Horse Health

• What is laminitis? … How do I treat it?
• What is Azoturia or Tying Up?
• What is horse colic? … Can it be prevented?
• What are strangles? … How do I treat them?
• What are sarcoids? … What causes sarcoids?
• Why use an equine dentist?
• How do I tell my horses age? … Reading Equine Body Language
• What do I need to know about sweet itch?

Horse conformation ...

Conformation has a strong impact on movement, performance, and soundness. Although movement is most obvious as the motion of the lower limbs, it is an integration of the action of the upper limbs, back, neck, and in fact, the whole horse. Conformation refers to the physical appearance of a horse as dictated primarily by his bone and muscle structures and his outline. There is no definitive single standard of perfection or specific ideal for normal conformation as guidelines depend on the classification, type, breed, and intended use of the horse.

... read more on equine conformation.

Your horses skeleton ...

210 Bones In a Sound Structure. Your horses skeleton is composed of approximately 210 individual bones (excluding those in the tail). The skeleton gives support for the muscles, protection for the internal organs, and possesses the necessary mobility for the horse to move at various speeds, sleep standing, lie down or graze.

... more about the equine skeleton.

Horse Teeth ...

Teeth & the equine dentist. By the time your horse is five years old, all the permanent teeth should be through and the gums should be a healthy pink colour with no bruising. Horses teeth grow and erupt throughout their lives and regular attention from an equine dentist is a must

... read lots more about horse teeth

Your horses foot & hoof ...

Shoeing and Care of Horses Feet. Every horse owner should have some understanding of the care of a horses feet and of shoeing. 'NO FOOT - NO HORSE' is an old and very true saying. Any horse being ridden regularly on a hard surface, such as a road should be shod, or the wall of the hoof will be worn down quicker than it can grow. This will cause friction, soreness and lameness. Hardy ponies, working lightly and solely on grass, can do without shoes, but their hooves should still be looked at regularly by a farrier. There is a modern trend for the barefoot horse and keeping horses unshod, but you should investigate all aspects of this before deciding whether it is suitable for your horse.

... read all about the equine hoof.

Parasitic Disease ...

Horse worms & de-worming. Essential horse health advice on the use of good horse wormers in a worming programme. Help to minimise the worm problem that your horse has to cope with, and help optimise your horses health and performance. Use a combination of horse wormers to make the pasture safer for your horse to graze on. Parasitic worms can cause fatal colic, weight loss, poor performance, rough coat, pot belly and stunted growth.

... more on worms and wormers.

Your horses respiratory system: Breathing ...

The respiratory system of your horse is well adapted to athletic exercise, with un-restricted upper airway diameters, and a large lung capacity afforded by 18 ribs. These combine to enable air intakes of up to 1800 litres per minute in a galloping horse. Volumes of up to 300 litres of blood are pumped at high pressure through small lung capillaries surrounding 10 million air sacs to take up and deliver over 70 litres of oxygen per minute to the working muscles at the gallop.

... more on equine breathing.

Your horses digestive system : Eating ...

Your horse evolved as a continuous grazer and will happily graze for 14 to 20 hours a day if given the opportunity. Your horse has a digestive tract amazingly well adapted to ingesting and digesting forages. Because the basis of any equine diet should be forage, special attention should be given to the type and quality of feed fed to the horse. Not all forages are created equal and pasture grasses and legumes as well as hays can vary greatly in the protein, energy, vitamin and mineral content depending on the type of forage, the maturity of the plant and where it is grown.

... more on equine digestion.