I hope you all enjoyed the festive season! I was hoping to share what I had been up to at the start of 2025, but unfortunately the snow has put a halt to any plans! The horses have been fairly wild, as they’ve only been able to go on the walker – it’s just too risky to do anything more with the snow and ice. While I don’t like to disrupt their routine too much, sometimes it’s necessary and thankfully feed wise they are on fabulous fibre diets so I haven’t had to change that aspect of their routine while the snow keeps us grounded. I’m hoping that things will return to normal soon, and luckily the horses were all in full work before Christmas, so they’re not missing out on too much fitness work!

Horses in snow

Before Christmas, all of the horses were competing at British Dressage and British Show Jumping, and I’m thrilled to share that Snip even won his first-ever PSG dressage test! There’s still plenty to work on, but it’s super exciting to be back at that level!

Once I get back in the saddle, my plan is to continue competing at BD and BS with the horses. I’m keeping an eye on the weather for the start of the eventing season. If we have a dry spring, I’ll aim to get started in April. However, if it’s wet, I’ll likely wait until May. Fortunately, the horses are all good jumpers and can deliver a solid test, so they’ll be competing at BD and BS regardless of when our eventing season starts – it’s not the end of the world.

horse and rider jumping a fence

This year, I’ll be competing with a small team of four horses:

We also have three young horses turning 2 this year, and Candy is due to have a foal in the summer!

I’m really looking forward to getting out and about again as soon as possible and can’t wait for everyone to see how fantastic the horses look on their Dengie diets!

horses in snowy field

Dengie’s Commitment to Environmental Responsibility

Written by Katie Reeve and Tracey Hammond

Sustainability has definitely become an increasing consideration in people’s minds in recent years and the horse feed industry is certainly no exception. As the need for action becomes ever more urgent in light of yet more extreme weather events affecting the UK, the whole situation can feel overwhelming. This is why it was really valuable for us to get together as a team recently and reflect on what we have achieved and understand more about how our everyday actions align with Dengie’s Environmental Management Plan Policy. Some of our particularly notable achievements include:

Sustainability was also a prominent topic at the BETA Feed Conference over the summer, with speakers covering topics such as the environmental impact of ingredient sourcing, feed production and distribution, as well as the impact of regulatory requirements facing the horse feed industry. One key topic of conversation was the advantages of co-products like beet pulp and straw, which not only have nutritional benefits for the horse but also have a very low carbon footprint, as the sugar beet and cereals are being grown and harvested to go into the human food industry anyway! We use and recommend these ingredients to customers regularly and making reference to their low carbon footprint when we recommend them is one way that we can increase awareness of the importance of sustainability when feeding our horses.

Agri-supply Action Plan

Vicky Robinson, Head of Sustainability at the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), the trade association for the Agri-supply industry which includes animal feed, also discussed their upcoming sustainability roadmap at the BETA conference. This has now recently been published https://www.agindustries.org.uk/sustainability.html and covers a wide range of topics including how to report on sustainability effectively.

Dengie are members of the AIC’s UFAS and FEMAS Feed Assurance Schemes and over the coming months our Accreditation Manager will be working to identify any gaps in priorities and actions based on this new action plan. When most people think about sustainability, they think about environmental impact, but sustainability also includes a sustainable workforce and people impact. The AIC Action Plan calls this ‘sustainable communities’ and one of the suggested member actions is to offer mental health support and training. This is something that Dengie already do as they have several Mental Health First Aiders amongst different teams within the business who have received appropriate training to support their colleagues. This was initially in recognition of the challenges that many farmers face when working alone for long hours. As our growers all have their own farms, Dengie wanted to offer a support network for them as well as employees.

All of this hard work has been recognised independently too. In August this year we were delighted to achieve the highest accreditation of “Green status” for Investors in the Environment, which is a national environmental accreditation scheme. We’ve also held a Royal Warrant now for a number of years, and something that a lot of people perhaps don’t realise is that there are very strict sustainability and environmental requirements that companies have to fulfil in order to be eligible.

We are also really proud to support a number of charities and organisations who are working to help conserve and protect the countryside, including the Essex Wildlife Trust and the Green Tractor Scheme which promotes farm plastic recycling. Plastic use on farms and for Dengie feeds is unavoidable for many reasons. We continue to work to reduce the amount of plastic we use, and we also encourage people to re-use before recycling too.

