Horses are notorious for surviving with minimal amounts of sleep. They only sleep for around three hours within a 24-hour period but never rest for large periods of time, but younger foals may sleep more than adult horses. Do horses actually sleep? Horses have an amazing ability to be able Read more…
What are Meniscus and Meniscal Ligament Injuries? Meniscal injuries are the most common cause of lameness seen in the stifle joint, which can be mild to chronically severe. Horses that routinely jump, often while performing, are at a high risk of stifle joint damage. Can a horse recover from a Read more…
As for the lower back, it bends rather easily. These particularities explain why horses are very often bent too much from the poll to withers, or why they so easily put their hindquarters too far inside. It is just as tricky to have a straight horse than to have one Read more…
A hind leg that mainly steps forward from the center line can step more under the point of weight using bending, with flexible, supple joints. How fragile are horse legs? But a horse’s legs are also quite fragile. There are 80 bones in the front and hind legs, all connected Read more…
The carrying hind leg bends easily in all seven joints. How should a horses back legs look? Viewed from the rear when the horse is standing squarely, each hind leg should be straight–from buttock to hoof. All the joints should be in a straight line. How do horses legs bend? Read more…
Bucked shins occur when stress put on the legs by training at high speeds exceeds the bone’s ability to adapt to that stress. How long do bucked shins take to heal? Dowd said that if a horse has a bump on his shin or visible lameness, he needs to be Read more…
Omeprazole is the treatment of choice for gastric ulcers in the adult horse and is usually administered into the horse’s mouth with a syringe. Sucralfate is considered to be beneficial for the treatment of glandular (pyloric) ulcers in horses. Is pyloric ulcer curable? Usually treatment will involve killing the H. Read more…
Horses are non-ruminant, simple-stomached herbivores. They are hindgut fermenters, meaning the large intestine is the main site of fermentation of fibrous feedstuffs. Where does fermentation take place in horse? The horse is unique in that most of the digestion of their feed occurs in the hindgut through the process of Read more…
Horses and rabbits are modified monogastric herbivores. Horses are able to utilize large amounts of roughage due to their relatively large cecum. The cecum is a section of the colon where digestive bacteria break down roughage. Why are horses considered monogastric animals? A monogastric is an animal with a single-compartmented Read more…
Summary. Called “navel ill” by horsemen, infection of the umbilical remnants is a relatively common problem in young foals, usually between 1 week to 2 months old. This infection can occur with patent urachus, an umbilical stump dribbling urine. What bacteria causes navel ill in foals? Omphalitis and the resulting Read more…