Place Your Bets Equine - Equine Osteopathy

Schedule Update

Booking tentatively:
Glendon/Elk Point area - July 5

Wainwright/Vermilion TBA

Please comment or message to book.

How is June already more than half over?

My books are full for the remainder of June, so I’m now opening bookings for July osteopathy appointments.

We’ve dealt with so much rain and mud this month—don’t let small issues turn into larger compensation patterns. Addressing concerns early can help keep your horse comfortable and performing at their best.

📍 Areas I’ll be booking in July:
• Wainwright
• Stettler / Red Deer
• Vermilion area
• Bonnyville area (half a day is already booked)
• Lloydminster

If you are interested and where you live is not on my list send me a message.

I am also offering nutrition consultations.

Are you curious about:
• What’s really in your feed bag?
• Your horse’s actual vitamin, mineral, protein, and carbohydrate requirements?
• Whether those needs are being met?
• What your feed program is costing you per day?

If you’d like to book an appointment or nutrition consultation, send me a message.

Always fun to support fun events!

Vitamin E….

There's a good chance the Vitamin E you're feeding your horse is either formulated wrong, overpriced, or possibly both, and I want to talk about exactly what that means along with a quick way to check your own bottle.

Vitamin E plays a major role in muscle recovery, nerve function, and immune health, yet it remains one of the most misunderstood supplements, which the market exploits in two ways. In order for it to work it actually need to get passed the gut.

Some products aren't really delivering what they claim. Synthetic Vitamin E is legal and technically does something, but it isn't equivalent to the natural form. Natural Vitamin E, listed as d-alpha-tocopherol, exists as a single form that your horse's liver can specifically recognize and retain through a transport protein called alpha-TTP. Synthetic Vitamin E, listed as dl-alpha-tocopherol, is a lab-created blend of eight different forms, and since only one of those matches the natural version, the body ends up passing most of the rest through without using it. You can spot this difference just by reading the label, since anything with "dl" indicates the synthetic version.

Products in this category also tend to include several other red flags, such as sugar or molasses used as a carrier (which creates real concerns for horses dealing with metabolic issues, Cushing's, or laminitis), wheat middlings and preservatives used as cheap filler, and selenium added in fixed amounts that you have no ability to adjust, which becomes a problem if your hay or region already supplies enough on its own. When you add it all up, a lot of what gets labeled "Vitamin E" on that shelf barely qualifies as Vitamin E at all.

The second issue involves premium products that are genuinely high quality but come with a price tag. Most of the natural liquid options on the market are excellent in terms of formulation, since they truly do contain natural d-alpha-tocopherol. The catch is that they're often diluted down to somewhere between 250 and 500 IU per mL, which means a proper dose requires going through the bottle quickly.

Once you calculate the actual cost per unit of usable Vitamin E, you may find yourself paying up to three times more than necessary for the exact same natural compound you'd get elsewhere. Nobody should have to choose between getting the real ingredient and paying a fair price for it.

Underneath both of these problems sits a common myth that deserves to be addressed directly, which is the idea that hay alone provides sufficient Vitamin E. Vitamin E occurs naturally in fresh, growing grass, and it begins degrading the moment that grass gets cut. After sitting in a bale for even a few months, the majority of it has already disappeared. Horses that spend a lot of time stalled, along with performance horses, broodmares, and hard keepers, tend to be the ones most likely to come up short, and unfortunately you won't notice any signs of a deficiency until problems start showing up.

When evaluating any Vitamin E product, three things matter most, in this order. The first is form, meaning you want natural d-alpha rather than synthetic dl-alpha, since that's the version your horse's body can actually retain and use. The second is purity, which means avoiding products with added sugar, unnecessary fillers, or forced selenium that you can't control. The third is concentration, since a higher amount of Vitamin E per mL translates into a smaller daily dose and a lower overall cost per day.

You are walking through a feed store with a friend, and she is raving about a new feed in her program. You look at the tag and think, "Wow, look at all these vitamins and minerals — fortified to the max!" Is all that "stuff" on the tag actually worth it? The short answer is no, and here is why.

