Is Your Horse Okay? Come Up With a Daily Checklist!

Your horse's health is essential! To keep your horse in excellent condition, it's a great idea to get into a routine to do a daily health check. Don't worry--a health check takes just a few minutes! However, to make it more meaningful, it is important that you know signs of a healthy horse, as well as the signs of a horse that is in bad shape. Go through this checklist to make sure that your horse is in great health condition!

What expression do you get from your horse? You can often tell if your horse is not feeling any good just by examining his expression. You get to see your horse every single day, and you will definitely know what to expect. If your horse, that is normally curious, alert, and ears-forward, keeps hanging his head and has dull eyes, he could not be feeling well. Observe him closely and if there is no improvement, contact your vet.

How is his standing position? Horses that are relaxing often stand with head down and one hind leg is resting – a perfectly normal posture! However, if the horse is waiting in his pasture or stall which has a front leg resting, you may need to have him checked. Trot your horse out to check if there are indications of lameness. If you aren't sure, call your vet and have him do the test. Generally, horses do not stand with a resting front leg.

How is his lying position? All horses lie down and often it is to rest, as well as other times it is just to enjoy the sun. If your horse is rolling over on the ground under the sun, just leave him alone; he’s just having a good time. While every horse occasionally enjoys rolling over, constant rolling coupled with agitation may indicate stomach problems. If your horse rolls restlessly and seems agitated, he could have colic and this should prompt you to call the vet.

Check his appetite. When it comes to feeding, most horses love to eat! In case your horse does not belong to this category, you will know something is wrong if he leaves his food alone. A horse who isn't feeling well may lose his appetite, and may also stop drinking water. If loss of appetite persists, consult your vet.

Check his legs. This can be an everyday thing for you to do. Horses can injure themselves anywhere. Run your hands down his legs, feeling for wounds, bumps, heat , and swelling. It might take some time, but at some point you should know the difference between a normal leg temperature and an elevated temperature.

Inspect the horse's manure. The manure is an excellent sign of horse health. You most probably know how normal manure looks. The balls are very well formed but an easy task to break in half. If your balls seem extremely dry or hard, suspect that your particular horse just isn't drinking enough water. Loose manure can mean a couple things. Either your horse has too rich of a diet, or he could be harboring parasites inside. Always check for presence of worms. Worms within your horse’s manure imply that he is carrying dangerous, occasionally deadly, internal equine parasites. If you spot some, call your vet to formulate an appropriate equine worming program.

Brushing Your Horse for Beauty

Brushing your horse is a laborious task that can simply be brushed off, but it is a required daily ritual for most horse owners. Brushing them not only keeps their coat clean and shiny, it keeps harmful irritants and bacteria away from their delicate skin. Gather your brushes and abide by these steps to properly brush your horse.

Work with a rubber curry comb to brush the entire body (except the head) in a circular manner to loosen dead hair, burrs, hay, or other foreign materials. Your horse will grow to enjoy this treatment. Use short, firm strokes. Start working behind his ears and continue on down his neck and back, then on to his sides, under his belly and on the legs. After using the curry comb, use a stiff-bristled brush to brush the whole body of the animal. This time, brush towards the natural direction of the hair. Short, quick strokes are ideal and make sure you don’t miss out the creases and the underside of his belly.

What a beauty!

To finish up, you need to use soft bristles. This type of brush can be used on the head and legs, where there is not too much flesh over his bones. Do take caution when brushing near the eyes.  Horses might swing their head around when you least expect it. Flick the soft-bristled brush in an outward motion to eliminate speck of debris from your newly-groomed horse.

A Few Reminders:

• When using rubber curry, be gentle especially when you are working on the bony parts.
• Purchase those brushes that have hand straps and those that fit comfortably in your hand.
• When grooming your horse, use safety precautions in general.
• Do not make use of metal mane comb or curry comb to work on the horse’s body. They are simply meant to brush the mane and tail. 

A Foal Has Been Born!

Taking good care of a foal can be one of the most delightful aspects when working with a horse. From the moment the foal is delivered into the world, there are many things that you need to do to make sure they are well-protected and cared for.

Once the foal is born, be sure to check its breathing. You need to remove fetal membranes or any mucus that could obstruct the nostrils. If you see that the foal is not breathing, gently slap its face, twist its ear, or perhaps, insert a straw into the nostrils to promote sneezing. Then, wrap towels around the foal to dry it up.

