In This Chapter
- Giving your horse a comfortable home
- Examining feeding options for your horse
- Keeping your horse clean and attractive
- Taking care of your horse’s health
So you’re thinking of adding a
horse to your family, an equine companion to care for and ride. Before you
bring your new horse home, you need to how to take care of him. In this
chapter, I give you the rundown on how to house, feed, and groom your horse. I
also fill you in on the basics of equine health, including how to prevent
illness and when to call the vet.
For even greater detail on the
topics covered in this chapter, see Horses For Dummies, 2nd
Edition (Wiley).
Gimme Shelter: Proper Horse Housing
You’re probably not surprised to
hear that housing a horse is a lot more complicated than housing a cat or a
dog. Horses are big animals that have very specific needs. And they live
outside, so keeping them in the bedroom is out of the question.
If you’re lucky enough to have
your own horse property, your horse can live where you do. If not, you need to
keep him at a boarding facility. Both of these options require some careful
thought.
Getting on board with commercial boarding facilities
Some boarding stables also offer
horse owners additional horse care, such as exercising or blanketing their
horses. In the following sections, I explain the benefits of boarding and what
to look for when touring boarding stables.
Advantages of boarding for new horse owners
Remember
Boarding offers many benefits, particularly to first-time horse owners. Even if your dream is to keep your horse in your backyard, explore the possibility of boarding for at least the first year you own your horse. The advantages of boarding include the following:
- Trainers and instructors: Boarding stables have resident trainers and/or riding instructors who work there. If you need help with your horse or with your riding, you have experts you can call on for assistance.
- Other knowledgeable horse owners: You find out so much more about horses and riding if you’re around other horse owners. You can ask other people for help or advice, as well as get referrals for vets or farriers.
- A social life: When you become a horse owner, you instantly become a member of a very special community. Boarding stables are great places to make friends. Plus, you always have someone to ride with if you keep your horse at a boarding stable.
Traits to look for in a boarding stable
Remember
Chapter School’s in Session: Taking Riding Lessons has tips for finding riding stables in your area, and some of the same ideas apply when you’re looking for a place to board. Before you commit to keeping your horse at any commercial facility, check the place out thoroughly. Go down to the stable and spend some time walking around and talking to other boarders. Here are the things you’re looking for:
- Safe, sturdy accommodations: Keep an eye out for dangers such as barbed wire and broken boards on pasture fences. When examining stalls, make sure the fencing is secure and in good repair.
- Clean, safe surroundings: Look for a well-maintained property that’s free of junk and debris.
- Reliable water supply: The horses at the stable should all have water in their stalls. Ask how water is supplied and find out how it’s kept from freezing in the winter.
- Quality feed: Make sure feed isn’t moldy. Hay should be relatively dust free. Grain and pellets should be secured from rodents and other wildlife.
- Good care: Find out what goes into the horses’ daily care. Look for daily stall cleanings, at least twice daily feedings, and fly and rodent control.
- Written health requirements: Ask what kinds of inoculations are required of boarders. You want to see influenza/rhinopneumonitis and equine encephalitis requirements at the very least.
- Round-the-clock security: Not all stables have this luxury, but it’s a definite bonus. A security guard or live-in caretaker helps protect your horse from thieves.
- Good riding facilities: Look for a well-kept riding arena (or two), a round-pen for training (a round 40- to 60-foot-diameter arena), and trail access.
- Tack storage: Unless you want to lug your saddle and bridle back and forth every time you come to ride your horse, make sure the stable offers tack storage for boarders.
- A professional demeanor: Expect to sign liability waivers and a boarding agreement. The stable management should also ask for your emergency contact info so they can reach you if your horse is ill or injured.
Remember
Be aware that the nicer the stable, the more you have to pay for board. Don’t opt for a stable that isn’t up to par just because the fees are low. With boarding stables, you really do get what you pay for. Boarding stables charge anywhere from $100 to $700 or more a month, depending on where you live and the care and facilities offered.
No place like home: Keeping your horse on your own property
If you’ve always dreamed of
having a horse in your backyard, a home stable may be the right housing option
for you, provided you live on property that’s been zoned for horses. If you
live in a suburban or even rural neighborhood that forbids the keeping of
livestock, you have to board elsewhere — horses, after all, are a little hard
to hide.
