First Coast Pet

Posts Tagged ‘horse care’

When you care for your horse, it is vital to make provision for the winter months. Horses should be able to tolerate the winter climate and stay as healthy as possible. In the winter horses will have particular requirements which you as the owner will have to take in hand. It is vital to organize for winter in advance.

Horses naturally lend themselves to cool climates. In fact, horses cope with icy weather conditions much better than warm weather. Despite this, there are some essential things owners will need to do to make sure their horses remain healthy. Be sure the horse doesn’t have any parasites, and has been vaccinated up to date. The expenditure for doing these things will significantly pay off during the winter, as the expenses of feeding your horse will be reduced.

You may also want to work with your vet in planning up a health plan for your horse. Preparing your horse for cold weather will help it reduce the requirement to eat greater amounts of feed in order to maintain its weight. There’s no need for your horse to lose weight during the winter. Permitting your horse to gain a slight amount of weight will help them throughout the winter months, as the extra fat will act as a cushion to supply the horse with energy if it becomes stressed. Throughout the winter you will want to provide your horse with some extra calories.

The best protection for a horse throughout the winter is its actual winter coat. If allowed to grow, it will act as a warm blanket which will lower the loss of heat that the horse experiences in winter scenarios. A horse’s coat is also glossy and will help brush off off the frost and ice. If kept outside, you will want to make sure their coats grow long before the temperature drops for winter.

To confirm the condition of your horse, you will need to feel its ribs. A longer coat may indeed hide the fact that your horse has lost weight You should be able to feel your horses ribs, but not be able to see them. You should also feel your horses ears. Are they cold? If this is the case, your horse is cold.

Like all animals which are warm-blooded, horses have to regulate their body temperatures in order to remain healthy. It is crucial that they conserve heat during the winter, so you should ensure they’re ready for the frost.

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Spending time with your horse not only enables a close bond to develop between you both, but it also enables you to learn how your horse responds to situations and how they are in themselves. Over time you will learn his body language. A happy horse will be responsive to you and have a calm and relaxed manner. He will keep a low head, relaxed jaw and have soft eyes. A horse when happy will not invade your personal space – this is a sign of respect in seeking affection from you. Surprisingly, yawning is a sign not of boredom but of relaxation and calm. Be aware that if your horse holds his head high with a tense jaw and darting eyes whilst showing a reluctance to stand still, then this is a sign that he is not comfortable and something is troubling him. Allow the horse time to settle himself slowly in order to avoid the onset of “flight” mode and further stress.

Regular grooming gives you the opportunity not only to spend quality time together, but also for you to check your horse over. It is advisable to check your horse’s teeth, eyes, hooves, shoes and droppings frequently. Any change in the normal should be reported to your vet at the earliest opportunity – any delay could cause you extra worry, expense and a potential claim on your horse insurance. Regular worming treatments and routine vaccinations are important and you should make sure that you book appointments for these with your vet. Medications should be rotated so that parasites do not get the chance to become immune – this also gives a wider circle of protection from worms and parasites. It’s important for the prevention of colic, heart and immune system problems to give correct equine medication. Make sure you have asked your vet to administer influenza, encephalitis and rhinoneumonitis vaccinations. It is also advisable to have vaccinations for tetanus and rabies, though these are not necessarily essential. Regular users of trailers at show and equestrian events may need to show a negative Coggins test for presence of the incurable virus EIA or equine infectious anaemia.

Regular visits from the farrier is an important part of keeping a horse happy and comfortable. It is important for your horse’s comfort, mood and performance that you do not allow his feet to get too long and unbalanced. Your farrier will need to trim your horse’s hooves every six weeks or so.

Your horse will need a blanket or coat during the wet and cold winter months and during the summer, a fly protective horse sheet or mask is advisable. Horses can produce a soapy lather when they sweat, so it can be good to use a horse cooler after exercise. Drinking water directly after exercise could put a horse’s body into shock. When you have been exercising your horse, allow him to cool down sufficiently before a meal. You shouldn’t exercise your horse straight after eating – leave it for at least an hour.

Horses need to have a purpose in life – whether this be for work or pleasure. Horses love to be needed. A horse needs to feel a purpose and that everything is ok – a young horse in particular should be praised often even for simply standing still. Horses by nature are inquisitive and will gain in confidence the more new experiences they are introduced to.

