Equines have been essential to the evolution of our society for over 4,000 years, providing speed and strength to aid in work, travel, and war. They are extreme athletes, capable of producing high speeds and stamina and are able to do so efficiently. This is due partly to the muscle physiology of the equine. In most mammals, 40-45% of body weight is made of muscle mass. In horses this percentage is increased to over 50%. Horses are not all the same, however. Different breeds have different skeletal muscle builds as well as muscle types. For example, the Thoroughbred, one of the most athletic breeds of horses, has a muscle mass percentage of almost 55%. (Gunn, 1979) Conditioning of our equine athletes is an important part of equine care, especially
This can result in a range of symptoms, including anything from a lack of coordination all the way to full limb paralysis (Watson). While some foals are unable to stand at birth due to OAAM, some may not show symptoms until weeks after birth. A radiograph is used to determine whether or not a foal is affected, and there is currently no test available for OAAM, as there is still not a lot known about this disease (Watson). Research is still being conducted, so hopefully questions will soon be answered about this disorder that almost exclusively impacts
When it comes to feeding show cattle many raisers have certain feeding strategies that they follow, ensuring they can maintain their goal on winning. Along with feeding it takes exercise so that one’s show calf will not become stout nor stubborn. Certain aspects are necessary to show an animal
The recent down fall in the economy has made horse owners not want their horses anymore. The cost of maintaining a horse has greatly increased; horses are not able to survive on just the grass in a field. Horses need the vitamins from the grain and hay. Depending on what kind of horse you have, depends on the additional supplement they
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
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 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.
Quarter Horses like to eat grass, hay, concentrates, and treats. The types of hay Quarter Horses eat
While the horse has benefited from some aspects of domestication, for example the provision of food, shelter, protection from predators
think that it is very important aspect of horses that is important to emphasis when studying the
Each year about 340 horses die due to effects of insulin resistance. That is almost half the deaths caused by horse racing. If a horse or pony suffering from Insulin Resistance and they eat high sugar feed, and eat normal, unsoaked hay the large increase in sugar may cause death or lead to serious life threatening conditions. In horses that don’t suffer from Insulin Resistance and Cushing’s it wouldn’t be as great a concern if they got out and ate feed and hay, but thus act becomes life threatening and fatal for horses and ponies suffering from Insulin Resistance and Cushing’s. Insulin Resistance, Cushings, and Endocrinopathic Laminitis are all very complex diseases that many experts are still gaining an understanding for. Glucose, insulin, and cortisol are major factors not only in Insulin Resistance (IR) and Cushings (PPID) as individual diseases, but they also serve to link the two diseases to Endocrinopathic Laminitis in addition to each other. Insulin Resistance and
No differences were seen in performance of steers across all treatments. Final BW shows that in each treatment the steers gained on average 15 kg over the 28-day process. As noted on Table 3, DMI was greater for steers fed once a day than for steers fed once a week, and in the control group. However, the results show that ADG for the control was greater overall. Therefore performance was improved no matter what type of supplemental intake. Results of cost take into account cost of feed, labor, and a pasture acre fee. Therefore, it is cheaper overall to supplement cattle on pasture rather than feeding weekly or once a day. Several possibilities as to why performance was not affected may include environmental factors (heat), forage quality, and rate that steers were
Horses are prodigious grazers, they eat from grass , hay, flowers, apples, carrots, and other
Maintaining your horse pasture with a variety of grasses should be your goal for good care. Safe herbs and other plants can also be included. Some horses enjoy eating blackberries which contain vitamin C. Brambles may be left in hedges many horses enjoy eating the young leaves of these plants. Dandelions are another highly nutritious plant for horses. They are also easy to seed. Good edible plants should
Due to the large size of horses it can be dangerous to work with ones that are hard to handle. The term “Imprint Training” is popular in the horse industry meaning early handling of foals with to focus on improving their behavior, learning ability, and for them to gain confidence in the world around them (Lansade, 2004). This imprint training is believed by many horse people to help horses and make them easier to work with when they become older (Lansade, 2004).