The average stride length for a Thoroughbred is 20 feet at a full gallop, though some horses have longer strides–the legendary racehorse Man O’War had a stride length of 28 feet. The stride rate, or turnover ratio, is the number of strides a racehorse can make in a given time. Read more…
Horses need mental and physical stimulation. And today’s highly controlled barn environments do not always provide the natural enrichment horses need. Fortunately, a wide range of pasture and stall toys are available to help horses stay engaged. What kind of toys do horses play with? Best Horse Stall and Boredom Read more…
Just because a saddle is treeless does not mean that it will fit any horse you put it on. Not all treeless saddles fit all horses (or riders), and when purchasing one, it is just as important to “try before you buy” as with a traditional Western or English saddle. Read more…
Place the saddle on the horse’s bare back (no pad). There should be two to three fingers space between the top of the wither and the gullet of the saddle. If you can fit your whole hand (vertically) between the bottom of the gullet and the wither, the tree is Read more…
The “String Test” can be done anytime After the horse is 18 months old…. to ESTIMATE the mature height of the horse. How do you string a foal test? They would pull a string out of their pocket and measure from the horse’s elbow to his fetlock or knee or Read more…
The longer you count, the more legs a horse has Also, it has two forelegs at the front and two hind legs in the back. This makes it 8. It has two legs on the left side and two legs on the right side. Do horses have 6 legs? Horses Read more…
Scientists have long acknowledged the existence of two remnant, vestigial toes left over from their multitoed ancestors—small bones fused to the side of each hoof. What is the toe of a horse called? A horse’s hoof is composed of the wall, sole and frog. The wall is simply that part Read more…
hock. The “hock” is a horseman’s term for the tarsus, an anatomic region of the horse’s hind limb. What is the tarsus in a horse? The tarsus, or “hock”, is very similar in structure to the human heel. The tarsus consists of 4 joints: the tibiotarsal joint, the proximal intertarsal Read more…
Horses are also unique in that they do not have a gall bladder. This makes high fat diets hard to digest and utilize. Horses can digest up to 20 % fat in their diet, but it takes a span of 3 to 4 weeks for them to adjust. Normal horse Read more…
Studs are small metal projections that screw into your horse’s shoes. They’re used to give him better grip on various types of footing, from firm and slippery to soft and boggy. They’re great if your horse loses his focus in less-than-ideal footing or to give him extra traction when doing Read more…