In the following sections, I
describe your responsibilities as a home-stable owner and the types of homes
you can build for your horse.
The responsibilities of having a home stable
Remember
Although having a horse in your backyard is a great experience, don’t overly romanticize the notion. Keeping a horse on your property requires an investment of time, money, and hard work. If you decide to keep your horse at home, you must uphold a number of responsibilities:
- Cleanliness: You have an obligation to your horse and to your neighbors to keep your property clean and well maintained. You do so by mucking out your horse’s stall daily, using a manure fork.
- Continuing education: Because you and your horse are pretty much on your own, you need to learn as much as possible about horses and horse-keeping. If you don’t continue to learn, you’ll end up shortchanging both yourself and your horse. You can continue your education by joining local horse clubs, subscribing to horse magazines, and reading books about horses and horse care. See the Appendix for some possible resources.
- A good image: Whereas horse property was commonplace at one time, finding communities that are accepting of horses is becoming harder and harder. You can do your part by being friendly and considerate toward your neighbors.
Types of enclosures you can create
You can find three basic types of
enclosures in the horse world: the pasture, paddock, and box stall. Look for
designs in books on barn building, buy these enclosures prefabricated from
manufacturers, or have an architect and contractor design and build them for
you. Here are your options:
- Pasture: I define pasture as a substantial portion of fenced land where high-quality grass grows for equine consumption. If you have the land, motivation, and ability to create and manage a pasture for your horse, this is the best way to go. Horses who live on pastures suffer the least from colic, leg problems, breathing disorders, stable vices (bad habits resulting from boredom), and other maladies that tend to afflict horses confined in stalls. They also don’t need as much exercise from you because they get it on their own, romping around the pasture — so if you have time to ride only once a week, your horse won’t feel pent up.
- Paddock: A paddock is a small outdoor enclosure that’s void of pasture grass that’s rich in nutrition. In certain parts of the Eastern United States, a paddock is typically a large pen with board fencing. In the more urban areas of the Western U.S., most horses live in small, 12-x-12- or 12-x-24-foot paddocks made of a pipe enclosure called pipe corrals. Horses who live in paddocks need daily exercise because they don’t get much of a workout in this small space. If you can’t ride every day, you need to turn your horse loose in an arena or take him for a walk to provide him with a way to stretch his legs.
A paddock is the next best thing to pasture because it gives the horse some room to move around. Because paddocks are outdoors, they also provide good ventilation and more opportunities for mental stimulation for your horse than a box stall does.
- Box stall: Some horse owners prefer to keep their horses indoors, in a box stall. A box stall is just what it sounds like: a stall in the shape of a box. Box stalls are compartments within a barn.
Keeping a horse in a box stall provides a couple of advantages. Stall-kept horses stay cleaner and neater. Horses don’t end up muddy when it rains or dusty when it’s dry. They also avoid bites and other injuries delivered by other horses.
The downside of keeping a horse in a box stall is that living there is less healthy for the horse than living outdoors. A horse who stands in nearly the same place for hours on end is more prone to colic, leg problems, and boredom, which often results in stable vices. Also, because ventilation isn’t as good in a stall as it is outdoors, stall-kept horses are more prone to respiratory disease.
Remember
Like horses in paddocks, horses in box stalls need daily exercise because they don’t have much room to move around. You need to ride your horse daily, walk him around the barn, or turn him loose in an arena.
Chow Time: Dealing with Your Horse’s Hunger and Thirst
A steady supply of food is very
important to a horse, probably even more important than it is to humans. Nature
designed the horse to spend the majority of his time chewing, swallowing, and
digesting. The equine digestive system is meant to be constantly on the go and
to process vast quantities of fibrous foods.
What you feed your horse and how
often you feed him plays a big part in determining your horse’s physical and
psychological health. In the following sections, I cover the basics of feeding
and watering your horse.
Feeding your horse
In the horse world, many people
debate about the best feed to give a horse. The reason for the confusion
probably lies in the fact that individual horses have different nutritional
requirements. Where and how the horse lives, the age of the horse, what kind of
work the horse does, and the horse’s own physiological makeup can affect the
best diet for a horse. Generally speaking, horses that are ridden hard in
demanding disciplines, such as endurance or cattle work, need more calories
than horses used for casual trail riding. The following sections give general
information on horse feeds to get you started.