Here are our top tips for re-purposing our bags:

Let us know if you have any other suggestions for re-purposing your Dengie feed sacks!

Inevitably, speaking to customers on the Dengie Feedline there are seasonal trends and queries that tend to pop up time and again. Currently, our stats tell us that we are speaking to more horse owners that have concerns regarding which forage replacers to feed to horses with dental problems. This is a common concern for this time of year when the reliance on conserved forage increases in line with increased stable time. What’s different this year however is that compared to normal, the number of enquiries relating to equine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis (EOTRH) seems to have markedly increased.  

EOTRH first appeared on my radar back in 2014 when I attended the European Workshop on Equine Nutrition in Leipzig where it was discussed in a session on Dental Care for Older Horses (Vogt, 2014). Here it was reported that the disease had been described for the first time in 2008, but it was gaining some significance. It was also reported that the disease was generally seen in older horses and treatment frequently boils down to the total extraction of the incisors. Since then, whilst I have occasionally come across EOTRH cases and have some practical experience, this year I have found myself discussing these cases more frequently.  

Example of EOTRH in horses

Credit: Ben Portus at Paton & Lee

EOTRH is a progressive disease that affects the incisors and canines and amongst other symptoms the reluctance to bite is common as it causes pain. If your horse is suddenly reluctant to take hay from a small-holed net, but will eat it from the floor it may indicate some discomfort with the front teeth that shouldn’t be ignored and should be discussed with your vet.  

For horses that have had their incisors removed as treatment for EOTRH, short grass can pose a particular challenge. The horse’s incisors are fundamentally the horse’s shears that allow them to cut grass and bring it into their mouth with the assistance of their lips and tongue. Horses without incisors can often adapt to using their lips and tongue to prehend and pull grass into the mouth providing it is long enough to grab with their lips. When the grass is short or sparse, this isn’t possible and if your horse is turned out to grass all day then this is a significant amount of time that they can’t eat which will have deleterious effects on digestive health and mean that they are likely to struggle to maintain weight. 

Top Tips if your Horse has EOTRH or has incisors removed because of it:  

For further feeding advice call the Dengie Feedline on 01621 841188 (Option 1) or fill in our Feed Advice Form.

Dengie’s National Sales Manager, Laura Dolphin was once again chuffed to qualify for The Jockey Club RoR National Championship at Aintree.

“From the moment you arrive, stabling the horses on the prestigious yard with the names of former winners above the doors, walking past the winning post, riding a dressage test metre’s away from Becher’s Brook and looking at so many beautiful retrained Thoroughbreds happy in their new careers, it’s just amazing!” says Laura.

This was Laura’s second year at the championships where the event showcases these amazing horses and celebrates their new careers in either dressage, show jumping, eventing or showing.

Laura Dolphin at the RoR National Championships

“Last year I watched the dressage freestyle to music and said to my Mum, ‘That’ll be Boris and me next year.’  We did it! I managed to qualify for the Novice Freestyle to Music; riding in the International Centre was the highlight, the music, lights and crowd created such an exciting atmosphere.”

Boris and Laura are trained by Dean Price, “Dean’s amazing he’s patient and understands retraining of racehorses, I’ve also tapped into Lou Robson’s retraining expertise by following her on social media and listening to her podcasts.”

Laura and Boris are new to dressage to music, performing to a floor plan by Jackson Black and music by the renowned Gaynor Colbourn. “I was very proud of Boris as it was the first time we had ridden to this music and floor plan at a competition! Lots was going on in the main arena, a very buzzy atmosphere but I held his hand and we did it!”

Laura Dolphin at the RoR National Championships

Boris is fed Dengie Cool, Condition & Shine alongside a balancer.  He’s turned out during the day and in at night. “Cool, Condition & Shine is perfect for him.  He was a bit of a fussy eater when I first got him three years ago and needed to gain some weight.  I didn’t want to feed him anything that might encourage excitable behaviour so I opted for Cool, Condition & Shine, which he loves! He has two feeds a day plus hay and grazing; he’s now the perfect weight and has plenty of controllable energy.”

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to attend an equine nutrition conference?