Such a beautiful miracle.

Foals are susceptible to infections as their immune systems have not developed fully yet. Septicemia, or severe infection of the blood, may result if you do not do something once the little one is born, especially about its umbilical stump as this can be the gateway for bacteria. Dip the stump with iodine to prevent septicemia.

As for feeding, the foal needs 4 ounces of the mare’s colostrum every 15 minutes. Make sure that the newborn foal is successfully nursing. If he is successful in latching on to its mother’s nipples, then you should be able to hear it slurping the milk. For the first few hours after it is born, the foal should attempt to nurse all by itself and after the first two hours, it should be already successful. If not, intervention may be necessary.

Make sure that the foal will be able to defecate in the first few hours. Enema may be given to a foal that is nursing for the first time and it may be given repeatedly if there is no success with bowel movement. Observe for any signs of colic from unsuccessful bowel movement within 24 hours after it is born.

When you think about it, horses really do not need assistance from you because if they are in the wild, they can simply give birth without any problems as nature will set its course. However, for a domesticated horse that has lived in stables and controlled pastures, you can always offer assistance to make sure that the birthing process is successful. Still, you need to leave the mare and its foal alone for the natural parenting instincts sets in. There are times, though, that the mare may react aggressively towards the foal, so when this happens, be sure to remove the foal and keep it somewhere else safe.

Foals are susceptible to equine parasites
especially roundworms. Fight them off with
fenbendazole horse wormer, AbFen.

Foals are susceptible to different diseases but with the power that comes from the mare’s colostrum, the foal can acquire immunity rather quickly. For this reason, it is vital that the foal should nurse shortly after being born. After nursing has been successful, contact your local veterinarian for the vaccination processes. Remember, all throughout the foaling process, a veterinarian should be present or should be ready whenever you need one to be around in case of any problems.

Show Jumping - What Is it About?

Olympics 2012 is just a few hours away. Every horse enthusiast is so excited to witness different horses compete for various equestrian event. Show jumping is one of the events that horsemen look forward to. Just what is show jumping about?

Show jumping, also stadium jumping, is a type of equestrian sport that involves moving through a series of jumps setup in the ring, a stadium meant for equestrian events. Apart from the stand alone discipline, show jumping has been incorporated in other competitions including eventing and the modern pentathlon. Inside the event of show jumping, judges assess the horses speed, stamina, and versatility, together with the communication both the horse and rider have. Competition rankings are based on the accumulated number of faults and the time it took to complete the entire course.

The fault is a point that counts against the rider and the horse. These points can be accumulated in various ways and it rarely happens that the course is completed without any flaws. If a horse knocks down a fence during a jump, this is considered a fault. The same thing goes if the horse refuses to make a jump. If the horse destroys the fence during the jump, time will be stopped temporarily until the jump will be fixed. If too many jumps have been refused, the rider and the horse will be disqualified from the said competition.

The jump courses can be designed in a simple or complex way, depending on the style of the show. The most distinguished level of show jumping is known as the Grand Prix and this features intimidating and complicated obstacles, which horses need to jump a long and high jump to get through the obstacles. How the jumps are arranged also determines the level of difficulty of the course. Traditionally, the rider makes herself aware of the course layout by walking it before riding.

Show jumping events do not requires rigorous dress code as with other equestrian events. The rider typically puts on the traditional colored breeches, helmet, and tall pair of boots. At most shows in this particular event, wearing a jacket may be required. Horses should appear to be well-groomed and in tiptop shape, but they do not need to be arranged flawlessly as in dressage competitions.

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Show jumping is considered to be one engaging equestrian event as even those that do not share fascination with horses will appreciate how the horse can become so athletic. Riders usually sit in a forward placement with short stirrups, to focus on their weight and achieve balance, promoting quick movement for the horse through the course of jumps. Horses that participate in show jumping should be muscular, tall and have the necessary build to release power and speed. It can be a great experience to watch the rider and horse move in total coordination during the show.

Sand Colic Problems in Your Horse?

A horse that suffers from colic nay be seen rolling on its back.

When sand builds up inside your horse's stomach, trouble soon follows. Here's what you ought to know to safeguard your equine from sand colic.

