Five Winter Horse Care and Riding Tips

9:25 am
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Snowflakes are already flying around the country! It’s hard to believe, but winter is going to be here sooner rather than later. We’ve compiled some of our favorite winter horse care and riding tips, to help you have a warm, happy winter at the barn.

Warm Hands, Warm Heart: You want to maintain a soft feel with your horse’s mouth, but you also want to keep your fingers frostbite-free. Riding gloves are nice, but after a little while out in the freezing cold, even insulated gloves can let the cold in. Keep your fingers […]

5 Horse Toys for Your Bored Horse

8:22 pm
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Is your horse stall-bound? Or does he get turned out alone, and spend his days walking the fence, whinnying, and generally being a pain? Some horses need more entertainment than a pile of hay or a swath of green grass. Luckily, modern horses can alleviate their boredom with horse toys. Here are five horse toys to liven up your bored horse’s life!

The Jolly Ball. It’s been around for decades, and the Jolly Ball (www.horsemenspride.com/products/) is still making a certain segment of the equine population (mainly the mouthy boys) very jolly indeed […]

Light Coats: Do’s and Don’ts for Keeping Horses Show-Ready Under Lights

8:07 pm
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The fuzzy days of fall are upon us, when horses lose their show-ring sheen and begin to puff into mastodon models. If you’re showing this winter, or just plain don’t want to deal with all that hair, you might be tempted to leave the barn lights on late. Horses do grow their winter coats based upon the shortening of winter days, not the crisp chill in the air, but take a minute to review these do’s and don’ts of keeping your horse under lights. It would be a shame to pay that extra-large electric […]

Emergency Preparedness for Horse Owners

11:55 pm
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Emergencies, whether caused by a storm, wildfire, or other event out of our hands, are not the time to start making plans and buying supplies. It’s important to be prepared for an emergency, a time when your farm might be without electricity, running water, or accessible roads, before trouble strikes. Here are some emergency preparedness tips for horse owners to consider.

Keep feed, hay, and medications well-stocked. The Humane Society of the United States recommends keeping several days’ worth of feed and necessary medications on-hand. Should your farm suddenly be cut off from easy access […]

Stall Door Types: Pros and Cons

When you’re designing your stable, seemingly hundreds of tiny details become very large decisions. Stall doors are one of those decisions that can affect your daily life at the barn, whether it’s your business or your hobby. Sliding, Dutch, grills, yokes — what’s the best stall door for you?

Sliding doors (as shown in the French Hill Farm project) are popular in barns and often come in prefab stall kits. They take up less space because they don’t intrude on the barn aisle, making it easier to lead or cross-tie horses in the aisle. Because you […]

Where Should I Feed My Horse Hay?

9:00 am
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Hay nets, hay racks, hay feeders, hay bags, hay on the ground… it seems like the only thing we can agree on as equestrians is that horses need hay. The science of actually feeding that hay can get pretty complicated and pretty opinionated, pretty quickly! Some horsemen swear by hay nets, but others never really master the art of stuffing the flimsy things. Others prefer a trough feeder or a mat on the ground, saying that horses shouldn’t reach up for hay. And busy boarding stables often swear by hay racks, which allow for quick, efficient feeding by grooms […]

Time-Saving Tips for the Barn

3:55 pm
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The equestrian lifestyle is not for those afraid of work. Whether you have a staff of grooms or you’re mucking out after work every day, there’s going to be a certain level of physical labor in your life as long as horses are involved. Sometimes, it seems like there’s too much horsekeeping being done to get any horse-enjoyment in! That’s when a few minutes saved on daily tasks can start to add up very quickly.

Strap Down the Scissors: Yes, you can break open a hay bale by using a piece of baling […]

Cool Tips for Summer Riding

3:51 pm
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As the dog days of summer roll in, nothing seems less appealing than putting on leather boots and a hard hat before a nice broiling ride in the sun. But training schedules wait for no one, and if you’re prepping for the fall show season, you know you can’t give up riding just because of a little sweat. (Okay, a lot of sweat.) Luckily, there are plenty of options these days to make summer riding, if not a breeze, then a lot more comfortable.

Go techie: Technical fabrics are made to wick away moisture or allow […]