Remember
The best person to guide you on your horse’s diet is your veterinarian. Your vet is familiar with your individual horse and therefore with his nutritional needs. Furthermore, your vet should also be up on the local availability of different kinds of hay. For example, alfalfa hay, popular and readily available in California, is often hard to come by in the Northeast. (I give you guidelines on finding a vet later in this chapter.)
Hay
Hay is basically a feedstuff
composed of plants that have been cut, dried, and baled. Two types of hays
exist: legumes and grasses. Alfalfa, which is rich in protein, calcium, and
other nutrients, is the legume horses most commonly eat (although many horse
people think it’s too rich for horses and is best fed only to cattle). Timothy,
orchard, and Bermuda are the most common grass hays.
Hay is a good feed because it
provides roughage in addition to proper nutrition. The roughage keeps the
horse’s digestive system working properly and also satisfies the horse’s
natural urge to chew.
Hay cubes
You can feed your horse
concentrated blocks of hay called hay cubes. Hay cubes tend to be cheaper than
hay and are good for older horses with worn-down teeth (because cubes break
apart quickly when chewed) or respiratory problems (because cubes are less
dusty than hay). They’re also ideal for horses who have trouble keeping on
weight. Still, most horses prefer baled hay to cubes because baled hay gives
them plenty to chew on.
Pasture grass
Horses do best when they can
graze in a pasture; however, providing your horse with a lush pasture requires
work and knowledge. If you happen to live on property where pasture has already
been cultivated, your task is to carefully maintain it. On the other hand, if
you want to start a pasture from scratch, you’ll need considerable help.
Contact your local agricultural agency for assistance in starting and
maintaining a quality horse pasture.
Warning!
If your pasture doesn’t yield a substantial amount of good-quality, nutritious grass, you need to supplement your horse’s diet with a daily ration of hay. If you don’t, the horse may suffer from malnutrition. To verify that your pasture is of good quality, call your local agricultural office and ask an expert to inspect your pasture and help analyze its nutritional content.
Watering your horse
I can’t overemphasize the importance of providing plenty of clean, fresh water as part your horse’s daily care. Your horse needs water — lots of it — to stay alive and to ensure a healthy digestive system. You can water your horse with an automatic waterer set up in the horse’s stall, a large bucket that you refill several times a day, or a trough that holds enough water for a day or two at a time.
Tip
If you live in a climate where temperatures fall below freezing, you need to keep your horse’s water supply from turning to ice. Consider using a heating element made especially for horse waterers or manually break the ice whenever it forms. I recommend the heating element because it requires less work on your part and also keeps the water at a warmer temperature, encouraging your horse to drink.
Hey, Good Lookin’: Grooming Your Horse
Not only does grooming make your
horse look good so you’re proud to ride him, but it also helps you bond with
him and keep him healthy. You and your horse have time to get to know each
other before you get on to ride, and grooming lets you give his body a thorough
going-over as you keep an eye out for lumps, bumps, and anything else that
shouldn’t be there.
If you like grooming, you’re in
luck. Horses are dirty critters by nature and need daily grooming. Although
cleaning up a half-ton animal who’s been milling around in the dirt for days
may not sound like a picnic, grooming can be one of the most enjoyable parts of
horse ownership. And besides, most horses absolutely love the attention! In the
following sections, I describe the grooming equipment you need and walk you
through the steps of brushing and bathing your horse.
Getting into gear
Remember
Before you start grooming,
assemble all your tools in a tack box or organizer. Make sure everything’s
clean and in good working order. At the very minimum, your tools should include
the following items (see Figure 19-1):
- Stiff brush
- Soft brush
- Mane and tail brush
- Cloth, sponge, or small towel
- Sweat scraper
- Hoof pick
- Rubber curry comb
- Shedding blade
Figure 19-1: Some basic grooming
tools for your horse.
Brushing your horse
Horses are messy, and dirt
absolutely clings to their coats. You need to use elbow grease to get your
horse’s coat clean and shiny. If your horse is stabled indoors all the time, he
won’t get too dirty. Horses who live in pastures or paddocks, however, usually
require more work to clean. (For more on equine housing, see the earlier
section called “Types of enclosures you can create.”)