When feeding horses hay off sandy soil, always put it inside a feeder, trough or on mats to reduce the quantity of sand consumed. Sand colic in horses, digestive upset that comes from the chronic accumulation of sand and grime inside your horse’s digestive system, can strike any horse that thrives on loose, sandy soil.

Horses get sand because they eat hay given on the ground or graze short grass in pastures. The granules then settle to the foot of the digestive tract, particularly within the large colon, where their grittiness can bother the intestinal lining. Mild sand colic, which is frequently supported by diarrhea, could be transient, but eventually enough sand will build up to lead to severe, on-going discomfort. Within the worst cases, the digestive tract can become twisted or become displaced, as well as rupture.

One method to know if your horse is consuming sand would be to perform the “mason jar test,” also known as the “fecal flotation test.” Get 6 balls of feces from the middle area of a fresh horse manure pile (this assures they aren't tainted with sand on the ground) and put these in a quart of water. Stir the contents; allow the concoction to settle. Fifteen minutes after, look into the container to ascertain if any sand has settled towards the bottom.

If greater than a teaspoon of sand collects at the end of the jar, your equine is most likely consuming a potentially harmful quantity of sand. However, the lack of sand doesn’t always mean he’s sand-free; it’s entirely possible that sand has settled in the stomach and just isn't moving along the digestive system. In case mild symptoms of colic present, call your vet and bring the jar for analysis. Ultrasonic imaging can reveal sand buildup and may help with creating a definitive diagnosis and initiating proper treatment for horse colic.

Getting rid of sand from the horse’s digestive tract can be challenging. Psyllium, an all-natural laxative, might help dislodge the granules, but surgery might be required to manually take out considerable amounts of sand. It’s far simpler to maintain your equine from consuming sand to begin with by feeding hay from mats as opposed to the bare ground and managing your pastures to ensure that they don't become overgrazed. Should you use treatment for horse colic to avoid sand accumulation, make sure you use the supplement as instructed on the product label.

Should You Clip Your Horse's Whiskers?

I came across an article at www.equisearch.com, where a reader asked an expert a question on clipping off a horse's whiskers; how her horse does not allow her to clip its whiskers. Why would one want to clip off a horse's whiskers anyway??

Why choo need to cut off my whiskers??

A horse may appear to be of no use, but in actuality, horse whiskers transmit valuable information to horses. The eyes of the horse are positioned in a way that everything directly in front of him or below his nose are not covered in his range of vision. So, these whiskers help them to see the objects that are not in his range of vision. For instance, if your horse grazes, he cannot see directly below his nose and what lies on the pasture. Instead, he depends on the whiskers to tell him that something that lies in the pasture, as he feeds, is edible. Whiskers that extend near their eyes can also signal them of any obstacles that cannot be seen on the grass, such as a branch that is poking. Therefore, whiskers are useful for horses to serve as an extension sensors.

Before you go on trimming your horse's whiskers, ask yourself first if such action is extremely necessary. Clipping off whiskers is a common practice but horse owners simply do it for cosmetic purposes. Competitions do not judge if your horse has perfectly-trimmed whiskers. A healthy, shiny coat, through good grooming practices and proper nutrition, is an aspect for judging your horse base on appearance - not the whiskers. If you have normal trips and your horse is perfectly fine, then there is no way that his whiskers will get in the way of his performance and behavior, so there would be no reason to cut it as well.

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Some horse owners do clip their horse’s whiskers and most of them would experience extreme reaction from the animal. Who wouldn’t? –you are trimming your horse’s “third eye”. However, extreme resistance to your touch may indicate a certain problem. For instance, a horse could have visual impairment and will solely rely on the whiskers for extra vision, and having the owner clip it off would only mean ridding of his extra sense of vision. Clipping off whiskers under the jaw and having your horse react to it fiercely, could probably mean that he is having oral problems that he tends to become sensitive when you touch that particular area.

How to Make Deworming More Effective

The topic I would like to share to you today is on deworming. How do you make the process more effective? Read on. 

Not a lot of horse owners find it easy to deworm their horse, especially for beginners. However, if you are adept at delivering the worming paste into your horse’s mouth using the best technique, it might still remain futile of you don’t try to check if his mouth is not empty.

