Sand: The story of how to keep it out of your horse

Dr. Chelsie Huseman of Texas A&M University discusses how to avoid sand ingestion in horses, the ramifications of eating too much sand and recommendations for treatment.  We also talk about just how hot sand can be!

Adapting equine care for sandy soil pastures

Transcript

Kris Hiney: Welcome to extension horses, tack box talk series horse stories with a purpose. I'm your host, Dr. Kris Hiney, with Oklahoma State University. And today we're going to be talking about sand and horses. So we're bringing in one of our extension specialists from a sandy state. So welcome back, Dr. Chelsea Huesman.

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Chelsie Huseman: Thank you. It's good to be back.

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Kris Hiney: Well, we're delighted to have you back, and especially as you get to have some sand in your state, and we're going to talk about which States have this issue. But

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Kris Hiney: you know horses live on soil all over the place. Why do we care what kind of dirt they're trumping on.

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Chelsie Huseman: Well, there are a lot of considerations that go into that soil, but especially so related to sand.

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Chelsie Huseman: You know, one of those being the difference that sand is from other soils, and some of those management strategies that we have to employ.

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Chelsie Huseman: And then also the behavior of the horses on top of that, and the consequences for them. If they do ingest a lot of sand or are managed on sand regularly.

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Chelsie Huseman: So in Texas it is something that we think about quite a bit, because there is a good part of our State that has sand or sandy loam soil.

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Chelsie Huseman: and so managing our horse as well is a key consideration.

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Kris Hiney: And so this is when they're housed on it. Right? You're not talking about, you know, sand arenas.

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Kris Hiney: although a lot of people might use sand as a base in stalls. Does that kind of come into play.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, absolutely. Any place that a horse is being managed or even really being fed is one of the key considerations.

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Chelsie Huseman: If that ground is Sandy. Then we're going to. We're going to be concerned about sand ingestion as part of that.

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Kris Hiney: So what we're probably talking about is, I mean, I think horse owners have heard about like sand colic or horses with diarrhea, so maybe explain a little bit

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Kris Hiney: about why sand might be detrimental.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah. So horses have that grazing behavior where they like to use their incisors to cut down on the plant or the forage that they're grazing on.

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Chelsie Huseman: and if we don't manage our pastures well and allow them to become grazed pretty low. So if we're overstocked or overgrazing.

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Chelsie Huseman: there's a good chance that horses grazing on sandy soils are going to pick up a lot of sand with those plant material that they're picking up with their incisors, and as they get lower on the plants, they're much more likely to actually even pull it out and eat the roots as part of that which would include a lot of sand that they would be ingesting through that. So there is concerns in terms of that management, and how we minimize their sand ingestion.

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Chelsie Huseman: So for the horse itself. There's a few key strategies that we want to employ through that feeding management, and one is to not allow our horses to eat on the ground. So bringing our hay up into feeders, using feed pans, obviously for our concentrate meals.

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Chelsie Huseman: And then, if we really need to, if we're in a very sandy area. We need to lay down mats or something that's going to keep the horse from picking that feed up off the ground.

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Chelsie Huseman: because we all got that one horse that will not let one pellet go, and they will nibble and push through the ground until they find that last pellet, and through that process. They're going to be picking up a lot of sand.

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Chelsie Huseman: so feeding them on mats or up in feeders is your best strategy.

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Chelsie Huseman: But if you're managing horses out on pasture. You also need to just consider your grazing habit or the grazing habits of the horse and the standards out there.

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Chelsie Huseman: so that rule of thumb is. Usually we rest our pastures when the forage level gets down to 4 to 6 inches

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Chelsie Huseman: that way. We're not allowing the horses to graze too low and potentially be picking up some of that sand.

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Chelsie Huseman: We also would want to make sure that we're just monitoring the horse. So if your horse is out on sand that predisposes them to potentially having sand colic.

