Dr. Thunes is also available for collaboration both in person and via video conferencing with veterinary practices seeking nutritional support for their patients.
With extensive experience as a consulting nutritionist to international feed and supplement companies, Dr. Thunes is a valuable asset in any phase of development
Dr. Clair Thunes is a dynamic speaker and educator dedicated to empowering horse owners with the knowledge to make sound decisions when it comes to feeding their herd
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We spend a lot of time thinking about what our horses need every day; nutrition, training, turnout, veterinary care, and all the little details that support their health and well-being. But some of the most important decisions we make for our horses happen long before we ever need them.
Preparation isn't about expecting the worst. It's about giving yourself options when circumstances change quickly and making sure you're in the best position to keep your horses safe. This week's episode of Scoop & Scale is a reminder that a little planning today can make a big difference tomorrow.
Have you taken any steps this year to update your plans for your horses? We'd love to hear what's on your checklist.
When a wildfire, flood, hurricane, or other disaster threatens your horses, every minute matters. In Part 2 of our disaster preparedness series, we walk through what a real horse evacuation looks like...
While we know to keep lids on our grain bins and the feed room door locked, we don't always think about hay barn/loft access. If you have a hay loft with stairs you may want to consider putting a gate on it! ... See MoreSee Less
You probably have a feeding plan for your horse. But do you have an emergency plan?
Most horse owners spend a lot of time thinking about nutrition, health care, training, and daily management. Yet very few have a written plan for what happens if they have to evacuate due to a wildfire, flood, tornado, hurricane, or other natural disaster. The reality is that emergencies don't wait until it's convenient. Taking a few hours to prepare now could save you days, weeks, or even months of stress later and may make a critical difference for your horse's safety and wellbeing. Our latest episode of Scoop & Scale explores a topic every horse owner should think about, even if you hope you'll never need it.
Have you created an emergency plan for your horses? We'd love to hear what's on your preparedness checklist. www.facebook.com/share/p/1BGDvPLuU7/📣𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭! You will want to share this one far & wide to help horse owners prepare.
Every year, natural disasters force horse owners to make critical decisions with little warning. In Part 1 of this two-part series, we cover the essential steps you can take now to prepare your horses, property, and support network before an emergency happens.
In this episode, we discuss: • Why every horse needs permanent identification and up-to-date records • Building an emergency support network and connecting with local resources before disaster strikes • Creating an evacuation plan, including destinations, routes, and transportation logistics • Preparing emergency supplies, feed, medications, and essential paperwork for your horses • Why practicing trailer loading and emergency procedures can make all the difference when time is limited
Whether your risk is wildfire, flood, hurricane, tornado, derecho, or another natural disaster, the best emergency plan is the one you create before you need it. This episode will give you the tips you need to get that done.
Iron in feeds and forages gets a lot of negative attention. The National Research Guidelines for horses states that the iron requirement for a 500kg (1100lb) horse doing no work is 400 mg with a safe upper tolerable limit of 500ppm in the diet.
500 ppm means mg per kilogram so not more than 500 mg per kilogram of feed. To calculate that you have to know all the iron coming from everything being fed, calculate the number of kilos your horse is eating each day and then divide the number of mg of iron being consumed by the number of kilos of feed consumed.
Owners can become concerned if they receive hay analysis with high iron numbers like the results below for 2024. But here is what is interesting, why did the iron values drop so much from 2024 to 2025 and 2026 when it's the same field and nothing was changed about its management?
What do you think? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and we will share the answer tomorrow.
ANSWER: It is quite possible that the high iron was the result of the grass being cut to close to the ground and the bales having dirt in them. However, the probe used to sample this hay in 2024 was rusty. In 2025 and 2026 the end of the probe was sanded to remove all the rust before being used to take the sample. This is one reason we recommend that probes used to sample hay be made from stainless steel. Always check the probe for contamination before sampling. ... See MoreSee Less
With extreme heat affecting so many parts of the country, this is a timely reminder of how the heat effects your horse. We recorded these episodes to help horse owners better understand the effects of heat stress and make informed decisions during hot weather. I encourage you to give this a listen and share it with your horse friends and horse communities you are a part of. This information could help someone recognize the signs of heat stress before it becomes an emergency. www.facebook.com/share/p/14dii9PHvLW/With extreme heat affecting so many areas right now, this is information every horse owner needs. If you're dealing with extreme heat, the safest decision may be to skip your ride.
Here's what catches many horse owners off guard: 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝. They can be overheating while still appearing completely normal.
