Trick Training: 3 Simple Tricks to Teach Your Horse

4:44 pm
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Positive reinforcement is an ethical training methodology that can help horses that lack self-confidence or willingness to benefit from an exciting learning experience, while building a stronger relationship with their human!

Horses are intelligent and emotional animals that can learn new tricks easily. For each trick, make sure to use repetition, consistency, and reward (positive reinforcement). At the beginning, reward each small step before asking for more, and keep sessions short (between 5-15min) to prevent your horse from losing patience and disengaging. Don’t forget to have fun and take it one step at a time!

Teach […]

How to ‘Potty Train’ Your Horse Using Stud Piles

7:08 pm
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Maintaining a clean pasture and keeping the area clear of droppings is an important step in ensuring the wellbeing of your horse. With an average of 15-20 bowel movements per day, generating up to 50lb of manure, cleaning up after your horse can quickly become a labor-intensive activity, making manure management feel like a never-ending clearance chore!

To recognize horses’ poop habits, it is useful to understand their behavior in their natural habitat. In the same way that dogs urinate to mark their territory, stallions in the wild use ‘stud piles’ as ‘elimination marking behavior’. By leaving […]

The Turnout Debate and How to Minimize Field-Related Injuries

11:28 pm
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The turnout debate:

After several months of lockdowns and social isolation, people around the world have become increasingly aware of the effects of prolonged confinement on mental health. So, when a renowned Grand Prix rider announced that she was not giving her horses any turnout in order to avoid potential field injuries, it sent the internet into an uproar. Social media users were quick to point the finger at her disregard for her horses’ well-being and mental health. She defended that, while her horses do not get field turnout per say, they leave their stalls several times […]

New Year’s Resolutions for Better Barn Management

11:45 pm
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Are you still working on your New Year’s resolutions? If so, we have some ideas to help you out. These resolutions can make you a better barn manager, helping to maximize your horses’ health and safety, too.

Update Your Deworming Plan

If you haven’t done so yet, now is the time to start deworming your horses according to fecal egg count results. Talk with your vet about the most appropriate time to do these tests and the dewormers that are right for your horses.

While you’re at it, make sure that your manure management plan […]

Top Tips When Choosing a Vet

10:34 pm
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Your vet is an essential partner in keeping your horse healthy, and choosing the right vet can be a challenging decision, especially when you have lots of options. This is a choice you need to make carefully. If you’re looking for a new vet, consider these factors when making your decision.

Weigh the Benefits of Independent Vets Against Big Practices

One of the first decisions you’ll face is whether to go with a vet who practices independently, or whether a larger multi-vet practice might be right for you. Both options have their advantages.

Vets who […]

Top Tips for Retiring Your Horse at Home

After years of riding and competing with your horse, he may arrive at a point where it’s time for him to retire. With retirement facilities few and far between, many horse owners decide to retire their horses at home. If you’ve decided that retiring your horse at home is right for you, then carefully planning out your facilities can contribute to your senior horse’s safety, well-being, and health. Consider the following tips when planning out your barn and pastures.

Stall Size

With issues like arthritis affecting an older horse’s ability to lie down […]

Equilume: Lighting the Way to a Better Barn

9:30 pm
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Traditionally, when you’re preparing mares for breeding or want to keep your performance horses from growing thick winter coats, you’d turn to your barn’s lighting for a solution. Leaving barn lights on overnight through the winter simulates the longer days of summer, tricking horses’ bodies and preventing some of their winter physical responses.

But leaving all of the lights on in your barn has its disadvantages, too, including a hefty electric bill. Equilume offers some practical and fascinating alternatives.

Equilume Stable Light

The Equilume Stable Light is based on the same idea of leaving your […]

How to Find Quality Barn Help

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When you need to hire barn help, do you find yourself dreading the task? Finding good barn help is a notoriously difficult task, so it makes sense that you aren’t looking forward to the process. But finding good help doesn’t always have to be a struggle. Consider how these tips can help to make the hiring process easier, so you find the quality help you need to keep your barn running at its best.

Find Ways to Offer Perks

Before you advertise your job, think about how you can make it appealing to those quality workers […]

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