18/09/2026
Fab Advice as always ❤️
Friday focus…management changes and gut health!
It’s that time of the year when the routines and management for many horses will be changing soon. These changes often increase the incidents of colic, diarrhoea and gastric ulcers.
Whatever their current management is, if it is going to be changing, now is the time to start getting them ready for those changes to minimise the risk of digestive upset. To support digestive health, the following will all help!
✅ If they have been on grass only and will be coming in, start introducing their hay/haylage/ straw now.
❌ making sudden changes in forage will have the biggest effect on their gut health. This is what they eat the most of, so this will cause the most disruption.
✅ If they have been out 24/7 and will be coming in, overnight or in 24/7 if there is no winter turnout, start taking them in gradually now and building up the time they will be in.
❌ moving straight from being out 24/7 to in 24/7 will have an extremely negative effect on digestive health. Horses need movement to aid digestion.
✅ If they will be changing fields, introducing the different grass gradually is best.
❌ putting them straight onto different/rested pastures without gently introducing it to them will greatly increase the risk of digestive upset.
✅ I hope they have all been having their vits & mins over the summer, but if their feeds will be changing or if they will be having feeds when they come in, it would be a good idea to get them settled on those feeds now if you can, again, to minimise the changes when their management does.
❌ adding or changing feeds as well as forage will further increase the risk of digestive upset, so making one change at a time will allow plenty of time for the microbial population in their guts to adjust.
you.
If you have a horse with a very sensitive digestive system, a good pre and probiotic can be really useful alongside slow changes in forage, feeds and management.
I know it is not always easy to make changes as slowly as we would like, but do the best you can with what is available to you. Anything you can do to reduce the risk of digestive disturbance will help!