🎙️ Episode 51: Summer Heat & Your Horse – Part 1: The Science Behind the Stress scoopandscale.com/ep-51-summer-heat-and-your-horse-part-1-the-science-behind-the-stress/ Learn: ☀️ How horses regulate body temperature 💦 What happens inside the body during heat stress 🧂 How much fluid and electrolytes are really lost through sweat 🦠 Why heat can impact gut health, inflammation, and immunity 🐎 How exercise compounds heat stress—even when your horse seems "fine"
🎙️ Episode 52: Summer Heat & Your Horse – Part 2: Nutrition & Management scoopandscale.com/ep-52-summer-heat-and-your-horse-part-2-nutrition-and-management/ We cover: 🌾 Feeding strategies to reduce heat load 🥕 How diet affects hydration 🧂 Salt vs. electrolytes (and why the difference matters) 🧬 Important summer nutrients 🪣 Feed storage, feed tubs, and practical management tips to help your horse stay safe.
Please share this post with horse groups you are a part of and your horse friends. A simple share could help prevent a heat-related emergency.
🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts or click on the links above ... See MoreSee Less
Summer travel season is here, and whether you're hauling across town for a lesson or across the country for a show, a little preparation can go a long way.
Hydration, heat, trailer safety, emergency preparedness, biosecurity... they're not the most exciting parts of owning horses, but they can make all the difference when you're on the road.
What's one item you never leave home without when traveling with your horse?
🎙️ 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐩 & 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 and is packed with practical tips to help you and your horse travel safely this summer. www.facebook.com/share/p/14gDSPZMBbd/🎙️🎧 New episode available now
Summer means horse shows, trail rides, vacations, and long days on the road with our horses. But are you prepared for the unique challenges that come with trailering horses in hot weather? In this episode we discuss how to keep your horse safe, comfortable, and healthy while traveling during the summer months.
In this episode, we cover: • Trailer safety and pre-trip checks • Preventing heat stress during travel • Hydration, salt, and electrolytes • Emergency gear every trailer needs • Biosecurity and travel paperwork
Whether you’re heading to a horse show, trail riding destination, clinic, or summer getaway, this episode will help you travel safely and confidently with your horse.
We spend a lot of time thinking about what our horses need every day; nutrition, training, turnout, veterinary care, and all the little details that support their health and well-being. But some of the most important decisions we make for our horses happen long before we ever need them.
Preparation isn't about expecting the worst. It's about giving yourself options when circumstances change quickly and making sure you're in the best position to keep your horses safe. This week's episode of Scoop & Scale is a reminder that a little planning today can make a big difference tomorrow.
Have you taken any steps this year to update your plans for your horses? We'd love to hear what's on your checklist.
🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts or click on the link below.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1DhqsTndPf/ ... See MoreSee Less
Ep. 80: Horse Emergency Preparedness: What Happens When Disaster Strikes - Scoop & Scale
scoopandscale.com
When a wildfire, flood, hurricane, or other disaster threatens your horses, every minute matters. In Part 2 of our disaster preparedness series, we walk through what a real horse evacuation looks like...1 CommentsComment on Facebook
While we know to keep lids on our grain bins and the feed room door locked, we don't always think about hay barn/loft access. If you have a hay loft with stairs you may want to consider putting a gate on it! ... See MoreSee Less
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
You probably have a feeding plan for your horse. But do you have an emergency plan?
Most horse owners spend a lot of time thinking about nutrition, health care, training, and daily management. Yet very few have a written plan for what happens if they have to evacuate due to a wildfire, flood, tornado, hurricane, or other natural disaster. The reality is that emergencies don't wait until it's convenient. Taking a few hours to prepare now could save you days, weeks, or even months of stress later and may make a critical difference for your horse's safety and wellbeing. Our latest episode of Scoop & Scale explores a topic every horse owner should think about, even if you hope you'll never need it.
Have you created an emergency plan for your horses? We'd love to hear what's on your preparedness checklist.
www.facebook.com/share/p/1BGDvPLuU7/📣𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭! You will want to share this one far & wide to help horse owners prepare.
𝐄𝐩. 𝟕𝟗: 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐄𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬: 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬
Every year, natural disasters force horse owners to make critical decisions with little warning. In Part 1 of this two-part series, we cover the essential steps you can take now to prepare your horses, property, and support network before an emergency happens.
In this episode, we discuss:
• Why every horse needs permanent identification and up-to-date records
• Building an emergency support network and connecting with local resources before disaster strikes
• Creating an evacuation plan, including destinations, routes, and transportation logistics
• Preparing emergency supplies, feed, medications, and essential paperwork for your horses
• Why practicing trailer loading and emergency procedures can make all the difference when time is limited
Whether your risk is wildfire, flood, hurricane, tornado, derecho, or another natural disaster, the best emergency plan is the one you create before you need it. This episode will give you the tips you need to get that done.
