Frequently Asked Questions

You can either pay by Venmo, Paypal or check. You do not need to pay until you have received your evaluation. I trust you to pay for my services within 1 week.

I need as much information about your horse and their current diet as possible. I can send you a list of information that I need but it generally includes: - Horse body weight - Horse age - Horse activity level - work, growth, lactation, etc. - Horse body condition - Horse health concerns - Photos - Daily weight intake of: - Hay - including type, analysis is ideal - Concentrates/grain - including brand information - Supplements - all nutritional supplelments - Pasture - Photos of hay and pasture *I can help estimate hay and pasture intake if offered free choice - Feeding management information - Meals per day - Turnout/pasture - Water To increase the accuracy of the evaluation - You will need to weigh all of your food, including hay. - You will need to get a weight estimate on your horse - Ideally you will get a hay and/or pasture analysis

Shannon Pratt-Phillips provides clients with scientifically based nutritional information for their horses or businesses. Not all nutritionists are equal. Dr. Phillips is: - Educated - More than 10 years of university education; BS in Nutritional Science, MS and PhD focused on equine nutrition - Experienced - Dr. Phillips has been working in the equine nutrition industry for more than 25 years - Unbiased - Dr. Phillips does not receive royalties from any company. She will help you find the best nutritional products for your horses - or help you develop your own. I do not use a commercial ration balancing software for analysis. I use Microsoft Excel and a program I created within it to calculate nutrient intakes. I compare all nutrient intakes to the National Research Council's Nutrient Requirements of Horses (2007). In some cases, requirements may be adjusted to reflect individual horse needs - such as for weight loss, new research information regarding nutrient requirements, etc. I firmly believe that there is VALUE in expertise and experience. You tend to get what you pay for. Decide for you what is best for your horse. My favorite story to illustrate this point: A giant ship’s engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one ‘professional’ after another but none of them could figure out how to fix the broken engine. Then they brought in a man who had been fixing ships since he was young. He carried a large bag of tools with him and when he arrived immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom. Two of the ship’s owners were there watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away and the engine was fixed!!! A week later, the owners received an invoice from the old man for $10,000. What?! the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything..!!!”. So they wrote to the man; “Please send us an itemized invoice.” The man sent an invoice that read: Tapping with a hammer………………….. $2.00 Knowing where to tap…………………….. $9,998.00 Effort is important but experience and knowing where to direct that effort makes all the difference.

Digestible Energy Crude Protein Lysine Calcium Phosphorus Sodium Potassium Chloride Sulfur Magnesium Iron Zinc Copper Selenium Vitamin E Vitamin D Vitamin A +others upon request *Some feed or forage analyses do not include all nutrients, therefore educated estimates may be used.

This depends on how much more information I might need about your horse/his diet. Generally I can complete an evaluation within a week.