Given the various components of fitness, conditioning plans can vary widely from horse to horse. Some need a program of mostly therapy-based exercises to address coordination, postural, or mechanical deficits before moving on to aerobic and gymnastic gains. Others need a restructuring of their workouts and plenty of good hard efforts to push past performance plateaus.

Fencing is an essential part of responsible horse ownership, providing both security and safety for your animals. Historically, choices were limited to wooden rails or barbed wire — options that are still in use across many parts of Canada today.

Worsening wildfires in recent seasons have left horses and people breathing polluted air filled with smoke and microscopic debris. These fine particles can settle in the lungs and airways, triggering irritation such as watery eyes, nasal drainage, and respiratory infections like bronchitis. They can also worsen pre-existing conditions like asthma, emphysema, congestive heart failure, and other lung or heart issues.

Equestrians who pay close attention to their horse’s feeding program may have noticed a growing conversation around iron levels in equine diets. Concerns about “iron overload” are easy to uncover online, often linked to buzzwords like “oxidative stress” and “free radical damage.” Many blogs and nutrition forums point to high iron intake as a factor in various equine health concerns—from metabolic challenges and poor immune function to weak hooves, dull coats, and growth issues in foals. Numerous websites offer advice, and many promote supplements or detox products claiming to address excess iron. But what exactly is iron overload in horses, and is it something the average horse owner should be concerned about?

When you think about injury prevention, tendon strengthening, joint lubricating, and health supporting interventions for your horses, do you also consider improving their proprioception? Supporting this often-overlooked aspect of function can be a game-changer for our horses.

Reining slides to a huge reception at the Stampede! The Calgary Stampede was delighted to host its inaugural NRHA-sanctioned Reining Competition on Tuesday, July 8, 2025.

Horses are commonly housed in individual boxes. While this may be convenient and prevent injuries from other horses, it may also be detrimental to the horse’s welfare, especially if access to pasture is limited. A paper by Alice Ruet and colleagues investigated the effect of various management practices on the display of behavioural indicators of compromised welfare in housed horses.

Although organized therapeutic riding programs emerged in the 1950s, the benefits of horseback riding for people’s physical and mental health were recognized as early as ancient Greece. The rhythmic motion of the horse’s walk replicates the human walk and promotes core strength, postural alignment, flexibility, balance, and normalized muscle tone. Learning to guide the horse with seat, arms, hands, and legs fosters fine motor skills and improves coordination.

Horseback riders across Canada are advocating for horse use on provincial and regional trails. In Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia (BC) that often means resolving potential conflicts with other user groups. On Prince Edward Island (PEI) it’s meant trying to gain access to the Confederation Trail — a 470-kilometre stretch of Canada’s Great Trail, previously called the Trans Canada Trail, which follows a former railway bed across the island.