Top2Toe Equine Services - Samantha McCormack

05/06/2026

Seems there is an app for everything these days 🤔 Might be handy for those who struggle to feel a pulse.

02/06/2026

THE SYMPTOM IS IN THE FOOT. THE CAUSE IS OFTEN SOMEWHERE ELSE.

A horse becomes footsore.

The natural assumption is that the problem must be in the foot.

Sometimes that's exactly what's happened.

An abscess is in the foot.

A puncture wound is in the foot.

A crack is in the foot.

The problem and the symptom occupy the same place.

But not always.

A horse lands toe-first.

What you see is in the foot.

The cause may be hock arthritis.

A horse starts wearing one foot faster than the others.

The symptom is in the foot.

The cause may be a change in how the horse is loading its limbs.

A horse repeatedly loses a shoe from the same foot.

The symptom is in the foot.

The cause may be a movement pattern that has changed because the horse is uncomfortable elsewhere.

A horse develops bruising in the same area over and over again.

The symptom is in the foot.

The cause may be altered movement from joint disease higher up.

A horse develops contracted heels.

The symptom is in the foot.

The cause may be persistent avoidance of loading part of the limb because something else hurts.

A horse grows noticeably uneven feet.

The symptom is in the feet.

The cause may be asymmetry elsewhere in the body changing how those feet are loaded.

A horse struggles on hard ground.

The pain shows in the feet.

The cause may be endocrine disease affecting the lamellae.

A horse develops laminitis.

The pain is in the feet.

The damage is in the feet.

Yet the process often begins with insulin dysregulation or other hormonal disturbance long before the foot shows it.

A horse develops recurrent abscesses.

The symptom is in the foot.

The cause may be chronic lamellar damage that has been present for months or years.

A horse struggles to turn.

The symptom may look like foot pain.

The cause may be the hocks.

Or the stifles.

Or somewhere else entirely.

A horse doesn't want to go forward.

The feet may be blamed.

The cause could be orthopaedic pain.

It could be gastric disease.

It could be respiratory disease.

It could be something else altogether.

The point is not that the feet are unimportant.

Quite the opposite.

The feet are often the first place the horse reveals that something is wrong.

But they are not always telling us where the problem started.

One of the most valuable habits in equine healthcare is learning not to stop at the first thing you can see.

The foot matters.

But it is attached to a whole horse.

And sometimes the foot is not the problem.

It's the messenger.

26/05/2026

🟢 Why Vitamin E Matters More Than You Think 🐴

Vitamin E deficiency is one of the most under-recognised nutritional problems we see in horses - particularly those living on restricted grazing or hay-based diets.
Vitamin E is far more than “just another vitamin”. It is a powerful antioxidant that helps protect cells from oxidative damage and plays a vital role in maintaining healthy muscle and nerve function. It is also important for the immune, reproductive and circulatory systems.

🌱 Where do horses get Vitamin E from?
Horses naturally obtain Vitamin E almost entirely from fresh green grass. The challenge is that once forage is cut and dried into hay or haylage, Vitamin E levels rapidly decline. By the time hay is fed, the amount remaining is often very low.
To complicate things further, many feeds contain synthetic Vitamin E, which is much less bioavailable than natural forms - meaning horses may not absorb or utilise it as effectively.
This means many horses on hay-based diets may not actually be meeting their Vitamin E requirements, even when the diet appears otherwise balanced.
Unlike some vitamins, Vitamin E is also not stored efficiently in the body, so horses need a consistent daily intake to maintain normal circulating levels.

❓ Can horses still be deficient even when turned out at pasture?
Yes - surprisingly, they can.
Not all pasture contains high Vitamin E levels, particularly during winter months, drought conditions, overgrazing or on poor-quality pasture.
Some horses may additionally have increased Vitamin E demands due to exercise, muscle disease or underlying illness. Others may struggle to absorb fat-soluble vitamins properly because of individual absorption issues, meaning they can remain deficient despite apparently adequate intake.

⚠️ What problems can Vitamin E deficiency cause?
Low Vitamin E can affect both muscles and the nervous system. Signs can vary from subtle performance issues to more severe neurological disease.
Possible signs include:
• Muscle soreness or stiffness
• Poor performance
• Weakness or muscle wasting
• Reluctance to work
• Weight loss despite adequate feeding

🩺 How can we test for it?
Vitamin E status can be assessed with a simple blood test. This allows us to measure circulating Vitamin E levels and determine whether supplementation may be needed.
Follow-up blood testing is often important after starting supplementation to ensure levels are improving appropriately.

