Fall Is a Season of Change—for Your Horse, Too
With the launch of the Equitanicals Journal, we wanted to create a place where we can share something that has always been at the heart of Equitanicals: looking beyond a single symptom and thinking about the whole horse.
We’ll explore nutrition, seasonal health, metabolic challenges, herbs and supplements, new research—and the practical things we can do every day to help our horses feel their best.
And there may be no better place to begin than fall, because while the changing season can be beautiful, there’s a lot happening inside our horses that we can’t always see.
Fall Is a Season of Change
What shorter days, cooler temperatures, changing forage and seasonal hormones can mean for the whole horse.
Fall can be wonderful horse weather. Cooler days, fewer flies and crisp mornings often make both horses and humans feel better.
But while we're enjoying the change in seasons, our horses' bodies are busy adapting to it.
Daylight is decreasing. Temperatures can swing dramatically between day and night. Pastures are changing. Many horses are transitioning from grass to more hay. Turnout and exercise routines may change. And inside the horse, normal seasonal hormonal changes are taking place as well.
Most horses adapt remarkably well. But for an older horse, an easy keeper, a horse with PPID or insulin dysregulation—or simply a horse who doesn't handle change particularly well—all those little stresses can add up.
Horses are remarkably tuned in to changes in daylight.
As the days shorten in late summer and fall, their endocrine systems respond. One of the changes we can measure is a normal seasonal rise in ACTH, a hormone associated with the pituitary gland.
This happens in healthy horses, too. But horses with PPID (Cushing's disease) can have a more exaggerated response, which is one reason fall is an especially important time to pay attention to them.
Changes in drinking and urination, unusual sweating, loss of muscle, changes in the hair coat, lethargy or changes in hoof comfort are all worth noticing.
And don't dismiss a subtle change simply because your horse is getting older.
Don't forget insulin—and don't assume fall grass is safe
PPID and insulin dysregulation aren't the same condition, although they can occur together.
For horses with insulin dysregulation, excessive insulin responses are associated with endocrinopathic laminitis. That makes the feet particularly important to watch.
A horse doesn't have to be dramatically lame to tell you something is happening.
A shorter stride, reluctance to turn tightly, shifting weight, stronger digital pulses, unusual hoof warmth or simply being less willing to move can all warrant a closer look.
And while spring grass gets most of the attention, fall pasture can present problems, too.
Cool, sunny fall weather can allow sugars to accumulate in grass, particularly when cold nighttime temperatures slow plant growth. For a metabolically sensitive horse, that beautiful green fall pasture may not be as innocent as it looks.
Fall is also when many horses begin eating considerably more hay.
Any change in forage means the digestive system—and the enormous population of microorganisms living in the hindgut—has to adapt.
Water consumption may change as temperatures fall. Horses are eating drier forage. They may be moving less. All of that makes hydration and digestive health particularly important as we head toward winter.
Whenever possible, make forage changes gradually and pay attention to how much your horse is actually drinking rather than assuming he's drinking enough.
For the easy keeper or insulin-dysregulated horse, this is also a good time to know what's actually in the hay. Sugar and starch content can't reliably be determined just by looking at it.
Cooler weather can reveal things summer hid
Then there is movement.
A horse who seemed comfortable during warm summer weather may suddenly look a little different on a chilly morning.
Older joints can feel stiffer. Horses may spend less time moving around the pasture or dry lot. A horse who is uncomfortable in his feet may move even less—and reduced movement can create another set of problems.
Watch your horse walk away from you.
Watch him turn.
Notice how he gets up after lying down and how he moves during those first few minutes out of the stall or shed.
Sometimes the first sign that something has changed isn't dramatic lameness. It's simply:
“He's not moving quite like himself.”
And then there's stress
We often think of stress as something dramatic...a trailer ride, a horse show or moving to a new barn.
But stress can also be physiological.
Changing temperatures, shorter days, changes in forage, altered turnout, changes in exercise and the metabolic demands of adapting to a new season all require the body to adjust.
One change may be insignificant.
Five changes happening simultaneously may not.
That's particularly important in older horses and horses already managing another challenge. They simply may not have the same reserve they once did.
Look at the whole horse
It's easy to become focused on one laboratory number.
ACTH matters.
Insulin matters.
Body condition matters.
But Dr. Joyce Harman has always encouraged us to look at the whole horse.
What is your horse eating?
Is he overweight—or losing muscle while still carrying excess fat?
Are her feet comfortable?
Is he moving enough?
Is the digestive tract happy?
Is she drinking enough?
Is the diet supplying adequate protein, vitamins and minerals without unnecessary sugar and starch?
And what else has changed in their world?
Weather, forage, turnout, exercise and routine all place demands on the horse's ability to adapt.
Sometimes what we're seeing isn't one isolated problem. It's a horse trying to manage several changes at once.
Every horse experiences seasonal change a little differently. One may need help adapting to stress, another may need metabolic support, and another may need additional nutritional support for the pituitary.
Here are a few of the products Dr. Harman uses as part of her whole-horse approach to seasonal health.
🌿 APF Pro
Adaptogenic support to help horses cope with physical and environmental stress.
🌾 Harmany Equine OB Formula
Nutritional support for easy keepers and horses needing support for healthy weight and metabolic function.
💚 Harmany Equine INR Formula
A higher level of nutritional metabolic support for horses with more significant metabolic challenges.
🌿Nutri-West Core Level Pituitary
Glandular-based nutritional support for normal pituitary function as part of a comprehensive management plan.
🐴 One horse, one plan
These products aren't meant to suggest that every horse needs four supplements.
Quite the opposite.
One horse may simply need help adapting to seasonal stress. Another may be an easy keeper whose fall pasture needs careful management. Another may be dealing with PPID, insulin dysregulation or both.
Before winter arrives, spend a few quiet minutes with your horse.
Look at body condition and muscle. Feel the crest. Watch the feet. Pay attention to movement. Think about pasture and hay. Notice drinking, manure, energy, coat and attitude.
And ask one more question:
👀 Has anything changed?
Sometimes your horse whispers before the lab results show a change.
Observe. Listen. Support your whole horse.