With so many options out there, it’s easy to see how horse owners might be confused about what to feed their beloved companions. But don’t worry. You can clear up any misconceptions by simply considering your horse's specific needs and feed conversion ratio. Check out our guide to selecting the perfect animal feed.

Step One: Consider Your Horse’s Forage 

To stay healthy, a horse needs forage – namely, high-quality grass and hay. Your horse should consume the amount of forage equal to 2 percent of her bodyweight every day.

Before you can select the right feed, you need to understand your horse’s forage activity. If the horse is consuming rich, high-calorie forage, then you should likely select a lower-calorie feed. When your horse forages for older, lower-calorie plant stuff, then she’ll probably need a higher-calorie feed to maintain a healthy body weight.

Step Two: Consider Your Horse’s Day-to-Day Activity 

The more active the horse, the more calories it will need to consume. You can categorize your horse’s activity as light, moderate, heavy, and very heavy. As you climb the categories, you will need to feed your horse additional feed. Horses in the heavy and very heavy categories will fare better with richer feed that’s higher in calories. 

Step Three: Consider Your Horse’s Physical State 

What’s going on in your horse’s life? Is she pregnant or lactating? Has she sustained a recent injury? Depending on her current physiological state, your horse may need to eat higher-calorie feed. She may also need additional vitamins, minerals, or protein content.

Step Four: Consider Your Horse’s Age 

If your horse is not yet full grown, she needs a feed specially formulated to suit her developing body. Feed designed for young horses has a much higher nutritional content for healthy bone, tendon, and muscle growth. A good feed for a young horse will be fortified with extra vitamins and minerals.

Since they can’t digest nutrients as efficiently, older horses also need specially formulated feed. Feed intended for older horses will also have higher protein, mineral, and vitamin content. These foodstuffs are easier to chew, since your older horse may not be able to chew its feed for proper digestion.

Step Five: Consider Your Horse’s Weight 

Some horses gain weight easily, and some struggle to retain it. Your horse will have her own unique metabolism. You should choose an animal feed with a calorie content that matches your horse’s ability to maintain a healthy weight. If your horse has no problem maintaining her weight or even gains weight easily, consider a feed that’s lower in calories. On the other hand, a horse that struggles to maintain a healthy number will do better with a higher-calorie option.

Step Six: Consider a Feed’s Starch and Sugar Content 

To reduce the risk of unwanted disease, choose a horse feed that’s low in starch and sugar. Problems such as insulin resistance, colic, and ulcers have been linked to starchy, sugary feeds. Behavioral issues have also been linked to this type of feed. To maintain optimal health, your horse should stick to a diet that’s high in digestible fiber and protein.

Step Seven: Consider a Feed’s Content Quality 

Similar to step six, you need to consider whether or not the ingredients in your horse’s feed are high in quality. A low-cost feed may contain inferior ingredients – such as grain by-products – that are hard for your horse to digest. Instead, look for a feed that contains high-quality ingredients, like rice bran, soybean meal, or beet pulp. The less processed the ingredients, they better they are for your horse.

The Renaissance & Reformation from the Project Passport World History Studies series is packed full of fun learning and projects. Since Mary learns differently than others, I went through the lessons and their projects to see what would work for her. There were some projects that didn't work for us but some were a lot of fun like the fun recipes they included! Of course I had to improvise on the recipes though because I am on a doctor restricted diet now.

Being a life coach is a role that will change the lives of the clients you work with. But there are many other benefits to becoming a qualified life coaching, including how much it will change your life too. Take a look at why life coaching is life-affirming for you and your clients.

Change is a multi-headed beast. Some changes are forced on us and out of our control. Other changes we choose to make. Whichever it is, having someone walk alongside you, reassuring and supporting you in this difficult but exciting time is beyond words.

As a life coach, that is exactly what you do. Help people to maintain their momentum as they move forward.

Becoming a qualified life coach bring many rewards. But what are they and are they enough to compel you to work through online life coaching courses? Could you be the person who makes a huge difference to someone?

#1 Rewarding and satisfying 

When was the last time you helped someone? And when you did, what did it feel like?

If you are looking for a profession that is satisfying and rewarding then look no further than life coaching.

