Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Happy Horse Nutrition
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 77. Horse Nutrition, Exercise & Performance: New Research from ICEEP 2026 | 02 Nov 2026 | 01:10:38 | |
Can lunging your horse actually be harder work than riding? Does speed strengthen bones or damage them? And could restricting calories make an already good-doing horse even thriftier? Coming to you from Tokyo, Japan, Dr Nerida is joined by equine exercise physiologist Dr Brian Nielsen and researcher Renee Harbowy to unpack some of the fascinating science presented at the 12th International Conference on Equine Exercise Physiology (ICEEP). After five days, around 80 research presentations and some very full brains, the three sit down to share the research that caught their attention, challenged their thinking, and might just change the way we feed, train and manage our horses. They explore new research on lunging and exercise intensity, the complicated relationship between speed, bone strength and injury risk, why training young horses isn't necessarily a bad thing, and how mitochondria respond to calorie restriction — with some interesting implications for managing overweight horses. Of course, there's plenty of horse nutrition too, including the relationship between grain feeding, hindgut health and racing performance, with a look at some fascinating data presented from Ciaron Maher Racing. It's a slightly different episode, with plenty of science, a few laughs and a behind-the-scenes look at what happens when you put a couple of hundred equine researchers in a room together for a week. And perhaps most importantly, it's a reminder that good horse management rarely comes down to just one thing, and that behind the science is a whole community of researchers working incredibly hard to make life better for our horses. Learn more about the 2026 International Conference on Equine Exercise Physiology (ICEEP), Tokyo, Japan: 📲 Download the MyHappy.Horse nutrition app to check your horse’s diet is properly balanced https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 💖 And if you found this episode helpful, please follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast and share it with a horse owning friend 🙏🏼 | |||
| 76. Horse Nutrition Q&A: Gut Health, Straw, Beet Pulp Colic & Ryegrass Mycotoxins | 26 Oct 2026 | 00:44:06 | |
Orla is back for another Happy Horse Nutrition Q&A, although this one very quickly becomes a reverse Q&A, a Pony Camp debrief and a collection of slightly random, but useful, horse nutrition observations. We talk about a stomach with a pH of 1.2, why water matters more for gastric health than we sometimes give it credit for, and how Dr Nerida, yes the PhD equine nutritionist, managed to give her own horse colic! Nerida and Orla also revisit straw for horses with EMS and weight issues, why the right low-energy forage is essential for feeding hay 24/7, and why it is so essential to feed a properly balanced diet when using straw. Then they head back down the ryegrass rabbit hole with a fascinating real-world case of a horse showing extreme behavioural changes on ryegrass pasture, and what happened when his owner added a targeted mycotoxin binder. Plus horse drinking habits, Pony Camp survival, and apparently… kangaroos can get staggers too. As always, there’s science, horse geekery, plenty of side tracks and lots of laughs plus hopefully a few things that make you look at the way your own horse eats, drinks and behaves just a little differently. 📲 To check your horse’s diet and KNOW you are feeding right, download the MyHappy.Horse app https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 💛 We’d love if you would leave us a rating, follow the show and share this episode with a friend, it truly helps us get this information in front of more horse owners. 🩺 And if you’d like to get in touch with Orla, Orla.lyons@randlab.com.au | |||
| 75. Horse feed labels explained: do you really need to follow recommended feeding rates? | 20 Oct 2026 | 01:12:22 | |
Ever looked at the feeding recommendations on a bag of horse feed or a bucket of supplements and wondered who decides how much you should feed? And do you really need to follow them? In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida takes you behind the scenes of horse feed and supplement formulation, drawing on more than 25 years of experience developing products and writing the feeding recommendations that appear on their labels. You will learn why some feeds recommend feeding large amounts while others recommend very little, how those feeding rates are calculated, and why feeding less than the recommended amount could leave your horse short of essential vitamins and minerals. We also explore what happens when you combine fortified feeds with vitamin and mineral supplements, why a 30 g supplement isn't necessarily better or worse than a 150 g supplement, and why feeding half the recommended dose of a gut health or hoof supplement might mean you're wasting your money. Plus, what should you do if your horse gets fat on the recommended feeding rate, or needs more feed than the manufacturer suggests? And Nerida mentions several times that the best way to know exactly what your horse is getting from its diet, is to run an diet analysis thorugh MyHappy.Horse, the equine nutrition app designed to help you feed with confidence and accuracy! You can check out MyHappy.Horse here 🩵 | |||
| 74. Horse Nutrition, Old Habits & the Science of Change with Dr Katherine Goldberg - Part 2 | 12 Oct 2026 | 01:26:46 | |
Knowing better is one thing. Actually changing what we do is something else entirely. In Part 2 of this conversation, Dr Nerida and veterinarian and social worker Dr Katherine Goldberg go deeper into the very human reasons horse management practices can be so hard to change. They use one of the simplest horse welfare changes as the perfect case study: feeding hay before you ride. Why does something so easy, with such clear benefits for our horses around gastric health, comfort and behaviour, still meet resistance? Then Nerida and Katherine jump back on after Pony Camp for a real-world update and put the psychology into practice, looking at decisional balance, why being the only person doing something differently can feel hard, and why sometimes the best way to create change is simply to keep modelling the better way, loudly and positively. Connect with Dr Katherine Goldberg Dr Katherine works with horse owners through Horses First Stewardship, helping people navigate horse care, feeding, track systems and those tricky situations where you know something needs to change, but you’re not quite sure what to do next. Website: https://www.horsesfirststewardship.com Email: horsesfirststewardship@gmail.com
| |||
| 73. Horse Nutrition, Old Habits & the Science of Change with Dr Katherine Goldberg - Part 1 | 05 Oct 2026 | 00:55:31 | |
Why is it that we can be told something is better for our horse... and still find it incredibly hard to change what we do? In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Dr Nerida is joined again by Dr Katherine Goldberg, veterinarian and social worker, to turn the microscope away from the horse for a moment and onto the humans making the decisions. Because improving horse welfare and horse nutrition isn’t always as simple as giving people better information. Human behaviour is messy. We have habits, beliefs, identities, fears, practical limitations and social pressures, and sometimes the benefits of staying exactly where we are feel bigger than the benefits of changing, even when the science is telling us otherwise. Dr Katherine walks us through the psychology of behaviour change, including readiness for change, decisional balance and why some people simply aren’t ready to hear a new message yet. And then there’s information overload: the vet says one thing, the trainer says another, Facebook says something else again, and suddenly doing nothing feels easier than working out who to believe. If you’ve ever wondered why you or the horse people around you resist change, why better information isn’t always enough, or why knowing better doesn’t automatically mean doing better, this episode is for you. Part 2 continues next week. Connect with Dr Katherine Goldberg Website: https://www.horsesfirststewardship.com | |||
| 72. When a Horse’s Gut Health Goes Wrong: Bentley’s Story | 29 Sep 2026 | 00:50:03 | |
Bentley had been a healthy horse for years, until an injury, prolonged antibiotic treatment and a cascade of gut problems changed everything. Persistent colic, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, gastric ulcers and gas eventually led us to look more closely at his hindgut microbiome. In this episode, Dr Nerida shares Bentley’s roller-coaster ride case study, from microbiome testing and low microbial diversity, through increasing dietary fibre diversity and two faecal microbiota transplants (FMT), to the gradual return of a comfortable, happy horse. We also look at free faecal water, faecal pH, vitamin B2, fibre-fermenting bacteria and what Bentley’s before-and-after microbiome results might tell us about equine dysbiosis, gut health and colic risk. It’s a brilliant example of just how complex the horse hindgut is, and how much we still have to learn about rebuilding a disrupted microbiome. Have a listen and be sure to hang on for the highs and the lows of Bentley’s story ❤️ Big thanks to Bentley's beautiful owner Saskia for allowing us to their incredible story! 🙏🏼🥰 | |||
| 71. Rethinking Performance Horse Nutrition: Forage, Grain and the Dual Fuel Tanks | 22 Sep 2026 | 00:49:27 | |
