Horse Industry

history or horse drawn carriages, history carriage horses

Ever since the wheel was first invented around 3,500 BC in Mesopotamia as a wooden disc with a hole in the middle for some form of axle, creative Sumarian minds were buzzing. They were, after all, already planting crops, herding animals, and had a pretty impressive social order. But getting the wheel contraption right took a bit of creative genius. The holes in the centre of the disc and at the ends of the axle had to be perfectly smooth and round in order for the wheel to fit and turn. Otherwise, too much friction would cause breakage.

protect horse wildfire smoke, horses air polution, equine air pollution, equine asthma, reduce dusts horse barn, when to call a vet horse cough

There’s nothing like hearing a horse cough to set people scurrying around the barn to identify the culprit. After all, that cough could mean choke, or suggest that a respiratory virus has found its way into the barn. It could also indicate equine asthma. Yes, even those “everyday coughs” that we sometimes dismiss as “summer cough” or “hay cough” are a wake-up call to the potential for severe equine asthma.

Acera Insurance, Capri Insurance, Equestrian PTSO's Canada, HCBC, OEF, MHC, AEF, NSEF, NBEA, EAY, Equine Provincial Sport Organizations

“From an insurance perspective, it doesn’t matter whether you’re riding a 15-hand Quarter Horse out in the back country or off a 17-hand Warmblood in the show ring,” says Mike King, National Practice Leader and Partner at Acera Insurance (formerly CapriCMW). “The potential for injury to yourself or damage to property is still there. There’s always some risk associated with being in proximity of, or managing, a 500-kilogram animal.”

Horses Jobs, equine jobs, Rodeo Pick-Up Horses, gary rempel rodeo

Job Description: Usually working in pairs, pick-up horses and riders are responsible for assisting the rodeo competitor to get off the bucking animal safely.

earning extra income horses, making money horses, tania millen, leasing a horse, composting manure

As property values increase and everyday equine management expenses go up, keeping horses on your own property is becoming more costly. All across Canada, horse and property owners are undertaking myriad activities to make money from their farms and acreages without operating commercial boarding stables or becoming professional coaches. While every potentially money-making activity has benefits and drawbacks depending on the property’s size, layout, and infrastructure, as well as the owner’s interests and talents, there are many options for creating additional income. By implementing a few of the 24 innovative ideas summarized below, owners can start earning additional income from their property to help pay the bills.

log horses harvesting timber, horses who have jobs, draft horse jobs, margaret evans, logging with horses, triple d draft horses

Horses and oxen have been used to haul logs since pre-industrial times. Much of it was small scale harvesting, but it was hard and hazardous work. Unstable and snagged trees, falling branches, and loose material were the “widow makers” of a rapidly growing but dangerous industry. But as settlers arrived in Canada, more land had to be cleared for home-building, farming, and travel. Ultimately, horses and oxen were replaced with machinery and logging trucks. But today, some people have kept the heritage of horse logging alive.

alternative treatments horse, laws for farriers canada, laws for equine massage, equine chiropractors, horse veterinary associations, injuries horses, horse castration

Across Canada, non-veterinarians offer a potpourri of services, including massage, chiropractic, farrier work, homeopathy, and more. But these non-veterinarian service providers may be practicing veterinary medicine illegally under provincial veterinarian acts. Also, few regulatory organizations oversee non-veterinarian practitioner training, certify expertise, or offer recourse if horses suffer, and provincial veterinary organizations only pursue non-veterinarian service providers when horse owners complain.

mountain trail horse, trail horses, oregon horse center, horse obstacles, tania millen, debbie hughes, bc mountain trail, imtca canada, dragonfly stable, grasswood horse park, hanging h arena, oak springs farm, sagewood trail course, shumway lake equestrian centre

Twenty years ago, the Oregon Horse Center in Eugene, Oregon held an indoor trail competition using log obstacles, water ponds, and dirt embankments to transform their arena into mountain trails. That event was the beginning of competitive mountain trail, where neatly dressed riders navigate an untimed, subjectively-judged course of obstacles typically found on wilderness mountain trails. In Canada, two organizations promote the sport — International Mountain Trail Challenge Association (IMTCA) Canada and the British Columbia Mountain Trail Association (BCMTA)— and each has their own rules, judging criteria, and obstacles.

foxhunting in canada, drag hunts canada, fraser valley hunt, annapolis valley hunt, calgary hunt club, fraser valley hounds society, masters of foxhounds, ottawa valley hunt

Galloping after hounds for over 150 years - In 1873, Canada’s Governor General Lord Dufferin started the Ottawa Valley Hunt (OVH) for Ottawa’s upper classes. It was popular with politicians of the day.

fraser valley hunt, foxhunting bc, foxhunting canada

The Fraser Valley Hunt Club has been organizing “drag scent” hunts in British Columbia every fall and winter for almost 50 years. A local horse and hunt enthusiast hosts the opening hunt for the club each fall from his farm on the upper slopes of Mount Elphinstone on the Sunshine Coast. This story begins in early November when the core group of dedicated hunters arrive from the Fraser Valley by ferry with several trailers of horses and one of hounds.

Pages