* Disclaimer: The products offered on this web site are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Rather, they are intended for educational purposes only. These treats contain simple sugars and starch levels generally found to be safe for horses with Insulin Resistance. However, every horse is an individual. Check with your own veterinarian. The statements presented on this web site have not been evaluated by the FDA or USDA. The use of herbs for the prevention or cure of disease has not been approved by the FDA or USDA. We therefore make no claims to this effect. Site Design by Skode's Horse Treats Inc.
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Natural horse care is about tending to everything from your horses' hoof care
and exercise regimes to their emotional, physical and spiritual needs.
Somehow, we beat the odds; All three of our horses, to some degree or another, have a hard time processing sugars. That means we have to be extremely careful about what we feed them, the kinds of hays they eat, and even the grasses they graze.
This could all become very tedious, but over the years we have found ways to make the low-sugar life a lot of fun for everyone at Skode’s Ranch. In fact, we can honestly say that we enjoy our herd more today than we ever have. Judging from their loud knickers, joyful nudges and sloppy kisses, our horses feel the same way.
We hope our tips for THE GOOD LIFE help you create the kind of relationship that develops when the details matter and the dedication to carry them out is truly an act of love.
The Treat Lady
Every morning, Grandma – aka “The Treat Lady” to Vashka, Sunny and little Harley, tends to the morning needs of the horses. The alarm next to her bed rings at 6 a.m. The horses stand outside her window, waiting. Then they hurry over to her front gate and wait impatiently for their treats. This is a wonderful time of bonding for the foursome and The Treat Lady says it has become even more special since she has taught the boys how to perform "tricks for their treats."
All the horses know how to stretch their necks out like turtles and touch the treat bucket when she says “Touch!” And everyone knows when to bend their bodies in half like yogis when she says "Stretch!" The Treat Lady stands on one side and says: “Bend” and then the horses bend their heads to the furthest reaches of their stomachs. Sometimes, even when it’s not treat time, the horses can be seen in the middle of their paddocks, bending this way and that way for no apparent reason at all!
Dry Lot? What Dry Lot?
Our horses have 2 ½ acres of wooded pasture adjoined by 3 acres of grass land to roam. All of it is fenced and ready for them. However, we have to be acutely aware of the state of the grass, the seasons, and the individual health of each horse before anyone is allowed to graze. Even then the grazing is generally in the early mornings for no longer than an hour or two at a time. So the horses spend most of the time in their grassless, wooded pasture, or as we like to call it “Grandma’s Forest.” When we first built the fences for the woods, we were very worried that the horses would feel bored and deprived. After all, they wouldn’t have their beloved grass to munch on all day long. What would they do?
“Putting a horse in a dry lot is like putting a horse in a parking lot,” says my friend Linda, who also has an Insulin Resistant horse.
She’s right – if you don’t get creative.
So…. Given that horses are hardwired to graze an average of 20 out of every 24 hours, walking from one mouthful of grass to the next, we knew we didn’t want to just toss hay into a few big piles and watch the horses standing in one place for hours on end. The horses sure wouldn’t get much exercise that way! We needed little piles of hay all over the pasture. That meant we needed feeders because the ground on about half of Grandma's Pasture is made of decomposed granite and thus very sandy.
The traditional metal feeders with slats in them weren’t practical because all of them were too high up off the ground for our liking (we wanted to keep the horse’s noses on the ground as that position is far more natural for them as grazers). Plastic buckets didn’t work because they got too hot in the sun and collected water in the rain. Ditto for rubber buckets.
So we called our handyman, Jack, and asked him to build 11 custom hay feeders. He suggested plastic trellis fencing and untreated Douglas Fir. The trellis works because it is sturdy and won't rot or rust, and the trellis holes keep the hay areated. The Douglas Fir made a good choice because it is non-toxic and not too expensive.
A Natural Spring
Each of my horses experienced sore feet after we first moved to Oregon. The stress of the long trip from Southern Miami to Southern Oregon, coupled with the lush green pasture in here, caused all kinds of stresses and soreness. I only wish I had known the nutritional and natural hoof care experts I know now! Lamintis is a condition much more easily prevented than treated. Unfortunately, many horses who are sugar-sensitive horses experience sore feet and even Chronic Laminits, a condition in which the laminae of the hooves (the tissue that holds the coffin bones in place), is inflamed.
During my horses’ healing times, it was often necessary for me to soak their feet. For a long time I put on their Davis Soaking boots, and had them soak in their stalls. I still do that when I need them to soak in something other than water (one of my favorite soothing concoctions is 5-10 drops of Therapeutic-grade Essential oil of Lavender and water in each boot). But now I have a new, easier way: I simply let the water trough overflow and let the horses stand in the water. They do this naturally when they need to, just like horses in nature.
Even though the horses are better, they still walk through the water to the way to the trough, and I have the added benefit of trail horses who don’t spook at or avoid creeks.
Tummy Tempters
I like to refer to little Harley, my Shetland Pony as “my Romeo.” He is constantly pulling my hair out of my ponytail holders, kissing me on the cheek and giving me hugs – what a flirt!! For some reason, it seems likes it is the horses with the biggest personalities and the tremendous hearts are the ones who have more of than their fair share of struggles. Last spring, Harley broke through a fence, got out on the clover one night, and then came down with laminitis and eventually founder.
Helping him through that has meant strict attention to his diet, hooves, and emotional well being
For Harley, happiness = hugs and food. I have plenty of hugs, but finding the right foods so that he has enough variety in his diet so that he doesn’t get bored with the same meals day after day, has been a challenge. One of the best things we have come across has been Witcheyladycreations.com, and their herbal, all-natural variety packs that are made with the low-sugar needs of Insulin Resistant horses in mind. Finally, a way to give my baby the tastes he so craves – but without the worry of too much sugar!
Claire Cox-Wilson, the owner of Witcheylady Creations, has 10 different kinds of flavorings: Citrus Burst (with orange peel, apple pectin and carrot powder), Italian Potion (with Oregano, fenugreek and rosemary) and Purple Passion Potion (with Beet root, apple pectin and alfalfa), are Harley’s absolute favorites. We just mix them in with his hay pellets, ground flax, safe vegetables, rosehips, natural salt, pro-biotics, and custom mix of vitamins and minerals and VOILA—Harley is one incredibly happy Shetland Pony!
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The Low Sugar Life
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