Hannah Cowdry Equestrian

05/11/2023

If you see a horse and rider or horse and carriage using the road, please:
🐴Slow down to 10mph
🐴Be prepared to stop
🐴Keep well back
🐴Never rev your engine
🐴Never use your horn
🐴Pass slow and wide, but only when it’s safe to do so

Find out more here:
http://roadsafetywales.org.uk/horses

14/10/2023

What a brilliant idea! Anything that makes riders more visible will improve safety on the road.

08/10/2023

Anyone need to stock up on bedding for winter? Quick, easy and good value! Plus fab customer service and reusable bags. I’ve used PelletBeds for several years now 😀

End of Summer - Weekend Sale £15 OFF on full and 3/4 pallets of straw pellets - 1000kg from £344.95 *delivered Inc vat (most of GB) & Get up to £6.50 credit on our reusable bags!!!

04/09/2023

Water buffet: there’s definitely a favourite.

Salt is the winner in Bobby’s eyes. Princess Jess is not so impressed, she took a mouthful then spat it out!

31/08/2023

Water buffet. What’s going to be most popular this time? Does anyone else provide a selection of different waters? If so, what’s on offer?

17/06/2023

Salt water (pink bucket) has been much more popular than plain water (blue buckets) since I started offering it a few days ago.

My horses also have free access to loose salt and Himalayan salt lick. Who else offers or feeds salt?

15/06/2023

Good advice from Dr David Marlin ☀️

25/04/2023

SYCAMORE
Anyone else walking round their fields searching for Sycamore seedlings? About to put the horses in a new field but find all these. I don’t even think we have any sycamore trees nearby.

Are we just more aware due to social media?
Is toxicity increasing due to changes in weather patterns?
In the “old days” did horses just die of unknown causes?

21/04/2023

Friday focus….feeding forage to current body weight!

For those of you monitoring your horses bodyweight or trying to get them to lose weight, please, please feed them to their current bodyweight, not their ‘ideal’ bodyweight. Feeding to their ‘ideal’ weight can significantly under feed forage, which can have a huge effect on both digestive and behavioural health.

I absolutely despair with the forage side of the equines rations sometimes and I get so disheartened hearing time and time again about other equine health professionals and ‘experienced’ horse people recommending forage amounts that are far too low. We know that feeding below 1.5% (dry matter) of bodyweight negatively affects digestive and behavioural health, so why do it and risk compromising either?!

Weight loss should be carried out gradually and forage rations should be adjusted as they are losing weight, to ensure they continue losing weight. Regular weight checks are required for this, ideally on a weighbridge for accuracy.

If we take the weighbridge weight of 714kgs in the picture below as an example. Say someone says that this horse needs to lose 100kgs; if this horse is fed to what is presumed as their ‘ideal’ bodyweight of 614kgs they would be getting 9.2kgs (dry matter) of forage in a 24-hour period. At their current bodyweight, fed at 1.5%, this horse needs 10.7kgs (dry matter) of forage in a 24-hour period, quite a difference!

The dry matter of the forage is also very important and something that is frequently missed from calculations!

If this horse is fed a hay only diet 24/7, and the dry matter of the hay is 88% (it is usually around 85-89%), then fed at current bodyweight the 10.7kgs becomes 12.2kgs and at ‘ideal’ bodyweight, the 9.2kgs becomes 10.5kgs. Again, huge differences!

So if our 714kgs horse is fed at the ‘ideal’ bodyweight of 614kgs and the dry matter of the hay is not taken into account, then they will be getting 3kgs of hay less than they should be, which will make a huge difference to them.

If you are not sure what the correct rations for your horse or pony are, please get a nutritionist to help you. Your horse or pony can lose weight with the right help whilst minimising the risk of digestive or behavioural upset.

I urge you not to go with flippant figures ‘plucked’ out of the air from any equine health professionals for your horse or ponies sake. I would never compromise my own horses in this way, ever. Forage is a basic requirement and one that we should not be getting wrong, particularly when we know what the consequences of underfeeding it are!

15/04/2023

This is a simple technique and can make a huge difference for a foal. Anyone expecting a foal should know about this.

I’ve also heard of this technique being used with lambs.

A successful application of the 'Madigan foal squeeze' technique by our vet Gloria.

This little foal was born a week ago and. At first everything seemed fine but as time passed it became more obvious that something was not quite right. The 1-2-3 rule in horses giving birth is that the foal has to stand in within 1 hour, has to start nursing within 2 hours and the placenta should pass in 3 hours. If there is a delay it can have severe consequences and veterinary help is required.

The majority of foals born are fit, healthy and ready for the world, but sometimes things aren’t quite right. One condition that can affect a newborn foal is neonatal maladjustment syndrome, also known as being a 'dummy foal'. The owner of this c**t very promptly called us as 3 hours passed by and the foal was still unable to drink from the mare.

During examination although vital parameters were within normal limit the foal was just a little bit ‘slow’. Traditionally, oxygen deprivation to the brain is thought to be the reason for this syndrome, resulting in brain damage and inadequate blood supply to the nerve cells. The foal is typically unable to interact fully both with his dam and his environment. When going to feed, he may struggle to locate the udder or fully latch on – this can lead to failure of passive transfer, a process where the foal receives essential antibodies from the mare. If he does not ingest enough colostrum before his gastrointestinal tract stops being able to absorb these large proteins, he is at increased risk of sepsis and other life-threatening illnesses.

This foal was showing these symptoms therefore a Madigan foal squeeze was performed in an effort to recreate the natural transition to consciousness. A rope was secured around the foal by looping it around the chest several times. Tension was then applied to mimic the pressures implemented by the birth canal during the foal’s journey, from the uterus to the outside world, and at the same time the foal was helped to lie down. The rope was held for 20 minutes, the duration that the mare would have been in second-stage labour. During this time, the foal became somnolent and layed down asleep within the rope.

At the point the rope was released, the foal awakened, and he displayed normal consciousness – he went straight to the mare and started to drink. Though it took several attempts but he was drinking within an hour and is doing very well - a great outcome!

07/04/2023

Rural traffic jam 🐄

14/02/2023

🌼 Spring is on its way 🌼

24/01/2023

Hacking Mr Biscuit today to help improve his confidence solo hacking. We’re also working on increasing his fitness after a long time off. Fortunately there’s no shortage of hills where he lives 🤣

17/01/2023

Hacking an ex-racer today. Do you prefer hacking or schooling?

08/01/2023

Continuing the long lining theme, it is also essential pre training for this 👇 A brilliant way to exercise smaller ponies and great fun too!

06/01/2023

Long lining, a really useful skill.

❤️ checking steering works
🧡 teaching the horse to walk forwards independently
💛 fitness for horse and rider
💚 rehab exercise in straight lines
💙 no stopping when you change direction (as required when lunging)

Why else might someone use long lining?

04/01/2023

📣 Excited to announce that training, schooling and holiday livery is now available 📣

Please get in touch for more info