 | | | | | ||
|             |
February 2010 
Muzzle Your Best FriendWe have a love/hate relationship with grazing muzzles. We hate looking for them when they become lost, and we hate the seemingly endless repairs they need. We also hate the inevitable rubs and hair loss. And, OK, we’ll admit it: We hate how they look on our horses. But we love what they do for our horses—and that’s what counts. We no longer have to condemn horses on restricted diets to mind-numbing boredom in stalls and dry-lots. With grazing muzzles, they can mingle with their friends and get a little exercise while ambling around in search of grass. If you’ve ever had even a flicker of a thought that your horse might need a muzzle, he probably does. If you ever hear a tiny voice whispering that a grazing muzzle might be a good idea, keep reading. Will we make you love using them? Probably not, but you’ll be happy you did. Abscess Kits Make Life Easy A hoof abscess is a collection of dead material located within the white line or under the sole. Abscesses may be sterile (dead tissue only) or infected with bacteria. They occur in the tissue at the junction of the sensitive (live) and insensitive (dead, hoof wall or sole) laminae. Unless there has been a puncture wound, sole abscesses are almost exclusively caused by tissue damage. Over thinning the sole by the farrier or a stone bruise could result in an abscess. Abscesses in the hoof capsule can have many causes. Driving a horseshoe nail too close to, or into live tissue, is another common cause. Sterile abscesses, which are abscesses without a bacterial infection, are common following laminitis and will often surface after the horse has been taken off anti-inflammatory drugs, like phenylbutazone or Banamine. DermaCloth Makes Wound Care Simple It’s a rare horse that will manage to escape a skin problem his entire life. Most of the skin abrasions we deal with are simple infections/irritations and minor wounds that don’t involve full thickness skin damage or exposed deep tissue. These problems are normally handled with over-the-counter products, provided you know what to choose. With our help, you’ll make an educated decision that will save both time and money, healing your horse quickly. In this article, we’re focusing on products with traditional ingredients. In the next article, we’ll discuss natural-ingredient selections. But the first thing to understand is how to recognize the skin problem you’re dealing with. Large/Small Nutrient Needs The National Research Council (NRC) sets nutrient requirements for horses and other animals and does an excellent job estimating the correct calorie, protein and mineral intakes for "average" horses. However, for the very large or very small animal, you may need to make adjustments. Feeding guidelines are based on studies typically done using horses that weigh 900 to 1,100 lbs. Does that mean you feed your 500-lb. pony half of what you feed your 1,000-lb. Thoroughbred, and then you double it for a 2,000-lb. draft? Not necessarily. The smaller or larger animal can have different metabolism, different muscling and bone mass. Blanket Rubs And Spur Spots As horses emerge in early spring from under their winter blankets, their coats can display a collection of rubbed areas that makes them look a bit moth-eaten. This is mostly a temporary cosmetic matter unless any rubbed spots under the saddle or spur areas persist into the spring or reappear in the summer. Horses that don’t gather coat rubs in the summer will still often collect balding spots in the winter. Winter coat hairs are simply more fragile. In addition, coat health in general is much harder to maintain in the winter. See The World From Your Horse’s Perspective Spooking, shying and refusing to work or obey are the biggest problems common to riders in all disciplines. They often evoke the most fear among inexperienced riders, and they’re one of the problems most often dealt with poorly by inexperienced and more experienced riders alike. That’s because people often fail to understand that horses do not think like humans. They’re not extra-large, vegetarian humans wearing fur coats. We are predators; they are prey animals. Their species has survived for millions of years by being ever alert, by scanning the distance and their surroundings for danger.And a couple of thousand years of domestication and the seemingly safe, warm place you keep them can’t remove that instinct. West Nile Vaccine Choices Thanks to a truly quantum leap in the quality of premarket testing, including challenge studies, we have solid information on West Nile vaccines, and there are now five choices. Challenge studies are when a control group of horses and a vaccinated group are deliberately exposed to a disease. It’s a more accurate way to determine if a vaccine is effective than simply checking for antibodies after vaccination. The USDA is specific with regard to the type of language that can be used in vaccine claims. The wording must reflect exactly what has been proven in challenge studies. Vaccine claims will begin with either "prevent" or "aid in the prevention." Prevention, rather than aid in the prevention, is a stronger claim as it means that the vaccine either eliminates or reduces to an extremely low level. Posture And Balance In reference to Margaret Freeman’s commentary on sitting straight (Nov. 2009), I tirelessly try to educate riders about how much influence their own body posture and balance has on the horse. As an equine body-worker, it’s painful to see how frequently horses suffer from unaddressed rider postural issues that directly interfere with the horse’s performance. The horse is often unfairly punished for this, even in upper levels of riding. It continues to amaze me how few riding instructors pay attention to this problem and/or recognize it, to correct the rider as needed. Thanks for this article, as horses do need to be "heard" from more often. A Time To Train, A Time To Show Although it’s still dark out when I get up in the morning, and there’s ice everywhere, and the wind-chill factor is low enough that even my Corgi won’t stick her nose outside, I’m feeling the pull of the show season dragging us out of winter hibernation. Seed catalogs and show catalogs are arriving at the same time. My horse is starting to shed out. The phone message light is blinking when I get home with requests to teach lessons and clinics as show preps. I’m getting more e-mails about horses for sale. |
| |||
| Contact Us / Privacy Policy / Site Map Copyright Belvoir Media Group, LLC. All rights reserved. | ||||||