Deworming is an essential component of horse care. Horses are susceptible to worms especially if they are left in the pasture to graze. That does not mean though that horses should not be turned out – turnout is as important as well. It is just one of those inevitable circumstances when equine parasites are there to exist and the only control you can give is by managing your horse’s environment properly. And there’s use of wormers as well. Many horse owners use the conventional oral paste formulation when deworming their horses. However, this can pose as an inconvenient method for those who are not so skilled in using the syringe and making the horse submit during deworming.  However, there’s one tip that you can use to make sure you are doing the right thing when it comes to deworming.

About ten minutes before you give the dewormer to your horse, you need to cut off access from grain or forage. Doing so will clear his mouth of any partially-chewed feed and will not encourage spitting of the medication.  Either you need to remove the feeder or just tie him up and make sure he can’t reach his feed.  If you believe that he is still chewing the last bite, just open his mouth carefully and place your fingers in toothless bars, much like what you do when you are inserting a bit. Apply a little pressure on the tongue to make him swallow. If there is a need to use a catheter-tip syringe, do so to flush oral contents with water.

When you are certain that his mouth is clear of feed or bit, you can give the medication and wait a couple of minutes to make sure that the medication does not come back to be spitted out. Keep in mind though, that equine dewormer in paste formulation are made to be extra sticky so it has the ability to stick to the roof of the mouth; therefor, it does not happen very often that it will escape the mouth.

White Horses

Excerpts from White Horses by Rudyard Kipling

credits to Layoutsparks.com

Where run your colts at pasture?

Where hide your mares to breed?

'Mid bergs about the Ice-cap

Or wove Sargasso weed;

By chartless reef and channel,

Or crafty coastwise bars,

But most the ocean-meadows

All purple to the stars!

Who holds the rein upon you?

The latest gale let free.

What meat is in your mangers?

The glut of all the sea.

'Twixt tide and tide's returning

Great store of newly dead, --

The bones of those that faced us,

And the hearts of those that fled.

Afar, off-shore and single,

Some stallion, rearing swift,

Neighs hungry for new fodder,

And calls us to the drift:

Then down the cloven ridges --

A million hooves unshod --

Break forth the mad White Horses

To seek their meat from God!

Girth-deep in hissing water

Our furious vanguard strains --

Through mist of mighty tramplings

Roll up the fore-blown manes --

A hundred leagues to leeward,

Ere yet the deep is stirred,

The groaning rollers carry

The coming of the herd!

Does Your Horse Have Ulcers?

Many of you have experienced having your horse suffer from health problems. One of the most common problems is ulcers. I remember three years ago, my 5-year old Chase had ulcers for about 4 weeks and no one ever knew about it. Many of us in the family did not realize that a big percentage of horses can have digestive problems. I was not so sure that time that problems in his GI system could manifest in his behaviors. He was cranky at that time and developed bad habits such as chewing off the fence.

Three years ago, I got a call from the owner of the barn where Chase boarded. He said that Chase had not touched his feed a night before and that appears to be unusual for my horse. Normally, Chase is like a vacuum cleaner – he eats up all his feed and nothing will be left. That’s my Chase – always a lover of food. I visited the barn and Chase looked fine; the vet was not around that time and since I saw that Chase was looking alright, I just shrugged it off. The next day, I saw my horse doing alright – eating normally, drinking and defecating normally. But the next few days, something was just really off. Chase had been seen to be crankier, less jolly, and eating less. Now that’s something new, I thought.

Your horse can't speak if he's in pain. It's up to you to identify
the signs that tell he's not doing fine.

This alarmed me and prompted me to call on my vet and he suspected that my Chase had ulcers. I didn’t know back then that ulcers in horses are not caused by bacteria or that “backyard” horses like Chase can also be prone to these problems as with many performance horses. So the vet told me that treatment is with the use of equine omeprazole, but obviously, this course of therapy will not be cheap. So I had to consult a friend of mine back in Oklahoma, and she said there are cheaper alternatives. One is by the name of AbPrazole, a granule formulation of the said medication. I gave it a try and after several days of therapy, I find my Chase back in his great shape.

When it comes to digestive problems, your horse is not likely to complain and whine constantly just to express pain. You need to be more observant on the different signs of gastric problems. Do not ignore any changes in appetite or behaviour. Contact your veterinarian and have your horse checked as soon as possible.

Horse, Horses . . Everything You Need!

This blog is dedicated to anything about horses. I would like to share information about different breeds of horses, various tips for horse care, horse health problems and everything about horses! For horse lovers out there, feel free to browse my blog for horse information! Happy reading! :)