HEALTH & EDUCATION

Health & Education

We all want the best care possible for our horses. The Heath & Education section covers both Learning Institutions, Organizations as well as many sources for equine assistance including Veterinarians and Farriers.

For those who want a to formally study horses, the Education section includes College Riding, Equine Studies, and Veterinary Schools. Learn about the wide variety of horses in the Horse Breeds section. Supplements and Treatments Therapy are also included in the section.

Everyone can learn from Fine Art and there are some specialty Museums that might surprise you.

Horses as a therapy partner enrich the lives of the disabled. These facilities are listed in our Therapeutic Riding section. To help children and young adults build confidence and grow emotionally, please see the resources available on the Youth Outreach page.

Looking for a place to keep your horse? You can find it in the Horse Boarding section. Traveling? Find a Shipping company or Horse Sitting service if your horse is staying home!

Want to stay up to date with the latest training clinics or professional conferences? Take a look at our Calendar of Events for Health & Education for the dates and locations of upcoming events.

Do we need to add more? Please use the useful feedback link and let us know!

This is a safety tip on how to safely hard tie your horse with a quick release knot brought to you by Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA). It will explain how short or long to tie, where it's safe to tie, how to do the knot, etc. CHA is the largest certifying body of horseback riding instructors in North America, with over 35,000 having been certified since 1967.

Photos courtesy of the Horses of Iceland

The Icelandic horse is known worldwide for its genuine and welcoming character. The horses are friendly, adventurous, smart, and quick to learn. They are usually very easy to handle, cooperative both on the ground and while ridden, yet also powerful and with a great will to work.

Icelanders traditionally favour horses with great spirit, power and stamina which is no wonder when taking into consideration what kind of long distances on hard terrain these horses needed to travel. However, the horses should always be reliable and treasured companions, ready to give their all in full speed when required, but also stand still for hours and shelter the humans from a snow storm if needed. There are many stories of how horses have saved their rider’s life, by outsmarting them, refusing to go where the path was too dangerous, or finding the way home when the rider was completely lost.

The Icelandic horse is a friend for life. Photo Courtesy of the Icelandic Horse

INDESPENSABLE SERVANTS

Often the same horse can be used for competitions at the highest level, as well as to safely carry the youngest family member on a ride out. The horses seem to adapt to each task given, knowing when it is time for full power or to tune down. They are an easy-going mount when a youngster or an unstable rider comes along. This versatility is highly treasured among Icelandic horse lovers, and is one of the most important breeding goals. Icelandic horses will reward mutual respect and fair handling with life-long loyalty and friendship.

The horses of Iceland have been the most indispensable servants since the island was first settled and have served that role faithfully through the ages. With no roads, vast distances and rough terrain, the horses were used for anything from carrying goods, transporting the doctor and postman, bringing people to church and to their loved ones across glacial rivers, as well as providing meat, horse hair and even milk.

Although their role has changed quite dramatically in the last 100 years, the horses remain an important part of Icelandic culture, bringing people together, both within the country as well as across borders.

This article originally appeared on The Horses of Iceland and is published here with permission.

You can find more interesting articles in our section on Health & Education.

Cheerful horse behavior encouraged through equine enrichment, such as toys for horses, social interactions and movement

You love your horse and do everything possible to ensure his health through equine vaccines, horse wormers, the best supplements and more. And of equal importance to horse health, is horse happiness. We asked Robin Foster, Ph.D., certified equine behaviorist and university professor of 30 years, how horse owners can know whether their horses are as happy as they are healthy. She shared with us four key characteristics of happy horses -- engaged, enriched, social and moving -- and explained more about each unique component.

Engaged

Happy horses are engaged with life going on around them. They are active members in their social groupings and attentive to, and eagerly willing to, explore their environment.

Enriched

“Enrichment opportunities for horses have really grown dramatically,” Dr. Foster said, crediting positive changes made in zoo environments for large animals in confinement. “Minimizing the effects of isolation, stress and limited movement -- zoos have these same challenges, and the equine industry has borrowed from that,” she said.

Enrichment falls under different categories, such as sensory, movement and feeding enrichment, which offers horses the opportunity to enjoy treats and work for food, such as with problem-solving horse toys. Cognitive enrichment keeps their mind working and burns energy,” Dr. Foster said.

“The first job is to make sure it’s something your horse will work for. Some horses love certain enrichment items, while for other horses, they just sit there. Shop around and experiment,” suggested Dr. Foster. Horses can learn the game rather quickly through their curious nature or by watching another horse. “When they can see other horses, they learn very quickly that food comes out of that thing and they will give it a good try,” continued Dr. Foster.

