My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
Yesterday, Curly and Zelda staged a jailbreak, knocking down the electric fence and wandering through some thick brush. When the ground is frozen the electric fence doesn’t work that well, and with winter blankets to protect them, I doubt they felt much of anything. Unfortunately, Curly did not emerge unscathed. She managed to slice her […]
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One of the (only) downsides of the warmer weather we’ve been enjoying is the number of ticks has increased. Zelda, in particular, is a tick magnet. It’s not unusual for me to pick seven or eight ticks off her during grooming, sometimes more. She reacts quite badly to the tick bites and I can usually […]
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When I got to the barn yesterday morning, Freedom was nowhere to be seen. I was a bit late to feed, and usually, the horses are waiting by the fence, eager for their breakfast. I scanned the pasture. Nothing. I whistled for him. No response. The girls were there, nickering encouragement. So, I threw them […]
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Sometimes horse life worries drive me nuts. This week I had to drive back to the barn to make sure I turned off the water (I had). It’s one of those every day things where you just can’t remember if you did it yesterday . . . or today. Same with latching the feed room […]
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Did you ever wonder how horses were cared for in ancient Japan — or more specifically, what ancient Japanese medical treatments for horses entailed? One of the people I follow on Facebook is the equine vet David Ramey, DVM, and he has made researching the history of horses and veterinary medicine an avocation. I read […]
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One of the problems of keeping my horses near a public trail is that passersby have no understanding of what horses shouldn’t eat. You’d think that people wouldn’t feed someone else’s horse — I mean, seriously, would you hand someone else’s kid a peanut butter sandwich? — but most people figure that horses in a […]
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With temperatures forecast into the mid to high 90s this weekend, I’ve been thinking about the best method for cooling hot horses. When it’s hot and humid like that it’s not just too hot to ride, it feels to hot to do just about anything. Just think of how bad it would be if you […]
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People separated from their horses during the coronavirus can take heart: a study in France shows that horses are able to recognize their caregivers by looking at a photograph of their face, even when they haven’t seen those people in six months. A 2012 study was one of the first to suggest horses are capable […]
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