With another holiday season in the bag, wrapped up with the turkey giblets and excessive toy packaging, we can now turn and face the impending New Year. After the ball drops approximately 50% of us will yet again vow to make some important changes in our lives, but will we actually follow through?

Experts say that one reason many of us fail to keep our resolutions is because our goals aren’t defined well enough. To combat this challenge, TheHorse.com has compiled five specific New Year’s resolutions to help horse owners either maintain or improve their horses’ health and longevity in 2012.

Resolution #1: Resolve to respect your horse’s breathing zone.

The breathing zone is the two-foot sphere around your horse’s nose from where he draws his breath. According to N. Edward Robinson, BVetMed, PhD, MRCVS, Matilda R. Wilson Chair in Large Animal Clinical Sciences at Michigan State University, horse owners often forget about preventing chronic disease such as heaves, inflammatory airway disease, and low-grade cough