When it comes to fuelling performance, muscle glycogen and grain feeding get most of the attention, but that’s only half of the story. In this episode, Dr Nerida breaks down the dual fuel tank theory of performance horse nutrition: the finite store of muscle glycogen used for speed and high-intensity work, and the continuous supply of energy in the form of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) produced via fibre fermentation in the hindgut. We explore how these two fuel systems work together, how forage is an essential performance fuel, how the VFA acetate contributes directly to working muscle energy, and why overfeeding grain can undermine the hindgut fuel system that helps horses conserve glycogen for when they really need it. If you feed a racehorse, eventer, polo horse, endurance horse or other high-level athlete, this episode offers a different way to think about the way you structure your diets around forage and grain, to maximise muscle glycogen, gut health and performance. This episode is proudly brought to you by EquiGI's microbiom analysis, order a test kit at https://www.equigi.com 📲 Download the MyHappy.Horse nutrition app to check your horse’s energy intake and build better, more balanced performance horse diets https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
💛 Follow the podcast for more practical, science-based horse nutrition. And we’d love you to share this episode with a fellow performance horse owner or trainer to help them feed for better performance. | |||
| 70. Is Perennial Ryegrass Changing Your Horse’s Behaviour? | 15 Sep 2026 | 00:43:53 | |
Has your horse suddenly become anxious, spooky, reactive or unpredictable... despite being normally calm and sensible? In this episode, Dr Nerida explores how perennial ryegrass mycotoxins can affect horse behaviour, coordination and performance. Learn about lolitrem B and ergovaline, the toxins associated with ryegrass staggers, tremors, hypersensitivity, exaggerated startle responses, heat intolerance and dramatic behavioural changes. We also look at when perennial ryegrass pasture and hay pose the greatest risk, how quickly horses may improve once exposure stops, and whether mycotoxin binders can actually help. If your horse seems to have had a sudden “personality transplant”, their pasture or hay may be worth a closer look and this episode is definitely worth a listen! Testing pasture or hay for perennial ryegrass toxins Australia: Southern Scientific Services, Hamilton VIC – pasture toxin testing including lolitrem B and ergovaline. Phone 0408 363 061. Contact the laboratory before collecting/sending samples for current sampling instructions. USA: Oregon State University Endophyte Service Laboratory – quantitative testing for lolitrem B and ergovaline in pasture, hay and feed. https://emt.oregonstate.edu/endophyte-lab
📲 For help balancing your horse's diet, download the MyHappy.Horse App https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 💖 If you found this episode helpful, please follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast and share it with a horse owning friend who is struggling with their horse's behaviour. 🌟 And we'd love you to leave us a rating and review, it helps us help more horse owners to find practical, science-based nutrition advice. | |||
| 69. Horse Nutrition Q&A: Starch in Clover, Protein, Gut Health & Fibre Diversity | 08 Sep 2026 | 00:50:32 | |
How high can the starch content of clover really get? Can lupins be too high in protein? And does adding lots of different fibre sources actually help your horse’s hindgut microbiome? In this Q&A episode, Dr Nerida and Orla unpack a mix of practical horse nutrition questions, including clover and insulin dysregulation, faba beans and resistant starch, high-protein diets, gastric ulcers, and why even a skinny horse can still be metabolically at risk. They also explore one of the biggest emerging areas in equine nutrition: forage diversity and the gut microbiome and how much ingredient variety may be enough to make a meaningful difference to the microbiome. Plenty of practical feeding advice, a few fun rabbit holes on human and ruminant nutrition, and one genuinely scary clover statistic!
📲 To check your horse’s diet and KNOW you are feeding right, download the MyHappy.Horse app https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 💛 We’d love if you would leave us a rating, follow the show and share this episode with a friend, it truly helps us get this information in front of more horse owners. 🩺 And if you’d like to get in touch with Orla, Orla.lyons@randlab.com.au | |||
| 68. Gut Health: How Your Horse’s Hindgut Microbes Affect Performance | 01 Sep 2026 | 00:48:28 | |
Did you know the microbes living in your horse’s hindgut may be influencing how well they perform? In this episode, Dr Nerida explores research linking hindgut microbiome diversity, fibre fermentation and performance in horses. We look at studies in Thoroughbreds and trotters showing that higher microbial diversity and greater fibre-fermenting capacity are associated with better racing performance, while greater starch fermentation is linked with poorer performance. You’ll also learn practical ways to support a healthier, more diverse microbiome through forage, fibre diversity and smarter grain feeding. Whether you own a racehorse, performance horse or simply want to support better gut health, this episode may leave you in a state of mind-bogglement… which will make perfect sense once you listen. 😂💛 Research mentioned in this episode Leng et al. (2024) Park et al. (2024) Vasseur et al. (2024) Hansen et al. (2015) Grimm et al. (2020) | |||
| 67. Laminitis & Spring Grass: How to Keep Your Horse Safe | 25 Aug 2026 | 00:42:11 | |
Managing a laminitis-prone horse through spring can feel like a full-time job! Especially when pasture non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) levels can change dramatically with the weather. In this episode, Dr Nerida and Orla talk through the practical realities of managing horses with laminitis and insulin dysregulation, including why frosty nights and sunny days can make spring pasture particularly risky, when grass is likely to be safest to graze, and how grazing muzzles, strip grazing and low-NSC hay can help. They also discuss clover, forage testing, nitrate risk, exercise and insulin sensitivity, and the challenge of keeping horses eating enough fibre while still controlling calorie and sugar intake. A useful follow-up to our conversation with Dr Luke Wells-Smith, for anyone navigating laminitis and spring pasture with a metabolic horse or pony. 🤖 If you have questions about laminitis, or any other feeding and nutrition related question, give Dr Nerida AI a go: https://www.myhappy.horse/nerida-ai
💛 And to really look in detail at your horse’s diet, download the MyHappy.Horse nutrition app: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 | |||
| 66. Horses, Laminitis & Hoof Health with Dr Luke Wells-Smith | 18 Aug 2026 | 01:23:09 | |
In this episode, Dr Nerida is joined by Dr Luke Wells-Smith, dual qualified equine veterinarian and farrier, for a unique perspective on laminitis. Dr Luke unpacks what’s happening inside the hoof during laminitis, the early warning signs horse owners can watch for, insulin dysregulation, digital pulses and hoof growth rings. Nerida and Luke also get into nutrition, misleading “grain-free” feed labels, beet pulp, the microbiome, and why identifying and controlling the underlying cause of laminitis is so critical. A fun and practical conversation for anyone wanting to better understand laminitis and protect their horse’s hooves. You can find Dr Luke Wells-Smith at the Motion Equine Centre: Telehealth consultations with Dr Luke Wells-Smith: | |||
| 65. My Favourite 5 Weight Gain Ingredients for Horses | 11 Aug 2026 | 00:43:43 | |
What are the best ingredients for helping a horse gain weight safely? In this episode, PhD equine nutritionist Dr Nerida explains why lucerne (alfalfa), full-fat soybean, lupins, sugar beet pulp and copra meal are five of her favourite horse weight-gain ingredients. Discover how each ingredient supplies energy, fermentable fibre or quality protein, and how the right combination can help horses build body condition and muscle without simply relying on more grain. You’ll also learn why hindgut health matters, when high-protein feeds can become problematic, how to use these ingredients safely and why every weight-gain diet still needs to be properly balanced. Soycheck test kit for checking whether soybean products contain active trypsin inhibitor: https://cbsbioplatforms.com/Store | |||
| 64. Horse Nutrition Q&A: Insulin Sensitivity, Muscle Building and Misleading Feed Labels | 04 Aug 2026 | 00:46:48 | |
Join Dr Nerida and Orla as they discuss how exercise can improve insulin sensitivity. Plus they talk feeding for muscle development, and how whey protein, soybean and leucine play a role. They also dive into digestive enzymes, why they are being added to more feeds, and how enzymes may help some horses digest starch more efficiently when grain-based feeds are used. This leads into a bigger discussion about diet analysis, nutrient deficiencies, toxicities, misleading “grain-free” labels, and why horse owners need a way to check whether a diet is genuinely safe and balanced. The episode finishes with musings on raw grain, stomach pH, hindgut pH, gastroscopy, omeprazole, acid rebound, and has a few classic Orla and Nerida side tracks along the way. 📲 To check your horse’s diet and KNOW you are feeding right, download the MyHappy.Horse app https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 💛 We’d love if you would leave us a rating, follow the show and share this episode with a friend, it truly helps us get this information in front of more horse owners. 🩺 And if you’d like to get in touch with Orla, Orla.lyons@randlab.com.au | |||
| 63. Preventing Gastric Ulcers in Horses: Nutrition Strategies Beyond Forage | 28 Jul 2026 | 00:42:11 | |
