If caught early, the prognosis is good as long as there has been minimal damage to the hoof area. If infection has crept in and the veterinarian had to clean, cut the hoof or open the nail hole to allow for drainage, keeping your horse’s hoof clean and allowing it Read more…
If the horse has healthy, normal hooves, but no shoes and you ride it, then nothing happens, at least, nothing that wouldn’t happen anyway. Horses were designed to go barefoot and speaking very generally, they tend to do better without shoes. Does a horse really need a horseshoe? Horse shoes Read more…
The normal heart rate of an adult horse at rest is 30-40 beats per minute (bpm). Foals have a higher resting heart rate that averages 70-120 bpm. Does a horse have a low heart rate? In adult horses, the normal range is 26 to 50 beats per minute while the Read more…
Auscultation/Examining The Heart The larger and fitter the horse, the lower the heart rate tends to be. Increased heart rates have many causes, including excitement, stress, pain, infection, respiratory and metabolic problems, and primary heart problems. Why is my horses heart rate so high? Exercise, excitement, fright, and hot weather Read more…
(Pilliner et. al., 2002, p. 110) the gluteal muscles and the biceps femoris extend the femur and flex the stifle while the hind leg is pushing off the ground. What muscles do you use when trotting? These are your posterior hip/thigh muscles (gluteus maximus, hamstrings); in other words, your power Read more…
Horse bandages protect from cuts and minimize the risk of injuries. Why do horses wear bandages? Leg wraps or boots are used for the protection of the lower legs of horses during training, shipping, and exercise, as well as for therapeutic and medical purposes to provide support or cover for Read more…
If your horse has sustained a cut or wound the most important thing to do is to stop the bleeding. This can be done by applying direct pressure to the wound using a clean piece of Gamgee roll or cotton wool, either held or bandaged in place until the bleeding Read more…
It’s unusual for a healthy horse to rest his forelimb. If your horse is doing this, it could point to pain in the leg or hoof. ‘A horse that bends a foreleg at the knee and rests on his toe could be feeling discomfort in the soft tissue structures, such Read more…
Carefully applied bandages are often beneficial for wounds at or below the knees or hocks. Leave shallow wounds unbandaged; keep “full-thickness” wounds covered. Once they’re thoroughly cleaned, superficial scrapes and abrasions are left open to the air, as they form strong scabs almost immediately. Should I wrap a horse leg Read more…
Soaking the hoof up to three times daily for 30 minutes in a very warm Epsom salt solution works well to encourage drainage. Keep the water as warm as possible without making it scalding. Use 2 cups of Epsom salts per gallon of warm water, squirt betadine solution. What does Read more…