8 Articles

Steve Chiasson, horse acupuncture, horse care, horse acupuncture points, horse back pain, horse pelvic pai, equine acupuncture treatment

The field of equine medicine is experiencing a period of exciting growth, with significant advancements in diagnostic and therapeutic options available to horse owners. Over recent decades, equine healthcare has evolved to offer a broad range of services, from internal medicine, surgery, and reproductive management to lameness diagnostics, dental care, and neurologic treatment—available both in-hospital and on-farm. In addition to these traditional services, alternative therapies like acupuncture are gaining popularity for treating various conditions in horses.

jec a ballou groundwork, stretches for horse, equine neuromuscular patterns, imbalance in horse exercises

Groundwork can serve a range of purposes, from behaviour modification to physical conditioning, but over the long term its greatest contribution is its alteration of neuromuscular patterns. When a horse needs to adopt a new pattern of muscular activation, coordination, or balance, groundwork is often the quickest way to accomplish it. Using focused and brief groundwork sessions daily, many horses’ postural challenges can be rewired with far less tension and confusion than under saddle.

how to remove ticks, tick removal horses, preventing tick bits horses, best bug sprays horses, areas to avoid ticks canada, what do ticks look like on horse, grooming horse tick

Not much can gross out a horse person. We happily pick out hoofs, observe the quality of manure, scrape bot eggs off our horses’ legs, and get a weird sense of satisfaction from an expressed abscess. But ticks… ticks are just nasty.

Clydesdale horse, Delvin Szumutku, Clydesdale Creeks Conroy, Clydesdale Creeks Princeton, Terragold Farm, Boulder Bluffs Maxwell, clydesdale breed, equine giants

Determined to showcase six of their Clydesdales at the 1983 Yorkton Harvest Show, just a day away, Delvin Szumutku’s father was facing serious health issues and urgently needing heart surgery. Doctors had instructed him not to lift anything, not even a suitcase—a difficult restriction for a lifelong farmer of the Saskatchewan family farm, where they had been growing grain and breeding Clydesdale horses since the 1960s. Feeling the weight of responsibility, Delvin knew this would be an impossible task for his father.

Farrier, Farriey, Ben Yager, American Farrier’s Association, equine trimming techniques, hoof-pastern alignment, farrier apprenticeship

Is your farrier certified with the American Farrier’s Association (AFA)? Did he or she serve an extensive apprenticeship at the beginning of their career? Does your farrier pursue additional education?

jec ballou books, jec ballou horse fitness trainer, groundwork exercises horses, books on horse groundwork, 33 strength and fitness workouts for horses, how to horse serpentines, how to horse turn-on-the huanches

Groundwork = Secret Conditioning - While it is widely used for gentling young horses and teaching basic skills, groundwork also offers the possibility for a notable amount of conditioning. When consistently and strategically practiced, it can improve muscle tone, basic metabolic function, and neuromuscular patterns.

strangles, symptoms of strangles, strangles outbreak, treatment strangles, how to prevent strangles, signs of strangles, steps to contain strangles, s. equi infection

How to reduce the risk, recognize the symptoms, and take steps to manage an outbreak. Strangles is a highly contagious infection caused by the bacterium, Streptococcus equi (S. equi). It is not an airborne virus. Rather, the bacteria spreads through contact, which could be direct nose-to-nose between horses, or via contaminated surfaces or equipment such as shared halters, lead shanks, cross-ties, feed tubs, stall walls, fencing, clothing, hands, the hair coat from other barn pets, grooming tools, water buckets, and communal troughs.

track systems for horses, alexa linton, horse barn layouts, horsekeeping methods, how to organize horse paddocks, natural grazing horses

Create a Paddock Paradise - About 15 years ago, I was boarding my mare, Diva, at a private barn in Victoria, BC. The paddocks were very small and flat, with electric fence covering all the boards to prevent chewing, and Diva was on the end of the paddock row beside a forest. It was close to home, which worked for me, but Diva was deeply stressed, making it almost impossible to safely work with her or ride her.

wildfire smoke horses, protect horse smoke inhalation, how to tell if wildfire smoke dangers horses, smoke on a horse farm, air quality index