Preventing squamous gastric ulcers takes more than just feeding enough forage. In this episode, Dr Nerida explains four additional nutrition strategies: feeding a balanced diet, controlling grain and starch intake, supplying high-quality protein, and using lucerne or alfalfa strategically. Plus she covers why grain is not automatically the problem, how key nutrients support stomach repair, and why lucerne is so valuable for gut health. Here are some of the papers referenced: Effects of feeding alfalfa hay in comparison to meadow hay on the gastric mucosa in adult Warmblood horses https://pferdeheilkunde.de/files/20200105.pdf Evaluation of diet as a cause of gastric ulcers in horses https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10895901/ Risk factors associated with equine gastric ulceration syndrome (EGUS) in 201 horses in Denmark https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19927579/ 📲 For help assessing your horse’s diet and making sure you are feeding a balanced diet to prevent gastric ulcers, download the MyHappy.Horse App https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 💖 If you found this episode helpful we'd be so grateful if you would follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast and share it with a horse owning friend who is struggling with gastric ulcers. 🌟 And please leave us a rating and review, it helps us help more horse owners to find practical, science-based nutrition advice. | |||
| 62. Preventing gastric ulcers: The top 3 things you must do for your horse | 21 Jul 2026 | 00:38:17 | |
Gastric ulcers are incredibly common in horses, but before changing feeds or reaching for an ulcer supplement, there are three far more important foundations to get right. In this episode, Dr Nerida explains why forage is central to preventing equine squamous gastric ulcers and reveals the three practical steps every horse owner should prioritise: feeding enough forage, minimising the time horses spend without something to chew, and feeding hay before, and ideally after, exercise. You’ll also learn why simply providing hay does not necessarily mean your horse is eating enough, how herd dynamics and restrictive hay nets can reduce forage intake without you actually noticing, and why weighing your horse’s hay may be one of the most useful things you can do for their gastric health. Here is the link to free full text research study mentioned in the podcast: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/22/3512
📲 For help assessing your horse’s diet and making sure you are feeding enough forage to prevent gastric ulcers, download the MyHappy.Horse App https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 💖 If you found this episode helpful, please follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast and share it with a horse owning friend who is struggling with gastric ulcers. 🌟 And we'd love you to leave us a rating and review, it helps us help more horse owners to find practical, science-based nutrition advice. | |||
| 61. Horse Nutrition Q&A: Gravel in the Gut, Lucerne Myths and Haynets | 14 Jul 2026 | 00:37:42 | |
Orla is back on the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, and this time she and Dr Nerida are answering listener questions, sharing stories from the behind the gastroscope, and chat themselves down a number of rabbit holes. In this (very 😂) relaxed Q&A episode, Nerida and Orla talk about sand, gravel and soil in the gut, when psyllium may be useful, and why forage and fibre are so important for helping horses move dirt through the digestive tract. They also discuss the tricky balance between using haynets to slow intake, while still keeping horses comfortable, chewing and ulcer-free. They answer a listener question about lucerne/alfalfa and whether it is actually too high in sugar for metabolic horses (spoiler alert, it's not but there are so many misconceptions!). Nerida explains why lucerne can be a useful low-NSC forage, and how it can help add protein, calcium and fibre diversity to the diet. The conversation also wanders into fasting horses for gastroscopy, soaking hay, muscle cramping, potassium, PSSM and HYPP, because one good horse nutrition question always seems to lead to five more 🙈😄. This is a fun episode with some useful info and interesting stories 💖 💛 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast and share it with a horse-loving friend 🙏🏼 📲 For help assessing your horse’s diet, download the MyHappy.Horse app https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324. 🩺 And if you’d like to get in touch with Orla, Orla.lyons@randlab.com.au | |||
| 60. Rebuilding a Horse’s Gut After Racing - Allay's Story | 07 Jul 2026 | 01:22:56 | |
What really happens inside an off-the-track’s gut when you take away the racing diet and start to rebuild the horse from the hindgut up? In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida is joined again by Dr Belinda to talk all about Allay, Nerida’s daughter's beautiful off-the-track Thoroughbred mare, and what happened inside her gut as she transitioned from racehorse life into life after racing. Allay’s story gives us a rare look at the hindgut microbiome in real life. Over her first 12 months with Nerida, her diet, behaviour, condition and microbiome were tracked, showing what can happen when an off-the-track horse is given time, fibre, forage diversity and the right nutritional support. Nerida and Belinda unpack how Allay’s microbiome changed over time, why fibre comes first when rebuilding the hindgut, how forage diversity helps support microbial diversity, and why microbiome recovery does not always happen in a perfectly straight line. They also talk about behaviour, manure, ryegrass curveballs, microbial resilience, and why feeding the microbes in the hindgut is such an important part of supporting the whole horse. If you own an off-the-track, work with them, or simply want to better understand how the gut can influence condition, health, behaviour and long-term resilience 🐎 To watch Allay's full story, see Allay: The First 12 Months
📲 For help assessing your horse’s diet and building a balanced feeding plan, download the MyHappy.Horse App and let it help you feed with more confidence https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 💖 If you find this episode helpful, please follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast and share it with a horse owning friend who is struggling with feeding their OTT.
| |||
| 59. Feeding Pregnant Mares & Why Balanced Nutrition Matters From Day One | 30 Jun 2026 | 00:55:16 | |
How much does broodmare nutrition really matter? In this episode, Dr Nerida is joined again by Jess, an equine science student from Charles Sturt University, for a practical Q&A on feeding pregnant (and lactating) broodmares. They unpack the idea of “feeding for two”, and why pregnant mares do not need large amounts of extra energy and protein from day one, but absolutely do need a balanced diet from the very beginning. Nerida explains how nutrients such as copper, iodine, calcium, phosphorus, protein and lysine can influence foal development, joint health, milk production and mare condition. The discussion also explores lactation, foal growth rates, the importance of the mare’s microbiome, and why nutrition during pregnancy may have long-term effects on the foal’s health and future performance. A must-listen episode for breeders, stud staff and horse owners wanting to give mares and foals the best possible start. 📲 Download MyHappy.Horse to help you keep broodmare diets balanced: https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 🦠 And if you want to look into your broodmare’s microbiome, get in touch with EquiGI - https://www.equigi.com | |||
| 58. Feeding horses for Weight Loss and Why “Just Feed Less” is Not the Answer | 23 Jun 2026 | 01:11:10 | |
Is your horse an “air fern” who seems to gain weight just by looking at grass? In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida walks you through how to feed overweight horses and good doers for safe, sustainable weight loss, without leaving them hungry, stressed, nutritionally deficient or at higher risk of problems like gastric ulcers. Weight loss for good doers is not as simple as “feed less”. In fact, restricting forage too harshly will create serious gut health, welfare and behaviour problems. Instead, Nerida explains how to reduce calorie intake while still keeping your horse chewing, happy and with all of their nutrient requirements met. You’ll learn the five key steps to feeding horses for weight loss, including remove high-energy feeds, manage access to pasture and high quality hay, use low-calorie forages like mature grass hay and straw, balance vitamins and minerals correctly, and how exercise and winter can make such a difference. This episode also covers practical tools for managing laminitis-prone , insulin-dysregulated , cresty-necked and easy keeper horses, including use of forage testing, slow feeders, track systems, controlled grazing and the importance of measuring body condition, body weight and cresty neck score over time. If you have agood doer or an overweight horse that needs to lose weight safely, this episode will help you understand how to create a weight loss diet that protects gut health, supports the hindgut microbiome and keeps your horse (and you!) as happy as possible. 📲 Download the MyHappy.Horse nutrition app to check your horse’s calorie intake and make sure your weight loss diet is properly balanced https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
💖 If you found this episode helpful, please follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast and share it with a horse owning friend who is struggling with getting their air fern to lose some weight!.