To clean the body of your horse
(which includes the head, neck, legs, rump, and everything in between), you use
a hoof pick, a rubber curry comb, a stiff brush, a soft brush, a mane and tail
brush, and a cloth. With these tools at your disposal and your horse safely
tied, follow these steps (see Chapter Safety
First: Protecting Yourself around Horses for safety info on working with a horse
in close quarters; Chapter Working
from the Ground, Saddling, and Bridling explains handling a horse from the ground):
1. Clean out all the horse’s
hooves with the hoof pick to remove packed-in dirt, manure, and rocks.
Take the pick in your right hand,
with the handle in your fist and the point of the pick facing away from you.
Stand at the horse’s left shoulder, facing the back of the horse. You’re in the
right position if your left shoulder is next to your horse’s left
shoulder. Ask the horse for his hoof, and then support this uplifted foot in
your left hand as you start scraping out the dirt from the inside of the hoof
with the tip of the hoof pick. Be sure to clean out the areas around the frog
(the triangular area on the underside of the hoof), but don’t scrape the
frog itself. Look for rocks, nails, or other items that may be lodged in the
hoof.
When you’re finished, gently
release the hoof. Clean the hooves on the left hind leg, the right hind leg,
and then the right front leg. On the horse’s right side, lift a hoof with your
right hand and hold the pick in your left.
2. Use the curry comb to bring
the dirt to the surface of the coat by rubbing in a circular motion (if your
horse has a very thin coat, proceed gently or skip this step altogether).
Start on your horse’s left side
with the curry comb in your right hand. Begin rubbing where your horse’s neck
joins the head and work down toward the horse’s body. Groom the neck, chest,
shoulders, back, belly, rump, and haunches, in that order. After finishing the
left side, move over to the right, switch the curry comb to your left hand, and
repeat the process. If your horse is the least bit dirty — and I’m sure he is —
the dust should come to the surface of his coat.
Warning!
Be very gentle when working around the horse’s flanks and underbelly. Some horses are very sensitive in this area and may kick out at you. Rub gently when you get to any areas where you can feel the horse’s bones under the skin. These areas are particularly sensitive.
If mud is caked on the horse’s
legs, use a very gentle circular motion to shake it loose from the coat. Do so
only with dry mud, because wet mud is impossible to remove. Also, use a rubber
curry comb, not a metal one, because a metal comb can damage the skin on your
horse’s legs. And don’t kneel or sit — you want to be able to move away quickly
should the horse become frightened.
3. Use the stiff brush to
dissipate the dirt into the air by brushing in short strokes in the direction
that the hair grows (see Figure 19-2).
Go on the horse’s left side with
the stiff brush in your right hand and start at the top of the neck, moving
down the horse’s neck to his chest, shoulder, back, barrel, belly, rump, and
haunches. You can also use the stiff brush to loosen the dirt from your horse’s
legs, but be sure to be gentle. After you finish the left side of the horse,
move over to the right side and repeat the process with the stiff brush in your
left hand.
Tip
As you brush your horse with the stiff brush and soft brush, continuously clean the brushes by rubbing them against the rubber curry comb. Doing so helps get rid of the dust that accumulates in the brushes and keeps the dirt from going back on the horse.
Figure 19-2: Brush along the
grain of your horse’s hair.
4. Use the soft brush to
remove the remaining dust from the coat, brushing along the lay of the coat by
using short strokes.
Start on the horse’s left with the brush in your right hand and move from the horse’s neck to his chest, shoulder, back, barrel, belly, rump, and haunches. Move to the right side of the horse with the brush in your left hand and repeat the brushing process. You should begin to see a shine on your horse’s coat.
5. Complete the body-grooming
process by wiping down the horse’s body with the cloth, giving the coat even
more shine.
6. Use the cloth to clean the
insides of your horse’s nostrils, where dirt and mucus tend to accumulate.
Tip
Make sure your horse isn’t afraid of the cloth before you wipe his face with it. Let him look at it and sniff it, and then very slowly raise it to his face. Take note of his reaction, and don’t force the issue if the horse continues to act afraid. Try again the next day using the same approach until the horse gradually gets used to the cloth.
7. Use the soft brush to
gently groom your horse’s head with long, soft strokes.
Stand at the side toward the front of your horse to do this step.
