Supporting Eldery Equines

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Although equine retirement might suggest long lazy days in the field, the care and support needed for our more experienced equines is still just as vital as when they were in their prime. Older horses need products that will support their health and provide comfort in their twilight years, making Nedz the perfect choice for senior stablemates.

In order to keep older horses in good health and give them the best chance of thriving in their golden years, their environment must be hygienic and comfortable. Insects can become a source of irritation and can lead to secondary health problems such as fly bites and sweet itch. However, both Nedz products feature Natural Nedz, which is anti-bacterial and helps deter bacteria and bugs.

Absorbency is another key to hygiene and foot health; an even more imperative factor if horses are barefoot. For those suffering from painful conditions such as laminitis, the stable should offer “springing support”, and help keep painful feet away from a hard and uncomfortable surface. Choosing Nedz, which is super absorbent and soaks up urine, will help keep harmful bacteria and ammonia away from hooves, as well as causing less irritation to delicate sinuses and the respiratory system.

A safe stable for a senior horse features bedding which does not slip - especially when used on a concrete floor - and should provide a deep base to ensure horses are always protected, especially important if they spend time lying down. Nedz Pro is designed to be deep littered, and creates a soft yet sturdy base that hardly moves once it is in place. This is the perfect grounding for an older equine requiring secure footing.

Having been through a rigorous dust extraction process, Nedz products are ideal for use when immunity and the respiratory system is compromised – particularly common in older horses. Virtually dust free, and with Silver, Aloe Vera, Manuka and Cade Oil forming part of the Natural Nedz treatment – your older horses can breathe easy in a Nedz stable.

Nedz Original and Nedz Pro are available in 20kg bales and cost £6.50 - £8.50 each. For more information about Nedz visit www.nedz.co.uk or tel: 01254 677 762.

Nedz for when the nights draw in!

It’s been a wonderful summer of al-fresco rides, sunny show days and lazy walks to the field. The next phase on the equine calendar is still just as picturesque, but autumn does bring with it the transition from summer turnout to more stable time. 

Your equine’s stable environment will become a bigger part of his life over the next few months, so it’s important to ensure that it provides the highest possible levels of comfort and cleanliness.

Stay dry this autumn

--> The long days of summer are certainly getting shorter, and the cool weather of autumn will soon arrive. With shorter days and colder conditions, stabling time naturally increases throughout the autumn season, making it important to ensure your choice of bedding not only welcomes your horse but also cares for him!

Stabling at any time of year can pose challenges, and as time spent in the stable goes up – as it starts to do from autumn – the exposure to wet bedding can also increase. Wet bedding not only causes saturation of the foot but leads to increased levels of ammonia in the stable which can damage the horn and weaken the outer layer of the horse’s hoof.

Top performers need top bedding!

The 2015 competition season is upon us, and top performers need top bedding. Practice in the ring makes up a couple of hours a day, but rest and recovery accounts for a far larger proportion of time, and requires a high quality environment to maintain condition and wellbeing.

We know how important sleep and rest is for our own health, and horses are no different. Research suggests that if a horse is deprived of good quality sleep for several weeks, his behaviour could begin to change and he may be more likely to spook, become distracted and lack in performance. As any rider - competitive or amateur - will appreciate, this means a well-rested horse is likely to be happier and healthier. Exceptionally absorbent and comfortable, chopped rape straw bedding Nedz Pro provides the perfect foundation for a good nights sleep in order to ensure your equine gets the quality rest he needs!

As well as providing comfort, Nedz Pro goes through a rigorous dust extraction process ahead of being packaged, to keep dust, mould and spores to an absolute minimum. We all know how important the area that we sleep in is for ourselves and this should be no different for your horse. By utilising an exclusive organic Natural Nedz formula containing Manuka Oil, Aloe Vera and Silver, Nedz Pro reduces ammonia levels and helps support the defence against harmful bacteria to provide a soothing and safe stable zone.

Time is always an issue and by only requiring a full muck out once a week, Nedz Pro is the ideal solution for time-strapped riders. The quick-rotting raw material means muck heaps are kept to a minimum and with tightly compacted 20kg bales – a little goes a long way! There are many jigsaw pieces needed to be put in place to support the performance horse but getting the foundations, such as bedding, is a critical step when you’ve got your eyes on 2015 prizes!