At the beginning of July, I was lucky enough to be able to attend the European Workshop on Equine Nutrition (EWEN), which this year was held in the stunning Gamle Logen building in Oslo, Norway. EWEN takes place every two years and includes a wide range of presentations on various topics and the latest research surrounding equine nutrition.

Gamle Logen, Oslo

When I arrived at the conference venue, I checked in and picked up my name tag and conference bag which contained a notepad, pen, info from the sponsors and a USB with the digital conference proceedings. We then quickly got started with a pre-conference meeting with researchers from several different universities as well as feed company nutritionists and industry representatives.

After the meeting, there was a welcome reception and the opportunity to view the conference posters for the first time. Conference posters are basically visual summaries of research projects, usually in A1 size, and include images, diagrams, graphs and tables alongside the text to illustrate the methods and results of the study. When someone applies to present their work at a conference, there is often the option to choose whether they would like to submit for an oral presentation or for a poster – the choice here will normally depend on the nature of the project. The posters are displayed throughout the conference, and there are opportunities to speak to the authors about their work during the breaks. This year at EWEN, the posters covered a wide variety of topics, ranging from a study into horse owners’ perceptions of ryegrass, through to research on different in vitro techniques of measuring feed digestibility. The welcome reception and poster viewing session also provided an opportunity to meet and catch up with friends and industry colleagues as well as getting to meet lots of new people too.

Day two opened bright and early with a fantastic keynote presentation from Janne Winther Christensen on the behavioural biology of horses with a focus on foraging. Janne highlighted the need to provide horses with a variety of forage types to improve welfare, since horses will naturally choose to forage on a wide range of different feed materials even when grass is in abundance. A variety of forage types can also provide enrichment and create a positive experience for the horse, which is so relevant when it comes to promoting good welfare. This was followed by shorter presentations on some of the latest research, as well as a further keynote from Shannon Pratt Phillips on a North American perspective on equine nutrition. It was fascinating to hear about how the horse feed industry differs in the United States and Canada compared to in the UK and Europe.

Following a delicious lunch and the afternoon’s presentations, the day concluded and we had a free evening in Oslo, during which I enjoyed meeting up with friends I’d not seen since the last EWEN and then going for dinner at the SALT street food venue on the waterfront with some other feed company nutritionists and suppliers. Despite what horse owners may think, many feed companies actually have very good relationships with one another, and it’s always lovely to catch up at these types of events!

Vigeland Sculpture Park

Me at the Vigeland Sculpture Park – this is home to over 200 sculptures all by the same artist

Day three consisted of a morning of presentations, including a keynote from Manfred Coenen on the horse’s energy requirements, followed by a cultural tour around Oslo. My tour group enjoyed a coach trip out to the Vigeland Sculpture Park and up to the Holmenkollen ski jump, which hosted the Winter Olympics in 1952. The afternoon was followed by a delicious gala dinner in the evening at a local restaurant overlooking the harbour.

Holmenkollen ski jump

At the Holmenkollen ski jump – looking slightly unusual with no snow to be seen in the July sunshine!

The final day of the conference was held just out of town at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), about 30 minutes away on the coach. In the morning session, we enjoyed keynote presentations from Marcus Clauss and Michael Weishaupt, followed by some workshops in rotation in the afternoon. We were in smaller groups for the workshops, which allowed more time for discussion and questions. The first workshop I attended was on gastric ulcers and was hosted by Nanna Luthersson and Pat Harris. They discussed the current knowledge on gastric ulcers, including the benefits of alfalfa, and also reiterated the importance of getting a horse gastroscoped if ulcers are suspected. This allows for identification of the type of ulcers present (ESGD or EGGD), which will then guide treatment and management decisions. They finished up by talking about the BETA feed approval mark for horses prone to gastric ulcers. This is a scheme we have in the UK to help horse owners identify suitable products, but there is not yet an equivalent in other European countries.

The second workshop I attended was on forage and was led by Cecilia Müller who is an associate professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and has a wealth of knowledge on all things forage! She spoke about some of the research projects she is currently undertaking looking at forages and legumes, including some recently published work on different grass species and their digestibility and non-structural carbohydrate content. In the second half of the workshop, we went outside and had a tour round the forage plots at NMBU. These are rectangular plots of different types of legumes and grasses which are grown and harvested under relatively consistentconditions to allow for more representative comparisons. Despite the pouring rain, it was great to have the opportunity to go out and see the research facilities in person.

