A surprising variety of physical conditions, ranging from lameness to tumors to stomach ulcers, can cause a horse to object to having his girth or cinch tightened, according to a retrospective study from the University of California, Davis.
Sometimes what seems like resistance is actually a horse’s attempt to work with you. Watch for these 6 easy-to-misinterpret signs that your horse is thinking like a partner.
The Horse Welfare Alliance has launched an online training program encompassing a video series that covers the 10 sections in the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Equines, which range from pre-purchase considerations to end of career and euthanasia. The free program allows people to choose among the topics of interest at…
A University of Wyoming rangeland ecology master’s student is examining the gut microbiome in free-roaming horses and how it adapts to different environments and diets and if certain microbiome communities create a better body condition score.
For years, equitation scientists have worked to collect evidence-based data about horse behavior, management, and training. With the launch of a tool called E-BARQ, they might finally be able to achieve that goal. The online questionnaire allows owners, trainers, and industry professionals to evaluate and monitor horse behavior, training, and management over time.
Nicole Mandracchia spent the past 17 years bouncing from horse show to horse show, up and down the East Coast. She learned a lot of life lessons while on the road working at horse shows.
Teikyo University of Science researchers Masaki Shimada and Nae Suzuki set out to learn more about the contribution of mutual grooming to relationships within a feral horse herd.
Researchers tested the forelimbs of the eight horses. Hooves were given one of three treatments — barefoot, fitted with a conventional shoe, or fitted with a split-toe shoe. The conventional shoe was a standard steel shoe with a toe clip. The split-toe shoe is a new shoe designed to enable heel expansion. The shoe has…
Horse owners often wonder if their horses are expressing emotions or equine emotional intelligence. While they may not have the same capacity for complex human emotions like shame, embarrassment, pride and guilt, there is evidence that horses feel pain, loneliness, grief, happiness or contentment, and other simple emotions.
Alexis went to her horse’s barn and noticed that there was a lot of algae in the water. She wondered if it was safe for her horse to drink so she set out to find the answer—using science.