💊 Not all Vitamin E supplements are equal
There are two main forms of Vitamin E found in equine supplements:
▪️ Synthetic Vitamin E
Less bioavailable and not utilised as efficiently by the horse.
▪️ Natural Vitamin E
Much more bioavailable and generally considered the preferred form when correcting deficiency.

There are also differences in formulation:
• Powder and pellet supplements are often esterified to improve shelf life, but require additional processing in the digestive tract before absorption.
• Liquid water-dispersible formulations are absorbed more rapidly and can increase blood Vitamin E levels within 24 hours, making them particularly useful when actively treating deficiency.

📏 How much do horses need?
Current recommendations suggest horses require approximately 1–2 IU/kg bodyweight daily for maintenance. Depending on the size of the horse or pony, this may range from around 250–1000 IU per day.
In horses with confirmed deficiency or clinical signs, much higher doses may be required - often around 5,000 – 8,000 IU/day - although requirements vary depending on the individual horse and any underlying disease.

🌿 What about long-term management?
Regular access to fresh pasture remains the best natural way to maintain adequate Vitamin E levels. However, this is not always possible - particularly for horses with EMS or those requiring restricted grazing.
Careful supplementation and monitoring can become an important part of maintaining muscle health, performance and overall wellbeing.

If your horse is on limited grazing, fed mainly hay, struggling with topline or muscle development/problems, or simply feels “not quite right”, Vitamin E deficiency is something worth discussing with your vet. 0808 168 5580

26/05/2026

Not Your Typical Candidate for Laminitis

One of the most common assumptions in the horse world is that if horses develop laminitis on short grass, then the short grass itself must be high in sugars.

Forage analyses of short grass (being < 4cm or 1 ½”) do not support this. In fact, the shorter the grass, the LOWER the sugar levels.

Yet horses — even those not considered “typical” laminitis candidates, like the lovely TB in the photo — can still develop laminitis while grazing very short pasture.

This TB was in great condition, was in work, was not EMS, not obese and had great hooves.

He was fed some hay every day yet he had sudden onset laminitis one Autumn. Quick action meant he recovered within a few days.
While there we managed to get enough of the very short green rye-grass & clover grass he was on to send away for analysis.

This grass was not high in sugars but was way too high in other nutrients (see below)

The upper two-thirds of grass leaves are like 'solar panels' – they convert sunlight to energy.

Leaf AREA, where the plant captures the sunlight and absorbs CO₂ is needed for photosynthesis/manufacturing of sugars to take place in order for the grass to grow.

Grazing removes the grass’s solar panels!

Then there is very little leaf area left. This is why overgrazed paddocks take so LONG to recover — the plant has lost much of its ability to generate energy for regrowth.

When grass has grown longer leaves AND growing conditions are favourable, it does manufacture sugars creating more risk for susceptible horses, especially those with Insulin Dysregulation.

Environmental conditions like cold nights, frosts, consecutive cloudy days and other environmental stresses can disrupt normal grass growth, causing accumulation of other nutrients like nitrates & potassium.

ALL are risk factors for horses prone to laminitis, head-shaking, spookiness, anxiety, irritability or uncharacteristic behaviours.

Focusing ONLY on sugar levels can cause us to miss other contributing factors.

For those interested in learning:

In this particular case, the late autumn grass analysed at:

Dry Matter (fibre) ........13.3% (green grass can be up to 25%, hay is 80-90%)
Sugars ....... ………….7% (< 10% is considered safe)
Starch………………< 0.5% (very low)
Crude Protein………..36% (should be close to 12)
Potassium .…………..3.4% (should be < 2%)
DCAD…………………..284 (Should be

25/05/2026

21/05/2026

Your best investment in your horses health and wellbeing - a full hay shed. They do so much better on hay than grass. Mine dont have expensive rugs (they are not rugged at all) or expensive tack but they do always have plenty of hay which is a priority for me. Driving back from my first job this morning and I saw so much hay rotting into the ground. Such a huge waste when hay prices were so expensive last year 😢