Social

It’s important that from an early age, horses have social interactions with other horses to meet their social needs. Depending on how horses are housed, they often have limited social time even at a barn with other horses. This is also true in the human-horse interaction.

“No matter how much you care for your horse, humans have very complex lives with many demands -- the horse being only one of many. Your life with your horse is maybe an hour a day. The amount of time a person spends with their horse can be limited, and what does the horse do the remaining 24 hours? If horses do not have a social life with other horses, and a rich, complex environment, you can bet that affects their overall behavior,” Dr. Foster said.

Moving

“Horses need the ability to move freely,” Dr. Foster strongly encouraged. Happy horses are free to run, roll, turn wildly, race around and kick up their heels -- not just move in a fixed way, such as lunging. All of this can play a role in a horse’s behavior.

“Horses able to move more freely are usually more physically fit for competition or riding. And mentally, they are more resilient and buffered against stressors,” Dr. Foster said. For example, think of how a barn-kept horse under saddle might react to a large owl spreading her wings to swoop from a tree, compared to a pasture-kept horse or one with intermittent turnout.

Consider these four characteristics as they relate to your own horse’s happiness. Is your horse displaying each of the four signs, or could a few changes be needed? Learn more information at ValleyVet.com to help keep your horses healthy and happy.

Read more: 4 Signs of a Happy Horse

Join hosts Dr. Bart Barber and Dr. Peter Morresey as they engage in discussions with Alexandra Conrow, Monique Cross, and Stephanie Welsh. These skilled technicians offer a firsthand account of their roles in the surgical process, highlighting the journey they undertake alongside the horse, from the moment it steps out of the stall to its return post-operation. As the podcast unfolds, listeners gain an understanding of the crucial responsibilities shouldered by equine technicians. From pre-surgical preparations to assisting in the operating room and overseeing post-operative care, every step of the process is discussed.

Lexie, Monique and Stephanie delve into the various options available for veterinary technicians and assistants, shedding light on career paths, training opportunities, and the rewarding nature of their profession. They also discuss how technicians serve as invaluable mentors and guides for aspiring veterinarians.

Equitopia profiles a horse shoe called “Sneakers” and investigates why the biomechanics of the shoe provided comfort for several Equitopia horses with hoof lamenesses including; navicular syndrome, pedal osteitis, ringbone, low grade laminitis and chronic long-term inflammation inside the hoof capsule. Owners dealing with hoof lameness (especially Navicular Syndrome) often find themselves confused by differing Veterinary opinions, contradictory information on the internet, and a plethora of shoeing and barefoot options only to spend money and time while frequently their horses condition worsens.

In this video, Equitopia profiles the story of Sala, a rescued thoroughbred mare and documents her 2 year struggle with navicular syndrome, pedal osteitis, and laminitis. The Sneaker shoe broke the cycle of inflammation for Sala when nothing else worked.

Equitopia wanted to know more about Sneakers unique features, so we reached out to Kirk Adkins, the Founder of Equithotics, former Staff Farrier for U.C. Davis, and Dr. Sue Stover, BS, DVM,PhD and Professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology for U.C. Davis. Dr Stover is the Director of the school’s J.D. Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory and recent recipient of the 2016 AVMA Lifetime Excellence in Research Award.

Featured on PBS stations nationwide, this shortumentary takes an in depth look at the advances in equine veterinary care available at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital and how these advances are helping all equine athletes.

Photo courtesy of Kentucky Equine Research

By Kentucky Equine Research Staff

Many horse owners are familiar with using artificial lights on broodmares to advance the breeding season or on show horses to help keep short, slick hair coats. Recently, Japanese researchers used artificial lighting on young, growing Thoroughbreds and found that extending a yearling’s photoperiod in winter increased muscle mass. The use of artificial lights to manipulate muscling may offer a unique way of helping prepare young horses for their two-year-old careers.

Previous research found that young Thoroughbreds bred in northern Japan, Hokkaido, suffer a decrease in growth rate in the winter between weaning and the first year and again between the first and second year of life. Further, there is a lower rate of increases in body weight, height at withers, girth circumference, and cannon bone circumference in the winter between the yearling and second year compared to young horses reared in southern Japan where the photoperiod is longer.

The increased rate of growth in Thoroughbreds raised in southern Japan is thought to be, at least partly, attributable to the activation of hormones involved in the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis as well as the growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor-1 axis as the photoperiod lengthens.

Another published study in Japan reported that the growth rate and shedding of winter coats were accelerated by applying extended photoperiod confirming that photoperiod affects more than just reproductive hormones.