A horse will be at its happiest when given the very best in love and care that it is possible to give. Providing the best type of healthcare possible is a responsibility which you, as the horse’s owner, agree to take on when purchasing a horse. Keeping a horse can be a very expensive business, and without good horse insurance provided by a specialist equine insurer, it is possible to quickly run into financial problems if your horse should become sick or sustain an injury. A horse will show you vast amounts of love in return for the simple effort of attention and care for his well-being.

Cribbing is a behavioral problem, which sometimes develops in horses with insufficient mental stimulation (i.e. bored horses) and most commonly occurs in horses which spend long periods of time in stalls. Cribbing horses bite objects (such as fencing rails), while pulling backwards on the object and sucking air. It is believed that the horse does this because it causes the release of pleasurable brain chemicals (endorphins). The terms ‘wind sucking’ and ‘crib biting’ are alternative names for cribbing.

Horse cribbing is sometimes confused with wood chewing but the two are different problems. A wood chewer simply nibbles on the wood, which is a habit that is easily treatable. A cribber pulls on wood (or other objects) while sucking air in order to release brain chemicals, which effectively makes it a drug addiction, and consequently much more difficult to cure.

Cribbing should be treated as soon as possible to minimize damage to your horse’s health. Untreated, it will result in the horse wearing down and damaging its teeth, leading to dental issues. It will also result in the neck muscles growing and thickening in an abnormal way (which is an issue for show horses in particular). It is also associated with various illnesses, such as colic, but there has been insufficient research to understand the nature of the association (e.g. does cribbing cause colic, or are both cribbing and colic both promoted by excessive periods confined to stalls).

Ideally, one should prevent the development of the cribbing behavior by providing the horse with as natural and interesting environment as possible. Once a horse has cribbing, the situation is more difficult, but one can greatly reduce the frequency of cribbing by providing a mentally stimulating environment. The first step is to provide as much pasture time as possible. One should also make the feeding regime as natural as possible, consisting of pasture grass if possible and hay as a second choice; foods such as grains which can be quickly eaten with minimum chewing are the least desirable. In addition, many small feeds are preferable to a few large feeds, as this helps break up the day. Any other activities which provide interest, such as exercise and grooming, will make a positive contribution.

The above actions are normally quite successful in reducing the amount of cribbing. Unfortunately, once the habit is established, merely providing a good environment will not in itself cure the habit. One also needs to take steps to physically prevent cribbing. There are a number of options here; none of them are successful with every horse so you may need to try different ones until you find one that works with your horse and situation.

A common treatment is the ‘cribbing strap’ which is a strap that fits around the neck with a metal plate underneath to making swelling the neck to suck air uncomfortable; this device is also known as a cribbing collar. One can also use a specially-designer muzzle which allows the horse to eat but prevents it grasping fence rails or other objects with its teeth. Putting a fencing wire (with electrical current) on top of fence rails will also keep the horse from cribbing on them. There are also a number of paints which are designed to have a foul taste which one can paint rails and other objects with to discourage cribbing on them (make sure that any product you use is veterinary approved). Some people find that anti-depressant medication helps. If none of the above techniques work, the final approach is surgical, consisting of cutting certain neck muscles and nerves and thereby preventing the cribbing activity.

It is important to both address the base issue (intense boredom) and to try to physically discourage the horse using one of the above approaches. Trying just one or the other is seldom effective.

Before buying or choosing a new horse, it is important to check its health. Although it is impossible to be 100% certain that a horse is completely healthy, there are a number of tests which can identify most potential health risks. Following is a checklist.

The first indication is the overall appearance. The coat should be shinny and even. The body should be well proportioned with well toned muscle, neither over weight or under weight. It should stand evenly an all four feet, with the weight evenly distributed and the hooves pointing straight forward. Although it may rest a hind leg (but not a front one), it should not do so for long periods or always the same leg.

Run your hands slowly down each leg, feeling for any swellings, bumps or hot spots. Give special attention to joints and the bottom of the leg. Check that each hoof is smooth, even and crack free.

Lift a hoof and examine the sole to ensure that there are no marks or indications of previous injury and that it is correctly shaped. Repeat with the other hooves. The angle and tilt of all four hooves should be correct and identical. If the horse is reluctant to lift one of its feet, this may be because it does not want to lift a good leg and put more weight on a bad one. The hooves are perhaps the most important area to examine in terms of horse health, as so many otherwise good horses have problems here.