Field

Some of the forage plots at NMBU

After getting the coach back to central Oslo, the conference officially drew to a close. I feel very privileged to have been able to attend EWEN again; it is always a fantastic experience and I always come away feeling very inspired! It’s so important that we keep up to date with the latest research and developments so that we can continue to provide the best advice we can to our customers.

I’d like to end this blog post with a big thank you to Rasmus Bovbjerg Jensen and the rest of the EWEN organising committee for once again putting on such a brilliant conference – we are looking forward to the 2026 meeting in Portugal!

In September 2017, Hannah and Matt Illston-Barsby offered Hope and Star a forever home with a view to them eventually become driving ponies. Seven years on and they are well on their way to a successful driving career.

After a successful indoor driving season gaining the Midlands Indoor Pairs Driving Champions, we are now in full swing on the outdoor season. This is our first competitive year so we needed to get two full events signed off so that we can compete nationally.

Due to wet ground conditions a lot of events have been cancelled so we started late but our first event was at Thoresby Park. We were thrilled with Hope and Star’s performance and completed the event safely and got their first event signed off. When we returned home our trainer Robert Buck from GB Pod Training group wanted to improve our dressage score. We made a plan that we needed to switch the ponies sides so we now have Hope on the left and Star on the right, this is due to Hope pulling away from the pole and not being completely settled in her work which was causing us costly marks in the dressage phase. We had to do a lot of long reining in preparation before changing them over, but the results have made such a difference and Hope no longer pulls away and is more settled in her work. We have also invested in a different carriage which is designed to cope with the different terrains you get and a bonus is that it is silver and green, so it goes well with our Dengie green marathon colours!

Sandringham Driving Trials

We felt ready for our next event Sandringham which has been a dream for both Matt and I to compete there, so we were very excited. We needed to stay focused on our aim, which was to just get round the event safely and complete, so we would get our last event signed off and receive our competency card to compete nationally. The first phase was dressage and all our hard work paid off as we improved our dressage score from our previous event by reducing 13 penalty points and were lying 5th overnight in our class; we were thrilled! Next day was Marathon Day and this was a huge ask as it was a big event, but we managed to keep it together and complete with no penalties and kept our 5th position! The last day was a Cones course and another very impressive set up with a JCB arch to drive under. We had a fabulous drive just two cones knocked and a few time penalties, but everyone struggled to keep within time, and we finished in 5th position and our card signed off so we can now compete nationally!

We are absolutely over the moon with how we are starting our journey into carriage driving and we are so lucky to have the fantastic support from Dengie Performance Horse Nutritionist, Claire Akers to make sure Hope and Star are kept in their best condition. They are looking fabulous on Dengie Performance Fibre!

Well June and July are best described as ‘conference season’ which kicked off with the BETA annual Feed Industry conference. Sustainability and equine welfare have been key topics discussed at all the conferences but it was really interesting to see how the relationship between them was brought into focus at the Thoroughbred Breeders Association conference. Studies funded by Dengie, amongst others, have demonstrated the relationship between diet and behaviour in recent times and it was brilliant to at last hear this being discussed.

Katie Williams at the TBA Conference

Respected vet and behaviour expert Dr Gemma Pearson detailed how what is fed right from conception, through development and then on the track, impacts on the behaviour and welfare of the racehorse. The public perception of racehorse welfare is key to the sport’s future and the horse’s diet is fundamental to their health and behaviour. The studies from Lab to Field that we have been sharing in our webinars and on the Horse & Hound podcast demonstrate that feeding fibre is not a barrier to performance either! Let’s hope the TBA conference is the start of some really big shifts in attitudes to feeding racehorses.

Katie Williams at confernece

The last of the recent conferences was the International Colic Conference which was held in Edinburgh. The conference is only held every three years and only comes to the UK every so often – I can (just about) remember attending the last time it was held on these shores in 2002! I was really excited to hear more about the INCISE project which is the initiative to gather data about colic surgery and report on the most common issues, levels of successful outcomes etc. As this was a key part of my own PhD, it was brilliant to see so much data being presented and shared. Without being able to compare and benchmark outcomes, there is little chance of standards being raised across hospitals.

