You don’t have to watch a herd of horses for long to notice that there’s a distinct pecking order One horse will push another away from food with his ears back and his neck swinging. The other horse will...
I’d been a horse owner for four years before I actually learned a system for cleaning a stall. As a horse-crazy 15-year-old, of course, I thought I knew everything from the day my first horse came home with me....
It’s a beautiful day and you’re ready to take your horse for a ride. As you enter the paddock with halter in hand, you see a steady stream of blood dripping down his lower leg. Where did that come...
When you train a horse, it’s all about making him feel comfortable when he does the right thing and less so when he does the wrong thing.That training philosophy is based on the horse’s motivation.Horses aren’t motivated by...
By Rebecca M. DidierThere’s something equestrians need every bit as much as we need horses. Yes, the easy answer here is we need money (quite a lot of it) to pay for our equine habit—all the miscellaneous items required...
You’ve heard horses labeled herd bound, gate sour, herd sour or barn sour. These terms sound like afflictions. But when we see these behaviors, it is simply because horses are drawn to others.Horses seek out other horses because...
You’ve been working hard on getting your horse into peak condition for the competitive season and have been taking him to multiple competitions. In the early part of the summer, everything was going fine, but now you’re noticing that...
All was well a second ago.Now, all bets are off as to whether you can stay on.The alarm sounds in your brain.It’s official.You are coming off your horse.As riders, we know that falling is part of riding. No...
Once considered "alternative,” chiropractic, along with therapies such as acupuncture and massage, are now viewed by knowledgeable horsemen as "complementary.” None of these therapies will replace traditional veterinary medicine, but in the right situations, they can enhance and improve...
Horse flies. Stable flies. House flies. Deer flies. Toss mosquitoes, gnats and ticks into the mix, and you have the bane of every horse’s (and horse owner’s) existence as you work to protect your horse from flies. As much...