✅Listen here or on your favorite podcast app!
scoopandscale.com/ep-79-horse-emergency-preparedness-evacuation-planning-before-disaster-strikes/ ... See MoreSee Less
1 CommentsComment on Facebook
Iron in feeds and forages gets a lot of negative attention. The National Research Guidelines for horses states that the iron requirement for a 500kg (1100lb) horse doing no work is 400 mg with a safe upper tolerable limit of 500ppm in the diet.
500 ppm means mg per kilogram so not more than 500 mg per kilogram of feed. To calculate that you have to know all the iron coming from everything being fed, calculate the number of kilos your horse is eating each day and then divide the number of mg of iron being consumed by the number of kilos of feed consumed.
Owners can become concerned if they receive hay analysis with high iron numbers like the results below for 2024. But here is what is interesting, why did the iron values drop so much from 2024 to 2025 and 2026 when it's the same field and nothing was changed about its management?
What do you think? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and we will share the answer tomorrow.
ANSWER: It is quite possible that the high iron was the result of the grass being cut to close to the ground and the bales having dirt in them. However, the probe used to sample this hay in 2024 was rusty. In 2025 and 2026 the end of the probe was sanded to remove all the rust before being used to take the sample. This is one reason we recommend that probes used to sample hay be made from stainless steel. Always check the probe for contamination before sampling. ... See MoreSee Less
10 CommentsComment on Facebook
With extreme heat affecting so many parts of the country, this is a timely reminder of how the heat effects your horse. We recorded these episodes to help horse owners better understand the effects of heat stress and make informed decisions during hot weather. I encourage you to give this a listen and share it with your horse friends and horse communities you are a part of. This information could help someone recognize the signs of heat stress before it becomes an emergency.
www.facebook.com/share/p/14dii9PHvLW/With extreme heat affecting so many areas right now, this is information every horse owner needs. If you're dealing with extreme heat, the safest decision may be to skip your ride.
Here's what catches many horse owners off guard: 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝. They can be overheating while still appearing completely normal.
🎙️ Episode 51: Summer Heat & Your Horse – Part 1: The Science Behind the Stress scoopandscale.com/ep-51-summer-heat-and-your-horse-part-1-the-science-behind-the-stress/
Learn:
☀️ How horses regulate body temperature
💦 What happens inside the body during heat stress
🧂 How much fluid and electrolytes are really lost through sweat
🦠 Why heat can impact gut health, inflammation, and immunity
🐎 How exercise compounds heat stress—even when your horse seems "fine"
🎙️ Episode 52: Summer Heat & Your Horse – Part 2: Nutrition & Management scoopandscale.com/ep-52-summer-heat-and-your-horse-part-2-nutrition-and-management/
We cover:
🌾 Feeding strategies to reduce heat load
🥕 How diet affects hydration
🧂 Salt vs. electrolytes (and why the difference matters)
🧬 Important summer nutrients
🪣 Feed storage, feed tubs, and practical management tips to help your horse stay safe.
Please share this post with horse groups you are a part of and your horse friends. A simple share could help prevent a heat-related emergency.
🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts or click on the links above ... See MoreSee Less
1 CommentsComment on Facebook
Summer travel season is here, and whether you're hauling across town for a lesson or across the country for a show, a little preparation can go a long way.
Hydration, heat, trailer safety, emergency preparedness, biosecurity... they're not the most exciting parts of owning horses, but they can make all the difference when you're on the road.
What's one item you never leave home without when traveling with your horse?
🎙️ 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐩 & 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 and is packed with practical tips to help you and your horse travel safely this summer.
www.facebook.com/share/p/14gDSPZMBbd/🎙️🎧 New episode available now
𝐄𝐩. 𝟕𝟖: 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬: 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐇𝐲𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲
Summer means horse shows, trail rides, vacations, and long days on the road with our horses. But are you prepared for the unique challenges that come with trailering horses in hot weather? In this episode we discuss how to keep your horse safe, comfortable, and healthy while traveling during the summer months.
In this episode, we cover:
• Trailer safety and pre-trip checks
• Preventing heat stress during travel
• Hydration, salt, and electrolytes
• Emergency gear every trailer needs
• Biosecurity and travel paperwork
Whether you’re heading to a horse show, trail riding destination, clinic, or summer getaway, this episode will help you travel safely and confidently with your horse.
Listen now 👉 scoopandscale.com/ep-78-traveling-with-horses-trailer-safety-hydration-biosecurity/ ... See MoreSee Less
1 CommentsComment on Facebook