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Chelsie Huseman: Some of the statistics I saw, for it was about 5% of colic cases in non sandy regions are due to sand, whereas in those sandy soil areas it's as high as 30% of colics are attributed to sand

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Chelsie Huseman: and so managing the horse or observing the horse. If you know that they are in a sandy soil area.

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Chelsie Huseman: it often manifests as diarrhea is one of our early symptoms, unthriftiness, and then also weight loss can be problematic in that as well.

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Kris Hiney: So I know we're gonna get into, you know, maybe some other strategies. But I think

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Kris Hiney: it's important for horse owners like, even when we say, right like, Hey, we're gonna feed them in a pan.

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Kris Hiney: Hang on. This stupid thing is dinging away and making me crazy.

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Kris Hiney: Okay.

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Kris Hiney: sucks.

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Kris Hiney: So I think it's important, maybe, to alleviate some fears, or, you know, talk about maybe the best you can do versus perfection, because you said that you kind of said that one horse that picks up each pellet, but like let's be honest, horses do not cooperate whatsoever, and they'll like. Oh, I dropped the food out of my mouth, or how about I kick the bucket with my paws.

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Kris Hiney: pawing? Not their paws. I know they have hooves, or, you know, fling their hay like. So they're even though we try to use feeders like sometimes, they're really really uncooperative. So maybe like, is there any way to make sure that they're not eating sand off the soil

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Kris Hiney: where we're feeding them.

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Chelsie Huseman: Well, you can actually put a a feeding pan like muzzle on their

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Chelsie Huseman: on their halter. So if you really wanted to ensure that they were not eating their feet on the ground with their concentrate meals. You can use one of those feeding muzzles

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Chelsie Huseman: and most horses adapt to those pretty well after a little bit of desensitization with them, but they do really well with those. The other part of that is, not every horse

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Chelsie Huseman: experiences colic because they're ingesting sand, so we don't know what the threshold is, but we do know that every horse is different, and so some horses can have quite a load of sand in their gastrointestinal tract, and really not be bothered by it. You know they're still thriving and doing well.

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Chelsie Huseman: and other horses. It may just be a low amount, and it's causing colic symptoms for them.

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Chelsie Huseman: So it is very much individual basis across the horse population.

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Chelsie Huseman: And again, we don't. We don't quite know what amount is going to start causing problems. But if we start seeing some of those symptoms then, and we're, you know, we're managing on sandy soils. Then we definitely want to suspect that and get into the veterinarian to get it checked.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, that kind of makes me think about. You know those horses that have fecal water syndrome that we have to avoid, you know. Scratchy hay in the diet when the vast majority of horses can eat hay right without a problem and having, like. It

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Kris Hiney: nicked my colon right? So so I assume there's probably kind of some similarities that they're

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Kris Hiney: the lining of their bowel may just be more sensitive to

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Kris Hiney: abrasion, and and that's why some horses have issues, and and some don't.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, and it's a little bit on the lines of like intestinal parasites. Your horse is never going to be fully free of sand and same thing with intestinal parasites. So to assume that they're they're, you know. It's mostly where the the sand accumulates in the large colon, so to assume that it's completely free of sand is just not realistic. I mean, horses. Are they graze on the ground? And so they are going to pick things up. That might settle in that large intestine.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, and I have to chuckle on your pasture management to like when the pasture gets 4 inches. But we all know they're gonna be like this, this area right here. How about a quarter inch? That's how short. I'm going to graze it right like we do the West. We can but, doggone it, they really try to foil us sometimes.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yep, and that kind of goes back to other management strategies of just trying to mow because they do their selective grazers, and they will just eat some areas down to the nubbins, and so

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Chelsie Huseman: mowing and harrowing to try to get the most out of your pasture and get them to graze uniformly.

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Chelsie Huseman: but you know they're horses.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, uniform grazing is like the Holy Grail.

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Kris Hiney: Okay, so now, I, i've heard and seen a lot of people also try to check

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Kris Hiney: to see if their horse has sand in the gut by looking at the manure. So what is your experience? What works for those kind of strategies.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, so it is sort of a screening tool or highly recognized screening tool where we can actually take some of their feces.

