Horses can be fairly inexpensive to keep unless they get sick or hurt. Here are some things to consider for keeping your horse healthy and happy. From providing shelter for bad weather areas, if you should blanket your horse in winter months, worming, vacinations, hoof care and more. I hope you find it here, but if not just leave your questions and I will answer them to the best of my ability. Click here to leave comments
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it is a great post ,thanks for your share. - by mbt, 07-07-2010, 9:29 PM
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Horse Hoof Care, Getting Educated
If you are having trouble with your horse going down hill and have made sure that you have the proper saddle and tack there is one more area that could be giving you problems. Along with a good fitting saddle and well-adjusted tack you might have a foot problem and this problem will show up more when traveling down hill. It was not until just recently after having horses the majority of my lifetime that I read up on the horses hoof, how the coffin bone fits into the hoof, the walls of the hoof and the sole of the hoof. Up until now I have just left it to the experts, the farrier. And, as we all know, not all farriers are trimming correctly. I was encouraged to do this research because my regular farrier lost part of his thumb and was not able to trim my horse’s hooves. One of my gurus, Clinton Anderson, was talking about hoof maintenance on one of his shows and said that trimming a hoof is not that hard and recommended a web site where you could learn how to do it yourself. I was surprised and decided to go and take a look at these web sites and see what I could find out. I was amazed at all I did not know and kick myself that for all these years I have not educated myself on the hoof and how to trim. Even if you have a farrier trim, at least you can tell if he is doing it correctly or not. You will learn what to look for and what questions to ask. So my farrier was healed enough to come yesterday and I asked him if I could give it a try and would he coach me. He said he would be glad to. So I proceeded to trim two, hooves not horses, I was amazed how much strength it took and I was worn out after two. (The web site said this would be the case but I did not believe it). Besides being out of shape and using mussels I have not used in a while the actual trimming of the hoof was not that hard. In the spring when the hooves start growing again I plan to keep practicing this. With the knowledge that I now have I don’t feel I will hurt my horse and will probably do him more good than harm because he will get trimmed more often and won’t get so long in between trims. This is more natural as the wild horses will wear their hooves off every day, traveling the on average 20 miles per day it takes to forage for food. Whether you want to do your own trimming or you just want to learn about a proper trim, I would highly recommend you visiting these sites. It is quite an education:
Get ready for winter because it will be here before you know it! I just took my blankets to where I can wash them in a large industrial washer. After a through cleaning I check them over to make sure all the straps and buckles and good and mend any repairs needed. I don't dry my blankets in a machine, it will make them less water resistance. After washing I bring them home and hang them on the fence to dry in the sun and turn them over so that both sides get exposed to the sun for thorough drying. I then test each blanket for water resistance by putting a few drops of water on each blanket and watching to see if it beads up and rolls off or sits on the material and is absorbed. The blankets that need it, I spray with a spray such as "Campdry", some blankets will need additional coats. Make sure you have a blanket for each horse and it is the correct size. Youngsters tend to grow fast and quickly grow out of a blanket. Just one more step to prepare for winter. - by Horse Girl at Sugar River Saddlery, 26-08-2009, 10:27 AM
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I use a blanket on my 33 yr old mare, she was a rescue horse and the people didn't know anything about horses at all, they had put a blanket on her back in Nov. when the temps were okay, never took it off her. When I went to pick her up, she had her blanket on still. When I got her home and took it off, I was angry, she was nothing but hair and bones, she still looks bad but is starting to gain weight with the good diet we have her on. My rule on blanketing is this, by the end of November, if their coat isn't thick , or if they are in poor weight condition, then I use a blanket on them. - by jade s., 14-01-2009, 2:59 PM
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I also am wondering if the people that don't use blankets at all in the winter, except for sick or special cases, do you live in an area that gets extreme cold temperatures with strong blowing winds?
I too heat my water. One, to keep it from freezing. Two, I have learned that it is best to start heating the water when it starts getting cold even though it is not subject to freezing as yet. I also leave it heated in the spring long after the threat of freezing has left but the weather is still cold. I have learned that this practice will get the horses to drink more in the early fall and spring months.
We give our horses ample opportunity to develop natural winter coats. We do not blanket unless a horse shows obvious signs of being cold, like shivering. If a horse is found shivering, it is enclosed in the barn and given free-choice hay. If this does not increase the horse's body temperature, we blanket and monitor. The only exceptions in 20 + years to our blanketing decisions have been one horse who became ill with flu-like symptoms (snow was so deep a horse could not move enough to keep warm), and one horse that was hauled to a Veterinary teaching college for emergency care that was blanketed in six-degree weather with cross-winds for approximately 2 hrs, but blanketed just for the ride. Upon arrival, attendees unfluffed the hair as the blanket was rolled away and the horse remained cozy warm and thrives now years later. Sometimes nature knows better than we do and we always try first to do no harm. In the meantime, we enjoy your blog very much. - by LFox, 26-12-2008, 1:03 PM
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Your article raises the ongoing question. I choose to give our horses shelter with lots of hay to keep them warm in the winter. I also keep the water warm enough that they will drink enough fluids. Rarely have I used blankets.
