Practicing good biosecurity at home and while traveling is essential for your horse’s health and safety, and is an important part of industry-wide disease control measures. We collaborated with Dr. K. Gary Magdesian, infectious disease control officer and faculty member in the Equine Internal Medicine Service at the UC Davis veterinary hospital, to present a list of important things to remember when it comes to equine biosecurity.

Like humans, horses are living longer than ever. Typically, older horses will live into their twenties and often into their thirties. It’s natural to worry about your horse’s health into the golden years. Studies report that 70 percent of horses aged 20 years or older have some type of health issue requiring modifications in management practices and veterinary care. Let’s examine the six key issues your older horse might face, and tips to help you keep your horse feeling comfortable during those senior years.

4 Key Principles - As the shorter, colder winter months settle in, brief but purposeful groundwork sessions become critical for a horse’s physiology. Granted, fitness-based groundwork will not keep a horse at peak performance level, but it will prevent total erosion of neuromuscular and metabolic fitness during times of abbreviated schedules.

The average life expectancy of horses is around 20 years, but some survive into their 40s. Horses 20 years of age and older increasingly account for a larger percentage of the population, in part due to advances in veterinary care.