Three New Horse Sports

8:55 pm

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Ready for something new with your horse?

Maybe it’s time to think outside of the traditional disciplines. These three new horse sports aren’t necessarily brand-new, but none of these disciplines fit into the classic English/Western molds most of us are accustomed to. And that’s precisely the appeal for many riders!

Horseball: We talked about Horseball on this site back in February — Horseball is a hot new sport in Europe, Mexico, and Canada, and will be part of the World Equestrian Games in Normandy this August. The sport involves a soccer ball with handles […]

Household Items That Are Barn Essentials

3:33 pm

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Misc.

Household Items That Are Barn Essentials

Barn Essentials: Household Items You Need for Your Stable

Not everything in your barn needs to be an expensive speciality item from the tack shop — it just seems that way sometimes!

In reality, there are plenty of everyday items available at the people store (that’s where you buy that regular stuff like cereal and toothbrushes, different than the tack shop) that are great around the barn. Here are five barn essentials (and a few bonus items) to put in your cart the next time you’re at the discount store.

Duct Tape: I […]

Riding Helmets

8:41 pm

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Misc.

Do you wear a riding helmet?

There’s a growing faction of pro-helmet activists in the equestrian community. One of the most visible, Riders4Helmets, includes some alarming statistics on their website. Horse riding, the organization states, is a dangerous sport on level with motorcycle riding, and head injuries are the leading cause of equestrian-related hospital admissions and deaths. http://www.riders4helmets.com/2011/02/equestrian-sport-statistics-facts-what-you-should-know/

And in a Canadian study of patients admitted with equestrian industries, 60% of related deaths were caused by head injuries to riders who were […]

Equine Coronavirus

5:41 pm

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Equine Care, Guest Author, Guest Author Farmgirl

Equine Coronavirus – A Black Swan Event

When I first heard of the concept of a Black Swan event, I was more than intrigued. Curious enough in fact, that I read the New York Times bestseller: The Black Swan, the Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2007, Random House, 300 pages and notes, etc). This very complicated treatise was based upon the story of the black swan: basically people were convinced that all swans were white. When a black swan was first discovered, it literally, in today’s vernacular, rocked their world.

This shock […]

Glue On Shoes

6:36 pm

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Equine Care, Products

No Nails Required: The New Era of Horseshoeing

For about five hundred years, give or take, humans have been protecting horses’ hooves and giving their animals traction by nailing on shoes. And for just as long (presumably) horses have had their hooves damaged by those nails, whether simply because slowly-growing horn racked up too many holes from back-to-back shoeings, or because a “hot nail” hit sensitive laminae within the hoof.

Horseshoes are often seen as a necessary evil. Sure, we’d all love to have our horses barefoot — it would hurt less when they step […]

Poisonous Plants

5:52 pm

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Equine Care

Three Common Plants That Might Hurt Your Horse

Is there poison in your pasture?

Sounds dramatic, doesn’t it? Sadly there are plenty of growing things that your horse might think are nice to eat, but are in fact poisonous. Over the twenty years of designing facilities we have developed a twenty two page document listing as many of these as we can. It might be a native growth or an ornamental planting brought in by ambitious gardeners. Either way, it’s time to check your outdoor areas and make sure there’s nothing dangerous lurking out there […]

California Chrome and Equine Nasal Strips

5:49 pm

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Equine Care

California Chrome: The Role of Equine Nasal Strips

If you’ve been anywhere near the horse world this week, you probably know that there’s a new Triple Crown contender on the line.

On Saturday, May 17th, California Chrome became the latest horse to win both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, whipping the horse racing world into a frenzy of excitement.

It’s been 32 years since Affirmed became the last Triple Crown winner, ending an exciting string of wins (Secretariat in 1973, Seattle Slew in 1977). The seventies were very good for Triple Crowns […]

Cooling Your Horse

5:44 pm

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Equine Care

Here comes the heat!

Although it seemed like winter would never end, parts of the country are already heating up into the 90s and beyond — and we’re not just talking about the hot places like Florida! If North America skipped spring and went straight into summer this year, we definitely need to keep an eye on ourselves and our animals for signs of heat stroke. Here are some tips on keeping your horse cool when the temperature is soaring.

Schedule Extra Cool-down Time: Make sure there’s enough time at the end of your […]