A particularly interesting paper explored the number of horses returning to work after colic surgery. This was carried out in the USA and showed that the more serious the colic (volvulus or the intestine twisting and strangulating itself for example) the less likely the horse was to return to the same level of work. However, this wasn’t just because surgery was less likely to be successful, it also came down to what were defined as non-biological factors. These included the fact that if owners had perceived their horse to have had a tougher time, they were less likely to push them as hard if they returned to work. This is both interesting in terms of the importance of clarity when reporting successful outcomes – the success of the surgery wasn’t the determining factor in these cases – but also reaffirms that, as horse owners, in most cases we just want a happy healthy horse after surgery!

And finally, something that became very apparent throughout the conference and became a bit of a running joke, was the level of funding that those based in the USA and to some extent Europe, have in contrast to those based in the UK. As presenter after presenter from the UK made their ‘no declaration of funding’ statements, a ripple of giggles went through the audience. Definitely a case of ‘funny, not funny!’

30yrs ago Tina Canton received a call up for the GB young rider eventing team, sadly it turned out it wasn’t meant to be as she had a bad fall a couple of weeks before Bramham so sadly never made it onto the team.  After years of experience and a change of discipline Tina finally got that Team GB call up!

I was honoured to be asked to ride at the Veteran Show Jumping Championships in Italy with my own gelding, Bannagh Romeo aka George, whom I’ve owned since an unbroken 3-year-old, so it’s very special he was chosen and goes to show you should never give up on your dreams!

Tina Canton and George

I only got the call up about 10 days before we had to leave – so it was a bit of a mad panic to organise everything. A team zoom call allowed us all to meet one another, helped us make some decisions and get organised; we volunteered to take our lorry Bertha and take another rider with us. We then compiled the packing list, paperwork and vet tests for travelling. I’ve travelled abroad as a coach and helped organise horses being shipped, but this was the first time taking one of my own.

The day finally came to ‘set sail’ and we met up with two of our team members in Dover to catch the early ferry to Calais. Despite our paperwork being correct and completed by a very experienced vet it was refused by customs! Thanks to our vet who drove down to Dover with copies of the paperwork and after discussions with customs they finally accepted our papers, and we could travel – a very stressful start to our long journey.

With the customs situation behind us we headed onto Dijon, then on to Nice catching up with the rest of the team and a final 11 hours of driving to get the event venue, Horse Riviera Resort, Rimini, Italy. Wow! What an amazing facility, fantastic stables, everything you could possibly need for horse and rider! We got the horses sorted so they could rest and we set-up camp.

The next day started hot! Lots of in-hand walking and a good stretchy school in the cooler morning and evening allowed everyone to relax and recuperate after the mammoth journey.

Wednesday was the official trot-up and all the horses passed, then we went on to do an arena familiarisation; we all had 90 seconds to jump a simple course of nine fences up to height, which resulted in all the horses jumping well.

Thursday was the first competition – a speed class with three of us being in the prize giving, standing us in bronze position going into the next day.

Friday was the team competition run like a Nations Cup – two rounds and then a jump off in the event of a tie. It was quite a challenging day, so warm, more a day for the beach or pool, not jumping two rounds of show jumping in a jacket, boots and hat! The horses all coped amazingly well and jumped superbly; we finished in silver position! It was very special to receive that medal and rosette! A team celebration dinner at a local restaurant finished off the day.

Tina Canton & George at the Veteran Show Jumping Championships

Saturday was a rest day for horses and humans! Sunday was the individual competition where everything you jumped counted towards the score – so it was all to play for. Uncharacteristically George had a couple of fences down, I think the heat was taking its toll and we dropped to finish 16th which was a little disappointing.

On Sunday we packed up the lorries to head home via Nice, on the high of winning a medal only for this euphoria to be dampened the next day when we had a braking fault on the lorry. So, we transferred the horses to the other lorry, limped to a garage and managed to get it repaired. All fixed we finally hit the road with George & Co back on board, heading to Lyon and then Calais we finally got home at lunchtime on Thursday!

