37. Natural Disaster Horse Nutrition: What to Feed When Everything Changes

Feeding horses during emergencies (bushfires, floods, storms, evacuations) can quickly become a “take what you can get” situation, but the choices you make in your makeshift feed room can determine whether your horse copes… or tips into dehydration, gastric ulcers, hindgut dysbiosis, colic, or even laminitis. In this practical episode of the Happy Horse Nutrition Podcast, PhD equine nutritionist Dr Nerida shares her approach to natural disaster horse feeding with one core rule: keep the diet as close to normal as possible.

You’ll learn how to prioritise clean water (and what to do when horses won’t drink), why hay and fibre are your horse’s lifeline, and how to reduce risk when you’re forced to swap feeds or hays fast. We cover smart strategies like ingredient/forage variety, feeding little and often when hay is limited, avoiding the trap of over-using grain/hard feed, and why you should keep hay available when pasture regrows. There’s also specific guidance for horses with PPID (Cushing’s), insulin dysregulation, and laminitis, including when soaking hay might help in a tight spot.

If you want a simple emergency checklist to protect hydration and gut health when your horse’s world is upside down, this one’s for you.

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Useful links & resources

📲 MyHappy.Horse app (iOS): https://apps.apple.com/app/myhappy-horse/id6633422324

🎧 Start here: Episode 1 - Feed Your Horse Like a Horse (foundation principles for gut health and safer feeding)

🎧 Also helpful: Episode 24 - Ingredient Variety and Why it Matters in Horse Nutrition

🎧 For metabolic/laminitis horses: Episode 15 – All about laminitis – keeping your horse safe

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Episoder(67)

67. Laminitis & Spring Grass: How to Keep Your Horse Safe

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25 Aug 42min

66. Horses, Laminitis & Hoof Health with Dr Luke Wells-Smith

In this episode, Dr Nerida is joined by Dr Luke Wells-Smith, dual qualified equine veterinarian and farrier, for a unique perspective on laminitis.Dr Luke unpacks what’s happening inside the hoof dur...

18 Aug 1h 23min

65. My Favourite 5 Weight Gain Ingredients for Horses

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11 Aug 43min

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 Aug 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 Jul 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 Jul 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 Jul 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 Jul 1h 22min