Horses exposed to fire smoke can suffer respiratory injury of varying degrees, ranging from mild irritation to severe smoke inhalation-induced airway or lung damage. Knowing what is normal versus concerning can help to know whether a veterinarian should evaluate your horse.

breathe herbs for horses, equine asthma treatments horses, alternative therapies horses, equine respiratory ailments

Respiratory disease is one of the most important health concerns facing the horse industry, and accounts for one of the biggest reasons why horses miss training days (Rossdale et al., 1985). Equine asthma, also known as “heaves,” is one of the more troublesome small airway diseases which causes an elevated respiratory rate, chronic coughing and runny nose, and affected horses often find it difficult to exhale.

competing in horse show, nervous about horse show, anxiety horse competition, psychology for horse rider, equestrian psychologists, annika mcgivern

Start Rewiring Early - Habits are mental shortcuts created by our brain to reduce the need to make conscious decisions every moment of the day, which would require far too much time and processing power. By associating certain events and experiences with specific actions and responses, our brain can respond quickly and efficiently without our conscious “input.” For example, when a horse pins its ears and shifts its weight, we typically have moved out of harm’s way before we have had time to think about what we are doing.

canadian pony club history, american horse publications awards, canadian horse journal editorial awards, high quality canadian editorial content, canadian horse editorial, award winning canadian editorial, tania millen canadian award winning writer

Canadian Horse Journal was once again recognized for editorial excellence during the American Horse Publications (AHP) 2024 Equine Media Awards held during the AHP annual conference in Lexington, Kentucky in May.

tiffany foster canadian csha, tiffany foster symposium, straightening your horse, horse backing up, positive horse training

“Show jumping is a sport of millimetres. You can’t wing it.” — Tiffany Foster.

running a horse barn, hiring horse people, keeping an equestrian facility, managing horse boarders, taking care of horses, nikki alvin smith

Whether you run a large horse business or a small private barn, finding good employees to help with the daily duties of horse care, training, and lessons is usually a difficult task. Some horse owners freely admit that their “horse resources” acumen is better than their “human resources” insight. In reality, good management of both takes similar talent and is easier to achieve than you might think. Here are some tips to help you along the way.

Caring for horse pasture, Dr. Stephen Duren, mowing horse pasture, mowing lawn, horse paddock management, risks horses grazing mowed pasture, horse care, horses consuming molded grass, clipped forage choking hazard horses

“Mowing” is a term used to describe the cutting or trimming of grass. The mowing process cuts grass to a uniform height in a pasture or lawn. If your pasture management plan doesn’t include mowing, you may be asking the following questions:

equine genetics, types of equine diseases, uc davis center for equine health, genetic diseases based on horse breed, testing my horse for dna

The first equine genetic tests became available in the 1990s, well before the equine genome sequence was completed in 2009. Technical advances have since led to a rapid expansion in available tests. Here are a few that can be utilized to inform breeding decisions and provide diagnostic information.

zenamin equine nutrition, cheryl mckenna horse rider, mineral supplement horses, low calorie horse supplements

With ever-changing environments, climbing temperatures, and shortages from drought or forest fires, even the best quality forage for your horses may not be providing all their nutritional needs. You may not be able to control the minerals available in your forage or the weather it depends on, but you can control the quality and quantity of nutrients your equine companions get every day.

horse exercises for lightness, lateral poll flexion exercises, schaukel horse training, jec ballou horse trainer, ground pole exercises horses, improving contact with horses

While it might often be spoken about in artistic, aesthetic, or even philosophical ways, lightness — both of movement and also of communication with horses — is more than an abstract ideal. In many ways, it measures a horse’s current physiological capabilities.

Yukon horse packing trip

Out the plane window the sun casts a golden glow on the mountains below as the clouds of pink and purple fade to black. My dream of experiencing the wilderness of Canada’s Yukon on horseback is finally coming true. Landing in Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon since 1953, I drag my bags across the street to the hotel to settle in for the night.

equine association, acera insurance, canadian horse association, horse council bc, ontario equestrian federation, alberta equestrian federation, saskatchewan horse federation, manitoba horse council, nsef, nbea,eay

Equestrians in every province of Canada are supported and represented by horse-specific provincial organizations. A perk of membership in those organizations is access to highly specialized third-party liability insurance. Other perks include education, funding, community, and representation. Here’s a summary:

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