Articles about all things equine.
By Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue – Horse flies and flies have got to be one of the most annoying problems a horse owner can tackle. Though we all look forward to the warm season, flies can really get to be a serious and obnoxious issue. So what can we do about them?
By Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue – A dummy foal is a foal that did not get the stupor inducing chemical squeezed out of it during the birthing process. All foals are in essence, “drugged” as they enter the birth canal. This keeps them from struggling and doing real damage to their mother on their way out. At some point, (probably when the chest/stomach are sliding out) they get squeezed in a certain way that reverses this chemical.
The legal definition of horse soring under the Horse Protection Act (HPA), passed by Congress in 1970, is a sad list. Sad, because these practices were, and are still widely used to create the “high lick” on gaited horses. Although these practices are illegal, they persist.
Information about horse slaughter including links to laws, slaughter statistics, news, and resources to you get involved to end the export of US horses for slaughter in Mexico, Canada, and Europe.
Kaidu had high hopes that his warrior daughter would find a husband worthy of her, but Khutulun seemed bent on being somewhat of a career woman and showed little interest in settling down. To appease her father, and, perhaps to have some fun, the warrior princess confidently devised a clever plan — a contest: any man who wished to marry her could only win her hand by first defeating her in a wrestling match. If the suitor lost, he would forfeit his horse to her.
New evidence shows that up to 90% of laminitis cases are caused by Cushings or equine metabolic syndrome. Equine veterinary specialist, David Rendle, discusses the importance of early diagnosis, and why trusting your instincts and making a call to the vet to have your horse checked out as quickly as possible can help improve the prognosis for a horse with laminitis.
The situations in which Donna Vowles claims in her video that nurse mares are needed fall on my deaf ears. Yes, some broodmares reject their babies, or become too dangerous to handle, die during birth, or cannot produce enough milk. So a nurse mare is brought in to save the baby in crisis. Sounds noble on the surface until you remember that the nurse mare’s foal is put at even higher risk than the broodmare baby in crisis. A nurse mare foal is either killed using inhumane methods, left to die, sold to slaughter, or, if lucky, is picked up by a rescue organization who then must bear the financial costs of artificially nursing a foal via human intervention.
A nurse mare is a mare who was deliberately bred solely for the purpose of producing milk to nurse another horse and not her own foal. The problem is, these mares are impregnated only for their milk (the assets) and the foals (the liabilities) that are born are unwanted.
These unwanted foals may be taken and immediately killed at birth, or left to slowly starve within days. Even though it is illegal in the U.S. to take a foal under the age of six months to slaughter, they are still slaughtered illegally because the “byproducts” of foals is in high demand in some places. This includes their tendons for medical purposes, skins for leather (that “fine Corinthian leather in your car may actually be foal skin), and even for their flesh.
Information and resources about wild horses and burros, the BLM, including statistics, latest news, laws, and more.
Equine pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) can be detected earlier and more reliably with a new set of guidelines developed by the Equine Endocrinology Group (EEG), a body of leading veterinarians and researchers in the field of equine endocrinology.
Bitted horses often open their mouths. Using models, this video demonstrates what a bit does and why the horse opens his mouth (to avoid contact pain.) When horses feel the constant threat of a bit on their palets while being ridden, they may adopt avoidance habits such as attempting to place the tongue over the bit, grabbing the bit, becoming fidgety, opening their mouths wider, or placing their chins on their chests.
Using the wrong bit, or any bit improperly, causes pain and can lacerate soft mouth tissues as well as lead to deep cuts in the tongue. While riders refer to bits as applying “pressure” as it if were painless, bits are anything but created to be painless. They are created for the purpose of controlling large animals that give us sufficient power to convince them to listen. The improper use of bits can break a horse’s nose or even jaw. That’s a clear indication that bits can cause more than “painless pressure.”
This is a great video showing the difference between a snaffle bit and a Tom Thumb bit. Although the video was clearly created as an anti-Tom Thumb bit piece he does rather convincingly show how different types of bits work and why a Tom bit is cruel and unnecessary. The video is presented in layman’s terms so if you know absolutely nothing about bits or how they work, you can easily follow this video.
“The majority of the horses that we use are actually rescues. We bring them in. They’re undesirable horses that maybe didn’t work out as a saddle horse, have bad habits, or are abandoned, undesirable horses. We bring them in and we train them,” said Tobias de la Torre, the CEO of Charros Federation USA.
Wait. What? Did he just say, “rescues?” Oh, no he did-unt.
Being a professional marketer that has helped scores of business owners, I have a new business idea for poor Ricky. He needs to improve his public image; rebrand what he does as family fun! Perhaps, he could open “Ricky Santo’s World” — maybe his tag line could be, “forget the miracle of birth, come and witness the miracle of death!” So, hey, Ricky, why don’t you open your facility to the public for tours to raise a few bucks? You know, bring little school kids on field trips, invite all those whacky animal activists, and people who have to live near your facility so they can see up close that what they imagine goes on in slaughterhouse (what they can hear, see, and smell) really is not so horrific after all.
Are you looking for a great way to keep in shape and bring that stress level down? Have you ever considered riding horses? Or, at the least working around them? Research shows that you don’t have to be an everyday rider to benefit from the substantial mental and physical health benefits horses can offer.
It is not surprising that just about everyone who spends time with one, especially little girls, falls in love with horses. They are big, gentle animals who generally want to please, and love being smothered with attention. There is a reason horses are used in therapeutic riding programs for the disabled, children with autism or Down’s syndrome, and victims of violence, in addition to being a great way to exercise the body, they also exercise and heal the heart and soul.
The term “horse broker” does not generate quite the hostile reaction as the term “kill buyer,” nor should it. However, some horse brokers (dealers) may also operate as kill buyers. A broker is someone who buys and sells horses for a living. A kill buyer also buys and sells horses for a living. The main difference between the two is to whom and what purposes purchased horses are resold.
Many riders right off the bat will change bits to “fix” a problem, but how do you know if that is the best option really? Is the problem your riding, or really the horse? How do you know if the horse needs more, or even less bit? Before you go swapping out that snaffle your horse really goes just fine in, you should reevaluate a few things before you accidentally create bigger problems.