43. Free Fecal Water in Horses: Causes, Diet Fixes and What to Try First

Free faecal water (also called free fecal liquid) is one of those horse problems that looks “not that bad” on paper… but how 'bad' is it? 🐴💦

In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida unpacks potential reasons why FFW is suddenly being talked about everywhere, from first hearing it at a conference in Dijon (2016) to seeing it dominate conversations at AAEP Denver (2025). And yes… she asks the uncomfortable question: is this another disease of modern management impacting an ancient gut?

You’ll learn:

What FFW is
Why it’s likely multifactorial (forage changes, fibre variety, grain load & digestibility, sand irritation, ulcers, nitrates…)
The practical “low-hanging fruit” steps to try first, in a logical order to help resolve FFW
Why microbiome research can be misleading when it’s only measured at broad levels (and why species-level testing may be the next big breakthrough); and
When to loop in your vet (sand assessment, ulcer scoping, more advanced options like faecal transplant)

If you’re dealing with FFW, this is your calm, evidence-informed roadmap to helping your horse.

As always, please follow the podcast so more horse owners can find this, and if it helped, share it with a friend (or your whole agistment chat 😉). 💛

💖 Want to see how your current feeding program stacks up for gut health? Pop your horse’s diet into MyHappy.Horse and check the gut health score (7-day free trial availabile): https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324

🦠 Want to know which species of microbes live in your FFW horse's gut, grab a test kit from Dr Belinda and EquiGI - https://www.equigi.com

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(64)

64. Horse Nutrition Q&A: Insulin Sensitivity, Muscle Building and Misleading Feed Labels

Join Dr Nerida and Orla as they discuss how exercise can improve insulin sensitivity. Plus they talk feeding for muscle development, and how whey protein, soybean and leucine play a role.They also div...

4 Elo 46min

63. Preventing Gastric Ulcers in Horses: Nutrition Strategies Beyond Forage

Preventing squamous gastric ulcers takes more than just feeding enough forage. In this episode, Dr Nerida explains four additional nutrition strategies: feeding a balanced diet, controlling grain and ...

28 Heinä 42min

62. Preventing gastric ulcers: The top 3 things you must do for your horse

Gastric ulcers are incredibly common in horses, but before changing feeds or reaching for an ulcer supplement, there are three far more important foundations to get right.In this episode, Dr Nerida ex...

21 Heinä 38min

61. Horse Nutrition Q&A: Gravel in the Gut, Lucerne Myths and Haynets

Orla is back on the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, and this time she and Dr Nerida are answering listener questions, sharing stories from the behind the gastroscope, and chat themselves down a number ...

14 Heinä 37min

60. Rebuilding a Horse’s Gut After Racing - Allay's Story

What really happens inside an off-the-track’s gut when you take away the racing diet and start to rebuild the horse from the hindgut up?In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida ...

7 Heinä 1h 22min

59. Feeding Pregnant Mares & Why Balanced Nutrition Matters From Day One

How much does broodmare nutrition really matter?In this episode, Dr Nerida is joined again by Jess, an equine science student from Charles Sturt University, for a practical Q&A on feeding pregnant (an...

30 Kesä 55min

58. Feeding horses for Weight Loss and Why “Just Feed Less” is Not the Answer

Is your horse an “air fern” who seems to gain weight just by looking at grass?In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr Nerida walks you through how to feed overweight horses and good d...

23 Kesä 1h 11min

57. Feeding Horses for Weight Gain and Why “Just Feed More” Is Not the Answer

Is your horse underweight, a classic hard keeper, or one of those horses who seems to need a ridiculous amount of feed just to hold condition? In this episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, Dr ...

16 Kesä 1h 8min