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Chelsie Huseman: And what they say is, just go in with a rectal sleeve, grab some feces, and turn your sleeve inside out and fill it with water.

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Chelsie Huseman: and mix that fecal material up with the water real good, and let it sit. Just hang it up and let it sit for a few minutes, and the sand, because it's such a heavy particle will gravitate to the bottom into the fingertips.

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Chelsie Huseman: and you can get a sense for the sand content that the horse then is passing, so they are ingesting it. Some of it's passing through, but if there's some in the Feces, you might suspect that there is some staying there in the gastrointestinal tract, so

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Chelsie Huseman: that there's no standard on that. There's no like. Oh, there's 10 grams of sand in this sampling, therefore my horse has, you know, a large sand accumulation, and might be prone to colic.

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Chelsie Huseman: but it does give you some indication, especially when you put 2 and 2 together. If you're out grazing on sand, or your horse is eating in a sandy area. You're seeing sand in this this tool that you can use to determine if it's in the feces.

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Chelsie Huseman: putting those 2 things together might lead you, then to take your horse to the vet. To then do some more in-depth diagnostics to figure out if it is indeed an issue for your horse, and mitigate hopefully and colic.

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Kris Hiney: Right, but it but it's not as precise as like, hey, my horse is this level of insulin. So now I need to put them on percent. Right? So like we, it's kind of just a visual.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah.

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Kris Hiney: Guideline. Okay.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, it's 1 of those that's, you know, it's gonna kind of help us screen initially and decide, yeah, this, we've got sand here. We need to be thinking of better management strategies, you know, prevention is our greatest key

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Chelsie Huseman: in this scenario. But even so, getting the veterinarian involved to do some more diagnostics.

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Kris Hiney: Okay. So now.

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Kris Hiney: what happens if the veterinarian gets involved? Do they like vacuum him out.

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Chelsie Huseman: That'd be cool.

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Kris Hiney: Know that's not true.

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Chelsie Huseman: Oh, I wish no. So what they can do is actually hear sand movement in the intestinal movement with a stethoscope. So they're going to listen to the abdomen. I've never actually heard it, but I've heard veterinarians describe it as kind of an ocean sound.

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Chelsie Huseman: but it's a very distinct sound that they can hear that sand kind of going and moving through there.

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Chelsie Huseman: And so it's a pretty simple diagnostic in the Veterinary Hospital. You can get a little more in depth, and do an abdominal radiograph, and actually see sand accumulation.

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Chelsie Huseman: So those are our 2 best tools to determine if the horse is carrying quite a bit of accumulation in the in the large colon.

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Kris Hiney: But we were saying that the soothing sound of the ocean is not what we want.

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Chelsie Huseman: That's not a good sign.

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Kris Hiney: And you know, I probably should know the answer to this. So typically, I've got some background information and all that. But like, if they do have a lot of sand, does that?

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Kris Hiney: So if the horse has been found to have a lot of sand in the gut? Do they have to do like abdominal surgery to remove it? Or is there any way to clear it actually out of the gut.

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Chelsie Huseman: Well.

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Chelsie Huseman: so the standard practice. And and there's not a lot of research. Well, there's some research out there, but it's a little bit conflicting. So take this with a grain of salt.

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Chelsie Huseman: But a lot of veterinarians are going to prescribe a psyllium powder that's going to hopefully help move some of that sand out of the tract.

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Chelsie Huseman: And while there isn't real conclusive evidence that that works or helps, it's not going to hurt.

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Chelsie Huseman: And there, there's been some evidence as well as prebiotics and probiotics, might have a similar effect, as well as psyllium powder.

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Chelsie Huseman: And so what it what it does is it when it gets kind of wet in the gastrointestinal tract. It gets kind of gummy.

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Chelsie Huseman: and it kind of

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Chelsie Huseman: oh, what I want to say like kind of slimy, almost like a Chia seed. If you have a chia seed stuck in your mouth, you know it gets kind of slimy

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Chelsie Huseman: when it enters this digestive system. It gets that way, and it actually picks up those heavy sand particles which then helps move it out of the tract.

