Equis Australia

31/07/2024

Morning spots available in Samford/ Dayboro Tuesday 6th .

12/02/2024

Let's Talk About Salt!

This article was written by Karly from Stable-Ised Equine and we would like to share it with our customers as it is a good source of information.

📖 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝘼𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙎𝙖𝙡𝙩
🐴 I love reading about misconceptions when it comes to feeding horses, but today I’d like to debunk some common myths about good old sodium chloride.

🧂 Myth #1: Salt only needs to be fed when the weather is hot.
🐴 Truth #1: Salt needs to be fed 365 days a year because it is vital for many bodily
processes and is excreted in sweat, saliva, mucous and urine. Even in the midst of winter, horses need salt.

🧂 Myth #2: Horses instinctively know to drink water regularly, especially when they are hot and sweaty.
🐴 Truth #2: A horse’s thirst reflex is triggered by sodium, which is a component of salt. Horses’ sodium requirements need to be met in order to seek water.

🧂 Myth #3: A horse can meet their sodium and chloride requirements with a salt block alone.
🐴 Truth #3: Unlike cattle, horses do not have an abrasive tongue and are not designed to lick harsh surfaces to extract nutrients. While it is technically possible for a horse to consume their daily salt requirement from a salt block, it is much less work and more physiologically-appropriate for them to consume loose salt that is either provided in a meal or left out free-choice.

🧂 Myth #4: Horses know what nutrients they need and can self-medicate with supplements such as vitamins and minerals.
🐴 Truth #4: Salt is the only nutrient horses have been studied and proven to actively seek out when it is required. They will not seek out other nutrients “because they know they need it.” Look at how much salt and molasses (palatable additives) are added to free-choice supplements.

🧂 Myth #5: Himalayan rock salt is better for horses than plain salt.
🐴 Truth #5: Himalayan rock salt contains naturally occurring components other than sodium and chloride. Some may view this as a positive; however, it is usually a more expensive means of supplementing salt, and often contains traces of iron which almost never needs to be supplemented given horses are generally oversupplied iron by their forage intake alone.

🐎 Your horse’s diet should be providing a minimum of 10g of salt per 100kg of body weight each day; typically more after exercise, intense weather, or illness. Ensuring your horse always has access to clean, cool, and fresh drinking water will ensure they remain well-hydrated and if by chance they intake more salt than necessary, the water they drink allows them to excrete excess very effectively.

27/01/2024

22/10/2023

Will be in the Samford are this Wednesday.🐎🐎🐎🐎

08/10/2023

Interesting. (Look at all the pasture he rides through 🥲)

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that I have recently released a brand new online education platform called eFarriery Education. If you follow the lin...

02/10/2023

13/09/2023

We all knew this didn't we. 🙂

Nouvel article : Les chevaux sensibles à notre tristesse ! (1/2)

Avec ma doctorante Plotine Jardat, nous continuons à investiguer la sensibilité des chevaux à nos propres émotions. Après avoir travaillé sur la joie, la colère et la peur, nous étudions la sensibilité des chevaux à nos états de tristesse😓.
Dans ce nouvel article paru dans la r***e « Animal Cognition », nous montrons que les chevaux sont capables d’associer mentalement les expressions faciales de tristesse avec des intonations de voix triste. Cela montre qu’ils ont une reconnaissance multimodale de cette émotion (on l’avait déjà montré pour la joie et la colère).
Pour cela, nous avons testé les chevaux dans un protocole de reconnaissance multimodale. Les chevaux étaient installés dans une salle équipée de vidéo-projecteurs. On projetait devant eux deux photos en même temps : l’un d’un visage triste et un autre d’un visage joyeux, pendant qu’on émettait des voix pré-enregistrées soit tristes soit joyeuses. On répétait plusieurs fois de suite ce test pour chaque cheval, avec des visages et des voix de personnes différentes.
Les chevaux étaient filmés par plusieurs caméras afin d’analyser leurs comportements. Conformément à notre hypothèse, les chevaux n’ont pas regardé au hasard l’un ou l’autre des visages, en fonction de la voix émise. Cela montre qu’ils sont capables d’associer un visage avec la voix qui correspond à la même émotion.
>> On peut conclure qu’ils savent quelle expression faciale, mais aussi quelle voix l’humain fait lorsqu’il est triste ou joyeux. Pas mal, non ? Les humains savent-ils toujours en faire autant avec leurs animaux ?
Dans le prochain post, je vous donnerai la suite des résultats, car ce n’est pas tout ;)

lien de l'article ici :
https://rdcu.be/dlsij

[1] Jardat, P., Liehrmann, O., Reigner, F., Parias, C., Calandreau, L. & Lansade, L. 2023 Horses discriminate between human facial and vocal expressions of sadness and joy. Anim Cogn 26, 1733-1742. (doi:10.1007/s10071-023-01817-7).

