Westside Stable

01/27/2023

Have a senior horse in your herd? Here’s how to keep him in the best possible shape throughout his teen years and beyond.

01/26/2023

: Being able to assess your equine friend's weight and body condition is a valuable skill, especially during the winter months when horses (particularly older horses) need to generate more heat to stay warm and may hide their weight loss under a fluffy coat.

The Henneke Body Condition Scoring Chart is an important tool that provides a standard scoring system by rating the horse's physical condition on visual appraisal and palpation (feel) of six key conformation points: the amount of flesh or fat covering along the neck; the withers; down the crease of the back; at the tailhead; ribs: and behind the shoulder at the girth.

A body condition score of somewhere between 4 and 6 is ideal for most horses. However, keep in mind that in some disciplines (like racing, polo and eventing) and some life stages (like pregnancy) a higher or lower body score might be more appropriate.

If you think your horse is too fat or too thin (or even if you can't quite decide), be sure to have a chat with your veterinarian to discuss the appropriate condition and feeding program for your equine friend!

01/23/2023

Get your questions answered about mud management, controlling water runoff, and treating mud-related horse health issues!

01/19/2023

Anthony Leier explains why the fundamentals of longeing are an important part of your young horse's training.

01/15/2023

01/15/2023

What is a crooked horse? Our sources describe several kinds of crooked horses and how you can help.

01/15/2023

01/13/2023

Tuesday Tip - Riding Serpentines

Riding exercises that involve a change in bend are beneficial to you and your horse.

A smooth change of bend can only be achieved if your horse is straight for one or two steps.

Changing the bend requires balance, flexibility and accuracy. It also releases any build-up of tension within the muscles on the inside of the bend.

Serpentines are good for developing
🐎 Fluency
🐎 Rhythm
🐎 Outline
🐎 Accuracy
🐎 A smooth, even bend

They can also contribute to symmetrical muscle development and straightness

01/05/2023

Osteoarthritis in horses’ hocks can lead to joint fusion. For some affected horses, this might be a good thing. Find out why.

01/05/2023

Discover why you must treat hoof punctures with urgency, steps you can take prior to the veterinarian’s arrival, and what he or she can do for the horse.

01/03/2023

12/31/2022

Any nasal drainage can be an important indicator of a horse's health and can even herald an emergency. Here are 6 scenarios and possible causes.

12/26/2022

𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁

The 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗲 is a very large muscle that extends from its tip, which you can see, to the hyoid apparatus and its attacement to the ramus of the mandible at the back.

It is the most sensitive part of your horse's mouth and the most prone to injury.

The tongue is vital for swallowing and influencing the hyoid apparatus

Like any other muscle, restriction or tension within it can induce a muscular chain reaction.

The sensitivity of the tongue is a very important consideration when fitting a bit. An ill-fitting or harsh bit or excessive pressure on the bit from your hands can cause pain and discomfort. In some cases it can result in tension throughout the body and poor performance.

Gillian Higgins

12/26/2022

Why do some geldings act like stallions? Such behavior can cause trouble in the barn or out in pasture. Learn what to watch for and tips for safely managing a “studdy” gelding.

12/19/2022

What is botulism? Botulism is a disease caused by ingestion of botulinum toxin, one of the most potent toxins known. It can affect all mammals, however horses are one of the most susceptible species. Botulism can affect both adult horses and foals (called “shaker foal syndrome”). What are the cl...

12/19/2022

Vet Leona Brammall MRCVS, of Oakhill Veterinary Centre, shares the most common ailments and how to prevent and treat them.

12/15/2022

CHEW ON THIS! Another valuable reminder about the importance of having a veterinarian check your horse’s teeth at least once a year, courtesy of AAEP horse doctor .christinestaten:

“Did you know that horses don’t really need their incisors to eat? Yep, even pasture. But if their incisors are a mess, it affects their ability to appropriately grind their food with their molars and pre-molars.

Dental work in horses is not just about floating teeth to get off points. It’s about balancing the mouth so that they can get the most nutrition out of their food without pain.

Shearing hay in the mouth is necessary to get the nutrition out. The guy in the picture was skinny because he could not move his jaw laterally enough to shear his food, but his health and body condition score improved significantly once the incisors were balanced.”

12/15/2022

Top of The Rockies alfalfa cubes are being investigated as the potential source of botulism infection in at least 15 horses.