Tip
Most horses enjoy having their heads groomed, but some don’t. Be sure to calmly approach your horse’s head with the brush, showing him the brush and letting him smell it before you use it on his head. Be careful when brushing his ears, because some horses are funny about having their ears touched.
8. Use the mane and tail brush
or a soft brush to groom the mane and tail.
Pick out any burrs or shavings caught in the horse’s mane and tail and separate the tangles. Use a horse hair detangler if the tangles are really bad. Brush the forelock, mane, and tail in the direction the hair grows.
The horse wash: Scrubbing down
Bathing a horse isn’t that much
different from washing a car. Both are large and require a lot of soap, water,
and work. Horses get dirty often, but you should bathe your horse only when
it’s really necessary and not more than twice a month. Too much bathing can
strip the horse’s coat of its natural oils.
You can choose any number of ways
to bathe your horse, but here’s my favorite way of doing it: The weather
outside is not cold, and the sun is out. Your horse is securely tied in a wash
area, which has a hitching post or cross-rails, access to a garden hose, and a
non-dirt, non-slip surface. And your shampoo, conditioner, bucket, sponge, and
sweat scraper are ready to go. Follow these steps to give your horse a bath:
1. Starting on the left side
of your horse — you wash and rinse one side of the horse at a time — run
lukewarm water from a garden hose on the horse’s legs.
Hosing down the horse’s legs allows him to get used to the water and the idea that he’s about to be bathed. If you don’t have easy access to a garden horse and a heated water supply, use warm water in a bucket for this step.
2. After the horse has had a
bit of time to adjust to the water, slowly move the hose up to where the neck
joins the head and wet the body all the way to the rear end of the horse.
Be careful not to get water in the horse’s ears.
3. Apply shampoo to your sponge
and begin lathering your horse’s coat, starting where the neck joins the head
and working your way down across the body.
Be sure to scrub underneath your horse, where the girth lies, as well as along the back where the saddle sits, because sweat and dirt tend to accumulate in these areas. Wash your horse’s legs too, as well as the outsides of his hooves.
4. After you’re confident that
you’ve loosened the dirt and sweat from your horse’s coat, take the hose or a
bucket of water and begin rinsing the shampoo from your horse’s coat.
Rinse very thoroughly; you don’t want to leave behind any soap residue that may irritate your horse’s skin.
5. Shampoo, condition, and
rinse the horse’s mane.
If the mane is on the right side of the horse, move over to that side.
6. Repeat Steps 1 through 4
for the right side of the horse.
7. Wash the horse’s tail.
Stand at the side of your horse near the hind legs and grasp the tail gently. Pull it around the horse’s hip toward you. Wet the tail with water and apply shampoo. Be sure to work the lather into the tail so you get all the hair. Rinse, condition, and rinse again. Be sure to get all the soap residue out of the base of the tail — if soap residue irritates the horse’s skin, he’ll probably rub his tail on whatever he can find.
8. Wash the horse’s head.
Wet the horse’s face with a sponge and warm water. Don’t forget to wet the forelock (the hair that hangs down on the forehead between the horse’s ears), because you wash this hair when you do the head.
Tip
Rinse the face with a clean sponge and water and avoid using shampoo there. Shampoo is difficult to rinse off thoroughly, and it can get in the horse’s eyes. Also, avoid the temptation to wash your horse’s face by squirting his face with the garden hose. Some horses tolerate it, but all clearly hate it.
Warning!
Be gentle and considerate when washing your horse’s face, and stand back and be cautious. Most horses are very cooperative when having their faces cleaned, but others have had bad experiences or simply are wary of the process. Some horses swing their heads to avoid the water and can accidentally hit you in the face.
9. Dry off.
To help your horse dry off more quickly after his bath, squeegee the water from his coat with a sweat scraper (go in the direction that the hair lies) and then hand walk him in the sun. Don’t put him back in his pasture or paddock until he’s almost completely dry, because he may roll in the dirt.
A Little TLC: Maintaining Your Horse’s Health
Despite their size and physical
strength, horses are actually rather delicate creatures in terms of health.
They need regular preventive care to keep them healthy and able to perform the
tasks asked of them. In the following sections, I discuss a few important
preventive care tasks and describe some signs of illness and common health
conditions.
