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Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Fat Horses.......Healthy or Not??
Adobe
Vet Center did a lecture on Equine Metabolic Syndrome - known now as EMS. The statement that made the biggest impact
to me was this....."When you see a very thin horse in need of rescue we gasp in fear, thinking that horse is
very sick. When we see a fat horse we say "Wow that's a healthy good looking horse".” What they
are saying is that can be far from the truth. The thin horse is much healthier then the fat horse. All the thin
horse needs is food. The fat horse is a laminitis/founder waiting to happen. Body condition and neck
scoring are used to help us gauge the perfect weight. Follow the link below to Adobe Vet website and then click on the
orange “Blog” icon for more details about this syndrome and what you can do to protect your horse.
Adobe Vet Center
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Horses eyes
Interesting lecture
at Adobe Vet Center on horse optomology. The only real emergency to watch for, is that if the horse is squinting then
they probably scratched their eye and should get treatment asap. So watch for squinting. Some fun stuff they told
us was that a horse can practically see 360 degrees around their body while looking forward. There is only a small area
– just right behind their tail – that a horse cannot see without moving their head. So the big question has always
been….Do horses see in color?” The answer is that they do!! However, they don’t see as many
or the same colors we do. Humans see colors that can be produced from blue, green and red (three types of cones).
It is believed that horses only see colors produced by blue and green (only two cones). Another interesting fact is
that horses can see very good in the dark. They have a lot more rods in their retinas then humans. Rods help capture
light. A little off horse topic, but dogs see worse than horses and cats see worse than dogs. When it comes to
seeing clear details at distance of 20 feet or more a cat is practically blind....Interesting, always thought cats had great
eye sight.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Some great Bumper Sticker sayings.......
If you think I'm high maintenance you haven't met my horse.
I whisper.........but my horse doesn't listen.
Golf
Course: Just a waste of a valueable pasture.
Driver Carries NO CASH!!
All spent on horses!!
Sunday, October 23, 2011
What should we be feeding our horses?
I recently attended a lecture given by Dr. Page at Adobe Vet Center. The main thing I took away was "keep it simple".
Mature horses need to eat 2-2.5% of their body weight per day with half of that being roughage. A good way to know how
much to feed is to get a weight tape. Taping your horses a couple of times a month is a good way to see if they are
loosing weight or gaining weight and adjust their feed according. A fat horse is one of the main causes of laminitis/founder.
Get a cheap fisherman's scale (Walmart has them) to gauge how much a flake of hay or bucket of pellets weigh. For
a horse that you ride one to three times a week bermuda is the best "simple" option. Whether it is grass hay
or a concentrated bermuda pellet, if it comes from the southwest, the quality is probably sufficient for the casually ridden
horse. Feeding straight alfalfa or bag feeds with high protein and calcium can lead to some serious horse ailments like
colic and laminitis/founder (especially in foals). When buying bermuda, the 2nd or 3rd cutting is the best. It
is also best to make sure the hay hasn't been sitting around in storage for more than 1 year. The larger the stem (more
fiber) the lower the protein. Seeing flowers in the hay means it was cut too late and the quality will be lower.
Even-though the main take away from the lecture was "keep it simple", the final word was every horse is different
and what and how you feed them might have to be adjusted accordingly. If in doubt, contact your vet and a horse nutritionist.
See the link page to a friend of ours that really knows horse nutrition.
2:38 pm pdt
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Introduction
This is a new website where I plan to "blog" amount interesting things I learn about horses every week.
Educational, informative and fun facts from my personal experiences. Seems like I hear new things all the time.
Great information that other horses owners could use. I am not a vet, horse trainer or even a horse expert. I
have ridden horses for over 30 years, owned horses for almost 20 years and been a breeder for over 6 years. My
opinions and comments will come from my own experiences. This will be a fun blog.....so don't take it too seriously.
:)
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