My Horse Nutrition JourneyI like to say that my horse nutrition journey began before I was born...my mother passed her horse-loving gene on to me. After all, if I didn't love horses, I wouldn't care about their nutrition. I was one of those girls that every horse-crazy teenage girl is jealous of -- the one that had 5 horses right outside her back door, including one that was her very own. Being in a family that thought highly of children having chores, those horses didn't come free. One of my main chores was feeding the horses daily. Until I was in my late teens, I didn't really think much about what I fed them -- I just fed whatever Mom bought, which was what we had always fed. After all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?
The journey really begins...I started searching the internet for training information on some issues we were having and stumbled across a forum that had information on horse nutrition.The more I read, the more I became intrigued. As anyone who starts looking into horse nutrition knows, if you get one question answered, it creates (at least!) two more. The more I read and learned, the more I wanted to know. In my readings, I started learning about metabolic issues and realized that Bill displayed signs of a few. So then came more research to figure out how to best feed him to manage his conditions. The journey continues...Meanwhile, I was also working on my Bachelor's Degree in Animal Sciences. I took almost every equine-related class I could, as well as every nutrition class -- even one for ruminants. My intrigue with nutrition had grown beyond just horses and into domestic animals in general.However, my passion still lies with equine nutrition. In my spare time I was using my University's extensive library to do even more research on horse nutrition. I was lucky to be at a top research university, which gave me access to almost any scientific article I wanted...and I read through many of them! The major stumbling block...However, on my journey of learning about equine nutrition, I realized there was a severe lack of websites designed to help the average horse owner learn about nutrition.Since I was in school and dealing with the details of nutrition (and all the scientific/chemistry details!) on a daily basis, I could understand most of what was available on the web (since most of the useful pages were research articles)...and what I didn't understand, I could take to my professors and have them explain it to me. However, one of my friends who was also learning along with me was not as fortunate, and was soon often asking me to explain this or that to her. I can't count the number of times she bemoaned the lack of a website that would tell her (in terms she understood!) what she wanted to know. Thus, the birth of this website. The journey today...and into the future!I've since finished my Bachelor's degree -- at the University of Illinois -- and spend my days working on this website and continuing my horse nutrition journey.Or should I say, I spend what's left of my day after taking care of my two sons...whom I have successfully passed the horse-loving gene onto!
My husband's career with the military put my education on hold after earning my Bachelor's degree. However, I hope to return to school and obtain my Master's within the next few years. Then I will have achieved one of the biggest goals along my horse nutrition journey.
|