Providing preventive care
Making sure your horse is, well,
healthy as a horse can make riding a much better experience for both you and
your equine friend. Particularly for horses, preventing a problem is always
better than trying to fix it after it occurs. As an owner, your job is to take
care of the following tasks in prevention.
Finding a horse vet
Choose a veterinarian before your
find yourself in an emergency situation. A veterinarian already familiar with
your horse can be a huge plus during an emergency. Also, if you’re a regular
client, your request for an emergency barn call will receive priority treatment
over a similar request from a non-regular client. (You may have found a vet you
liked when you had your horse checked in a pre-purchase exam; see Chapter Taking
the Plunge by Buying a Horse for details.)
Locating a good equine
veterinarian usually takes a bit of research. You shouldn’t settle on the first
name you see in the telephone book or use the vet your next-door neighbor is
using without investigating first. Ask a few other horse owners whom they
prefer and why. Also, ask your trainer or instructor for a referral to a good
equine vet.
Remember
The best choice for your horse’s health care provider (preventive, regular, and emergency care) is a veterinarian who specializes in horses. Equine veterinarians are specially trained to diagnose and treat equine illnesses, and they have more knowledge of horse issues than their small-animal counterparts. If you can’t find a veterinarian in your area who deals exclusively with horses, make sure the vet you choose has at least moderate experience in equine medicine.
Going barefoot
Horses in the wild don’t wear shoes, and neither do
horses belonging to advocates of the barefoot method. Farriers who practice
the barefoot method believe that horses don’t need shoes, just the proper
trim and care of their feet to keep them healthy. In fact, barefoot advocates
believe that shoeing a horse is harmful to the
health of his feet.
Critics of this method disagree vehemently with
barefoot advocates, stating that not every horse in every situation can go
sans shoes. To find out more about the barefoot method as you make your own
decision, visit www.thehorseshoof.com.
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Finding a farrier
Nearly as important as choosing a
veterinarian for your horse is finding a skilled and qualified farrier, a
specialist in trimming and shoeing your horse’s hooves. Choose your farrier
wisely; the health of your horse’s hooves and legs depends on it.
Tip
The best way to locate a good farrier is through a referral, and the first person you should ask for a referral is your veterinarian. Most equine veterinarians are well acquainted with the farriers in their area and can recommend one or two good ones.
You can ask other horse owners
for farrier referrals as well. If you go this route, be sure to take a
consensus and see which farriers get the most thumbs up. Don’t base your
decision on the comments of only one owner — you want to get a feeling for
which farriers are able to successfully handle horses with different shoeing
needs.
Tip
Most horses get shoes and/or trimming every six to eight weeks. After you choose a farrier, monitor his or her work closely. You want a shoer who comes when he or she is supposed to so your horse’s feet don’t go weeks overdue, but the farrier also shouldn’t trim or shoe your horse too frequently just to pad his or her pockets. If your shoer wants to work on your horse more often than usual, ask for a detailed explanation as to why.
If you horse is having trouble
with his hooves or legs, consider the job your shoer is doing and talk to your
vet about the possible causes. A shoer can make or break a horse’s soundness.
Vaccinating
A number of dangerous infectious diseases plague the horse world, but the good news is that vaccines exist for many of these. To keep your horse in his optimal state of health, you need to commit to a regular vaccination program, developed with your veterinarian, to protect your horse from serious illness.
Although a host of other vaccines
exist, the following four represent the absolute minimum your horse should
receive. Your vet may add other vaccines to the list as well, depending on
where you live:
- Influenza/rhinopneumonitis
- Equine encephalomyelitis
- Tetanus
- West Nile virus
Remember
Reputable boarding stables require that all horses on the property be kept up-to-date on inoculations against contagious disease. If your horse is boarded, maintaining a consistent schedule of inoculations is imperative. (I discuss boarding your horse earlier in this chapter.)
Deworming
Roundworms, strongyles, pinworms,
bots, lungworms, stomach worms, and hairworms — the list of baddies that can
affect your equine friends can be enough to make your skin crawl! Horses, like
most other animals, are quite susceptible to a number of internal parasites.
These parasites, collectively known as worms, can cause serious damage
to your horse’s internal organs. Uncontrolled, they lead to chronic colic
(abdominal pain) and even death.
