12 Life Lessons Learned From Horse Shows
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.
Mutual Horse Grooming Put Under the Spotlight
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.
Unique Horseshoes Mimic Barefoot Benefits
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…
Equine Emotional Intelligence
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.
School Science Project Looks at Safety of Algae in Horse’s Drinking Water
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.
Bachelor of Science Degree in Natural Horsemanship
For almost a decade, the Montana Center for Horsemanship has partnered with the University of Montana Western in Dillon, Mont., to offer the nation’s first and only accredited four-year Bachelor of Science degree in natural horsemanship. Students can pursue two- or four-year degrees in natural horsemanship and customize their educational experience by choosing from four…
Building a Round Pen
Are you interested in adding a round pen to your facility? Horse people from different disciplines share advice for sizing, locating, and selecting footing for a round pen.
Horses and Higher Ed
You don’t have to put your equine enthusiasm on the back burner while you pursue an equestrian college degree. Horse Illustrated explains some of the common equine majors related to equestrian college degrees.
Ten Things We Do That Can Puzzle and Scare Horses
Some of our interactions with horses correspond to interactions between horses themselves. Giving our horse a scratch on an itchy spot or allowing them to rub their head against us, while frowned on by some trainers, mimics how horses behave together. But there are many other interactions which, from the horse’s perspective, are unusual or…
Is Your Horse in Pain? There’s an App for That
Horse owners can use a science-based app to document body language and facial expressions and determine whether equids are in acute pain.