Weighing In

Accepted wisdom in the horse world tells us that an average light horse weighs about 1,000 pounds, or 450 kg. A draft horse, upwards of double that. But does that rather arbitrary figure really mean anything? After all, what is an “average” horse?

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Supplements And Drugs

There is much confusion among horse owners about products. This stems from the avalanche of new products being marketed over-the-counter as nutraceuticals or nutritional supplements. The claims made about these products often are what classifies

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What Causes Poor Exercise Performance?

A huge amount of time, effort, and money often are invested in the preparation of horses for various athletic events, including Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing, three-day eventing, steeplechasing, dressage, hunter-jumper events, reining,

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Respiratory Allergies

Respiratory disease is second only to musculoskeletal problems as a cause of loss of performance in competition horses, according to some of the leading researchers around the world. In fact, N. Edward Robinson, BVet Med, PhD, MRCVS, of Michigan

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Health Scheduling

For first-time horse owners, getting a new horse can border on the overwhelming. You have to find a suitable boarding barn or create adequate stabling on your own property and buy tack, grooming equipment, cooling sheets and/or blankets. Yo

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Feeding Sick Horses

Feeding a healthy horse is one thing; most of us have a pretty good understanding of what works and what doesn’t. But feeding a horse who’s sick, injured, or recovering from surgery is another.

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Headshaking in Horses

Your favorite horse is tacked up and ready for your daily ride. You mount up, and as soon as you begin warming up in your outdoor ring, he starts tossing his head and sneezing. The sneezing eventually stops, but every time you

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New Directions In Deworming

For a long time, parasitologists recommended that horse owners utilize the same deworming program for all of their horses on a routine and regular basis. And why not? It was an efficient and easy method of parasite control. Now, parasitologists

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Mystery Solved: Guttural Pouches

We know that all horses have a guttural pouch, and some of their distant relations have a smaller version of the same structure. But until very recently, we didn’t know why they existed.

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How Much Bute Is Too Much?

My veterinarian recently prescribed Bute when my gelding came up sore after an endurance ride. He advised a specific dosage, but I wonder if I could be helping my horse more by increasing the amount of Bute or giving it to him more often.”y veterinarian recently prescribed Bute when my gelding came up sore after an endurance ride. He advised a specific dosage, but I wonder if I could be helping my horse more by increasing the amount of ” veterinarian recently prescribed Bute when my gelding came up sore after an endurance ride. He advised a specific dosage, but I wonder if I could be helping my hors”veterinarian recently prescribed Bute when my gelding came up sore after an endurance ride. He advised a specific dosage, but I wo”eterinarian recently prescribed Bute when my gelding came up sore after an endurance ride. He ad”terinarian recently prescribed Bute when my gelding came up sor”erinarian recently prescribed Bu”ri

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Prepurchase Exams: What Can They Tell You?

A prepurchase exam is not a guarantee of future soundness. A veterinarian can tell you if a horse is sound at that moment, point out evidence of past problems, and show you areas that have the potential to cause problems in the future.

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Use and Abuse of Natural Products

Editor’s Note: There are veterinary professionals who have welcomed alternative, holistic, and complementary therapies and modalities with open arms, adding these tools and treatments to their arsenal of care for equine patients. And there ar

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Selecting an Alternative Practitioner

Let’s say you decide to give an alternative therapy a try. How do you find a competent practitioner? We know which ones you’d rather have work on your horse, so we’ll give you some tips for finding the qualified people and avoiding

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When Should I Call the Vet?

A reader asks how she can know when it is time to call the veterinarian for a health problem in her horse, and when advice from Internet chat rooms is enough information.

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