🌾 And here is Sammy Julliand’s work on hay assessment using the human senses https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751731118003725 | |||
| 57. Feeding Horses for Weight Gain and Why “Just Feed More” Is Not the Answer | 16 Jun 2026 | 01:08:32 | |
Is your horse underweight, a classic hard keeper, or one of those horses who seems to need a ridiculous amount of feed just to hold condition? In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida takes a practical, gut-first look at feeding horses for safe, effective and sustainable weight gain. Because weight gain is not simply a matter of “just feed more”. Yes, a horse needs to eat more energy than they use in order to gain weight, but they also need to be able to digest and use that energy. And that is where so many weight gain diets go wrong. If the cause of weight loss has not been identified, the hindgut is struggling, the diet is unbalanced, or the horse is being pushed too hard with high-starch feeds, owners can end up feeding more and more, while the horse still fails to thrive. In this episode, Nerida walks through the five key steps to feeding for weight gain, starting with identifying why the horse is underweight in the first place. From there, she explains why the hindgut must become a fibre-fermenting powerhouse, why forage variety and fibre diversity matter, how to balance the diet properly, why high-quality protein is essential for building muscle and topline, and how to add high-energy ingredients like super fibres, oils and well-cooked grains safely. Nerida also talks about something every owner needs to understand before starting a weight gain diet: higher-energy diets can affect behaviour. The aim is not to create a fire-breathing dragon under saddle. The aim is to build a healthier horse who can gain condition, support muscle development, maintain better gut health and eventually hold weight without relying on huge amounts of supplementary feed forever.
📲 For help assessing your horse’s diet and building a balanced feeding plan, download the MyHappy.Horse app and let it help you feed with more confidence. https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
💖 If you find this episode helpful, please follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast and share it with a horse owning friend who is struggling with weight gain. | |||
| 56. Do Calming Supplements for Horses Actually Work? | 09 Jun 2026 | 01:04:18 | |
Do calming supplements for horses actually work? Or are we sometimes asking them to do a job they were never going to be able to do? In this episode, Dr Nerida takes a practical, science-based look at horse behaviour, diet and calming supplements. Before diving into ingredients like magnesium, vitamin B1 and tryptophan, Nerida starts with the bigger question every horse owner should ask first: Why is my horse behaving this way? Spookiness, tension, anxiety, reactivity, unpredictability and “too much energy” can all be signs that something deeper is going on. Too much concentrated feed, grain-based diets, raw or poorly digested grain, not enough forage, hindgut dysbiosis, gastric pain, riding on an empty stomach, mycotoxins, pain, lack of movement, lack of socialisation and unbalanced diets can all influence behaviour. Nerida also explains why forage is one of the most powerful “calmers” we have for horses, why the hindgut and brain are so closely connected, and why behaviour should always be treated as information. Then she looks at the evidence behind common calming supplement ingredients. Magnesium may help in specific situations, especially where magnesium intake or metabolism is compromised. Vitamin B1 may have a role, particularly when hindgut health is poor. But tryptophan? The research in horses does not support it as an effective calmer. If you have ever reached for a calming supplement hoping it would fix a spooky, anxious or explosive horse, this episode will help you step back, look at the whole horse, and understand what may really be driving the behaviour. Because calm does not start in the supplement aisle. 💛 Download the MyHappy.Horse app to check whether your horse’s diet is supporting calm, healthy behaviour. https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 🎧 Follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast for more practical, science-based feeding advice | |||
| 55. Horse Nutrition Q&A: Feeding horses with dental issues | 02 Jun 2026 | 00:41:48 | |
What do you feed a horse that can’t chew properly? In this episode, Dr Nerida McGilchrist is joined by Jess, an equine science student from Charles Sturt University, for a practical Q&A on dental issues in horses and how they affect nutrition. Using Jess’s own horse as a real-life example, they explore how to feed horses with unusual or compromised teeth, why forage still matters, when soaked hay may help, and how to balance dental comfort with laminitis risk. Nerida also explains why old horses with worn teeth are so often underfed, how to think about chaff, hay cubes, beet pulp, copra and other fibre sources, and why a balanced diet is still essential when forage intake becomes complicated. A useful episode for anyone feeding an older horse, a horse with missing or worn teeth, or a horse that needs a more creative nutrition plan. 📲 Download the MyHappy.Horse nutrition app: https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 🧮 Monitor closely for laminitis with Lami-tag, as early detection is critical - https://www.lami-tag.com 🐎 Queensland Off The Track’s Feeding the senior OTT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxXOm7_7biM 🌾 Here is the key paper behind the discussion about oaten/cereal hay, water-soluble carbohydrates and equine peripheral dental caries. This study surveyed 500 Western Australian horses and found peripheral caries in 58.8% of surveyed horses, with oaten hay identified as a dietary risk factor. Jackson, K., Kelty, E. & Tennant, M. 2018. Equine peripheral dental caries: An epidemiological survey assessing prevalence and possible risk factors in Western Australian horses. Equine Veterinary Journal, 50(1), 79–84. | |||
| 54. Rethinking Yearling Horse Sales Prep: Less Grain, Better Gut Health | 26 May 2026 | 00:45:11 | |
What happens when a thoroughbred breeding farm reduces grain, increases forage diversity, and prepares yearlings with gut health in mind? In this episode, Dr Nerida is joined by Zac Harris, a thoroughbred breeding farm manager preparing yearlings for sale, to talk about a very different approach to traditional yearling prep. For years, many sales yearlings have been fed high-grain diets, often with limited forage diversity, in an effort to maximise growth, muscle and sale-ring presentation. But what if there is a better way? Zac shares what happened when he changed the feeding program, focused more on forage and fibre, and paid closer attention to the horses’ appetite, manure, behaviour and overall wellbeing. This is a hands-on conversation for anyone feeding young horses, preparing yearlings for sale, managing thoroughbreds, or simply wanting to better understand the link between diet, gut health and behaviour.
🌟 If this conversation made you think differently about feeding young horses, we’d love you to follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast
🙏🏼 Please share this episode with someone who works with yearlings, thoroughbreds, or any horses that could benefit from a happier, healthier gut.
💛 And for more information about what we do here at MyHappy.Horse, go to https://www.myhappy.horse/ | |||
| 53. Feeding Horses in Winter | 19 May 2026 | 00:55:22 | |
Winter can be one of the biggest challenges when feeding horses. So in this episode, Dr Nerida talks all things winter feeding. You’ll learn why preparation matters, that forage is your horse’s internal heater and why body condition scoring with your hands is so important during the colder months. Nerida also covers winter weight loss, feeding good doers, choosing forage quality, fibre diversity for hindgut health, water and salt intake, balanced diets, vitamin and mineral support, protein quality, and why laminitis-prone horses still need careful management in winter. Whether your horse is an older horse, an off-the-track Thoroughbred, a hard keeper, a broodmare, a growing horse, a good doer, or a horse prone to laminitis, this episode will help you stay one step ahead before winter feeding problems show up. 📲 Download the MyHappy.Horse app to check whether your horse’s diet is meeting their energy, protein, lysine, vitamin and mineral needs this winter: 💖 If this episode helps you, we’d love you to follow the podcast and share it with a horse-loving friend that has a horse who struggles through winter. | |||
| 52. Protein Is Not Just Protein: Protein Quality in Horse Nutrition Explained | 12 May 2026 | 00:50:19 | |
We talk a lot about protein in horse nutrition, especially for topline, growth, milk production and gut health, but the number on the feed bag is only the starting point. Two feeds can both say 16% protein on the bag, but they may not support your horse’s body in the same way. In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida explains protein quality in horses and why the crude protein percentage on a feed bag only tells part of the story. You’ll learn how amino acids work, why essential amino acids matter, and why lysine, methionine, threonine and the branched-chain amino acids are so important for muscle, topline, bone development, milk production, tissue repair and gut health. Nerida also explains why protein source matters, using examples like soybean meal, whey protein, cottonseed meal, sunflower meal and forage quality, and shows how two feeds with similar crude protein levels can provide very different amino acid value to your horse. Whether you have a growing horse, broodmare, performance horse, off-the-track Thoroughbred, senior horse, or a horse needing more topline or gut support, this episode will help you ask a better question: not just “how much protein is in this feed?”, but “is this protein good enough for the job I’m asking my horse’s body to do?”