Alfa-A Original FIbre FeedIt was a fabulous trip with memories and new friends made. To be on Team GB with George made me very proud, he jumped brilliantly, coped well with the heat and the epic journey. Dengie Alfa-A Original was the foundation of his diet throughout, feeding him a small amount prior to riding, as well as within his main feeds, helping to keep him fuelled and hydrated.

To say the past few weeks have been a mix of winning moments and washouts would be an understatement. We’re certainly a team who’ve been affected by the unseasonably wet weather and the abandoned events. With the horses all feeling on top form it was so disappointing to withdraw from Catton after show jumping, especially when they were all on such good dressage scores, but we picked ourselves up and headed to Farley, where the sun came out and we won!

It was a hugely exciting win for Monbeg Pompeii (or Foxy to her friends) who’s owned by our very good friend Rosie Williams. We were absolutely thrilled that Foxy finished with a sub-thirty dressage, two very good jumping rounds and just a few speeding points – oops!

Emily Phlip at Farley Hall Horse Trials 2024

Foxy’s confidence has improved so much across the country in the last few months, and she flew round an influential track like an absolute pro. I’ve been riding her while Rosie is at university but I would quite like to steal her permanently! We’ve looked at each of the different areas of her work and care to identify where we can make small improvements. One thing we noticed was that her dressage saddle wasn’t quite right, so we made an emergency call to our super saddler Helen Leedham and Albion Saddles. They worked some magic with a new dressage saddle that seems to have made a huge difference. Foxy was noticeably more comfortable and was able to deliver a more relaxed and overall brilliant test.

Then came Offchurch, again in the dry which was a nice change, and again some super results, with a 3rd in the BE105 for Stan! Despite deciding he couldn’t remember how to go backwards in a dressage test we ended up second after the first phase! He went on to jump two super rounds for 3rd place, which we were absolutely thrilled with!

One area I can always be confident of is that the horses are on the very best nutritional plan, thanks to the support of the Dengie Nutrition team, in particular Claire Akers and Hannah Turner. Both Foxy and Stan have very good temperaments and hold their weight well, however, they wouldn’t be excessively good doers. Together with Dengie we’ve found that Dengie Hi-Fi Senior suits them both incredibly well. The straw-free formulation makes it ideal for performance horses and not just seniors, and that certainly seems the case with these horses. The addition of rapeseed oil in Hi-Fi Senior gives them a fantastic shiny and healthy coat too. Foxy’s speeding ticket certainly goes to prove there is no need to overcomplicate things with heating feeds, just a good base diet that suits the horse is all we need!

Sarah-Jane Brown has always dreamt of competing at Bolesworth International and this year with Fliss going so well, it seemed like a good time to give it a go!

The Cheshire event is a 6-hour drive from Cornwall but with two weeks of competition on offer it seemed a good time for a ‘holiday’.

It was my first show jumping international and we were lucky enough to have some top riders at the show, to warm up in the same ring as John Whitaker, Scott Brash, William Funnel et al. was both daunting and educational. Mind you I did nearly run Geoff Billington over on one occasion as he put up jumps for a pupil.

Sarah-Jane Brown competing at Bolesworth International

I for one suffer a bit of imposter syndrome and wondered if I should be at these events. We were competing at the lower 1* level with classes 1.25-1.35. I shouldn’t have worried Fliss excelled, she knew she was at a special event with a big atmosphere. She loved the people, the large ring and the courses. We jumped three classes each week, the first week we were 7th in the 1.25 speed, 11th in the 1.25 two phase and 13th in the 1.30 Grand Prix, many of these classes had 80 plus entries.

Horse with rosette

The second week we consolidated our form and had a 6th place in the first 1.25. This meant a lot as we were able to go in for a prize giving and receive a rosette, we were then 7th the next day and on the last day we jumped a super round in the 1.30 Grand Prix only for me to have a pole at one of the easier fences which I could (and did) kick myself about. However, five out of six classes placed was far better than I hoped.

The whole experience was eye opening, it was great to watch the pro-riders and the big grand prix classes as well as the fun classes such as the ride and drive. I walked the course for the Eventers Grand Prix and would have loved a crack at that. Nice to be able to walk around the estate and the dogs were certainly on red alert when they saw the resident hares!

Despite two weeks away from home Fliss maintained great energy levels and looked fantastic on Dengie Alfa-A Lite, as she can do rather well at this time of year!

Horse eating from bucket