Horse training programs need to start with an awareness of how horses learn.

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

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.

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

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


File photo of wild horses running on grasslands in Nova Scotia’s remote Sable Island National Park Reserve. (Photo by Sarah Medill/Parks Canada/Handout via Reuters)

Wild horses face unruly storms as Fiona nears East Coast

Damages feared to buildings, utilities, crops

Ottawa | Reuters — Shaggy, long-maned wild horses grazing freely on the sandy grasslands of the crescent-shaped Sable Island in the North Atlantic are expected to come under the swipe of a powerful storm forecast to hit Eastern Canada this weekend. Hurricane Fiona, tracking northward after carving a destructive path through the Dominican Republic and

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.

The value of a mounting block

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

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.

Working with a bucking horse

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

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.

The seasonally ‘itchy’ horse

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

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.

Forging the frog of the equine foot

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

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.)

Shwetz: The equine weekend warrior

Overdoing it on the weekend is not only applicable to humans

“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.

Care required when introducing the horse to spring pastures

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

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

A donkey is closely related to a horse, but has some unique needs that must be met.

Donkeys have unique needs

Horse Health: These long-eared characters were built for harsh environments

The long-eared donkey is enjoying a popularity as the equine of choice, either as a pet, a companion for recreation or perhaps even as a performance animal. Aside from their characteristic long ears, the donkey does share many commonalities with their close brethren, the horse, however, there are some unique considerations for the health and