📲 Download the MyHappy.Horse nutrition app to check your horse’s crude protein and lysine intake and build better, more balanced diets with confidence https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
🐎 Queensland Off The Track Nutrition Hub is here https://www.racingqueensland.com.au/animal-welfare/off-the-track/nutrition-education-hub 💖 And you can find the story of Allay's first 12 months here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KttwjBii2HY ⁉️ If you'd like help with interpreting your feed label's list of ingredients, email it to us, hello@myhappy.horse or ask Dr Nerida AI https://www.myhappy.horse/nerida-ai 💛 Follow the Happy Horse Nutrition podcast for more practical, science-based horse nutrition, and we’d love you to share this episode with a horse-loving friend who wants to feed their horse with more clarity and confidence. | |||
| 51. Equine Joint Health: What Works and What Doesn’t | 05 May 2026 | 01:40:13 | |
If you are spending money on joint supplements for your horse, or wondering whether that corticosteroid injection is really helping, this episode is essential listening. Dr. Nerida is joined by Renee Harbowy and Dr. Brian Nielsen from Michigan State University, two of the leading researchers in equine joint and bone health, for an honest, science-based conversation about what actually keeps horses sound for life. Renee shares the findings from her recently published research study examining whether glucosamine and chondroitin supplements improve lameness in horses with osteoarthritis, and what the results mean for every horse owner standing in front of a wall of joint supplements at the feed store. From there, the conversation covers equine joint health from the ground up. In this episode you’ll learn:
Whether you have a young horse you are bringing up right, a performance horse in hard work, or an older horse starting to show their age, this conversation will change how you think about joint health and what you can actually do to help your horses have a long, sound, happy life! 🧪 Renee's full research paper can be found here (and it is well worth the read, beautifully written and a brilliant piece of science!): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13113781/ 🌟 If this episode helps you look at joint health a little differently, please follow the podcast so you don’t miss what’s coming next. 💛 And we'd love you to share it with a horse friend, especially someone with a young horse, an older horse, or a horse already struggling with joint issues. These are the conversations that can genuinely change how we manage horses for the better. 📲 And if you want help getting the nutrition side right, download the MyHappy.Horse app. It’s like having a practical, science-based equine nutritionist in your pocket, helping you feed with more confidence and less second-guessing. | |||
| 50. Feeding Weanlings: The Art and Science of Getting Growing Horse Nutrition Right | 28 Apr 2026 | 01:11:12 | |
There is no time in horse nutrition where you need both art AND science more than when you are feeding a weanling. These funny, curious, chaotic little creatures are walking a tightrope every single day... growing fast enough to reach their genetic potential, but not so fast that they end up with bone or joint disease. Get it wrong, and you are looking at OCD, contracted tendons, physitis, stunted growth, and a horse that never becomes what it was born to be. Get it right, and you lay the foundation for a lifetime of health and soundness. In this episode, professional equine nutritionist Dr. Nerida draws on 25 years of experience and thousands of weanlings from Australian thoroughbred studs to Japan’s biggest breeding farms, to walk you through exactly what your weanling needs and why. You’ll learn:
Whether you have one very special homebred foal or paddocks full of youngsters, this episode gives you the knowledge and the confidence to feed your weanlings well. 📱 If you’d like help balancing your weanlings' diet, download the MyHappy.Horse app on the Apple App Store and start building a diet you can feel confident about. https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
💖 And if this episode helped you, please share it with a horsey friend (especially the one currently with a pregnant mare 😅) | |||
| 49. Replay: Bone health and horses with Dr Brian Nielsen | 21 Apr 2026 | 01:22:58 | |
In this replay episode, we are bringing back Dr Nerida’s chat with Professor Brian Nielsen on bone health in horses, because the ideas in this conversation have huge implications for soundness, durability, performance and long-term welfare. If you have ever been told that long, slow work builds strong bone, or that the safest path is always to wait until horses are skeletally mature before exposing them to speed, this episode may really make you stop and think. Dr Brian explains how bone actually adapts to exercise, why turnout and even very small amounts of high-speed work matter so much, how confinement can reduce bone mass, and why this is such an important issue for young horses in particular. It is a fascinating conversation that challenges some deeply held beliefs in horse management and racing, while also being incredibly practical. This was one of the standout episodes from the early days of the podcast, and now that many more of you are listening, it feels like the right time to bring it back. If you care about raising, training or managing horses for long-term soundness, this episode is well worth your time 🌟
🧪Find the full scientific review here: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/5/789
💛 If you’re looking for more practical help with nutrition and managing your horse, have a look at MyHappy.Horse, our app designed to help horse owners make more confident feeding decisions. https://www.myhappy.horse | |||
| 48. Is Canola Oil for Horses as Bad as People Think? | 14 Apr 2026 | 00:38:53 | |
Is canola oil really as bad as people say… or has it simply been one of the most unfairly demonised ingredients in horse nutrition? In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida is joined by Orla for a fascinating and surprisingly fun deep dive into the real story behind canola oil. They unpack where the wild claims came from, including the viral email that helped fuel decades of fear, and separate old rapeseed oil facts from modern canola oil fiction. Dr Nerida and Orla talk about erucic acid, GMO confusion, the strange myths linking canola to everything from blindness to mad cow disease, and why scary misinformation can stick so powerfully in people’s minds. They also bring it back to what really matters for horse owners: where canola oil fits in equine diets, how its omega-3 and omega-6 profile compares with other oils, and why it can actually be a very useful and appropriate choice in the right situation. If you have ever wondered whether canola oil is truly harmful, or whether this is another nutrition myth that has taken on a life of its own, this episode is for you. Here is the full, crazy backstory canola oil email in case you’d like to read it: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/canola-oil/ If you are tired of guessing and would love a clearer picture of your own horse’s diet, come and see what we do at MyHappy.Horse. Download the app and start feeding with more confidence and a whole lot less worry. Download MyHappy.Horse (7-day free trial available): https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 | |||
| 47. Horse Nutrition Q&A: Hair Analysis vs Diet Analysis, Raw Grain Risks, Ulcers & Orphan Foals | 07 Apr 2026 | 00:44:12 | |
Orla is back in the Q&A seat… and she’s come armed 😅 In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Orla has curated a stack of listener questions (and kept Dr Nerida completely in the dark), so it’s a fast-paced, practical chat that bounces from industry ethics to real-life feeding decisions you’ll recognise instantly. We start with a big one: what actually makes someone a “nutritionist” in the horse world, and why that label can be meaningful… or totally meaningless. Nerida unpacks the difference between qualifications, experience, and the uncomfortable reality of “armchair experts” giving confident advice that can cost horses their health. From there, the conversation gets wonderfully hearty:
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by conflicting advice, marketing masquerading as science, or you just want a clearer path to feeding with confidence—this one’s for you. 🐴💛 Here is the link to the 'How to feed an orphan foal' article from Dr Nerida: https://www.myhappy.horse/blog-posts/rearing-the-orphan-foal
Want to analyse your horse’s diet properly (without the stress)? Download MyHappy.Horse here: https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
| |||
| 46. Horse Depression, Behaviour and Nutrition with Joanna Lepiarczyk | 30 Mar 2026 | 01:28:58 | |
In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida is joined by Joanna Lepiarczyk from Horses Explained for a fascinating and deeply important conversation about horse mental health, equine behaviour, and the role that nutrition and feeding systems play in shaping a horse’s emotional wellbeing. We explore why behaviour is so often a form of communication, why a quiet compliant horse is not always a happy horse, and how chronic stress can affect a horse far more profoundly than many owners realise. Joanna shares her perspective on horse depression, the emotional cost of restricted forage and limited choice, and why the foundations of a good horse life are surprisingly simple: forage, freedom, and friends. We also talk about the importance of constant access to something to chew, forage variety, movement, predictability, agency, and why these are not “nice extras” but core building blocks for a horse’s physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. This is a thoughtful, compassionate, and at times confronting conversation that will encourage you to look beyond behaviour and think more deeply about how your horse is actually experiencing daily life. If you care about horse welfare, equine mental and emotional health, feeding management, and giving horses the conditions they need to truly thrive, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. 🐴
🌟 Joanna Lepiarczyk is an equine behaviour expert, classical riding coach, and the author of Understanding Horse Depression, with a focus on equine mental health, horse personality, and helping riders understand horses more deeply.