Although keeping worms from
infecting your horse is nearly impossible, controlling their numbers is very
doable. Regular deworming with a chemical agent kills parasites in their
various stages of growth and is a necessary part of your horse’s preventive
care.
Several over-the-counter
dewormers are available to horse owners, and you can use them on a regular
basis under the supervision of your veterinarian. You can also ask your vet to
deworm your horse for you.
Remember
Deworm your horse on a regular basis; the frequency depends on the climate and environment where you reside. Discuss your horse’s deworming needs with your vet so the two of you can come up with an effective program.
Taking care of teeth
Because the food horses eat is so
difficult to chew and digest, good dental health is vital.
To combat the normal wear that
occurs from chewing such tough, fibrous foods, nature has equipped the horse
with teeth that grow constantly; they slowly erupt from the gum as the top
layer of the teeth wears down. However, the horse’s upper jaw is wider than his
lower jaw, so the upper outside teeth and lower inside teeth have nothing to
wear against as they erupt, and ridges and sharp points result. These ridges
and points restrict the horse’s normal side-to-side rotary chewing motion,
resulting in poor and painful chewing and
Tip
To keep sharp points from interfering with your horse’s ability to chew and subsequently digest his food, have your veterinarian file down those pointy teeth as often as once or twice a year, depending on how fast they grow. Called floating, this procedure is an absolute must in preventive care. During these exams, the vet can also spot any other dental problems that may be developing, such as infected teeth or abnormal wear patterns.
Recognizing signs of illness
You don’t have to call the vet
every time your horse sneezes; you can deal with some problems at home, or at
least monitor them before making that call. Pay attention to your
horse’s health before you climb on his back.
Remember
Here are signs to look for when your horse seems under the weather. If your horse has one or more of these symptoms, the condition is an emergency that warrants a call to and a visit from the vet:
- Bleeding
- Blood in urine
- Choking
- Colic (see “Colic,” later in this chapter)
- Diarrhea
- Fever (temperature above 101°F)
- Inability to stand
- Injury
- Labored breathing
- Painful eye
- Refusal to eat
- Severe pain
- Straining
- Swelling
- Standing with legs stretched out
- Straining
- Sweating profusely
- Swishing the tail violently
These bouts of pain often come in
waves, so the horse may seem all right one minute but frantic the next. The
pain can also start out mild and get progressively worse or simply remain mild.
Equine influenza/rhinopneumonitis
People and birds aren’t the only
ones who get the flu. Horses have their own versions of the virus, known as equine
influenza and rhinopneumonitis (the latter is caused by the equine
herpes virus). The infection attacks both the upper and lower respiratory
tracts. Like the human versions of the flu, these viruses spread across the
U.S. every fall and winter, and they’re just as contagious (not to humans,
however!).
Although equine influenza and
rhinopneumonitis are two different viruses, they both cause the same symptoms,
and veterinarians handle the two infections the same way. If your horse has a
mild case, he may just have a runny nose and seem a bit lethargic for a few
days. If his case is moderate to serious, he may run a high fever, have a runny
nose and eyes, cough, and appear stiff. He may also lose his appetite.
Vaccines are available to prevent
the equine flu, but if your horse does come down with the disease, the usual
treatment involves supportive care such as drugs to reduce the fever and
antibiotics to treat any secondary bacterial infections.
Thrush
Thrush, a bacterial
infection of the foot, is one of the most common problems afflicting horses
today. Horses who don’t undergo regular feet cleaning are prone to this
disease. The bacteria can take hold only if the foot is routinely packed with
mud, soiled bedding, and manure for long periods of time. Horses with thrush
have a foul-smelling black discharge on the bottom of the hoof surrounding the frog
(the triangular part of the underside of the horse’s hoof). When you scrape
the bottom of the hoof with a hoof pick, a clay-like material comes off,
leaving deep grooves in the hoof. Left untreated, it can result in a more
severe foot infection. The bacteria can also damage the horse’s tendons. In
serious cases, thrush can cause lameness.
If you suspect that your horse
has a mild case of thrush (odor and some discharge but no lameness), you can
try treating the condition yourself with an over-the-counter thrush medication
available at tack and feed stores. If this treatment isn’t effective or if
thrush seems to cause your horse pain when he stands or walks, call your
veterinarian.
by Audrey Pavia with Shannon Sand
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