Mystic Equine

09/28/2025

This was a wonderful class! I can’t wait for more events like this in our area!

09/16/2025

09/03/2025

The first foot pictured use to look like the second foot. A neglect case where hoof care was non existent and turn out was unheard of. Now with regular hoof care and and 24/7 turn out this girl is healing up! REMEMBER the horse has the innate ability to heal itself, we are responisible for providing and environment conducive to healing.

09/02/2025

‼️Fall Laminitis Season is Here‼️
The grass is changing with the seasons and this can be bad for our sugar sensitive horses!
Here are some considerations before turning your horse out to pasture!

⏰ Time of Day
• Highest sugar: Late afternoon to early evening (around 3–6 PM)
• That’s when photosynthesis has been working all day, and sugars (non-structural carbohydrates or NSCs) have accumulated.
• Lowest sugar: Early morning, especially just before sunrise
• Overnight, the plant uses sugars for growth and respiration, so NSC levels drop.

👉 Best time for sensitive horses to graze: Very early morning (before 10 AM)

🌡️ Weather
• Cool nights (below 40–45°F / 4–7°C) slow down sugar use by the plant, so:
• Grass sugar levels remain high overnight.
• This means even early morning grazing can be risky after a cold night.
• Sunny days + cool nights = worst combination for sugar-sensitive horses

🍂 Seasons
• Spring and fall: Risky times due to:
Fast growth and high sugar production
Cool nights
• Summer (hot nights): Generally safer, as grasses use more sugars overnight
• Winter: Dormant grasses can still be high in sugars, especially if stressed

😓Stressed Grasses

• Drought stress can increase sugar concentration, though it slows growth

• May look “dead” but still packs a laminitis risk for metabolically sensitive horses

A quick test to check for dormant vs dead grass is to gently pull on the grass. If the roots hold, it’s likely dormant. If it pulls out easily, it’s dead.

08/13/2025

08/10/2025

When most horse owners are asked if they know the signs of colic they can name them right off the top of their head. But what about laminitis?
If you suspect your horse might be suffering from laminitis here are some steps you can take.
✅check your horses digital pulse
0- no concern (no pulse)
1- monitor daily, no change in daily routine
(Barley detect a pulse)
2-no exercise, call the vet (steady pulse)
3-treat as an emergency, see a vet immediately (bounding pulse)
-2 and 3 are acute laminitis and should be treated as an emergency
-Pulse should be taken when the horse is at rest
✅assess your horse lameness grade
Grade 1- shifts weight from one goot to another. No lamness at the walk
Grade 2- stiff and resists turning at the walk. Presents a head bob at the trot
Grade 3- lame at the walk, stiff gated and resists lifting feet
Grade 4- unwilling to move without force
✅start an emergency diet
In the initial phase of treating laminitis in horses, the emergency diet focuses on severely restricting non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) like sugars and starch. This is achieved by feeding low-NSC hay, often soaked to further reduce sugar content, and potentially adding a low-calorie ration balancer
✅cold hose
Ice bath or cold hose water will help reduce infamation in the hoof

The digital pulse and lamness grade will be very helpful information to give your vet during their assessment. And the cold hosing will complement any medications your vet prescribes for pain management.

Catching any of these homeostasis changes in your horse will be proactive in keeping your horse’s hooves from looking like the ones below!

07/10/2025

Perfect Hoof Wear all around! Looking forward to seeing health return to this sweet girls tootsies!

07/03/2025

Severe neglect cases now under the care of Volunteer Equine Advocates. I’m so glad I could help these angels start their recovery journeys on the right foot! If you can please donate to help with general care costs. These babys need alot of good groceries.
https://www.veatn.org/

06/19/2025

Some before and afters from this morning.

04/25/2025

One of my favorite tools, my calf caddy, has been in need of repair. I finally got around to fixing the bottom flap so it will hold my rasp again! Can’t wait to put it back to work!

04/04/2025

A recent study in Applied Animal Behaviour Science (Lesimple et al., 2025) investigated object permanence in horses, a key cognitive ability related to understanding that objects continue to exist even when out of sight.

The experiment, involving 63 horses, revealed that horses can locate a hidden treat even when the hiding process is not visible to them.

This suggests they reach at least Piaget's stage 4 of object permanence (where infants begin to understand that objects continue to exist even when hidden, and they will actively search for them.)

The researchers used a simple task where horses had to find a carrot hidden under a bucket and control groups were used to ensure that the horses weren't simply relying on their sense of smell to find the treat.

The experimental group achieved a success rate of 93.1%, while a control group that also familiarised with the task, but with no treat, had a 100% success rate in uncovering the location where the treat would theoretically be.

Another control group that did not go through familiarisation had a success rate of 60%, suggesting the bucket itself did not intrinsically drive exploration.

This study adds to the limited body of research on equine cognition, an area that has significant gaps, especially when compared to research on other species like primates or even domestic animals like dogs.

Brubaker and Udell (2016) pointed out that rat cognition studies outnumber those of horses by a factor of seven.

Study: To see or not to see: Horses’ ability to find the hidden treat: Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Volume 285, 2025.

03/13/2025

Such a cool job I get to do every week!