Mid Hudson Equine of Highland

08/15/2025

Hey all, I will be away from Fri the 15th until Fri the 22nd. Dr. Katie Gould 845-800-8427, Rhinebeck Equine 845-876-7085, and Pine Bush Equine 845-361-4917 will be covering my emergency calls for me.

Send a message to learn more

07/27/2025

Anyone wanting to buy the greenguard grazing muzzle here is a 15% discount code.
15PROEQUINE

Send a message to learn more

07/10/2025

Worth sharing

06/15/2025

05/27/2025

Equine gastroscopy clinic (scoping stomach for ulcers) this Thursday. Have 2 spots open if any of my clients have any interest. 25% off normal price and a week of gastrogard free if diagnosed with ulcers.

05/15/2025

Anyone who knows me knows I always say this, but here is a reminder.

05/11/2025

To all our client's, 2 & 4 legged.

04/28/2025

As we know how information changes over time, here an article in order to help you make some choices as to when is the best time to graze your horse. As always overgrazed stressed pasture is never good as they have accumulated sugar low down close to the roots and are trying to store sugar in order to grow.

Grass sugar content fluctuates with the time of day, season, and weather. Timing turnout for horses with EMS, IR, or a history of laminitis can help prevent problems.

04/18/2025

https://www.gofundme.com/f/rayas-fight-childhood-brain-cancer/cl/o?lang=en_US&utm_campaign=man_sharesheet_dash&utm_content=amp13_t1-amp15_t3&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link&attribution_id=sl%3A2b84ba47-6a8b-4754-9a36-768b9d8f8d77

If there is one thing I know about horse people, it is that when one of their own is down, they will … Deirdre Hamling needs your support for Leg up for Rayas

04/09/2025

So true, digestable fiber is the key.

Let’s pretend you have a toothless great grandma and it’s your job to take care of her.

What if all you handed her to eat day after day was a whole raw cabbage?

What if, when she struggled to bite into it and chew and swallow, you just shrugged your shoulders?

What if you did this for months and watched her get skinnier andd skinnier?

You’d be, at best, a big jerk.

It wouldn’t take a nutritionist to tell us that our human meemaw isn’t getting the food she needs to survive…so why is adjusting nutrition such a hard concept to grasp when it comes to our senior horses?

As our human relatives get older, we (hopefully) cater to their aging bodies, dental issues, and caloric needs.
We provide adequate and adjusted nutrition, understanding that this means access to good foods that our senior citizens can consume efficiently.

As our human grannies age, we don’t just throw tough food they can’t chew at them and then say “well she’s old, after all, that’s why she’s skinny”.

If you let your grandma starve in this way, it would be a crime.

Yet, “she’s just old” is an excuse we hear time and time again when standing in front of an emaciated old horse.

The reality? These old horses usually aren’t being given appropriate nutrition. It can be expensive to feed a senior horse, no doubt. This added cost also adds to the likelihood that a senior horse will not receive palatable food in many situations, unfortunately.

It does not, however, change the fact that what is required to survive is simply what is required.

Sure, incurable medical reasons could explain poor body condition. Heart failure, cancer, etc could absolutely cause a senior horse to be skinny. Of course we’ve seen those cases.

The thing is though, we’ve found that the majority of the people who tend to lean heavily on the “it’s an old horse that’s why it’s skinny” excuse are the same people who feed a slimy and blackened round bale to the grandma horse with no molars.

She’s not skinny because she’s old.

She’s skinny because she’s being starved.

Stop justifying her condition by blaming her age.

More often than not, we can rule out extreme medical conditions with a vet exam (and follow up diagnostics if needed) and find that the majority of old horses who come here are skinny simply because there was a lack of palatable, nutritious food in front of them before their arrival.

So please, let’s all agree to stop saying “they are skinny because they are old”.

It’s really as asinine as giving great grandma a raw cabbage and pretending like you’re not a neglectful caretaker when she loses weight.

Feed your senior horses like they are seniors.
Help them thrive in their last years.
Stop normalizing emaciated old horses.
Please.

If you have a senior horse you are proud of, please post a photo in the comments! The more we can show healthy seniors at a good weight, the more we can normalize THAT instead!
📸 ❤️ 🐴

(Pictured is Edna, a mare who came to Bella Run Equine a couple months ago, who the owner claimed was “skinny because she is old”. Now that she’s being fed appropriately, she is coming right along. You’ll see her glow-up soon.)

03/22/2025

My mini me is going to IEA Nationals 🎉🎉🎊🐴🐎

03/21/2025

Remember when your parents used to tell you to wait 30 minutes after eating before going for a swim? Unlike us, horses can actually benefit from eating forage before they exercise, as it may help reduce the risk of gastric ulcers.

While a variety of things can contribute to the development of stomach ulcers (medications, diet, stress, etc.), one train of thought is that these areas of irritation result as a consequence of the acid of the stomach splashing against unprotected parts of the stomach lining. When a horse eats forage, the hay can help absorb some of that acid and thus reduce the risk of ulcer formation.

It is important to note that a forage meal (one comprised of long stem hay) provides the most benefit, while eating large volumes of concentrate feeds (such as oats, corn, or other cereal grains) can actually increase the amount of acid within the stomach.
As always, please be sure to consult with your vet regarding further diagnostics and treatments if you have concerns that your horse may have gastric ulcers.

Brought to you by the AAEP Horse Owner Education Committee.