My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
I frequently see horses with their saddles placed too far forward. This photo represents a most extreme case, and to be fair, was used in an ad to sell a saddle so we can only hope that no one ever rode the horse with the saddle placed like this! You can easily imagine how uncomfortable […]
Read MoreA horse’s pulse and temperature are two barometers of health. As a horse owner, it’s important that you know your horse’s “normal” temperature and its normal resting pulse rate/respiration rate as then you have a baseline for recognizing possible illness or distress. Certainly one of the first things my vet asks me when I call […]
Read MoreI’m working on an article about cribbing and wanted to know what all of you think about it. I know some boarding facilities don’t accept cribbers; some people avoid them like the plague; and others don’t care. I ended up with a cribber without really planning it, although if you’d asked me ahead of time […]
Read MoreI frequently see questions on on-line forums where people ask if they are too large or too heavy for their horse. I’ve also seen some flat out misstatements such as, “Thoroughbreds can only carry 145 pounds.” If that were true, mine would have collapsed a long time ago right along with a number of small […]
Read MoreHere’s a useful article from the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources which I first read at http://www.thehorse.com. It seems particularly appropriate given that I just had to cross country ski to the barn today! Winter presents a challenge to horse owners when it comes to feeding their horses. Low temperatures, harsh […]
Read MoreToday I received a call from Tufts with the final necropsy report on Kroni. He died from a “vascular accident,” a blood clot near his poll. He basically had a stroke. In many ways, learning this has given me relief. Since he died, I have spent many hours wondering what I could have done differently. […]
Read MoreLast winter hay was scarce and expensive. It doesn’t look like this winter will be much better; weather conditions this summer made it difficult to cut and bale hay, resulting in a shortage in many parts of the country. Here in New England, hay is about $350 per ton, so when you have two tons […]
Read MoreIn the first peer-reviewed, published study to evaluate the effects of the nutritional supplement methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) in horses, Spanish researchers found that MSM exerted a protective effect against the detrimental physiologic changes that occur during exercise. The study, “The effect of methyl sulphonyl methane supplementation on biomarkers of oxidative stress in sport horses following jumping […]
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