because the horse might have poor teeth, provide its meals as a soft mash for easier chewing as well as good quality chaff. Hay might be too hard to chew or the horse might choke on it, so the hay might need to be dampen to soften it, or chopped like chaff. It is good practice to dampen hay so it is not dusty. To do so, John Kohnke recommends to put the hay in an hessian bag and let it soak in water for up to 1 hour. Remove the bag and let it hang to drain water.

Always provide hay at ground level. If hay is in hay nets that are suspended too high, there is higher risk of choke. A horse, by nature, grazes with its head down and its digestive system is adapted to this practice. Having to eat with its head up goes against its physiology and causes problems.

As we are on the chapter of dust, rations should always be dampen to eliminate dust. Dust is very damaging to a horse's lungs. Stabled horses should also have a dust free environment.

And of course, always seek veterinary advice, even if it seems to be nothing! Better be sure than sorry.

Horse care

 Horses are amazingly beautiful and sensitive creatures. Horses require not only understanding and patience to have a horse as a pet, it also requires a whole lot of care.

Herd Mentality:

Observe horses in the herd system, each horse's welfare in the wild depends upon an instinctive submission to the discipline of the herd. The instinct is for immediate action. To the horse, action is survival. When horses live in an herd environment, they often take turns sleeping and standing guard for any predators. When the leader of the herd signals danger they take flight.

Learning respect and ascending to authority starts on the first day of life for the foals, there is a distinct pecking order in herds of horses.

It is important to keep a quiet profile around horses. Horses naturally do not like unnecessary noise because in the wild their survival depends on detection of predators with their hearing. Extraneous noise interferes with this predator detection. This predator detection is tightly coupled with a horse's flight reflex. Due to these survival genetics, horses have a physiological wiring in their brains that predisposes them to prefer quietness and to become bothered by unnecessary noise. Many horses can get startled easily from abrupt noises and this could result in injury to the horse, the rider, or people around the horse. Talk to your horse in a quiet, reassuring voice.

Relationship With Horses:

A horse will love you if, first and foremost, you treat it fairly, and secondly, if you allow yourself to develop a relationship with it in the same way you would a human partner. There are too many who will look after the horse's material needs but put nothing back into the partnership itself. The horse born in captivity will identify with an alternative provider and companion, resulting in a healthy relationship from the beginning. A healthy relationship with your horse requires: trust, coupled with respect, fondness with compliance, and a desire to please.

Check Your Horse:

Examine your horse every day and especially prior to riding the horse. Carefully examine the horse's legs and back for any unusual heat or lumps. Make sure that the horse's eyes are alert and not glazy. Listen for any excessive noise or gurgling sounds coming from your horse's stomach. Catching problems before they become serious is critical to keeping a show horse sound and alive.

Exercise caution and discretion when around stallions and mares when they are in heat. They are dealing with hormones on an order of magnitude that you probably can not comprehend. Stallions typically bite and some may be easily triggered into violent behavior.

Grooming Horses:

Keep your horse clean. Keep your horse's entire coat free from dirt, mud, sand, and sweat. Brush your horse every day. Pick out your horse's feet every day. Wash out any sweat residue from the saddle pad or girth every day. Wash out any dirt or sand residue, as from the riding arena, on your horses legs every day. A number of different problems can result if a horse's coat is not kept clean.

Barn Care:

Keep your horse's stall clean. Make sure that your horse's stall is cleaned every day. Be sure that any wetness is removed with the manure. Replace the removed bedding with fresh, clean, dry bedding. Water should be dumped from buckets every day without exception. Unhealthy dirt and bacteria can build up in a bucket if it is not cleaned on a daily basis. Clean water is essential to maintaining a healthy horse. Make sure your horse always has clean, fresh water available.

Training A Horse:

The intelligence of the horse increases rapidly with education. An intelligent trainer can make an intelligent horse. A kind but firm trainer will result in a disciplined but pleasing horse.

Horse Feed:

Feed your horse(s) at the same times every day. A horse may get upset and colic or injure themselves by kicking the stall or pawing, if not fed when feeding is expected. You should not make radical changes in a horse's feed program. If you must make a change in the feed program, make the change gradually. Drastic changes in a horse's feed program can cause the horse to colic and in some cases, may die. Your horse's stomach is a highly sensitive bio-reactor that maintains a delicate balance of the organisms that digest food in your horse's digestive track.

Visitors should not feed a horse that you do not own without the owner's permission; no carrots, no apples, no treats, nothing. The horse could potentially, get sick if they have an allergy or sickness.

Pay attention to everything that goes into your horse; that means all feed, all hay, all water, all treats, all supplements, all pills, and all shots. This knowledge could save your horse's life in an emergency situation. Post this information on your horse's stall door so that it is available to a vet if you are not around in an emergency. Make sure that your horse gets high-quality feed and hay. Your horse's health and soundness depends on the nutrition that you provide for them. Take good care of your horse. A rider without a horse is no rider at all.

Vet Care:

Make sure that you have a good equine veterinarian. A good vet will save you money in the long run and may save your horse's life some day. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Make sure your horse has all the vaccinations that are normal for your geographical location. All horses should be on a good worming program to control intestinal parasites. A horse should be wormed by a vet at least twice a year.

Horse Flies:

In the summer spray your horse trailer down with fly spray about 10 minutes before you load the horses. The flies should leave, and your horses will be without those pesky flies!

Cooling Horses:

Never spray a hot, sweaty horse with cold water immediately after working the horse. This can cause muscle spasms and binding, or shock that can lead to death. Wait until the horse is breathing regularly, and use warm water if it is available. If a horse has heat shock, consult your vet and the vet may instruct you to cold hose the horse, even if still hot and sweaty. Never put a horse in a stall or confined area while sweaty or while they are still breathing heavily. This can result in shock and/or colic that can lead to death. Walk the horse until the horse is cooled out and the breathing is normal.

Shoeing:

Horses' hooves generally grow approximately 1 cm in a month, and take nearly a year to grow from the coronet band to the ground. Horse's hooves need to be trimmed regularly (about every 6-8 weeks). Shoeing a horse does not hurt them. If you were to grow out your finger nail, you could put an earring/pin through it without causing discomfort; however, if you pushed the pin through the part of your nail that is attached to the soft tissue of your finger, it would hurt. When horse shoes are nailed in, they are nailed at an angle so which the horse doesn't feel it.

Make sure that you have a good farrier, especially if you show your horse over jumps. The concussion from landing from jumps amplifies any problems in a horse's shoeing. If a horse gets sore feet or legs from bad angles or bad shoeing, the horse can not just take his shoes off, sit back on a couch, and rub their feet, or find another pair of shoes like you can. Bad shoeing can result in your horse becoming lame due to a number of problems including: bowed tendons, popped splints, or shoulder/back soreness or spasms. Bad shoeing can ruin a good horse, so don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish where shoeing is concerned. A laid-up horse is far more expensive to maintain than a good farrier. And remember not all horses need to have shoes, only if they are competing, walking on hard/rocky surfaces, or have hoof problems.

Sleeping:

Horses do lay down to sleep, but only if they feel completely comfortable in their environment. It is not enough to provide a dry stable, food and water. Horses will often sleep standing up by locking their knees. Horses are one of the few animals that can put one half of their body asleep while the other half is wide awake. Emotionally and mentally, all horses need to feel they have and be comfortable in their own space!

To fully enjoy a horse's finer qualities you must treat them with both kindness and quality care. In the end, a happy horse will mean a nicer ride and a happier rider.