Check that the gums are shinny, moist and pink. If you press gently on the gums they will turn white, but should return to the normal pink color within two seconds of you removing your finger.

Examine the teeth for wear, unevenness or spurs. Give the horse about 5kg (10 pounds) of hay and watch it eat. It should use both sides of its jaw equally, not drop any food or leave any pay partly chewed. In the event of doubt, or for older horses, you may wish to get the advice of a horse dentist.

Examine the horse’s droppings. They should be firm, with a mild and inoffensive odor.

The horse should appear alert, interested in its surroundings and happy. The ears should be perked up and should move in response to sounds. It should appear relaxed rather than nervous.

Have the horse taken to an exercise ring and exercised at all gaits (e.g. walk, trot, and gallop). It should take easy, smooth strides of equal length and with the weight evenly spread on all four legs. It should not favor any leg. Circle the horse in both directions (left inside and right inside) to make sure that it performs equally well in both directions.

The horse should not sweat (except during hot weather) or breathe hard until it has been worked at a fast gait. As it speeds up, there should be a gradual but moderate increase in respiration. As it slows down, the respiration should quickly follow. Once its stops, it should quickly return to its resting heart and respiration rate. It should not show any sign of discomfort or limping either before or after vigorous exercise.

Discuss the horse’s medical history with the owner and seller. Ask to see its inoculation book and medical records. Check if you can discuss these with the horse’s regular veterinarian. In particular, check if the horse has ever had any illness, especially colic or laminitis. Any incomplete or evasive answers should be a concern. Ask what the horse’s diet is, since horses fed a natural diet (grass, supplemented by hay) are less likely to develop digestive problems than horses fed mainly on grains or feeds. Finally, check if the seller will provide a written guarantee for any existing health issues which you discover following the purchase.

A horse ownership is quite a nice luxury. Having your own horse is not cheap though, with money needed in stables, food as well as the various equipment. As well as this you may also be paying for horse riding lessons and even someone to care for your horse on the days you cannot. The one thing that money cannot buy is the connection that you will have with your horse.

There is something that has been left out of this for a specific reason. It may not come into your head first but what do you do with the textiles when they need a clean? The thing is, if you wash these in the wrong way or with normal laundry equipment they may look clean but there is a possibility that it isn’t as clean as it looks. If these textiles are not washed in the correct way they could pass on some nasty fungal infections. If you are the type of person that competes or is going to start competing with your horse then a clean blanket is a sure sign of a well kept horse.

Is there a solution to the problem? There in fact specially made washing machines fit just for this purpose. A Commercial laundry machine is perhaps what is needed here to make sure that you and your horse are safe from anything nasty that can lay in wait on the textiles you use.
Of course this cleanliness does not have to be for an individual if you are in need of something to do the job faster in a small business then it could be worth looking into getting one of those commercial dishwashers as they could be what your company may need to improve productivity.

The best way to form a relationship with your horse is by spending as much time as you can with it. These animals are actually smart and they can show plenty of love and even make a bond. In the animal dominion there are two important animals that are truly unswerving to men: horses and dogs. Many legends and stories that have been told throughout the ages obviously support this claim.

If you wish to practice horse care you must make sure your animal is healthy both physically and mentally. As long as your horse is experimenting well being you are caring for your horse in the right way. Horses are pretty animals that may leave anyone with their jaws on the floor thanks to their unique properties. A while gone when horses were wild they groomed for themselves and were awfully healthy. Today the domesticated horse is very dependent on the human for its looks and general well being.

It’s imperative that owner looks out for his horse by feeding, grooming, and exercising it with horse training techniques. All this should be done on a day basis. It all boils down to how much cherish and care the owner expresses for his or her horse when they take a horse ride. Horses are really sensitive to expressions of love and affection by their master.

You should have a well supplied stable for your horse, here’s where you may sponge, clean and brush it regularly. Horses seek for the interaction with their master very much like the dog does. Hanging out with your horse is an absolute must if you wish to form a bond with it. Horse boarding stables may be a good option if you don’t have the time.

When you leave a horse alone for too much time it may become actually aggressive and short tempered. You may want to talk to it slowly and lovingly if this is the case, they will respond to this impulse straight away. In brief horses need human love for their well being.