Health & Management
Eventually every horse gets to the point where it is time to retire, but when and how depends on the individual. A horse’s health and soundness dictate retirement more so than age. Most horses do better when retirement happens gradually, through a slow decrease in activity level based on the horse’s physical abilities and mental attitude. When is the right time? Assessing your horse’s physical and mental status isn’t always easy. Horses tend to... Read More »
Category : Health & Management | Other Topics of Interest | Tips and Topics
What is laminitis? Laminitis occurs when the tissues that connect the coffin bone to the hoof wall, called the laminae, become inflamed and the blood supply is compromised. The sensitive and insensitive laminae separate, damaging the structural integrity of the hoof. There are multiple causative factors that result in laminitis. They range from mechanical stress to digestive dysfunction. Laminitis varies in severity depending on the amount of damage... Read More »
Category : Health & Management | Nutritional Minutes | Tips and Topics
Fifty to 75 percent of the horses that contract tetanus will die, no matter what treatment is administered. Luckily, due to the availability of effective vaccines, horse owners can easily protect themselves and their companions from this deadly disease. Tetanus, commonly called lockjaw, attacks a horse’s central nervous system. It is not a contagious disease, so it is not passed from animal to animal. Instead, the disease is caused by a bacterium... Read More »
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People, cats and dogs often suffer from hearing loss due to injury, illness or old age, but what about horses? While complete deafness is easy to diagnose, partial hearing loss in horses is harder to pinpoint. Typically, hearing loss occurs in the higher frequencies first and progresses to the lower ones. Horses are notoriously bad at homing in on where sounds come from by using their ears. Normally they turn in the general direction of a sound and use... Read More »
Category : Health & Management | Other Topics of Interest | Tips and Topics
Iodine controls the production of thyroid hormones, which are necessary for optimal health. Iodine deficiency can cause a dry, lusterless coat and patchy or diffuse hair loss. The NRC (National Research Council) estimates that the iodine requirement of horses is 0.1-0.6 mg/kg of the total diet. Grass and hay contain very small amounts of iodine. Some plain grains contain more iodine, but most horses get iodine from trace mineralized salt or a coat and... Read More »
Category : Health & Management | Tips and Topics | Valuable Nutrients
PPID, once known as Cushing’s disease, is now commonly referred to as pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction. In PPID, a portion of your horse’s pituitary gland becomes enlarged and produces higher than normal amounts of hormones. The excess hormones cause imbalances in your horse’s body. Researchers feel most older horses (16+ years) are at risk of developing PPID. If caught early, treatment can help reduce the damage done by the disease before it... Read More »
Category : Health & Management | Tips and Topics
Click here, for 10 ways to protect your horse from infectious diseases Article re-posted with kind permission by Equine Guelph: http://equineguelph.ca/index.php About Kentucky Performance Products, LLC: Since 1998, Kentucky Performance Products has simplified a horse owner’s search for research-proven nutritional horse supplements that meet the challenges facing modern horses. KPP horse supplements target specific nutritional needs and are... Read More »
Category : Health & Management | Other Topics of Interest | Tips and Topics
It is easy for horses to drop weight in the cold winter months and you may not notice it until they shed their blankets and winter coats in the spring. Be proactive by doing a weekly body condition assessment. Catch weight-loss issues before they become a problem. If you need to increase the number of calories your horse is consuming, offer more hay or introduce a high-fat energy supplement into your feeding program. Check out the body condition... Read More »
Category : Fat & Fiber | Health & Management | Tips and Topics
In the wet winter months when snow and rain turn dirt to mud, make it a daily habit to remove manure and uneaten hay from feeding areas in pastures and dry lots. If left on the ground, these materials mix with the wet soil and cause boggy areas to develop. Decaying organic matter also increases the amount of bacteria and fungus in the soil, which can lead to thrush and other hoof problems. Article written by KPP staff. Copyright (C) 2013... Read More »
Category : Health & Management | Other Topics of Interest | Tips and Topics
When the temperatures drop below freezing, opt out of strenuous work and choose other activities for your four-legged partner. Research showed horses that galloped in temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit presented with lung inflammation. Horses exposed to the same temperatures and not exercised presented with no evidence of inflammation. Horses suffering from heaves are at greater risk of lung inflammation in cold weather. Article... Read More »
Category : Health & Management | Other Topics of Interest | Tips and Topics
Wet feet are a common problem Poor hoof quality can be the result of multiple factors, including poor nutrition, lack of proper trimming and shoeing, excess moisture, and genetics. One of the more common causes of hoof problems is too much moisture in the hoof. Horses that live in wet, humid environments, those that are bathed repeatedly, and horses that are kept on damp bedding or stand in the mud for long periods of time are at the greatest risk. Too... Read More »
Category : Health & Management | Tips and Topics
May 2009 Horse Health Article American Association of Equine Practitioners The number one killer of horses is colic. Colic is not a disease, but rather a combination of signs that alert us to abdominal pain in the horse. Colic can range from mild to severe, but it should never be ignored. Many of the conditions that cause colic can become life threatening in a relatively short period of time. Only by quickly and accurately recognizing colic –... Read More »
Category : Digestive Health | Health & Management | Tips and Topics
Gas colic is one of the more common types of colic and one of the least serious. It is caused when excess gas collects at some point in the horse’s intestinal tract, causing it to become distended. The distended gut stimulates pain receptors within the intestine, which then signals the horse’s brain that trouble is brewing. During a bout of gas colic, the abdominal pain may come and go, causing the horse to exhibit severe discomfort for... Read More »
Category : Digestive Health | Health & Management | Tips and Topics
Anyone who has had a horse choke can tell you, it is not a pleasant experience. Horses “choke” when a mass of partially chewed feed becomes lodged in their esophagus. In an effort to dislodge the offending mass, the horse coughs repeatedly and sometimes violently. He stretches out his neck and struggles to swallow. Green watery snot and food particles spew out of his nostrils because it has nowhere else to go. Some choking horses become so stressed... Read More »
Category : Health & Management | Tips and Topics
Here are five tips to make sure your feed room and hayloft are ready for winter. 1. Clean out your feed room. A clean feed room will help to reduce feed losses due to insect and rodent damage. It will also give you more room to store and properly manage your feed, hay, and supplements. Toss any feed or supplements that are out of date, moldy or that rodents or insects have damaged. Clean up any spilled feed that may attract hungry... Read More »
Category : Digestive Health | Essential Vitamins | Fat & Fiber | Health & Management | Tips and Topics | Valuable Nutrients
