“Born and raised in Louisville,” Mike Mackin said. “I’ve been coming out here to Churchill Downs as long as I can remember.”Mackin’s family runs Lucky Seven Stable, which calls Louisville home. This year, the stable is fielding a horse in the Derby for the first time. That horse is Smile Read more…
Equine heart disease can be caused by heart malformation, direct insult to the heart or its electrical signaling system, or secondarily to disease in other organs. Horses with heart abnormalities may or may not show clinical signs. What causes heart problems in horses? Acute problems can be caused by toxins Read more…
A normal heart rate for an adult horse ranges from 28–48 beats per minute. Larger breeds are on the lower end of the range, while smaller horses tend to be on the higher end. Newborn foals will have a higher heart rate, ranging from 80–120 beats per minute, while yearlings Read more…
If you prefer to palpate an artery to check the horse’s heart rate, you may feel one of three arteries: the maxillary artery (under the jawbone), radial artery (on the inside of the knee), or the digital artery (just below the fetlock). Where do you palpate a pulse on a Read more…
It is located directly below and slightly behind the front corner of your horse’s eye. This is his transverse facial artery, and you will feel it move around under his skin. Where does transverse facial artery come from? The transverse facial artery is a branch of the superficial temporal artery Read more…
On an average-size horse, place the stethoscope about 5 inches behind and 7 inches above the elbow (just behind the girth and below the saddle flap on a horse wearing an English saddle). Listen for the gentle blowing sounds of healthy lungs, similar to someone blowing to cool hot soup. Read more…
This can be taken by looking at the abdomen/flank area of the horse to look at the rise and fall. An inhale followed by the exhale equals one breath. Similar to the heart rate, count the number of breaths for 15 seconds and multiply the amount by four to calculate Read more…
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) uses freeze marking to identify captured wild horses and burros. Freeze marking is a permanent, unalterable, and painless way to identify each horse and burro as an individual. It is applied on the left side of the neck. How do you read a BLM Read more…
A horse heart is located in the same place as a human heart: between the lungs and ribs and above the diaphragm. A horse heart weighs on average seven to nine pounds. What side is a horses heart on? left sideThe best place to listen to the heart is just Read more…
Place your stethoscope head behind the last rib and at the mid-height of the abdomen. Listen to the upper left quadrant. Drop the stethoscope down about 8 inches and listen to the lower left quadrant. Record the motility you heard and switch sides. Where do you listen for gut sounds Read more…