Maureen's Blog

I noticed the other day that Chance’s sarcoid looked much narrower.  Walking over to check – thought it might just be his winter coat covering part of it – I could see that hair is actually growing.  That is really exciting to me.  And it would seem to be an indicator that I am on the right track regarding diet – especially free choice minerals.  It has been almost 2 years (will be 2 years this Thanksgiving) since I bought Chance.  That is how long it’s taken for him to get healthy enough to heal that sarcoid.  Two whole years.

That is not the only difference.  This is the first fall (number 3) that he has what I would consider decent weight. He is almost fat!  This too is a sign that his system is healthy.   I would not have thought – at all – when I brought him home in 2009, that it would take this long to overcome the first 6 years of his life – or maybe just the 4 years of racing. It has certainly been an education.

I want to say here that as far as “conventional wisdom” goes, racehorses do have a high quality diet. They get very high quality hay, premium feeds, and supplements such as Platinum Performance, etc. They shine and look like a million dollars. (Not for the first time I have to say a shiny coat is not a sign of health. I have a friend whose horse looked great – shiny coat, etc. And he had a failing liver and had to be put down. Lots of shiny horses get laminitis, and colic, etc.) However, shiny coat aside, the diet racehorses get is not adequate. Since all domestic horses are confined to one degree or another, they are unable to forage for the different nutrients they need. And those nutrients are not in manufactured feeds (or supplements) in the quantities that are needed. I completely believe that. Our horses, in general, are not getting the nutrition they need to be healthy.

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