Hoping to build on the current data, veterinarians from the Japanese Racing Association and Tokyo University placed 41 Thoroughbred yearlings under artificial lights to provide 14.5 hours of daily light from December 20th until April 15th. They measured body weight and fat-free mass throughout the extended photoperiod, comparing those measurements to 32 Thoroughbred yearlings maintained under natural lighting only. All horses were in northern Japan, in Hokkaido, a similar latitude as southern France and the Great Lakes in North America.

“One key finding of the study was that extending the photoperiod decreased the decline in growth rate in colts compared to those raised without lights, but the same effect was not seen in fillies,” said Ashley Fowler, Ph.D., a Kentucky Equine Research nutritionist.

Further, fat-free mass increased with age in both colts and fillies with the extended photoperiod, but the effect of extending the photoperiod on fat-free mass was more pronounced in colts than in fillies.

“These results support the idea that fat-free mass increases with longer day length. This may be a result of activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and increasing circulating insulin-like growth factor-1 levels that play a role in muscle growth and development; however, further research is needed to elucidate those pathways more explicitly,” Fowler said.

Based on these results, artificial lights may be used in concert with modified training practices during the winter months to prepare young horses for competition as two-year-olds.

“To support increased muscle mass and training loads, bone density should also be considered. Triacton contains bioavailable calcium and other bone-building nutrients to help increase bone density in growing and exercising horses,” shared Fowler.

By Juliet M. Getty, Ph.D.

Guidelines from Dr. Getty on feeding the horse in transition to domesticated

If there’s one thing we can say about the benefit of being wild (or feral, in healthful surroundings) is that in most circumstances horses which have been free to roam open lands are often healthier than domesticated horses. Think about their diet for starters—they have so much variety—grasses, flowers, berries, leaves, seeds, fruits—providing all the nutrients their bodies need. Once they leave this natural setting, however, they typically eat only hay and it’s the same hay every day. Hay is dead grass and no longer contains the vitamins found in their previous, varied diet. The horse’s nutrition gaps will need to be filled in order to match the rich nutrition of the wildenvironment. Therefore, to fill in the nutritional gaps:

Provide a comprehensive vitamin/mineral supplement along with chia seeds and ground flaxseeds for omega 3s

Horses in the wild rarely experience colic. One of the main reasons for colic in the domesticated situation is the rapid change from one feed to another, leaving the bacterial hindgut population little time to adjust. These microbes are responsible for digesting the fiber found in forage (hay and/or pasture) and need to be protected. To help your new horse’s digestive system adjust:
Feed a potent probiotic that contains billions of colony forming units (CFUs)

Ulcers are common in domesticated horses, especially when transitioning to a new environment. Horses are trickle feeders – they need to graze continuously to keep the digestive system functioning normally. That means they should have quality hay 24/7. Horses are awake and moving most of the time and will take 15 to 20 minute naps intermittently throughout the day and night. The best way to protect your new horse against an ulcer is to:

Feed him in sync with his natural instinct to continuously graze by giving him hay, free-choice

Many wild horses get adopted when they are young. They require the variety of feed sources that they had in the wild that offered quality protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals to support new growth. To accomplish this, add some alfalfa to your horse’s diet (about 30% of the total hay ration), along with either a supplement or a commercially fortified feed. Avoid cereal grains (oats, corn, etc.) and molasses – they can interfere with normal bone and joint development. In general:
Feed growing horses extra protein, vitamins and minerals, chia seeds and ground flaxseeds to provide omega 3s, while avoiding high amounts of starch

Respect your horse’s need to roam, along with other horses. Naturally curious, they enjoy seeking out feed in various locations, feeding their bodies, but also providing movement to keep the digestive tract muscles in good tone. And being prey animals, they depend on the companionship of other horses to protect them against threats, real and imagined. This transition phase can be stressful – new sights, smells, people, and other animals can create a hormonal response that can lead to a variety of health problems, including ulcers, colic, and laminitis. All of these can be avoided by making slow adjustments, filling in nutritional gaps, and doing as much as possible to simulate a natural setting. In other words…
Feed him like he was meant to be fed – like a horse.

This article originally appeared on Getty Equine Nutrition and is published here with permission.

Find more informative articles in our section on Health & Education.

In episode #64 of StallSide, we dive into thoroughbred stallion management with Sandy Hatfield; hosted by doctors Bart Barber and Peter Morresey, this episode offers a glimpse into the life of the esteemed Stallion Manager at Three Chimneys Farm. Listeners can learn about the unique challenges and joys that come with the job of a Stallion Manager.

Sandy Hatfield discusses the importance of patience, socialization, exercise, personalities, teaser stallions, and training of breeding stallions. Her insights provide a valuable perspective for both seasoned breeders and those new to the world of thoroughbred breeding.