When you’re feeling under the weather, sometimes all you want is a nice, hot bowl of chicken soup. Other times, you might hunger for a full-course meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and steaming green beans. Even a mild injury that keeps you planted on the couch instead of sweating at the gym might change the way you think about food, urging you to cut back those desserts to hold your
If you’re like most horse owners, the idea of surgery performed on your beloved animal is unpleasant at best, terrifying at worst. Those fears are not unfounded. Because of the species’ size and weight, their physiological reactions to many anesthetic drugs, and the difficulties of recovery, horses are trickier to safely anesthetize than most other species. Yet through the years, veterinarian
Focusing on proper nutrition can play a key role in getting your sick foal back on a healthy track.
Would you know if your horse was in pain? Sure, you think, perhaps picturing your horse with a notable limp or a gaping wound. But what about less dramatic scenarios? Does it hurt your horse when you pull his mane, give him an injection, or”P>Would you know if your horse was in pain? Sure, you think, perhaps picturing your horse with a notable limp or a gaping wound. But what about less dramatic scenarios? Does it hurt your horse when”>Would you know if your horse was in pain? Sure, you think, perhaps picturing your horse with a notable limp or a gaping wound. But what about less dram”Would you know if your horse was in pain? Sure, you think, perhaps picturing your horse with a notable limp “ould you know if your horse was in pain? Sure, you think, perhaps”uld you know if your hors
But in horses, diarrhea–particularly persistent diarrhea in adult horses–is no laughing matter, and it’s certainly not something you should keep to yourself. Because of direct consequences such as dehydration and malnutrition, as well as underlying
Perhaps you've never thought about why your horse's grain looks the way it does, whether it's a molasses-bathed mix of cracked corn and crimped oats, alfalfa-enriched pellets, or chunky nuggets. If you're like most modern humans, you're accustomed to buying prepared and processed foods for yourself–from fast food meals on the fly to the pre-made soups and sauces on you
If you’ve been around horses, particularly performance horses, for even a short while, you’ve probably met someone who’s had a horse’s joints injected. The procedure–which involves injecting medication directly into the joint to combat such problems
WNV isn’t the only threat posed by the common mosquito. All forms of arboviral encephalitis (arthropod-borne neurologic disease)–some of which, like WNV, can afflict both horses and humans–are mosquito-borne, as are malaria, dengue fever, and deadly canine heartworm disease.
Wobbler, also known as wobbles, takes its name from its primary sign–a wobbling or uncoordinated gait. In technical terms, the horse has a “proprioceptiveness deficit,” or a lack of physical awareness of his limbs and their placement.
It sounds completely backwards, the idea that you might actually increase health risks by postponing training and competition until a horse is four or older. It goes against the ages-old and widely held belief that you cause damage by initiating work before a horse’s skeleton matures. Yet research conducted from the 1980s through the present day has steadily been debunking the old theories,
Although not usually life-threatening, arthritis causes your horse pain and can be career-ending. In fact, a research report from Michigan State University’s McPhail Equine Performance Center calls degenerative joint disease the single most common cause of early retirement for sport horses.
Scientists are working hard on several studies that might eventually present realistic solutions
Fact–The horse industry has a $112.1-billion impact on the U.S. gross domestic product–more than the motion picture industry, railroad transportation, or tobacco products manufacturing industries, according to the
Underrun heels sounds like an innocent term. Certainly it doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of horse owners in the same way as, say, navicular syndrome. It should. The disorder is so common today that many people fail to see it as an
A run-in shed is probably the least expensive shelter you can give your horse(s)–and, some believe, one of the healthiest. With a run-in shed, your horse lives as near to nature as domesticity allows. But that shed can’t be a slap-dash
Many experts believe that more injuries occur during loading and unloading than during the trailer trips themselves. Still, getting your horse on and off of a trailer doesn’t have to be risky business. With understanding, forethought, and common
In many cases, you can completely cure the horse of the underlying ailment that causes his stiffness. And even in cases where the horse suffers from a chronic condition such as arthritis, your careful, consistent efforts to battle stiffness can improve his performance and, more important, his quality of life and his pleasure of performing with you.
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