Spring Horse Care Must-Dos

3:16 pm

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Equine Care, Misc.

Five spring horse care must-dos.

Spring! Sunshine! Flowers! Grass!

Mud!

Spring thaws mean equal parts happiness and despair for many horse owners. You are thrilled with the warmth and the returning grazing. You are disheartened by the mud.

Your horses feel much the same way. Well, they probably don’t mind the broken barn door where the snow-pack pushed its way through. Or the Serengeti watering-hole that has appeared where the pasture gate used to be, complete with fetlock-deep mud. More mud, more rolling, that’s most horses’ motto.

Either way, it’s time […]

Should You Feed Raw Grains

3:04 pm

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Equine Care

Should you feed raw grains to horses?

With the rise in news stories about contaminated horse feed, some horse owners are starting to consider feeding raw, unprocessed grains to their horses instead of pellets or sweet feed. While any big change in feeding regimen should be discussed with your veterinarian, let’s look at some of the advantages, and disadvantages, to some popular raw grains.

Corn: Corn is often an affordable grain that many horsemen might already be using to supplement their sweet feed. High-starch and high-calorie, corn can create a rapid burst of […]

Three Ways Equestrians Can Go Green in 2015

10:44 pm

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Equine Care, Facility Planning & Design

Three Ways Equestrians Can Go Green in 2015

Go Green: Three Eco-Friendly Tips for Equestrians in 2015

It’s not too late for a New Year’s Resolution! 2015 is young, and there is always time to start on a new goal or kick some habits to the curb for the year. Here’s a suggestion: this year, look at ways to go green in 2015. From your bedding to your grooming tools to your whole stable, there are plenty of new ways to add an eco-friendly focus to your daily equestrian routine.
Green Level: Easy — All-Natural Fly Spray. We’ll […]

Composting Horse Manure

9:38 pm

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Equine Care, Facility Planning & Design, Products, Projects

Effective Composting of Horse Manure for Your Garden

One constant dilemma facing horse owners, no matter what your discipline, is manure disposal. Horses create manure continuously, and it has to go somewhere. The ubiquitous manure pile that so many barns have used over the years is, unfortunately, a less attractive and useful option as farm properties grow smaller and closer to their neighbors, and as municipalities and water management boards seek to discourage run-off into streams, rivers, and aquifers. What to do with all that manure just piling up?

Try composting!

Compost can create useful […]

English Saddle Fitting

8:53 pm

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Equine Care

English Saddle Fitting 101

Saddle fitting; it’s the most glamorous, exciting, fun part of your entire equestrian career. Well, not really. Saddle fitting is actually something many of us would rather just skate by and hope for the best. Good saddles are expensive, and that moment when you realize that your best buddy saddle doesn’t fit your new best buddy horse — well, let’s just say it’s not pleasant.

So how can you tell if your saddle is doing a good job of fitting to your horse’s back? Here are a few steps for […]

Five Foaling Kit Extras

8:35 pm

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Equine Care, Misc.

Five Foaling Kit Must-Haves You Might Have Forgotten

You’re not a doctor, a veterinarian, or even a midwife. But this spring you’re going to be called upon to oversee a birth, and be prepared to step in to make sure the newborn and mother are healthy and happy. Sound familiar? You might be a horse breeder.

If you are not ready for this yet and are just starting to consider breeding, and not sure how the find the right stallion for your mare; this link to our article on choosing a stallion offers a few […]

Keeping Indoor Horses Happy

7:02 pm

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Equine Care

Stall rest. Bad manners. Poor weather conditions. Even too small a property.

There are plenty of reasons why some horses can’t get much turn-out time. And while there’s no question that horses benefit from as much free turn-out as possible, there are options to keep your horse healthy and happy even with reduced exercise time.

Hay

What’s more important to a horse than hay? Not much. Eating quality roughage round-the-clock is what your horse was born to do — all that jumping and galloping is just a bonus. A horse […]

Five Boots (and Wraps) to Keep in Your Tack Room

7:05 pm

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Equine Care

Five Boots (and Wraps) to Keep in Your Tack Room

Even if you don’t work your horse hard enough to warrant performance boots or daily wraps…

it’s important to have these five boots and wraps in your tack room. You never know when you might need them!

Bell Boots

Bell boots are there for your horse when his horseshoe nails are not. If your horse has a big expressive trot that is just made for tearing off shoes (look at that overreach of stride! Listen to that clink of metal! Oh… drat!), then bell boots are for you. Yes, they’re annoying to look […]