What is Chaff? Chaff or chopped straw is commonly fed to horses and ponies to bulk out their concentrate feed and to prevent them eating too quickly. Chaff is dried forage that has been cut into small pieces, in contrast to the long grass stems in hay and haylage. What Read more…
If horses eat a large volume of straw, this lignin fiber accumulates in the digestive system and it can plug (impact) the digestive system. This results in severe colic and even death if not properly treated. Is it okay for a horse to eat straw? While straw is not as Read more…
They simply like the smell of horse manure Dogs have an insane sense of smell which is said to be between 10,000 and 100,000 times better than ours. We have around 6 million smell receptors in our nose, dogs have around 300 million… so just think how appealing that horse Read more…
“Put the horse in a stall next to new barn mates, or in a paddock or pen near their pasture; after a few days you can start to integrate the relocated horse into the herd.”Also, don’t be in a hurry to put the horse to work for the first week Read more…
Western Equine Encephalitis is a viral illness that is transmitted to people and horses through the bite of an infected mosquito. The virus is an alphavirus and is closely related to Eastern Equine Encephalitis and Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis viruses. How do horses get equine encephalitis? The spread of EEEV to Read more…
The first 15 minutes of a disease outbreak are the most critical in reducing the spread of infection. Quarantining new horses on your property is also the best way to prevent new infections from spreading to your resident horses. Do horses have to quarantine? To protect all horses on your Read more…
How accurate are fecal egg count tests? According to the Handbook of Equine Parasite Control (Martin K. Nielsen, M.K., Reinemeyer, C. R., 2018), “… a fecal egg count performed by someone capable of recognizing a parasite egg generally has a high positive predictive value, so a positive egg count means Read more…
Stable your horse for 48 hours after worming to allow the wormer to take effect and prevent viable eggs from being deposited on the pasture. Do horses need to rest after worming? You don’t need to keep your horse stabled after worming them. Worms will be killed by the wormer, Read more…
Wormers that are advised by the manufacturer to be as safe for use in pregnant mares include (but not limited to) Equimax Elevation, Equimax, Equest Plus Tape Gel, Razor, Imax Gold, Promectin Plus, Ammo and Strategy T. When it comes to worming pregnant mares they should be treated as normal Read more…
Although a number of parasites can infest horses, there are a few that are more common — bots, strongyles, ascarids (roundworms), tapeworms and pinworms. Large and small strongyles, ascarids and tapeworms can present the greatest health risks. Can you get parasites from horses? Transmission: Infected horses can transmit the parasite Read more…