On Tuesday, Miss Allman’s horse and pony care enrichment were very fortunate to have an online lecture and Q&A session with trainee equine nutritionist Sophie Oakley, from TopSpec horse feeds.

The session focussed on the fundamentals of feeding horses and ponies, associated health conditions and how to formulate a feed ration. Pupils were also fascinated by Sophie’s scale model of the equine digestive tract, which is approximately 20 metres long in the average sized horse. Sophie also spoke about her personal career journey and the range of experience and qualifications she has gained in the wider equine industry, before being successful in achieving her goal of specialising as an equine nutritionist.   

Pupils asked a range of questions both about the session and the care of their own ponies. The group were really inspired and excited to apply this knowledge in their own horse care. Pupils said; “Sophie from TopSpec was great at giving us the why on multiple facts and overall I found the session very useful, finding out facts that I can use with my own horse”, “I liked how you described the horses requirement for different components of feed, e.g starch and fibre and what feeds you could use to support this”, and “It was a great opportunity to speak to you and you have put my mind at ease on what to feed my own horse”. 

Huge thanks to Sophie and the team at TopSpec for this fantastic opportunity.