Have you dreamed of studying wild or feral horses when you grow up? Dr. Brian Hampson, co-founder of the Australian Brumby Research Unit, is part of a team studying the only remaining true wild horse, Przewalski’s horse. Let’s take a look at Przewalski horses and see what makes this breed unique. Science Talk – feral: having…
Do horses need a field shelter? How important is it for them to have shade, or a place to get out of the wind and rain? What about protection from insects? Four researchers from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala wanted to find out. In their research, Kristina Dahlborn, Elke Hartmann, Richard Hopkins and Claudia von Brömssen,…
This year the Summer Olympics takes place in Paris, France. As you may already know, this international competition includes three equestrian events; dressage, jumping, and eventing. Olympic eventing first made its appearance in the 1912 Summer Games. At that time it was called “Military” and was open only to servicemen and army horses. Twenty-seven riders…
There is a growing awareness among horse owners about the importance of horses being turned out together. Horses are herd animals. They need social contact. So what is the reality for today’s domesticated horses? What are people’s horse husbandry practices around turnout? Horse Talk – horse husbandry: the science of breeding, rearing, and caring for horses. Although…
When you greet your horse, or simply want to thank them for a nice ride, do you pat them or do you give them a good scratch? If you had to guess, which horse human interaction do you think horses prefer, to be patted or scratched? Three researchers at Nottingham Trent University asked this very…
Spring is here, and for some lucky horses this means spending time in a pasture eating grass. It is tempting to turn horses out into spring pastures at the first sight of green grass, especially after a long winter. However, spring grazing should be introduced slowly. How do you go about introducing horses to spring grass?…
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…
Water is one of the most important parts of a horse’s diet, and watering horses in winter can be especially challenging. How do horse owners keep fresh thawed water available to horses when temperatures drop below freezing? 1. What is the freezing temperature of water in °C and °F? 2. If the temperature is 10°F…
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…
In this post we head back for the final days of the Bay Area Equestrian Club’s Vet Camp. Day four began with campers designing their own equestrian centre. Here’s what camper Caden Hernandez had to say about designing an equestrian centre: “Math is very important when making a blueprint or map! You need to know how much…