{"id":108033,"date":"2023-01-06T09:19:29","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T15:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/08b67ef4d4.nxcli.io\/?p=108033"},"modified":"2023-01-06T09:19:29","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T15:19:29","slug":"the-dry-horse-and-what-to-do-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nouvelleresearch.com\/index.php\/articles\/108033-the-dry-horse-and-what-to-do-about-it","title":{"rendered":"The Dry Horse and What to Do About It."},"content":{"rendered":"

The dry horse.\u00a0 It is a very common problem in the equine industry, yet not often recognized despite being quite obvious at times.\u00a0 Dryness in the horse equates to many things which we often recognize on the human side of health, but our approaches to resolving it often go without results.\u00a0 What does dryness mean in the horse and what are the health implications not to mention lameness ramifications?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Dryness in the horse is exactly what it means or infers; dryness.\u00a0 It is quite evident in most cases just by looking at your horse’s feces, and visually evaluating your horse’s feces is an important part of monitoring their health.\u00a0 I discuss that in a different article on ‘what is your horse’s poop telling you<\/a><\/strong><\/span>?’<\/p>\n

In most cases with dryness, the horse’s feces are dry and often brittle, easily breaking apart with little obvious moisture content.\u00a0 The feces are often brown in color and if you squeezed them with a gloved hand, little to no moisture would drip out.\u00a0 Many times, the feces are solid balls, obvious in shape, yet have a glistening surface to them, which is mistaken for ‘moisture’.\u00a0 If you threw one of those fecal balls at a solid wall, it would make a noise because it is hard.\u00a0 Break them apart and you would see the inner contents of that fecal ball are compacted and dry roughage material.\u00a0 \u00a0The glistening surface that you see to those fecal balls is termed ‘dampness<\/a><\/strong><\/span>‘ in the world of TCM, and indicates a weakened digestive system, microbiome imbalance, and likely an incompatible diet.<\/p>\n

Dryness in the horse can also be seen by dry dander on the skin, dry hooves, recurrent tendon and ligament problems, weight loss, and a depressed demeanor or attitude.<\/p>\n

So, in basic terms, the horse is dry, but this concept goes much further than making them drink more water, adding salt to their grain, or adding ground flax to their diet.<\/p>\n

What does dryness mean in the horse?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Dryness in the body of the horse equates to what is termed a ‘blood’ or ‘yin’ deficiency.\u00a0 In truth, they are one of the same, just one is more extreme than the other.\u00a0 The concept of ‘yin’ to me means nourishment, which equates to proper carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and micronutrients.\u00a0 If we look at the average ‘dry’ horse, which I see very often in my consultations<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, these horses are on very low-quality forages, often fed grains, and are given synthetic based vitamin-mineral supplements or ration balancers.\u00a0 This regimen is not compatible with ‘nourishment’ on any level and your horse’s body is telling you this exactly.<\/p>\n

Just look at their feces, their skin condition, their hair coat, hoof health, and even tendons and ligaments.\u00a0 Another sure fire sign of dryness or Yin deficiency is body weight loss, which can happen in any horse from the fire type OTTB to the metabolic syndrome Quarter horse.\u00a0 When we see body weight loss in a horse, it is a sign that things are heading in the wrong direction and catabolism is taking place.\u00a0 The body is consuming itself and there is a lack of pure tissue moisture to keep cells happy and systems working properly.<\/p>\n

Dryness in the horse’s body is made worse by many factors<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n