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Off Duty: How to Let Your Horse Down in the Off-Season

Updated:

March 21, 2020

While your horse is enjoying his time of leisure, his regular health and hoof care schedules should be maintained.

As your horse makes the transition to a life of leisure, you’ll be modifying just about everything in your horse’s day-to-day routine. How can you keep your horse healthy and happy as he makes this change? Follow these steps for a smooth transition.

9 Blanket Tips for the Well Dressed Horse

Updated:

March 21, 2020

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The sheer number of horse blankets on the market can make choosing the right one rather overwhelming. Modern blankets offer many options in fit, style, fabric, and accessories, with innovations made every year.

Horse Welfare in Canada

Updated:

March 13, 2020

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How do we see our industry? How would equine industry members describe the welfare status of Canadian horses? Which horses do they believe are the most at risk? And what do they believe threatens horse welfare?

Laminitis in Horses with EMS and Cushing’s Disorder

Updated:

March 12, 2020

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Equine laminitis has been with us for a long, long time. Fortunately, in the last 10 to 20 years there have been great strides in understanding the causes of this terrible condition. Laminitis is now regarded as a syndrome that occurs secondary to something else, rather than a discreet disease all in itself. This has allowed much more focused research and effort in treating the cause rather than treating just the symptoms that occur in the hoof. It doesn’t matter how great the trim is, or what shoes are used, or how deep the bedding. If initiating causes such as EMS (Equine Metabolic Syndrome – see Equine Metabolic Syndrome & Equine Cushing’s Disease, Early Summer 2018 issue of Canadian Horse Journal) or PPID (Cushing’s disorder) are not addressed, the laminitis and the pain will continue.

When Horses Get Allergies

Updated:

January 14, 2020

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Like humans, horses can be hypersensitive to a wide variety of allergen triggers including insect bites, pollens, dust and molds, chemicals in crop sprays, hay dust, stall bedding materials, wool (sometimes in saddle pad and blanket products), grooming sprays, shampoos, synthetic materials such as neoprene found in boots and pads, medications, supplements, and some ingredients in feed pellets.

Open the Horse's Thoracic Cage

Updated:

October 25, 2019

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Today, we get to hang out in one of the most thrilling, complex and well-built skeletal structures in the body, the thoracic cage. While thrilling might be a stretch unless you’re an anatomy geek like me, suffice it to say that this region and its resilient, flexible function has potential implications in respiration, saddle fit, behaviour, body control, bending, collection, energy levels, the ability to be symmetrical and free in movement, and more. And I’m not just talking about your horse.

An Inside Look at Joints

Updated:

October 2, 2019

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The relationship between our horses and their joints can feel scary, conjuring up words like “arthritis” and “lameness.” Our focus on joint function and integrity, including how this plays a role in a healthy hoof mechanism and legs, is designed to create a knowledgeable foundation to support your horse for years to come.

A New Approach to Worm Control

Updated:

April 25, 2019

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A worm-eating fungus brings new hope in the fight against parasitic gastrointestinal worms. Anthelmintic resistance is now a widespread and growing problem. It is becoming increasingly clear that we cannot rely on chemicals alone to control gastrointestinal parasites.

How Zebra Stripes Repel Flies

Updated:

February 27, 2019

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Scientists learned in recent years why zebras have black and white stripes — to avoid biting flies. But a study published on February 20, 2019 in the journal PLOS ONE probes the question further: What is it about stripes that actually disrupts a biting fly’s ability to land on a zebra and suck its blood? Professor Tim Caro of the University of California, Davis, and University of Bristol’s Martin How led a series of new experiments to better understand how stripes manipulate the behaviour of biting flies as they attempt to come in to land on zebras.

To Rug or Not to Rug?

Updated:

January 2, 2019

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Horse owners are routinely putting rugs (blankets) on their horses all year round. However new research suggests that certain types of rug could be causing them to overheat. It has become routine (and even fashionable) for many domestic horses to be rugged all year round – in fly-sheets, all-weather turnouts, stable rugs, fleeces or perhaps even a onesie. Rugs can be useful in protecting horses from biting insects and in adverse weather conditions; however, until now there have been very few studies on rugging at all and none on the effect of different types of rugs on a horse’s body temperature.