Consultation Services
Equilize Horse Nutrition offers highly professional and independent consultation services to feed companies, horse owners, trainers, breeders and educational institutions. Dr Nerida Richards is Equilize Horse Nutrition's Principal Consultant and is considered by many to be Australia's leader in the field of horse nutrition. Equilize Horse Nutrition's consultation services include:
Commercial Feed Development
Equilize Horse Nutrition offers this unique service to Feed and Supplement Companies in Australia. Through interacting with the many and varied members of the Australian Horse Industry, Dr Richards has a sound understanding of the wants and needs of Australia's horse owners, trainers and breeders. Dr Richards combines this on-the-ground experience with her strong scientific abilities to provide Australian Feed and Supplement companies' unrivalled support when it comes to the development of new products or the reformulation of existing products.
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Researching and Writing of Technical Information for Feed Companies and Educational Institutions
Dr Richards' extensive research background allows Equilize Horse Nutrition to offer this service to members of the Australian and International Horse Industries. Examples of written material produced by Equilize Horse Nutrition to date include:
- Fact sheets covering various nutrition related topics such as the equine gastrointestinal tract and its functions, condition scoring horses, the benefits of feeding various types of feeds and nutrients and the role of nutrition in various nutrition related diseases such as osteochondritis dissecans;
- Commercial product descriptions, technical information and feeding instructions; and
- Course or lecture notes for educational institutions.
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Diet Forumulation and Balancing
Your horse's health and performance, no matter what discipline or activity, relies heavily on sound nutrition. Every horse requires a balanced diet that provides them with all of their energy, protein, vitamin and mineral requirements in the balanced quantities and correct ratios. Providing your horses with a precisely balanced diet will help to ensure that the growth of young animals, the reproductive efficiency of breeding animals, the athleticism of performance horses and the health and wellbeing of all horses is optimised.
Equilize Horse Nutrition specialises in formulating balanced diets for all classes of horses including growing horses, dry, pregnant and lactating mares, breeding stallions, performance horses, pleasure horses and horses with special needs such as aged horses, horses following intensive antibiotic treatment and horses with nutritional related disorders such as laminitis and tying-up.
Equilize Horse Nutrition's consultancy services are fully independent, meaning we can give you, our customer, access to the full range of horse feeds and supplements available in Australia. Our independence also means we can formulate your horses' diets, using the ingredients that are best for your horse, every time.
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Pasture Sampling and Analysis
Pasture plays an important role in the nutrition of horses in Australia. However, Australian pastures are commonly deficient in critical nutrients such as copper, zinc, selenium, phosphorous and calcium that are vital for the sound growth and development of young horses and for the optimal reproductive efficiency and athletic performance of mature horses. The use of pasture analyses will allow you to best utilise the pasture resources available to you whilst using feeds and feed supplements to economically complement or balance your pastures.
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Growth Tracking
Growth tracking involves the monthly weighing (and measurement of wither height) of your weanlings and yearlings and the plotting of this weight (and height) on a ‘growth curve'. Growth tracking allows you to make informed decisions about your growing horses' nutrition program and to make an accurate assessment of their growth progress.
Rapid and/or irregular growth rates have been linked to the incidence of developmental orthopaedic diseases in horses, including osteochondritis dissecans (OCD). Therefore the use of growth tracking and accurate diet formulation, to ensure a steady growth rate and sound nutrition, will help to reduce the on-farm incidence of developmental diseases.
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Feeding Management Education Seminars for Staff
The success of your nutrition program can depend on the knowledge and skills of your staff. Dr Richards is a skilled presenter and educator and has been invited to speak at various conferences and horse establishments in Kentucky (USA), New Zealand and Australia. General nutrition based educational seminars and seminars tailored to your business' specific needs can be provided.
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