A high-quality Western horse saddle can easily last 25 years, but you’ll be lucky to get five good years from a cheap saddle. Saddles will start to show signs of aging and can be uncomfortable for horses relatively quickly when you don’t take care of them. How often should a Read more…
At that point, you have two choices: You can swap the saddle yourself, making the freshly broken horse your new main, or you can just ride it to a stable. Once you get it to a stable, you’ll be able to sell it or stable it (at which point you Read more…
If your horse was being fed whole or uncooked grains, remove them from the diet and replace them with cooked grains (i.e. grains that have been micronised, extruded, steam flaked or thoroughly boiled) or high energy fibres like sugarbeet pulp or soybean hulls. Also provide the horse as much hay Read more…
In essence, trail riding is riding a horse along a trail. What is trail riding called? It originated with horse riding, and in North America, the equestrian form is usually called “trail riding,” or, less often “hacking.” In the UK and Europe, the practice is usually called horse or pony Read more…
Any horse that lies down for longer than 24 hours for any reason is considered to have a poor prognosis. Horses simply are not made to be down for any length of time. Their massive weight causes damage to muscle, tissue and skin. Lungs, heart and intestine do not function Read more…
This is because of the humidity. Just like us, the wet cold of a rainy winter day can sneak inside the horse and give it the chills, causing the horse to shiver. On especially rainy days when it is really coming down, your horse will be happy for a spot Read more…
A feeding rate of 4 pounds of beet pulp daily in addition to the regular ration for a mature horse that was maintaining its present body weight would result in a gain of about ½ pound per day, so you can adjust your feeding program accordingly when adding beet pulp Read more…
Ensure that your horse has plenty of variety in his workload and is not doing the same thing every day. “Schooling for 20 minutes three times a week will have a big impact on your horse, and the more he cross-trains the better,” advises Sam York FBHS. How many days Read more…
One of the easiest ways to change the mind of your stubborn horse is to distract him from the reason he’s balking. Giving him the command to back up, or pull backward on the reins or lead rope so his nose sinks toward his chest. This gets him moving, even Read more…
Horses do not need a round pen, but it is beneficial for their training and even exercise. You can use a small round pen for horses who are being turned out for the first time after stall rest. Because it is a smaller enclosure than regular turnout paddocks, it limits Read more…