horse care

Tonka feels good.   This is a lovely, forward, rhythmic trot. Note that the photo shows Tonka’s moment of suspension. All four are off the floor. I’m really happy to see that. Outside it’s been snowy and bitter cold. Tonka gets turned out in a paddock, but doesn’t move much […]

A Respite From the Indoor Arena

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It’s the end of January. Here in New England we have a couple of months of bitter cold weather yet to come, but the horses are shedding. That’s because the trigger that tells their bodies to start to lose their worn-out old hair and grow new is not temperature. It’s […]

Horses Shed Butt First

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Can you go into a tack store and come out empty-handed? What is it you can’t resist buying? For some people it’s saddle pads. For me, it’s brushes. Grooming is not only a means to an end – love that shine on a horse – but it’s a process that […]

Horse Grooming Brushes

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Tonka has been going really well. After way too long (a couple of years!) with cascading soundness issues, we’re finally out from the other side of the neck/back/sacroiliac saga. Tonka enters the indoor arena (it’s winter, it’s Maine, we’re in a ring, but at least we’re in the saddle!) with […]

Tonka Gets Hock Injections

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There’s anecdotal evidence that horses colic more in winter than in other seasons. I don’t know about winter in areas where it remains balmy, but I know this is a concern here in New England. Perhaps horses colic more because of reduced water consumption – water sources are frozen over […]

Keeping Things (Poop) Moving In Winter

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Not only has the temperature dived into the teens, but the wind has been fierce, so the wind chill outside has been in the single digits Fahrenheit. The horses don’t have shelters in their large paddocks, and the ground getting to them is treacherous, so for the last couple of […]

Not Too Cold Yet

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We’ve been having an interesting stretch of weather. Last week more than a foot of snow fell. There were a couple of days when the horses were kept indoors. Then it rained. This is snow fog in heavy rain. The slush is as slippery as ice. You can’t plow a clear […]

Vile Weather

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It started snowing on Sunday night and didn’t stop until late Tuesday afternoon. On Monday I drove to the barn. I’ve got a pickup truck with 4-wheel drive, but still had to be extra-cautious. Snow was coming down and the roads were slippery. But, when I know that the horses […]

Snow Days Activities

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A horse’s teeth continue to erupt from the gum line and elongate during most of their lives. This is a smart adaptation for an animal that consumes coarse forage. If their teeth remained static like ours, they’d soon be worn down to useless nubs. The surface of your horse’s teeth […]

The Horse Dentist Visits

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