🧡 You can connect with Joanna at https://www.horsesexplained.com and follow Joanna’s work @horsesexplained
Joanna’s favourite book is ‘Training Showjumpers’ by Anthony Paalman
📲 To find out more about what we do here at MyHappy.Horse you can go to https://www.myhappy.horse or download the app (7-day free trial availabile): https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 | |||
| 45. Feeding Grain Safely to Horses: Cooked vs Uncooked and Why It Matters (a lot!) for Gut Health | 23 Mar 2026 | 00:52:01 | |
Grains are one of those ingredients that get demonised in the horse world… or are fed completely on autopilot. And neither is an ideal situation. In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida digs deep into her PhD research and explains why grain itself isn’t bad — it’s more like a power tool. Used well, in the right horse, grains are incredibly useful. Used carelessly (wrong type, wrong form, wrong amount), and grains can rapidly destroy hindgut health… and in severe cases, even cause death. In this episode, you’ll learn:
Grans are incredibly useful ingredients IF you know how to safely feed them. This episode helps you understand why grains are often unsafe AND how to make them safe to feed in appropriate situations. 📲 Want to see how your current feeding program stacks up for gut health? Pop your horse’s diet into MyHappy.Horse and check the gut health score (7-day free trial availabile): https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
🌾 If this helped, share it with a horsey friend who’s feeding grain “because that’s what we’ve always done” — and hit follow so you don’t miss the next episode. 🐴💛
| |||
| 44. Species-Appropriate Horse Keeping & Why Track Systems Work | 16 Mar 2026 | 01:34:46 | |
Track systems (perimeter grazing systems) can look deceptively simple… but when they’re designed well, they deliver things horses are wired for: friends, freedom, and forage… with extra movement built in.
In this episode, Dr Nerida is joined by the wonderful Dr Katherine Goldberg (DVM, LCSW), a veterinarian and clinical social worker, to unpack what “species-appropriate husbandry” actually means in the real world, and why track systems aren’t just a “weight loss tool” for good doers, but a way we can help horses to live in a way that truly honours their needs. Dr Nerida and Dr Katherine talk about the concept of horses being behaviourally starving even when obese, the two welfare rules Katherine won’t budge on, and how meeting these basic needs changes behaviour, safety, gut health, and the horse–human relationship. You’ll also get practical, immediately usable setup guidance on track width, why varying widths can create natural movement patterns, and how separating resources (water, hay, shelter) encourages that nomadic, forage-and-walk lifestyle horses evolved for. Dr Katherine is the most beautiful human, driven by the desire to help us all create better, happier, more species-appropriate lives for our equine friends in which our horse-human relationships and horse goals, whatever they may be, can flourish! If you’d like to get in contact with Dr Katherine, you can find her at horsesfirststewardship@gmail.com
And if you would like more information on what we do here at MyHappy.Horse you can find us over at https://www.myhappy.horse
Thanks so much for being here 💖💛 | |||
| 43. Free Fecal Water in Horses: Causes, Diet Fixes and What to Try First | 09 Mar 2026 | 01:02:45 | |
Free faecal water (also called free fecal liquid) is one of those horse problems that looks “not that bad” on paper… but how 'bad' is it? 🐴💦 In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida unpacks potential reasons why FFW is suddenly being talked about everywhere, from first hearing it at a conference in Dijon (2016) to seeing it dominate conversations at AAEP Denver (2025). And yes… she asks the uncomfortable question: is this another disease of modern management impacting an ancient gut? You’ll learn:
If you’re dealing with FFW, this is your calm, evidence-informed roadmap to helping your horse. As always, please follow the podcast so more horse owners can find this, and if it helped, share it with a friend (or your whole agistment chat 😉). 💛
🦠 Want to know which species of microbes live in your FFW horse's gut, grab a test kit from Dr Belinda and EquiGI - https://www.equigi.com | |||
| 42. Horse Nutrition Q&A: Straw, Diarrhoea, Feed Safety & Muscle Building | 02 Mar 2026 | 00:46:37 | |
What happens when your horses live on mostly straw for 10 days… and one of them decides to protest with full-blown diarrhoea? 😅 In this Q&A-style catch-up, Dr Nerida and Orla unpack a very relatable “whoops” moment and use it to teach one of the most overlooked fundamentals in horse gut health: fibre diversity. They break down why straw is a very different beast to hay (hello, lignin), why some horses cope while others fall apart, and why “just add a product” isn’t always the smartest first move. From there, the conversation goes behind the scenes of the feed industry, mixed-species feed mills, the very real risk of ionophore contamination, and how to ask the right questions of manufacturers. Then it gets nerdy (in the best way) with least-cost vs set recipes, why crude protein can be misleading, and the lysine + leucine muscle-building “bricklayer and bricks” analogy you’ll love. In this episode you’ll learn:
🐴💛 Want help making sense of your horse’s diet? Download MyHappy.Horse on the Apple App Store (link below) and take the guesswork out of balancing protein, lysine, and the bigger nutrition picture. And if this episode made you go and check the back of a feed bag… we’d love you to leave us a quick rating and review. It helps other horse owners find science-based feeding help. 🧪❤️
Download MyHappy.Horse here: https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 | |||
| 41. OTT Horse Nutrition: The First 12 Months Off The Track | 23 Feb 2026 | 00:59:32 | |
Feeding an Off The Track (OTT) in the first 12 months can be a worry inducing juggle… appetite, behaviour, ulcers and those classic “why won’t you hold weight?” situations. In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida shares her practical approach to feeding OTTs in their first year off the track so they can settle, digest fibre properly, and become easier to keep long-term. Nerida explains why many OTTs arrive with gut health issues. Racing routines and high-energy feeds can increase gastric ulcer occurence and shift the hindgut microbiome away from the good fibre-fermenting microbes. And when the gut isn’t right, it often shows up as a fussy appetite, tricky behaviour, and slow weight gain in OTTs. The episode breaks the first year into two phases: months 1–6 focus on gut rehab with forage first, fibre diversity and balancing vitamins and minerals the focus; then months 6–12 shift to weight and muscle development, with one big caution… weight gain diets change behaviour, sometimes dramatically. Listen to discover how to feed your OTT in the first 12 months off the track for brilliant results… setting your OTT up for a lifetime of health, happiness, calm behaviour and brilliant performance. 🌟 Follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast so you don’t miss the upcoming episode unpacking Allay’s microbiome data with Dr Belinda Chapman. 💖 If this helped, a quick rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts helps other OTT owners find the show. 📱 Want to check your OTT’s diet is balanced while you adjust feed for behaviour and condition? Try MyHappy.Horse (iOS) with a free 7-day trial: | |||
| 40. What is NSC? And is it bad for my horse? | 16 Feb 2026 | 00:52:53 | |
NSC is one of those three-letter acronyms that pops up on feed bags and hay reports… and consistently manages to confuse even the most dedicated horse owners. In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida McGilchrist unpacks Non-Structural Carbohydrates (NSC) in a practical, horse-owner-friendly way. This episode looks at what NSC actually is (starch + water soluble carbohydrates; WSC), how it relates to WSC, whether we should be using WSC or ESC to calculate NSC (see, it gets confusing!), and why that 'fructan piece' matters for both laminitis risk and the hindgut microbiome. You’ll learn why NSC is everywhere in hay, pasture and feeds, and why it’s levels can fluctuate so dramatically, depending on plant type, time of day, climate, temperature, drought stress, and even soil fertility. Nerida shares real-world examples (including from her own horses) to explain what happens when NSC is too high. Problems can include crazy high insulin levels, laminitis, colic, tooth decay and microbial dysbiosis. And she explores why “not enough NSC” can also be a problem in performance horses where energy intake, palatability, and gut function matter. If you’re feeding a pony with insulin dysregulation, a horse with PPID/Cushing’s, a laminitis-prone horse, or a metabolically healthy high performance athlete, this episode will help you make informed, smarter decisions around NSC.