12/12/2022

Horseback riding takes practice, and no one said it’s easy. But these four deceptively simple strategies will speed your progress and enable you to become the best rider you can be.

12/07/2022

Fascinating Facts About Horse Digestion

Many people anthropomorphize horses. We think they should be clean. We think they should wear nice, warm blankets when it’s cold, and we think they should eat two or three meals a day.

Horses are horses–not humans. They should be treated like horses. They like to get dirty. They can regulate their own body temperature in most cases. They have a unique digestive system that is very different from the human digestive tract.

Understanding horse digestion should be a top priority. It sometimes seems that the horse’s digestive system is quite delicate, but many of the common digestive problems are due to the unnatural way horses are fed. When a horse is out in the wild with thousands of acres of free-roam grazing, and the only external demand is to maintain itself and occasionally run from predators, this configuration serves it quite well, most of the time.

A minimum of 10 acres is required per horse to make enough forage for consumption, allow adequate movement, and to minimize parasitism. This is difficult to achieve in the modern world for most people. Riding or lunging must suffice for exercise, and the horse is much more reliant upon hay. Dewormers, of course, rid them of parasites- at least most of them, there are exceptions.

Here are some fascinating (and good-to-know) facts about horse digestion:

1. The horse is a non-ruminant herbivore. The digestive system share features with dogs and cats (and humans) which are monogastric, as well as the ruminant in which there are 3-4 gastric compartments. (Camelids have three).

2. As forage (the horse’s natural food) is chewed by the horse, the salivary glands produce up to 10 gallons of saliva (per day). Saliva is crucial for neutralizing stomach acids and reducing the risk of gastric ulcers. Horses do not make as much saliva when eating grain-type feeds.

3. The esophagus, which empties into the stomach, only works in one direction for the horse. Food cannot be regurgitated or vomited.

4. Gastric capacity is 8-10 liters, which is quite small compared to other parts of the digestive system.

5. Water only remains in the horse’s stomach for about 15 minutes before moving on to the small intestine. Food retention varies depending upon the type- grass, hay, or grain.

6. When the stomach is empty, acid can attack the squamous cells in the stomach lining, often resulting in ulcers. Therefore, small frequent meals, access to a slow feeder, or access to pasture are important.

7. Most of the digestion and absorption of sugars, starches, proteins, and fats occurs in the small intestine.

8. Horses do not have a gall bladder. Instead, the small intestine aids in the digestion of fats.

9. More than 1g/kg of sugars and starches spill into the colon, potentially causing colitis and diarrhea. Horses should be fed primarily forage and only small amounts of a low carbohydrate concentrate.

10. The cecum is homologous to the human appendix.

11. The colon is shaped like a stacked horse shoe, with varying dimensions to allow proper food mixing and digestion.

12. Food enters and exits the cecum at the top. This is a common site for impaction colic, which is often due to lack of water intake.

13. The cecum and other parts of the large intestine contain active populations of bacteria and yeast, which help break food down in a process called fermentation. This results in the formation of free fatty acids, from which the horse derives most of its energy. It also results in a large amount of gas, as a by-product.

14. The bacterial and microbe populations become specific in fermenting the type of food the horse normally eats. When a new food is introduced suddenly, the bacteria/ microbes cannot ferment it effectively and the result is often colic. (Therefore, all feed changes should be made very gradually.)

15. Borborygmic sounds or ‘Gut sounds’ indicated that food is moving through the digestive tract. An absence of gut sounds likely means there is some digestive upset or obstruction.

16. A horse requires a minimum of 1.5% of his body weight daily of long-stemmed roughage (grass/ hay) for normal digestive tract activity; this is 15 pounds of roughage for a 1000 lb. horse.

17. The entire digestion process, from oral to aboral, takes about 36-72 hours.

18. If it were to be stretched from end to end, the horse’s digestive tract would be about 115 feet long, from mouth to a**s.

Fox Run Equine Center

www.foxrunequine.com

12/05/2022

12/05/2022

During the switch to a 100 percent hay diet in the fall of the year is when many horse owners first notice that some of their horses are getting loose manure. The situation can quickly evolve into a management mess where one or more horses are so loose they can spray f***l material on the walls of t...

12/05/2022

Learn what proud flesh is and how to prevent it.

12/02/2022

Learn how even a small soft tissue injury can cause big problems, and what you can do to help your horse stay sound.

12/02/2022

Standing surgery allows for treatment options that might not have been possible previously due to risks associated with general anesthesia.