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Chelsie Huseman: So it's often prescribed in a horse in that situation. Now, if the sand has caused like a displacement, then yeah, it's probably going to be a surgical intervention that that horse is going to need at that point if the colon's been displaced because of it, or an impaction that's another option in some of those smaller twists and turns within the large colon that if it gets impacted in there it very likely is going to need a surgical intervention.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, I was gonna ask, cause I I know I've seen some of those, too, and the results are kinda equivocal over whether or not, they get good results.

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Kris Hiney: So what what is a horse owner to do in the light of like? Well, does this really work? Should I? Because I've heard sometimes people will feed like psyllium once a month, or like does. Is that actually a good management tool or not?

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, that's that's usually the recommendation is feeding it for a week, once a week every month.

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Chelsie Huseman: And like I said, it's it's not going to hurt. And so if you really do have that

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Chelsie Huseman: force that's prone to issues like this. And again, being managed in sandy areas, it's probably worth doing it because of some of the evidence that says it does help. It does help clear sand

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Chelsie Huseman: in population of horses. So I think, with a little clearer picture with research, we'll know more hopefully in the near future. But for now we do know it can be helpful conclusively. Not not yet. But it's not going to hurt, so it's worth a try, especially if you've got that real valuable horse. And certainly we're probably talking about a smaller herd size, or one or 2 horses, if we have to manage putting psyllium powder

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Chelsie Huseman: in their feed every every week for every month. So.

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Kris Hiney: Okay. And I know, I think this was a study. I saw a number of years ago, so you may not have seen it, but they were looking just to see how much sand ingestion horses will do willingly.

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Kris Hiney: And then there were some horses that were just like, Nom nom sand so

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Kris Hiney: that would actually just ingest it freely given the opportunity. So like, I think you kind of have to know your own horse a little bit too.

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Chelsie Huseman: Sure. Yeah, just like, you know the ones that are willing to get every last pellet that hit the ground. I think it may be a little bit of personality. And you you even see some horses out there that just like to nose in the dirt. They're just, you know, bored, or that they're curious, and so they'll be doing that, and they're likely picking up some of the soil as part of that. So

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Chelsie Huseman: there's definitely some personality of the horse that goes into those considerations.

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Kris Hiney: Absolutely. They're always trying to fight against us, no matter what.

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Chelsie Huseman: I like to keep it interesting.

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Kris Hiney: So, Chelsea, you said that you have a fair amount of sand, so what regions of the country do people have to be a little bit more heads up on this.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, you might be surprised by the statistic as I was, but only about 8 to 10% of the land area in the us is sandy soils. So that was a lot lower than I expected. And there's a about a handful of states

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Chelsie Huseman: that really have quite a bit of sandy regions. Florida, of course, which makes total sense, but some of the other ones that might not be as common, or you think would be as common, would be Nebraska, Michigan.

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Chelsie Huseman: Georgia, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and then, of course, Texas, and for us a large part of that area is on the the Texas coast. So on East Texas, where we've got some coastline with the Gulf.

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Chelsie Huseman: We see a lot of our sandy regions over there.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, you bet. And that would make sense to me. You know the Upper Midwest because of the whole Great Lakes. If you've ever been on them. There's a lot of sand. So

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Kris Hiney: sandy soil for sure.

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Kris Hiney: okay, so what if people just don't know if you have sandy soil or not, I mean is that a thing where a horse owner would be like? Hey? I don't even know what's going on here.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, it's I mean, sandy soil is is, I think, pretty easy for most people to identify, because we're all pretty familiar with what the beach feels like.

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Chelsie Huseman: And so being able to feel that kind of gritty sand in your soil. But obviously there's, you know, it's not just sand or not. It's sand mixtures as well, depending on your region.

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Chelsie Huseman: One of the best sources of information is to contact your county extension office. They're going to know your region really well, and especially your location, that you're wanting to evaluate.