📱 If you’d like help applying this to your horse, download the MyHappy.Horse app on the Apple App Store and start building a diet you can feel confident about. https://apps.apple.com/au/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
💖 And if this episode helped you, please share it with a horsey friend (especially the one currently arguing about pasture sugar on Facebook 😅) | |||
| 39. Horse not eating? Learn the 4 most common causes of loss of appetite | 09 Feb 2026 | 00:48:01 | |
A horse that won’t eat isn’t being “fussy”… it’s a red flag. In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida, PhD equine nutritionist and founder of the MyHappy.Horse app, breaks down the most common nutrition-related reasons horses go off their feed, what they look like in real life, and what actually helps. Nerida covers hindgut disturbance (including hindgut acidosis) and the appetite knock-on effects, including the destruction of vitamin B1, why some horses go off grain but still eat hay, and how faecal/manure pH can be a handy monitoring tool (with the key low-pH threshold to watch). You’ll also hear how gastric ulcers can affect appetite (and why it’s not always obvious), plus the salt trap: too much salt can make feeds unpalatable (and may worsen discomfort in ulcer-prone horses), while too little sodium, especially after watery diarrhoea or heavy sweating, can switch appetite off entirely. And don’t miss the quick but important one: DON mycotoxin (“vomitoxin”). If a new batch of feed is eaten for a few days, then suddenly refused, it may be the feed, not your horse, and testing can help confirm it. You’ll also hear the story of Breeze, Nerida’s very old mare, and the tiny, cheap change that brought her appetite back and genuinely saved her life.
Download the MyHappy.Horse app: https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
Learn more: https://www.myhappy.horse
| |||
| 38. Danger in the Grass: High-Oxalate Pastures, Calcium Deficiency & Bighead Disease in Horses | 02 Feb 2026 | 00:44:59 | |
In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida tackles a pasture risk that catches many good horse owners out: high-oxalate warm-season grasses that can block calcium absorption, slowly weaken bone, and set horses up for nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism (Bighead disease). You’ll learn the simple physiology behind it (the “bone calcium bank” concept), why blood calcium can look normal even when bones are being depleted, and the real-world signs that are easy to misread; shifting lameness, sore or grumpy behaviour, odd gait, skull changes, loud breathing noise under work, dental issues and poor hoof quality. Nerida walks you through practical pasture ID tips for the big culprits—kikuyu, buffel, couch/bermudagrass, and the high-risk one: setaria! And explains how oxalate levels and risk change with growth stage and location (including cooler regions in summer). Finally, she outlines prevention: targeting a calcium: oxalate ratio of at least 0.5:1, keeping calcium balanced with phosphorus and magnesium, why lucerne/alfalfa helps on multiple fronts, and when it’s smarter to use a properly formulated balancer or get expert help… especially if setaria is involved. ✅ Want help checking whether your horse’s diet is actually balanced for these pastures (without doing the maths)? Download the MyHappy.Horse app: https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 ❤️ If this episode helped, please follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts/Spotify and share it with a horse owner in warm, wet coastal regions (or anyone feeding teff or bermudagrass hay).
🕖 Until next time… go have a quick paddock walk! Your feed room decisions should always start with your grass. 🌱🐴
| |||
| 37. Natural Disaster Horse Nutrition: What to Feed When Everything Changes | 26 Jan 2026 | 00:50:35 | |
Feeding horses during emergencies (bushfires, floods, storms, evacuations) can quickly become a “take what you can get” situation, but the choices you make in your makeshift feed room can determine whether your horse copes… or tips into dehydration, gastric ulcers, hindgut dysbiosis, colic, or even laminitis. In this practical episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, PhD equine nutritionist Dr Nerida shares her approach to natural disaster horse feeding with one core rule: keep the diet as close to normal as possible. You’ll learn how to prioritise clean water (and what to do when horses won’t drink), why hay and fibre are your horse’s lifeline, and how to reduce risk when you’re forced to swap feeds or hays fast. We cover smart strategies like ingredient/forage variety, feeding little and often when hay is limited, avoiding the trap of over-using grain/hard feed, and why you should keep hay available when pasture regrows. There’s also specific guidance for horses with PPID (Cushing’s), insulin dysregulation, and laminitis, including when soaking hay might help in a tight spot. If you want a simple emergency checklist to protect hydration and gut health when your horse’s world is upside down, this one’s for you.
✅ Follow the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast on Spotify/Apple so you don’t miss new episodes.
Useful links & resources 📲 MyHappy.Horse app (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 🎧 Start here: Episode 1 - Feed Your Horse Like a Horse (foundation principles for gut health and safer feeding) 🎧 Also helpful: Episode 24 - Ingredient Variety and Why it Matters in Horse Nutrition 🎧 For metabolic/laminitis horses: Episode 15 – All about laminitis – keeping your horse safe | |||
| 36. Horse Nutrition Q&A: Feeding Before Riding, Hydration Myths & Trail Snacks | 19 Jan 2026 | 00:43:27 | |
Should you feed before you ride? After? Or let your horse graze along the trail? 🐴 In this myth-busting Q&A, Dr Nerida and Orla tackle some feeding folklore that just won’t die. Learn why lucerne before exercise protects the stomach from acid splash, why water restriction after work is probably just a Black Beauty hangover, and how letting horses snack mid-ride actually supports gut health. Plus they briefly cover mare abortions caused by hairy caterpillars and reading feed labels. It’s the perfect blend of evidence, experience, and friendly banter, plus a few stories from the saddle! 🌙🥕💧
🐛 Research article on mare abortions caused by the hairy caterpillars: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23452012/ and https://en.engormix.com/equines/horse-health/equine-amnionitis-foetal-loss_a34801/ 🏷️ Reading a Feed Label from Racing Queensland's Queensland Off the Track Nutrition Hub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B-tixE0Jhg 📲 Discover and download the MyHappy.Horse app on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 🤖 Ask your nutrition questions 24/7 with Dr Nerida AI: https://www.myhappy.horse/nerida-ai ❤️ If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate and review — it helps us share science-based horse nutrition with more owners like you! | |||
| 35. Understanding Hay & Pasture Analysis Results for Horses | 12 Jan 2026 | 01:07:43 | |
Forage sits at the very heart of equine nutrition, yet for most horse owners, the numbers on a hay or pasture analysis can feel like a foreign language. In this deep-dive episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida sits down with Anthony Balzer and Kimberly Detmers from Feed Central and Local Ag for an enlightening conversation about what’s really in our forage, how much it changes, and why testing matters more than most people realise. Together, they explore how hay and pasture analysis can influence everything from basic health to performance, soundness, growth, and healthy pregnancies. You’ll hear:
With practical examples, on-farm stories, and clear explanations, this episode makes hay and pasture numbers approachable for every horse owner—from broodmare managers to everyday riders. If you’ve ever wondered what your hay and pasture is really doing inside your horse, this episode is essential listening. Understanding forage is one of the most powerful ways to keep your horses healthy, performing well, and protected from avoidable nutrition-related issues.
