Whether you’re a riding coach, barn owner, trainer, or equestrian mentor, your position gives you the opportunity to lead by example—not just in horsemanship, but in emotional well-being and balanced living. Many people in the horse community are currently grappling with feelings of uncertainty and lack of control. However, you have the ability to step up and guide others through it. By modeling calm, clarity, and emotional strength, you can inspire boarders, students, and staff to navigate life’s unpredictability with greater confidence.

“There’s huge demand in Canada’s horse industry right now for grooms and caretakers,” says Gayle Ecker, Director of Equine Guelph at the University of Guelph in Ontario.

We ask a lot of our four-legged friends as today’s horses compete throughout most of the year. Whatever the horse’s primary job — from dressage to trail riding and reining to show jumping, the feet are the most common source of lameness. With the advent of preventative drugs such as Legend®, Adequan®, and Pentosan EQ™ we can improve the longevity of our horses’ athletic use, but unfortunately injuries still occur.

This enchanting little book follows a bay ranch horse and his ginger feline companion as they wander through their ranch on an autumn day. Throughout their conversation, the two disagree about what is good and bad, and how they feel about different things.

Secretariat is a household name in the horse industry. The video of “Big Red” winning the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths in 1973 and cementing his Triple Crown win is jaw-dropping. But few know about the Canadian jockey who won those spectacular races — Ron Turcotte. He hails from small-town Drummond, New Brunswick, won 3,032 races over his 17-year career, and was the first of five Turcotte brothers to exchange logging and picking potatoes for the glitzy world of Thoroughbred horse racing. Cumulatively, the Turcottes won over 8,200 races and almost $60 million in purse money.

Ever wondered if ponies can interpret human emotions through facial expressions? While humans may instinctively avoid someone with a furrowed brow, how well do horses understand our feelings? A recent study by Dr. Katrina Merkies, an associate professor and researcher at the University of Guelph, set out to answer this intriguing question. Dr. Merkies and her team conducted an experiment involving 20 lesson ponies and a group of skilled actors to determine whether ponies could distinguish between happy, sad, angry, and neutral human facial expressions.

Whether or not to blanket a horse is an often-debated question and there are many logical and justifiable reasons to go either way. In normal weather conditions, many horses do not need a blanket, especially if they have access to food and shelter and have grown a healthy, thick winter coat. But for horses with special needs such as older or geriatric horses, pregnant mares, horses with compromised health conditions, or horses that have been clipped, blankets are certainly appropriate. Consideration should also be given to the horse’s breed, hair coat quality, feeding routine, and its acclimatization to the existing conditions.

Let’s get this discussion started! We would like to invite you to dig deep and answer this Tough Question.

By Tania Millen, BSc, MJ