Assistant Professor, Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College discusses the topic of reproduction and getting your mare and stallion ready for the upcoming breeding seaso

I have written a lot about the power of a good start and the hazards and pitfalls of a bad start. Mostly, I’ve talked about my experiences with restarting horses who have been in bad homes or with neglectful or abusive owners or trainers. But this weaning conversation gives us a whole new perspective on what good and bad starts can mean

Last year, when COVID first hit, I bought a bicycle. With all this new spare time and nothing to do, cycling felt safe and a great way to stay active. And I instantly felt like a kid again — it was pretty magical. I remembered when I first started riding a bike in my youth, and suddenly I had the independence of being able to go somewhere on my own. I no longer had to rely on a parent or sibling, but was able to power myself to a new location. And that magic was still there as an adult. I discovered new places in a city where I have lived in my entire life. I saw beautiful things, amazing artwork, new scenery. And if you’re wondering what this has to do with horses, I’ll explain.

It was the fall of 1962 and I was in Shilo, Manitoba having just completed my Canadian army recruit basic training, and was once again allowed to wear civilian clothes and had the freedom to leave the base.

Dr. Keith Betteridge, Professor emeritus, Department of Biomedical Sciences at Ontario Veterinary College, shares his research on early pregnancy loss in mares.

I have always thought that each and every horse that comes into our lives is there to teach us something. And while I still firmly believe that, I am also starting to think that some horses are a puzzle. And if we're lucky enough, we get to put all the puzzle pieces together to create a masterpiece: to form a well-rounded, happy, and productive horse. And I think I might have recently found the last piece of my horse’s puzzle.

“Opinions are like butts; everyone has one,” my Dad told me over the phone as I was crying. I had just come back from a riding lesson where I spent almost the entire lesson trying to hold back tears while I was being lectured about how unknowledgeable I was about horses.

After five amazing rides in a row, I was excited to solidify the work we had done before giving my mare, Fire, a day off. But when I got to the barn and tacked up, I noticed there was a little bit of filling in her right front leg, but not enough to alarm me. Then we picked up the trot and I quickly realized that Fire was very lame. Since no one was around for a second opinion, I got off and put her on the lunge line, only to confirm that yes, she was not sound.

Riders in jumping disciplines (hunter/jumper/eventing) are always told not to lean up the horse’s neck before a jump or on the neck over a jump. Doing so puts the rider in a precarious position if the horse stops, and throws the horse off balance, which may cause his front end to hit the jump. Leaning up the neck may also lead to the hard-to-break habit of “ducking.”

Years ago, when it was time to buy a saddle, I wanted to stick with the same popular brand of jumping saddle that I was riding in at the time. The saddle rep confirmed that my current saddle did not fit my mare, Fire, and I tried a few of the saddles she had brought to figure out what I wanted.