10/09/2023

06/09/2023

Round

What does it mean to make your horse round?

Contrary to what many believe, round, when it pertains to the horse, is not in the neck but rather in the back. Sadly, the hyper fixation on having a particular head set is part of a larger problem which stems from the lack of understanding in what a properly moving horse looks like, as well as how horses use their body to help themselves balance and move when they lack the physical strength and training to be in self carriage. Any position, regardless of whether it is considered "healthy" and correct, if held consistently throughout the ride will create tension. Suppleness is brought by constant changes in posture throughout the training session, however these position can never be forced or held by the rider, only encouraged and guided.

Roundness itself refers to the back of the horse, who through correct training is able to carry himself with his hind as opposed to pulling himself along and "grabbing ground" with the forelegs. The measure of self carriage is by assessing the angle of the spine and the engagement of the abdominal muscles and hind end through high-level movements.

03/09/2023

COMPARISON SHOPPING

Saddle fit is something that is learned through comparison and experience.

Once you learn to see, you will not be able to unsee.

Wither clearance should be easily observed, both at the top of the spine and the sides of the withers. This should be apparent in all gaits. You can compare the wither clearance in these two riders.

Point billets are contraindicated for use in horses with uphill builds, pockets/dips behind the scapula, and/or high withers. A point billet is a billet that attaches to the tree point, and using the pressure of the girth, anchors the tree down behind the scapula. Due to the point billet’s far forward location, it also restricts the serratus muscle, the muscle that helps the horse breathe, as well as engage its thoracic sling. You can see the difference in where the first billet comes out of the saddle between these two riders. The rider on the left does not have point billets on their saddle, while the rider on the right does.

Girth buckle height is important for the horse’s comfort, as there is a highly sensitive nerve bundle that exits the forelimb between the pectoralis and serratus muscles. The girth buckles must be higher than this bundle (ideally, they should be as high as possible, as close as possible to the bottom of the flap, and well into the belly of the serratus muscle) to avoid irritation and nerve damage. You can compare the height of the girth buckles on the horse between these two riders.

21/08/2023

Harvey is just reminding you all we are here, and taking bookings for next week.

18/08/2023

Worth reading

Body issues in horses can be complex with multiple sources, but here's a pattern I see over and over.

Hoof and body problems have a circular effect, both worsening or improving. Inappropriate loading from above helps to flatten the heels, while underruning heels stresses tissue by misaligning all the joints above...

Our aim is, of course, to create a positive spiral of improvement by helping everywhere we can. One thing is sure though: those hooves need to be helped back into balance first and achieving that requires a lot of skills from the hoofcare practitioner.

Thanks for reading!

Jane

- Dr Jane Clothier
Bodywork & Acupuncture, Tamworth, NSW

15/08/2023

I will be in the Caboolture area Monday next week. PM if interested🐎

01/08/2023

Happy Birthday! 🥳

Happy birthday to all of the horses today ❤️

What do I wish for today?? Not more money… not donations! Not anything material..

I wish for homes!! Homes I can’t buy… homes I can’t create…. Unfortunately only you guys can help me with that ❤️

If you are thinking of a companion horse - please think of us ❤️

05/07/2023

Taking bookings for Wednesday the 19th in the Caboolture, wamuran and Burpengary areas.

05/07/2023

Hello again, will be in Samford Monday coming .

13/06/2023

Archie stretching his neck.... and drinking my coffee. 😄

17/05/2023

My Office View. 🙂

16/05/2023

Still having problems with Messanger. 🤨 Please text 0439888520.

09/05/2023

Anyone missing a horse in Ocean View?

06/05/2023

I went for a little walk around the local show park yesterday during the season opener hunter/jumper show. I try not to look down at horse feet unless someone asks for my opinion, but despite my best efforts, I couldn’t stop noticing that most of the horses there, from the low level hunters to the 1.20m jumper class I watched for a while are very obviously NPA and/or showed obvious signs of caudal failure. NPA means “negative palmar angle” on front feet or “negative plantar angle” on hinds. It means that the back of the coffin bone is lower than the front. It is supposed to be the other way around! A normal palmar/plantar angle is 2°-10° yet soooo many horses work on feet with palmar/plantar angles of less than zero. It is so common that by most people it is seen as normal. Caudal failure means structural collapse of the caudal (back) part of the foot.