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Chelsie Huseman: and they can help you in identifying the soil that you have there, and some management strategies for that.

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Kris Hiney: Excellent. So any other final thoughts about sand and horses.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, there. There are other few considerations. I know. Sand colic really kind of takes the cake, because we're all very concerned with colic. And it's a huge problem in horses.

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Chelsie Huseman: But there are other things related to managing horses on sand that are big considerations, and especially so for us down here in in Texas and our more southern eastern parts. And that's heat.

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Chelsie Huseman: So sand actually has a higher thermal conductivity of heat.

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Chelsie Huseman: And so horses that are out on sand really, really need shade. And I mean, shade's a necessity. Anyhow, where I'm at down in this area, I'm in the Bryan College Station area. So it gets really hot in the summer.

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Chelsie Huseman: and so shade is needed all the way around. But sand gets so much hotter than other soils.

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Chelsie Huseman: and so, if horses are out managed on that, or if you think about horses riding in arenas that are sand, it's not a covered arena.

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Chelsie Huseman: There's going to be a lot more heat that's going to be through that soil than any other soil. So we have to be very careful with that, and

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Chelsie Huseman: making sure that we provide good shelter for the horses, whether that's manmade or natural.

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Chelsie Huseman: one of the other things, too, is oh, and I should add the

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Chelsie Huseman: The parts within the sand structure, the the quartz. This was very intriguing to me. The quartz itself is what has that real high conductivity of heat?

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Chelsie Huseman: And so that being a part of sand is what makes it such a high conductor of heat is having that quartz in there. I thought that was really interesting, had no idea about

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Chelsie Huseman: the particles.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah. Well, I would assume, you know, when I think about you know, even turnout. And if you're on sandy soil, those turnout lots are bare right, and if there's no plant material, then it's absorbing even more heat, right.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah.

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Chelsie Huseman: yeah, I had awakening of this in our place that we just moved at. It had a perfect PIN for goats.

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Chelsie Huseman: and it was this small square pen next to the barn, and, you know, had the panels to keep goats in. So we're like perfect. We're putting them in there. So we got 2 goats for our kids.

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Chelsie Huseman: and once, as summer started to come on and I was walking out there feeding them, I'd walk in that PIN, and this PIN was just like 20 by 20,

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Chelsie Huseman: but I'd walk in that PIN, and it was a bare ground, and we have quite a bit of sand in our soil. It felt like it was 10 degrees hotter in that PIN. It was so warm because of that heat conductivity. So that was that was an awakening for me of like, Wow! It's rough on sand. And and you think about that on the beach.

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Chelsie Huseman: Wet sand actually even increases the heat, so the moisture content of it increases the heat. So after a rain on a sandy pasture and the sun comes back out, it's going to be hot, so got to be be careful with that.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, that's a that's a good tip that I bet you a lot of people don't think about.

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Chelsie Huseman: Who's.

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Kris Hiney: I'm like, Hey, just turn them out in the dry lot or the paddock for some time out, but it may be like a broiler.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, yep, very warm.

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Chelsie Huseman: One of the other considerations with sand is hoof care because of that wearing of the sand on the hooves. Oftentimes it can create some soul sensitivity. It can also wear unusually on the frog. And of course the hoof wall as well.

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Chelsie Huseman: So just making sure that you're keeping up with your farrier. Care on the horses that are on sand, because you might see some different patterns of wear

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Chelsie Huseman: on the bottom of the hoof because of the abrasive nature of sand itself.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah, it's like they're on an Emory board right.

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Chelsie Huseman: Pretty much. Yeah, yeah. It's just like they're constantly filing out there.

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Kris Hiney: So. But it doesn't mean that you don't have to have a failure, that they're not just gonna be like.

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Chelsie Huseman: Oh!

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Kris Hiney: She writes.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, no, because it it really can create some sensitivity on the soul which you know the horse is not meant to be walking on the soul, or even creating impaction on the soul. And so, if sand is irritating that, then we have to really watch that

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Chelsie Huseman: maybe that they, you know, needs choose to get up off the sand a little bit. Yeah.

