06/26/2025
š§ Maintenance š§
Getting the oil changed in your car regularly is critical because the oil will degrade over time. It will lose its ability to do its job effectively causing the engine to work improperly there for creating damage, and reducing fuel efficiency.
So how do cars and oil have anything to do with horses?
Horses arenāt machines, they are a lot more complex, they are living and breathing, which makes maintaining them a heck of a lot harder. You donāt have to ride your horse every day for them to require maintenance, in fact out of all the horses I work on, the ones that donāt have a job and live out in the pasture, need the most work. Now, there is an abundance of maintenance options out there, you do not need all of them but you cannot use none of them.
Cars are parked, still, turned off until you need them. They have no need to use the oil to lubricate the engine, and promote smooth running in this state. When we turn our horses out, on retirement, a break from competition, stall rest even young horses growing in the pasture, they arenāt turned off, still or parked. They are out walking miles and miles a day (hopefully) looking for the best spots to graze, standing, running, bucking, and even napping all use an amount of energy in the body, burning their oil.
Horses donāt have āoilā but similarly they have bodies encapsulating bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, organs, fascia, blood, lymph, cerebral spinal fluid, synovial fluid and so much more! All of these things are subject to change with age, use of energy and injury which all happen whether your horse is a high calibre performance horse, trail horse, or a beloved pasture pet.
So this is your sign to look after your old timers, retirees, your kid ponies, lesson horses, performance horses, young ones, broodmares, studs and pleasure horses because they canāt change their own oil and after carrying you around for how long, trying their hearts out, winning, loosing, providing you love, a career, comfort and companionship, they DESERVE to feel as good as their bodies will allow and live a life they are comfortable and content in.