The Quarter Horse is an American breed that excels at quick turns and stops and at sprinting short distances. Its name came from its ability to outdistance other horse breeds in short races of a quarter mile or less. Thoroughbred racing has the Kentucky Derby. Quarter Horse racing has the All American Futurity, the richest…
Have you heard the expression, “No feet, no horse.”? It means no matter how beautiful or how perfect the rest of a horse may be, without good feet they can’t perform and they can’t exercise. In fact, they can’t really do much of anything. Hooves that are allowed to grow too long not only look bad, they affect the internal…
Unlike Keeneland’s September sale which offers only yearlings, Keeneland’s January sale is an all ages sale. This year’s catalog included six hundred seventy-seven broodmares and broodmare prospects, six hundred twenty-eight short yearlings, two hundred sixty-four horses of racing age, and thirteen stallions. Horse Talk – short yearling: a yearling horse that has just turned a year…
Have you ever had the job of feeding hay to a barn full of horses? A common method of feeding hay to horses is to simply toss flakes of hay on the ground. The horses lower their heads and don’t stop eating until it’s all gone—or trampled into the ground. If you’ve ever mucked out a stall or…
What would you do if you learned about a neglected filly that needed help? In this horse rescue story, students at Southport Elementary School in North Carolina, came together to help a one-year-old filly named Piper. The students first heard about Piper through one of the school’s physical education teachers, Donna Michaux. Donna had attended a conference where…
Horses evolved to graze all day long, but that’s just not practical or even possible for many barns. No matter what a horse’s situation, she should eat 1 to 2% of her body weight in forage per day. How much is that? How do you know how much hay to feed a horse? Let’s take a look.…
Sawyer Villanueva loves horses. She rides and learns about horses with Between Humans and Horses, a nonprofit program pairing children and young adults with horses to build leadership and communication skills. They teach at Maddi’s Friesien Ranch in Nevada. The ranch owners generously donate the facility to the program. As a nonprofit they need to raise…
We all love giving treats to our horses. Most of the time the ingredients include carrots and apples. Several years ago, Nicole van Dyk, a Nova Scotia high school student, came up with an innovative way of using blueberry pomace to make all-natural, nutritious horse treats, and received a silver medal at a national science fair…
Would you like to hear the clip-clop of horse’s hooves on your street every week? That’s what people living in Bristol, Vermont hear every Friday – on garbage day. Twenty-two years ago, Patrick Palmer of Thornapple Farm was awarded the town’s contract for trash and recycling pickup. He and his team of horses have been…
Horses in the wild are known to graze for up to 16 hours a day! A horse’s digestive system is designed to deal with large amounts of forage, either grass or hay, eaten slowly over a long period of time. Hay makes up the largest part of a horse’s diet, so it is important to make…