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Kris Hiney: Okay, what else do we have to worry about.

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Chelsie Huseman: Well, sand is considered a rather infertile soil, so it doesn't hold organic material very well, and therefore anything that's growing in it. So any type of forage which for us in Texas.

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Chelsie Huseman: our Bermuda grass and our Bahia grass do really well in in sandy soils, and they're great foraging grasses for our livestock as well.

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Chelsie Huseman: but because of that infertility nature of the sand, we have to be really cognizant of fertilizing

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Chelsie Huseman: and adding those nutrients back into the sand so that it's providing enough nutrients for the forage so that it can thrive.

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Chelsie Huseman: and so really managing that in terms of

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Chelsie Huseman: our grazing again, not over grazing and not overstocking is going to help that sand to be able to sustain that forage, that we need to then help sustain our animals. And that's a big deal.

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Chelsie Huseman: Sand also tends to be pretty acidic. So balancing that Ph and low in sulfur. So making sure that we're doing soil, testing and determining what those values are to see. If we need to, then supplement with some

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Chelsie Huseman: some lime, and bringing that Ph up, or some sulfates to bring the sulfur up all things really important. For again the forage stand, so that then our horses have something to eat.

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Chelsie Huseman: It does mean, too, that from time to time, especially in our seasons of struggle, like the heat down here, like right now, it's like summer. Please let go. Everything is struggling, including our forages

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Chelsie Huseman: that we may have to supplement our horses out on pastures like that, because the forage quality is going to be so low.

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Chelsie Huseman: We may have to add additional nutrients to meet our horses needs when they're out on that sandy pasture, because it really again, it doesn't hold that organic material very long. So it's it's pretty porous, and it moves on.

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Kris Hiney: Yeah. Yeah. And so it's probably worth a shout out right now with heat and drought. Let

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Kris Hiney: if you want to preserve your pasture, you may need to pull them off and go to harvested forage instead.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, for sure

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Chelsie Huseman: any day. Now we're gonna cool off, though, any day.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, it was. It was.

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Kris Hiney: Yesterday in Oklahoma. So I don't know if it's moving south for

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Kris Hiney: literally. Yeah, Saturday was a hundred. And then finally, Sunday, we got a little bit of a a break, but

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Kris Hiney: it's been long so

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Kris Hiney: well, what else, Dr. Yoseman, do we need to know about sand, I mean, should I give a shout out to the upside of sandy soil.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yes.

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Kris Hiney: You don't have to bring in sand for your arena. It's just there.

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Chelsie Huseman: There you go.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah.

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Chelsie Huseman: And it also drains water really? Well. So you don't have to worry about, especially this is kind of an issue for us, you know, when we get hard, long, long rains, big rains, you know. Sometimes things can get a bit soggy, and the roots of plants don't generally like that, but when Sandy soils it drains out really nice, and that aeration around the roots really makes the plants happy.

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Kris Hiney: Gotcha. So there are some Perks.

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Chelsie Huseman: There are some Perks, for sure.

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Kris Hiney: Okay. So I think we've covered quite a bit of what horse owners need to know again shout out, if you're worried about soil fertility. Your county extension, educator or agent is there to help you, that they can get your soil tested, and give you advice over what you need to to fertilize your pastures.

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Chelsie Huseman: Yeah, for sure. Anything from forage management to then your horse management as well on sandy locations. That can be a tremendous help.

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Kris Hiney: Okay, very good. Well, we encourage everyone essentially to get that done. And again, just trying to recap, try not to feed them off the sand, if at all possible. Don't overgraze your pastures, which we say that to everybody, really.

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Kris Hiney: and then maybe don't leave them bacon in the sun in the middle of summer on your sandlot. Yep.

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Chelsie Huseman: They will appreciate some shade.

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Kris Hiney: Very good. Well, I really appreciate your time and expertise from the sandy State of Texas, and we'll put any important links in the show notes. But that has been another episode of our tech box talk core stories with a purpose.