That impressive nutrient list on the bag can be misleading. By the time that feed is manufactured, bagged, shipped, stored, and finally makes it into your horse's bucket, a significant portion of those vitamins — particularly fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, and E, as well as heat-sensitive B vitamins — have already degraded. Light, heat, moisture, and even time itself all reduce bioavailability. What is printed on the tag reflects what was added at the mill, not necessarily what your horse is actually absorbing. even if nutrients do survive the journey, the horse's body will only use what it needs. The rest is excreted primarily through the urine, which sounds harmless enough, until you consider what that actually means physiologically. Processing and filtering large quantities of excess minerals, particularly calcium, phosphorus, and trace minerals like copper, zinc, and selenium, places a sustained burden on the kidneys, the liver, and their associated vascular and lymphatic structures. When tenths, hundredths or the ability to stop and turn matter this matters!

From an osteopathic perspective, overworked kidneys and their surrounding fascial environment can create tension patterns that encompass the lumbar region, the hind limb , into the horse's overall mechanics and nervous system tone. Stress does not stay local, it travels.

There is also the issue of competitive absorption. When certain minerals are present in excess, they block the uptake of others. Too much iron, for example, can inhibit the absorption of zinc and copper, even if both are listed generously on that tag.

A well formulated feed that provides balanced, bioavailable nutrition in appropriate amounts will always outperform one that simply lists the highest numbers. More is not better. Better is better.

Osteopathy and Nutrition…….

Inflammation itself is not the enemy, it is the repair response that helps your horse handle injury, infection and hard work, but when it never really switches off it is linked with problems like metabolic issues, laminitis, joint pain and even some breathing troubles.

Research keeps showing that big, starchy grain or sweet feed meals and carrying extra weight are two of the most common diet related triggers for this low grade inflammation, especially in older or overweight horses.

On the other hand, diets built around plenty of good quality forage, lower sugar and starch and thoughtful use of things like omega 3s seem to support healthier gut bacteria and a calmer, more balanced immune system, particularly in horses under stress or in hard work.

So the interesting part for me is realizing that the feed room is not just about calories, it is one of the quiet places where health problems start or are prevented, and small changes can make a real difference over time.

Want to take a look at your program? Lets chat!

As an Osteopath, I've always believed in looking at the horse as a whole. That doesn't stop at what I can feel with my hands. 🐴

I've been asked so many questions about equine nutrition, and honestly, my own curiosity has only grown. Just like in humans, diet has a profound effect on every system in the horse's body — from digestion and immunity to musculoskeletal health and performance. So I found a great Nutrition Certification program at Legacy Equine Nutrition and completed it.

In todays world, with the cost of everything rising, I know how important it is to make every dollar count. You deserve to know that what you're feeding your horse is actually working for them.

That's why, starting June 18th, I'll be offering Nutrition Consulting & Programming for horses — a service separate from my Osteopathy work, dedicated entirely to helping you fuel your horse from the inside out.

If this sounds like something you or your horse could benefit from, send me a message — I'd love to chat! 💬

June Schedule

I am unavailable June 10-18.

June 22-23 Mayerthorpe - these days are pretty full but I am willing to book along the route.

June 25- Lloydminster

Planning days for:
Smoky Lake area, Athabasca area. Please message to secure.
Ponoka/ Stettler and area

If you’re not in these areas and would like to plan please send me a message.

June is almost fully booked!!!

Rodeo, jackpot, and show season are in full swing. Please do not wait to speak for an appt in June.

I will be away June 9-17th.

Currently I am looking to fill a day in Hanna.

June 6 or 7. Leaning to 7th.

Hit play on this one! Anatomy, physiology, bits and curbs it’s all here!

Let's break the internet with this new episode 😉

If you don’t have a collection of elliots are you even a barrel racer? Enjoy this conversation with expert bit & spur maker Dave Elliott, covering anatomy, mechanics and even ground! Elliott Bit N Spur

Find this new episode wherever you listen to your podcasts or use this link: https://bit.ly/tuneinTPP

Episode sponsors ✨:
Marketing with Shelby
Cowgirl Suits