For many life coaches, newbies and long-standing, experienced coaches, never get tired of the amazing feeling when they see their client flourish and reach the goals they had set themselves.

#2 You will strengthen relationships 

Being a qualified and practicing life coach has fantastic impacts for your clients but also for you.

You will learn so much about human nature and relationships, how they are formed and maintained, as well as how the most unlikely of alliances can bring about fantastic results.

At the most basic level, you will form relationships with clients that will support them in the way that they need, bringing about a sense of accomplishments for all involved.

Valuable skills, you’ll find that relationship building skills transcend all age groups, hierarchies and work cultures.

And these relationship building and nurturing skills are all transferable ones too. So you’ll find personal relationships will work better too!

#3 Accelerates your own professional (and personal) development too 

Coaching takes place in a fast-paced environment and that means as a life coach, you too are continually learning.

For someone who doesn’t want to stand still with their own development, this is great news.

Professional development can be anything from learning new business skills to learning and reading about specific niches and subjects, all of which combine to make you a more effective life coach.

Life coaches are dynamic people propelling themselves forward in professional and personal contexts.

#4 Flexibility 

Have you ever maintained a career that was truly flexible?

We talk more today of flexible working so that parents can balance childcare commitment easier and we can all balance work and life better than we ever have done. 

Most life coaches work on a self-employed basis which means you can be truly flexible about who you life coach and when.

You can operate it as a business where you work part-time or drive your business forward to become a vibrant community in which people enjoy working and networking with like-minded people.

And life coaching is a portable skill too and so you could live anywhere, and still be able to offer your services within your niche market.

#5 Quick entry 

Life coaching relies just as heavily on life and work skills, as it does on personal knowledge and specific life coaching qualifications.

Depending on the level of the qualification you do, you can begin to offer your services as a qualified life coach within months of starting and completing your online course.

Likewise, you can grow your practice by becoming a member of one of the many life coaching professional organisations, becoming part of a vibrant community.

In summary 

Life coaching is just as much calling and vocation as it is a career move. It isn’t for everybody – there are certain innate, personal skills that a life coach needs, and you will need in these in abundance with some clients! – but with knowledge and training, you too can become a life coach.

Is this something you could offer? Why not take a closer look at online life coaching courses and make a change today?

NCC Home Learning is an online provider of over 300 distance learning courses, many of which are directly related to the profession of life coaching as well as life coaching itself.

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with dinosaurs. As a young child, I would play with dinosaur toys and even pretend to be a dinosaur with my friends! But playing with them wasn't the only thing I liked to do. I also loved to study and learn about them. Dinosaurs always fascinated me so that's why I was excited to review the online class Dinosaurs and the Bible from Northwest Treasures. They also have other online classes too so if Dinosaurs isn't your thing, make sure to check out the other courses. All the classes are available through Vimeo which makes it super easy to just bookmark and go back to.

I didn't really know until I was an adult that teaching Mary about dinosaurs would be hard. Honestly, it's almost impossible to find a curriculum or unit that will teach about the dinosaurs from a biblical perspective. Almost all scientists will tell you that the dinosaurs died millions of years ago but that's not true according to the Bible. I've always wanted to learn more about the dinosaurs from a biblical perspective so this was the perfect chance to test it out for Mary.

 Dinosaurs and the Bible is a six-part video series that is on Vimeo. Each lesson is around 20 minutes long and talks about different topics like where the word "dinosaur" came from, biblical evidence of fossils and how they went extinct. Each lesson is based on biblical values so you won't have to worry about what your kids are listening to either.

At the end of each lesson, you'll have access to worksheets with questions and answers along with an exam with questions and answers.

My personal favorite lesson was #4 which was all about the extinction of the dinosaurs. It talked about the extinction from a biblical perspective and explained about how the secular view of extinction couldn't have happened.

We also were able to check out a short twenty minute video called Taking the Mystery out of Geology. This short video is a great start if you want to learn about geology from a biblical point of view. You'll learn a bunch of terms to help with your study of geology so it's a perfect start to learning geology from a biblical perspective.