📱 Download the MyHappy.Horse app:https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 🔬 Find out more about hay and pasture testing or submit a sample: https://www.feedcentral.com.au/how-to-submit-a-feed-sample-for-testing/ 🌱 Buy Aussie hay that has already been tested: https://www.localag.com.au/buy 🐴 Check out the analysis services from Equi-Analytical: https://equi-analytical.com If this episode helped you feel more confident about what’s in your hay and pasture, a quick rating or review in your podcast app really helps more horse owners find the show, and more horses get fed the way that’s best 💗 | |||
| Replay: Feed your horse like a horse | 05 Jan 2026 | 00:42:17 | |
To kick off Season 2 (2026), we’re re-sharing our most listened-to Season 1 episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, and it’s a classic for a reason. In this practical, science-backed episode, PhD equine nutritionist Dr Nerida breaks down what it really means to feed your horse like a horse, using evolution and gut physiology to help you understand and make modern feeding choices that truly honour your horse’s gastrointestinal physiology. You’ll learn the 5 non-negotiables:
Whether you’re a horse owner, trainer, or vet, this episode gives you a simple, foundational understanding of every horse’s basic nutrition needs
📲 Download the MyHappy.Horse app: https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
P.S. if you enjoyed this episode, we'd love you to subscribe so you don’t miss all the good stuff that is coming in 2026. We'd also love you to please share this episode with a friend who loves a nutrition deep-dive as much as you do! 🐴💛 | |||
| 33. Replay: Your horse's hindgut microbes and their impact on... everything! | Best of 2025 | 29 Dec 2025 | 01:32:19 | |
To wrap up 2025, we’re resharing our most popular guest interview from Season 1 — and it’s a favourite for good reason. In this episode, microbiology expert Dr Belinda Chapman and Dr Nerida take us inside your horse’s hindgut ecosystem. Together, they look at what the microbiome actually is, why horses rely on microbes far more than we do, and how the balance between the fibre-loving “good guys” and the weedy, greedy starch-fermenters can influence everything from digestion and energy production to health, performance, and behaviour.
Dr Belinda and Dr Nerida also dive into some seriously fascinating concepts (in a very listenable way), including:
If this episode helps you see feeding through a new lens, we’d love you to subscribe so you don’t miss the practical, science-backed episodes coming in 2026 - and we’d really love ypu to share this with a friend who loves a good horse nutrition rabbit hole as much as you do, they’ll thank you for it.💛
More about Quantal Bioscience: https://www.quantalbioscience.com/ Hindgut microbiome testing with Dr Belinda: https://www.equigi.com/home Discover and download the MyHappy.Horse App: https://www.myhappy.horse | |||
| 32. Five Ingredients I Love (and Five I Avoid!) in Horse Nutrition | 22 Dec 2025 | 01:07:55 | |
In this last new episode for 2025, professional equine nutritionist Dr Nerida shares five ingredients she loves using in real-world diets, and five (actually if you listen carefully, she sneaks in 6!) ingredients she tries hard to avoid, including a couple she’d happily see disappear from horse feeds altogether! Listen as Dr Nerida frames nutrition the way she actually practices it — like a big jigsaw puzzle. No magic ingredient, no perfect feed… just smart puzzle pieces put together in the right way to support horses and to honour the physiology of their ancient gut. Plus find out which feed ingredient(s) makes it onto the ‘avoid’ list, mainly because of their marketing claims (hello “grain-free” when you’re not actually grain free!). This episode is an easy listen, and will help you think clearly about nutrition, read labels better, and make more confident feeding decisions that your horse and their hindgut will thank you for. Wishing you a happy and safe festive season 🎄❤️ Remember to Subscribe so you don’t miss what’s coming in 2026 🤍 — and if this episode helped, we’d love you to share it with a horse friend who’s feeling stuck with feeding! Racing Queensland's Off The Track Nutrition Hub (free resources): https://www.racingqueensland.com.au/animal-welfare/off-the-track/nutrition-education-hub Download the MyHappy.Horse app (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
| |||
| 31. Is This Horse Fed Right? A Vet's Guide to the Rapid Assessment of Nutrition | 15 Dec 2025 | 00:24:28 | |
When a horse presents with ulcers, colic risk, poor performance, slow healing, unexplained weight change or a plethora of other health conditions, nutrition may be part of the story—even if it isn’t the primary cause. In this episode, Dr Nerida, PhD shares a practical, vet-friendly framework for a rapid field assessment of diet: the same fast mental checklist nutritionists run through when they first meet a case. You’ll walk away with three high-impact screening steps: (1) is there enough forage (and are there long fasting gaps that increase gut risk), (2) is grain being fed appropriately and in a digestible form (to avoid starch overflow into the hindgut); and (3) is the horse actually receiving correct supplementation—meaning a fortified feed/balancer/vitamin-mineral supplement at the proper feeding rate to cover common nutrient gaps and prevent “silent” deficiencies. ✅ See all the figures and tables used in Dr Nerida’s AAEP presentation and read more about the rapid diet assessment framework https://www.myhappy.horse/rapidassess 👇 Download the MyHappy.Horse app and use the Rapid Diet Assessment tool to quickly find red flags and decide when a full nutrition assessment is needed. | |||
| 30. Horse Nutrition Q&A: How racehorses are thriving on more fibre, less grain | 08 Dec 2025 | 00:39:28 | |
The racing world is changing — and happily, it’s science leading the charge. Dr Nerida and Orla return to unpack the data from Ciaron Maher Racing’s nutrition overhaul: less grain, more fibre, and a healthier, happier gut. Learn how high-fibre feeding transforms energy systems, why “the slump” after a diet change is worth pushing through, and what 12 months of microbiome testing revealed about real equine gut adaptation. From elite racehorses to everyday mounts, this episode shows how feeding for the hindgut fuels better performance, resilience, and recovery. 🧬💪 📲 Discover and download the MyHappy.Horse app: https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324 🤖 Ask your nutrition questions 24/7 with Dr Nerida AI: https://www.myhappy.horse/nerida-ai 💬 If you loved this discussion, please follow, rate and share — the horses will thank you! ❤️ | |||
| 29. Strip Grazing for Horses: How to reduce pasture intake safely and support weight control | 01 Dec 2025 | 00:32:51 | |
When used well, strip grazing becomes one of the most effective tools for managing weight, preventing laminitis and protecting pasture. In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida walks through exactly how strip grazing works in real life, why it matters and how to tailor it to your climate, pasture growth stage and horse’s body condition. Drawing on published research, decades of practical experience and her own track-plus-strip system at home, Nerida explains how to move fences strategically, when to increase or decrease allocations, why early-morning moves matter in spring and how straw can be a powerful safety net for easy keepers. She also covers the role of back fencing, how to protect pasture species, and how track systems improve movement, welfare and gut health. If you manage good doers, laminitis-prone horses or simply want clearer guidance on how much to move the fence and when, this episode gives you the practical framework you need.
Discover and download the MyHappy.Horse app: https://www.myhappy.horse
And ask your nutrition questions 24/7 with Dr Nerida AI: https://www.myhappy.horse/nerida-ai
If today’s episode gave you something useful to take back to your horses, I’d love it if you left a rating or review. It helps more owners find trustworthy nutrition info instead of guesswork. ❤️
RESOURCES Strip grazing: Changes in biomass, nutrient content and digestibility of temperate, midsummer pasture by strip-grazed or 'free'-grazing ponies, over 4 weeks https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37890600/
The impact of restricted grazing systems on the behaviour and welfare of ponies https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39275860/
| |||
| 28. Feeding your horse for an amazing coat | 24 Nov 2025 | 00:40:38 | |
A glossy coat isn’t just about looks — it’s a window into your horse’s inner health. In this episode, Dr Nerida takes you through some of the reasons coats lose their shine — from seasonal changes and mineral imbalances to sun bleaching and plain old horse individuality. Learn why copper and zinc are non-negotiables, how diet balance drives coat brilliance, and why balanced diets and good ol’ fashined patience often outshine any supplement. Whether your horse is looking “rough around the edges” or you’re chasing that moonlit gleam, this episode helps you feed and manage for healthy skin, strong colour, and natural glow. ✨
❤️ Learn more about the MyHappy.Horse virtual nutritionist: https://www.myhappy.horse
📲 Download the MyHappy.Horse app: https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324
💬 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow us and leave a rating and review — it helps more horse owners find science-based nutrition advice that truly benefits their horses! ❤️ | |||