 

Nedz Pro is priced between £6.50 - £8 per bale. For more information about Nedz products, tel: (01772) 877 096 or visit www.nedz.co.uk

Bedding that performs

With the competition season in full swing, for many equestrians ensuring the equine athlete is in ‘tip-top’ condition, is vitally important. The last thing horse owners want when their equine is competing is for the inhalation of dust to affect the horse’s ability to perform in comfort.

The equine’s ability to respire literally dictates how much oxygen can be inhaled and in turn how much energy can be produced; as oxygen fuels the functioning of the muscular system. As the horse’s ability to succeed and enjoy ridden work is directly linked to their respiratory system, minimising their exposure to respiratory irritants, such as dust, is a crucial part of equine management.

Inhaling dust and mould spores can lead to inflammation of the airways, reduced air space and irritation of the cells. During the summer time the ground often dries up and the pasture becomes significantly dustier. Most competition horses are stabled over night, and whilst we can’t do anything about dry ground in the paddock increasing dust levels, we can certainly take measures to limit the level of dust in our equine’s stabled environment.

Soaking your hay can be helpful, reducing the dust content and increasing hydration levels but selecting a bedding which is dust extracted is paramount.

Nedz bedding allows the stable environment to remain clean and fresh, combining the latest innovations, and technological advances in bedding with the traditional benefits of straw so Nedz can supply a soft, comfortable bed with additional health benefits.

The straw used in Nedz bedding is carefully selected and passed through a rigorous quality control process before being chopped and treated with the totally organic formula; Natural Nedz, providing antibacterial and antifungal properties thanks to the inclusion of Silver, Manuka and Cade Oil. The process of producing each and every bag of Nedz bedding then ensures any excess dust is extracted, so your stable environment for your competing equine won’t compromise the respiratory system ensuring hard working equines can perform at their best!

In addition, the high absorbency of Nedz products means that ammonia levels are kept to a minimum, which not only reduces the chance of harmful odours irritating your horse’s delicate sinuses and respiratory system, but also helps prevent bacterial infections in the hooves such as thrush.

Choose between Nedz Original, made from wheat straw for a traditional approach, or Nedz Pro for an exceptionally absorbent product made from rape straw. Both Nedz Original and Nedz Pro are available in 20kg bales and cost between £7 - £8.

For more information about the range of Nedz bedding visit www.nedz.co.uk or to find your nearest stockist call 01254 677 762.

Beat the box rest blues with Nedz

“Box rest” the dreaded words every horse owner hopes to never hear, but despite us taking every care and caution with our horses sometimes illness and injuries mean that a period of box rest is inevitable. However box rest doesn’t have to be all bad, providing we are adequately prepared to provide optimum care for our horses and ponies whilst they have to remain stabled!

The most important thing to consider if your equine requires a period of enforced rest in their stable is to ensure that their environment is as “equine friendly” as possible, offering a place of solace which is clean and hygienic. Alongside providing fresh water, ample forage and mental stimulation, one of the most important factors to consider for your box-resting equine is suitable bedding.

Purchasing a high quality, absorbent bedding is a must, as wet, urine-saturated bedding not only causes moisture to permeate our equine’s hooves potentially causing thrush, but also leads to increased levels of noxious ammonia in the stable which can lead to damaged hoof horn, a weakened outer layer of the foot, an irritated respiratory system and sometimes eye and sinus problems.

Nedz Advance is the perfect product for the box-resting equine. The virtually dust-free formulation is kind on the respiratory system whilst the comfortable bedding is composed from natural, high quality chopped straw. Nedz Advance is chopped and ground to produce highly absorbent fibres, which are then sterilized to reduce moulds and spores and presented in a compact pellet form.

With no need to water, Nedz Advance expands as your horse or pony is stabled on it, absorbing up to five times its weight in liquid and establishing a sturdy base for your equine to stand or lie on.

We all know that box resting our equines can cause our day-to-day costs to experience a bit of a hike and lead to a very time consuming operation, however muck does not stick to Nedz Advance meaning you are removing waste – not bedding and the quick-rotting formula means muckheap removal is virtually eradicated to keep costs to a minimum!