It won't take you long to go through the six videos if you're super interested. You can honestly watch one per day if you're studying dinosaurs in a unit like us. Or you can space them out for one a week. The choice is yours!

I think that Dinosaurs and the Bible from Northwest Treasures is a great start to learning about the dinosaurs from a biblical point of view for any homeschool family!

Make sure to check out the other crew member reviews below!

There is certainly a lot of information, advice and support out there for mums-to-be, especially around eating well during pregnancy. But some of this advice can be conflicting. HARTMANN Direct take a look at the latest nutritional guide for pregnant women in the UK.

This nutrition guide is exactly that – it is meant as a general guide to healthy eating during pregnancy. For specific concerns or if you have questions, seek answers for your doctor, practice nurse, pharmacist or midwife. 

It’s a special time in your life and one in which many women think about their diet and lifestyle. Being pregnant and eating well not only helps you but has an impact on the short and long-term health of your baby.

Essentially, the basic principles of a healthy diet stay the same. You should eat a balanced diet of carbohydrates, include plenty of fruit of vegetables along with a moderate amount of lean meat, fish and other protein sources, such as eggs and pulses.

You should also eat moderate amounts of dairy, limiting food and drinks that are high-fat and high-sugar.

But it isn’t just about what you eat, but about how you prepare it. During pregnancy, you need to alert to food preparation and good hygiene too.

As well as a balanced diet, you may find that you need supplements during pregnancy but always check that anything you take is safe during pregnancy.

SUPPLEMENTS 

Folic acid 

You may already know that increasing your folic acid as you are trying to conceive and in the early months of pregnancy is considered an important move. It is naturally present in much but increasing your intake of folic acid will lower the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs).

The recommended dose is 400 µg daily.

Find out more about folic acid during pregnancy here.

Vitamin D 

Vitamin D is important in the growth and development of baby’s bones, as well as maintaining the health of yours too.

Our body makes vitamin D when it is exposed to sunshine but you can also get vitamin D from food such as oily fish, fat spreads and eggs.

We don’t always get enough vitamin D all round from the sun in the UK so it may be necessary to take a vitamin D supplement. Your midwife will guide you.

Vitamin A 

Another important vitamin for your health and your baby’s, you need to be aware that too much vitamin A can lead to problems.

In pregnancy, avoid eating liver and products containing liver, such as pate as they are very high in vitamin A. neither should you take any supplements that contain fish liver oil or vitamin A.

ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS 

Iron 

You may need more iron during pregnancy to ensure that your baby receives enough oxygen and nutrients.

However, iron supplements are not automatically offered during pregnancy because the body adapts to absorbing more iron during this time.

But some pregnant women can develop an iron deficiency and this should be medically managed rather than by taking supplements.

Eat red meat, as well as pulses, nuts, eggs and green, leafy vegetables. As well as iron-rich foods, make sure you eat plenty of foods containing vitamin C at the same time as this aids the absorption of iron.

Omega 3 fatty acids 

Found in oily fish such as salmon, sardines and mackerel, omega 3 fatty acids are important for the development of your baby’s brains and eyes.

But don’t overdo it – eat oily fish in moderation, around two portions a week. It is possible for fish to contain low-levels of pollutants but don’t give up fish completely.

Calcium 

An important nutrient for strong bones, calcium demands tend to be higher in late pregnancy. Nature is amazing with your body adapting in late pregnancy to give your baby all that it needs, including the 20 to 30g of calcium for the baby’s skeleton.

Make sure your diet contains calcium-rich foods, such as yogurts and milk, but opt for lower-fat options such as semi-skimmed milk and so on.

DRINKS 

Staying hydrated during pregnancy is also important although some women struggling with incontinence may cut back on what they drinking and when.

During pregnancy, you may find it better to sip water through the day tailing off your drinking in the early evening to help manage your sleep and night time toilet visits.

But don’t stop drinking because being dehydrated during pregnancy is uncomfortable and may also increase the problems of urinary incontinence.

Eating a varied diet and staying active are both helpful during pregnancy. If you have any questions, talk to your midwife.

Providing a discreet delivery service as well as high-quality incontinence products, many pregnant women and new mums rely on HARTMANN Direct during and after pregnancy.