By Jess Hallas-Kilcoyne - For all the time that we spend deliberating about what type of hay to feed, or whether to add this supplement or that, the majority of horse owners tend not to spend a great deal of time thinking about the most important nutrient of all – water. Water helps maintain the healthy functioning of all the organs and systems in your horse’s body. Among many other things, it is essential to aiding digestion, regulating body temperature, eliminating toxins from the body, and lubricating the joints.

Any injury that reduces the horse’s soundness can affect athletic performance, reduce the enjoyment derived from exercise for both horse and rider, and cause chronic pain and suffering. Unfortunately, lameness is a relatively common problem affecting horses of all types and occupational uses, and one of the more common causes of lameness is joint disease.

There are several tools that are commonly used when grooming a horse. Proper use and technique helps to ensure the horse remains comfortable during the grooming process, and allows for greater ease in cleaning the animal.

If your veterinarian has recommended a gastroscopy, sometimes called a “stomach scoping,” he or she probably thinks your horse has equine stomach ulcers, which aren’t uncommon in horses. In fact, 62 percent of horses have them to some degree.1 The good news is they can be treated – and prevented in the future.

Diarrhea is the hallmark clinical sign of equine colitis (inflammation of the colon), a condition which can occur in horses of any breed, gender, and age. Horses are particularly susceptible to acute, severe, and sometimes fatal diarrheal illness because of their large colon and caecum. Considerable progress has been made in the last decade in understanding what used to be called “colitis X.” However, many cases of colitis have no known cause. Therefore, in a large proportion of equine cases, the cause of the diarrhea cannot be established. These cases are usually classified as undifferentiated, undetermined, or idiopathic colitis, which is a diagnosis of exclusion made once other known causes of colitis have been ruled out.

Mother Nature built in the response of shying as a defense mechanism. However, humans see it as a vice. Imagine you are walking through a graveyard after midnight. You're only nine years old and you are holding your father's hand. Suddenly, something rustles in the bushes.

The importance of contact in dressage cannot be overstated. “Without contact, straightness is not possible, nor is good collection. Your aids, which include your upper body, legs, hands, and seat, combine to create the contact, which should be elastic.

By Jess Hallas-Kilcoyne - Reining is a sport “designed to show the athletic ability of a ranch type horse in the confines of a show arena,” according to the AQHA Rule Handbook, and as such, the reining horse should be quick, agile, and light on his feet. “We need horses that are able to get low to the ground and come through themselves easily and quickly,” says top Canadian reining trainer, coach, and competitor Cheryl Mitchell, of Alberta. “That requires low-set hocks, short cannon bones, a strong hip, strong loin, and clean neck,” she continues, pointing out that these specific characteristics are also valued in working cow and cutting horses.