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Tag Archives Horse Health

The constant stepping and chewing of grazing is better for horse fitness.
Livestock

Why movement matters to horses

Regimented exercise cannot replace the natural gentle movements of grazing in an adequately sized paddock

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Cinema portrays wild horses to be “running free,” but the truth is that wild horses spend hours and hours a day “walking free,” moving slow and steady as they graze, browse and forage. Step, bite, chew, repeat. Horses were designed to move and it keeps them physically healthy and mentally content. The No. 1 function
While the whisker hair itself does not ‘feel,’ it is anchored into a blood-rich follicular sac that is extensively innervated and feeds directly into the brain’s sensory cortex.
Livestock

Watch the whiskers and you’ll learn more about your horse

Horse Health: An animal’s whiskers are important sensory organs and trimming them could be a bad idea

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Veterinary professionals and cat owners have recently begun diagnosing and addressing whisker stress or whisker fatigue in felines. Simply put, the theory is that a cat’s whiskers can become over-stimulated from the unnatural habit of touching the sides of standard food and water dishes, leading to whisker stress or whisker fatigue. Although there is no solid science to support the
Horse training programs need to start with an awareness of how horses learn.
Livestock

A lonely horse is often more prone to injury

Horse Health: Horses are social creatures and social isolation has been found to be among their strongest stressors

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Horses have major advantages associated with domestic life but they have also incurred disadvantages that deeply affect their overall health and well-being. Perhaps the greatest of these disadvantages is the disruption of their social structure due to frequent social isolation. Social support in humans has been found to protect individuals from the mental, physical and
Researchers struggle to quantify the healing properties of honey.
Livestock

The use of honey in wound care of horses

Horse Health: The right kind of honey is key if you want to try this technique

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Medicinal honey shows impressive results in combatting antibiotic resistance, improving patient welfare and economizing wound management for humans and companion animals. When the source of honey is well chosen, there are no mentionable side effects or contra-indications. Bees make honey from the nectar collected from flowers. Honey is roughly 80 per cent simple sugars like glucose and fructose and 20
The large spinous processes arising from each of the individual equine thoracic vertebrae can act like long lever arms when a sideways pull is placed on a heavily weighted stirrup as a rider mounts, thus twisting the horse’s spine, back and saddle.
Livestock

The value of a mounting block

Horse Health: Discomfort from mounting more common cause of issues than a horse with ‘bad manners’

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The behaviour of the horse at the time a rider mounts the horse is rich with information regarding how the horse physically, mentally and emotionally feels about the experience. If one can read the horse, information gleaned from that moment demonstrates the horse’s mental state and physical response to being mounted as well as portrays the horse’s emotional state about being
Horses are hardwired to buck, but sometimes this behaviour becomes a real problem.
Columns, Livestock

Working with a bucking horse

Horse Health: There’s almost always a root cause for this behaviour that must be addressed first

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The non-professional bucking horse is a conundrum to the equestrian community and there is limited information on how bucking behaviour can best be investigated. Simply correcting the behaviour with assertive training methods, without understanding the root cause for the bucking, has limited success in preventing this unwanted and potentially dangerous activity. In fact, all horses
Horses bothered by constant itching can become highly irritable, fatigued and even develop gastric ulcers.
Livestock

The seasonally ‘itchy’ horse

Horse Health: It’s not just humans that suffer through allergy season

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There is an increased occurrence of the itchy horse during the spring and summer months, which is associated with seasonal allergies. While there is no published data on the number of allergies in horses, it would appear that their numbers are rising and parallel similar findings in humans and dogs. The most obvious symptom of
When healthy, the mass of the frog dominates the back half of the hoof. Its prominence and presence is substantial.
Livestock

Forging the frog of the equine foot

Horse Health: This structure must be nurtured naturally for horse health

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So much detriment comes to the horse when their feet are not comfortable. The robust development and expression of the back half of the horse’s hoof and by association, the frog, plays a major role in cushioning a comfortable landing of the equine foot. The weak or “sick” frog has become so common amongst the
(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)
Livestock

Shwetz: The equine weekend warrior

Overdoing it on the weekend is not only applicable to humans

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“Weekend warrior syndrome” is a modern-day term used to describe what happens when a person is too busy during the work week to exercise, leading them to physically overextend themselves on the weekend. Humans aren’t the only ones to experience the phenomena. While most human weekend warriors expect to pay for their exercise spurt with achy muscles,
Spring grazing needs to be managed to acclimatize the horse and prevent health issues.
Columns, Livestock

Care required when introducing the horse to spring pastures

Horse Health: Too-rich forage before acclimation can lead to discomfort and health issues

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It is tempting to allow horses unlimited access to springtime pastures as soon as the grass turns green, particularly after a long winter. Yet mindful management of this transition in a domestic environment is crucial to the well-being of the horse. In natural rangeland conditions the new spring grasses are covered with a dry forage

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