Horse Thick Winter Coat

First off when purchasing your horse you have to watch for proper balance. Balance is arguably the most important aspect when examining a horse since it is fundamental for both movement and performance, this is determined by the horse's bone structure.(Duberstein) Some aspects that play a role in determining the balance includes the horse's weight along with the proportions and angles of the body. A horse can be light weighted or heavy weighted and still balanced if its bone structure allows for equal distribution of that weight. Appropriate balance of a horse allows it to carry itself in a well mannered fashion.("Test Your Eye for Horse Conformation") Along with a horse's balance, structural correctness plays a major role in

The economy today is slowly dwindling down, and the costs are rising for daily living expenses. Horses are normally not in the budget for many families, leaving many horses homeless. The normal yearly cost for a horse is around 2,419- 3,876 and the average life span of a horse is 25-30 years. This cost just covers food, routine vet checks, farrier, and general maintenance. This does not include the price of the horse, the chance of having an emergency vet call arise and the tack that may be used. This animal must eat about 2.5% its own body weight which on average is 1,100 pounds. Grain and hay may

The tact can also help. The most primary things everyone uses is a saddle, reins, bridle, stirrup. Most people can use a bit, the bit helps control the horse and get their attention. Also use a tie down so the horse´s head doesn't bob. To help the saddle stay in place use a breast collar it helps keep the saddle straight and upright when turning a barrel. Use horse boots because when the horse is running their feet and legs could possibly hit and scrap. That could possibly end with extremely serious injuries to the rider or the horse. The boots protect their feet and legs.

No matter if the equestrian is a part of a large group or a single owned animal, horse care/maintenance is a must. For example, at any given time a horse injury

The ponies have a very limited diet consisting mostly of salty marsh grasses. Because of the high salt content, the ponies drink twice as much water fresh water as normal horses. This extra amount of water combined with high salt diet causes the ponies’ bellies to swell. This bloated appearance makes the ponies seem unnatural looking.

The topic of my project came about due to my horse, who I adopted in February of 2009. I had no idea what I was getting into. I only ever had to worry about feeding dogs and cats, which you could easily buy a bag of food for at any pet store within the city limits any day of the week from 7 am to 9 pm. To feed a horse that weighs 1100-1200 pounds, they must eat 14 pounds of hay and 3-5 pounds of grain daily in a city with no pasture to put the horse on.

Cattle are generally grass fed, fed on grass and other forage composition, or corn fed, fed on grains.

Safely adding weight to a horse is more complicated than just adding food to their diet. Horses have a complex digestive tract that includes the esophageal sphincter making it a one-way system; a small stomach to start the breakdown of food with acid; a cecum with microbes to breakdown fiber. A horse’s body condition score is a scale from 1-9 where 1 is emaciated and 9 is obese, and the ideal score is 5. Horses should consume 2 percent of their body weight to maintain their condition. No more than half of their feed should be grain, and the rest should be forages. The amount of food for every horse is based on their age, workload, production status, and their desired body condition score. Overfeeding grain can cause horses to become overweight or even colic. Horses basic nutritional needs are water, energy, protein, vitamins and minerals. To fulfill an adult horses water requirement they should drink between 10 and 12 gallons of fresh, free choice, and comfortable temperature water. It is important for horses to consume a balanced diet so they have enough energy to successfully do their job.

If the horse is experiencing hypersensitivity to factors in its stall such as bedding, it is recommended to move the horse out to pasture with fresh grass as its primary source of roughage. If the source of the allergens are pasture related moving the horse into a stall with low dust producing bedding such as peat moss, shredded paper, or cardboard might be beneficial. Feeding a “dust-free” diet may also be necessary. This may require soaking all hay in water prior to feeding, feeding a completely pelletized feed such as a complete feed, hay pellet, hay cube, or fermented hay products may also increase the chances of reducing the presence of allergens.

It is a horse owner's job to care for the horse that includes grooming the animal. Grooming a horse has many steps and takes many tools. In order to fully groom a horse it’s entire body must be brushed along with the mane and tail. All of these steps take a large amount of time. Brushing a horse is a dirty job, plan on wearing clothes that can get dirty. The following paragraphs will explain how to properly groom a horse. THese steps can be completed in another order however this seems to be the most efficient order.

Horses cannot perform their best if their microbes are out of balance. A negative effect on the microbes has a great effect on how a horse feels. A way to maintain that balance is by keeping the number of cellulolytic high and the lactic-acid producers low.

Poo-eating is normal behavior in horses, especially in foals. The feces a foal eats, especially from its dam, is thought to introduce microorganisms in the gasto-intestinal tract. These microorganisms are needed to switch from a milk- to a forage-based diet. Other reasons for coprophagia in horses are boredom, nutritional deficiency, and disease.

This will allow their body chemistry to catch up with their eating habits. If the horse is fed too much then re-feeding syndrome may occur (when too much glucose gets in the cells and pushes the essential nutrients out of the cells into the bloodstream). If this were to happen the horse will become chronically ill and may die within 3-10days. In research alfalfa hay worked the best for rehabilitating starved horses as it is high in protein and electrolytes such as phosphorus and magnesium. This is also an advantage as it is low in starch, which ensures that the increase of insulin is not to fast so kidney failure and heart failure are less common. It is recommended to give a handful (no more than a pound) every 3-4 hours, to total 6-8 pounds in 24

During the summer time the temperature increases drastically which can cause dehydration in our horses. Due to their larger muscle mass horses produce a larger amount of heat especially when being exercised or kept in a dry lot or barn where there is no shade or air circulating. Whenever there is high humidity and heat in the air it makes the horses sweat more than they should which means they lose both water and electrolytes. Without water and

This will also give the rider chance to gain feedback from the judge. Whilst this horse is beginning to do harder work it must be made sure that there is not an extreme loss of electrolytes. Davies, (2009) states that, for competition horse’s electrolytes, should be fed after hard work and competitions. These can be fed either in the form off a supplement or a less expensive alternative can be to feed the horse a mixture of 50% salt and 50% Lo-salt. When out hacking, hill work will be incorporated throughout. It is important this horse builds up muscle behind as this is what judges will look for in a good working hunter horse. Hunter horses are judged based on the horse’s style, their form over fences, pace and the judge’s overall impression of the horse. The horse should also have a good attentive expression, good scope, tight knees that go up to the horse’s chin and/or nose and they jump up and around the fences using their head and neck (It'sShowTime,