Horses may not be obviously lame with this condition, however there are often subtle signs. Reluctance to go forward, forging (stepping on or hitting the backs of the front shoes with the hind feet), overreaching, not tracking up, refusing jumps, bucking after jumps (because landing hurts), lack of hindquarter engagement, decreased gait quality all around, behavioural issues under saddle, etc. These symptoms can be easily mistaken for other things or riders and trainers can tend to use punishment to try to change some behaviours that have their root in hoof pain. It is also very hard on the legs and most specifically the DDFT (deep digital flexor tendon) and navicular area of the foot because of the biomechanics of a foot with an improper angle cause increased friction where the DDFT runs under the navicular bone to attach to the back of the coffin bone. This is why low heeled horses are at increased risk of developing navicular syndrome.

We need to retrain our eyes to know what is normal. We also need to realize that asking horses to work hard when their feet are a mess is not fair and causes sometimes irreparable damage, both to their feet and to their opinions about working.

How do we fix it? First we need to acknowledge that NPA is a systemic issue in farriery and we need to change the way we trim and shoe. Owners need to recognize NPA and find a farrier who recognizes NPA and knows how to fix it. Farriers need to stop trimming off the back of the foot and add frog support to our shoeing packages. Frog support needs to be normalized. More than one client has remarked to me that if we put frog pads on the horse, potential buyers will think there is something wrong with the horse. This is because what is normalized currently in farriery are open heeled regular metal shoes, which are a huge part of what causes NPA. When we lift up the foot off the ground and provide no structural support to the frog, the center of the foot collapses. This is a very simple concept, yet we are still doing things the same way we have always done and expecting a different result. This is the definition of insanity and it is killing our horses slowly. If I help to change only one thing in my time as a farrier, I hope for it to be this.

For reference, normal/ideal angles are generally as follows:
Hairline: about 20°
Dorsal wall (toe): about 50-55°, steeper on some breeds
Heel: equal to toe angle or perhaps 5° less than dorsal wall

This horse’s toe is close to 50° however the heel is 23° lower than the toe and I could not even measure the heel at the back because the bulb is sitting on the shoe! I had to measure it where I could see the angle of the tubules on the wall. The hairline is far too low. This foot is not helping this horse at all and this horse is one of many. I might get some angry messages for this, but we need to acknowledge that most of our performance horses are NPA and/or have some degree of caudal failure and then then we need to do something about it.

——-

Addendum: This post has pi**ed off some people. Fair enough. It’s also been shared all over the world, which has been great and also quite the experience. Wayne over at Progressive Equine has been writing about caudal failure and NPA for a few years now, as have others. This topic is not new. For whatever reason, this post in particular has caught peoples’ attention.

What I ask of those who are angry about it, or indignant that I dared to challenge the status quo is this: if you think I’m wrong, ok. Go prove it. If I’m wrong, why are you angry? If I am wrong, then this post is irrelevant to you and irrelevant to your work and there is nothing to be angry about. I did not (and will not) name any particular farrier. Who did the job is not even relevant, because this problem is not about one person. I am not trash talking anyone. I am saying that there is a systemic issue in how farriers are taught to trim and shoe and that it is on us, as a group, to correct it by continuing to learn and grow. That is my perspective. If you think I’m wrong then disregard it. And yes, some horses manage in regular shoes and to the owners and farriers of those horses I am glad for you. For everyone else, maybe what I wrote here will help you. That is all I am trying to do.

26/04/2023

Will be in the Samford area Wednesday the 3rd. 🐎🐎 some spots available between 11 & 1

04/04/2023

I am still ! Processing this, Freddie Fox owned by Gillian Higgins founder of Gillian Higgins - Horses Inside Out

I last met Freddie at this years Horses Inside Out conference after he had traveled the rainbow bridge

When one interacts with a horse over several years it’s almost impossible not to feel some connection, Freddie had his issues and in our latter years the process of hoofcare became more challenging for both of us

Yet bless him, with his final evidence of various pathologies revealed, which I know caused him a degree of discomfort, he always tried for me

Fredy is a legend in his own right and it’s a courageous act on behalf of Gillian to carry on and allow her beloved horse to continue to help educate all of us who wish to learn

I haven’t the words really, when I stand by his skeleton there is a deep “something “ present that’s for sure ❤️

26/03/2023

Hi All,
If you have been trying to contact me via Messanger please text 0439888520 instead. Messanger is currently not opening.

14/02/2023

Happy Valentines Day to all the horse lovers out there 💝🦄🌹

14/02/2023

Meet Issy, she is starting under saddle and her owner wanted to make sure she is sound a ready. 🙂

23/01/2023

The sleepy Snowy after his session today.

25/12/2022

Merry Xmas to all my wonderful clients. 🎄