When planning to renovate a horse pasture, the first thing you should do is walk the pasture and determine what plant species currently exist and make an assessment of the overall condition of the pasture. If the pasture consists primarily of grass and\or legume species, but is being considered for renovation due to low productivity, changes in pasture management may be more effective, and more economical, than a complete renovation.

If you’ve ever been to a gym after a long absence or started up a new exercise routine as part of your New Year’s resolution, you have a good appreciation for the importance of gaining and maintaining fitness. The same concept applies to your horse when you put him back into training after giving him the winter off, after a layoff from an injury, or when starting a young horse under saddle. Unfortunately, many horse owners and trainers are concerned only with working their horses over obstacles or schooling maneuvers specific to their sport, rather than ensuring their horses are fit enough to perform such tasks.

Therapeutic tools have been used to prevent and treat horse injuries for many years, but cutting edge therapies continue to be sought out by riders to improve their horse’s health and performance. Twenty years ago, the technology of the day for icing the legs of Olympic and World Championship level event horses was giant rubber boots filled with ice water attached to noisy pumps that burbled bubbles up through the boots

As a rider, it can be tricky to discern exactly how much influence our structural alignment is having on our horse and our riding. The conversation about posture can be a complex and even frustrating one. In part, this is because we innately know that what is happening in our bodies can’t help but influence our horses, given their sensitivity to changes in weight and pressure, and the near impossibility of a rider being posturally “in tune” with their horse at every moment.

Major news outlets are squirming with reports of people buying an equine anti-parasite medication, Ivermectin, to treat COVID-19. Farm and livestock supply retailers are seeing a surge of demand for the product for human use, despite Health Canada warnings that there could be serious health risks from consuming the medicine intended for deworming animals.

The word laminitis elicits fear among horse owners because many associate it with the end of the horse’s career, and sometimes the horse’s life. Laminitis is a catastrophic syndrome that should always be treated as an emergency; however, recent research and new techniques used to treat this condition now make it possible to save horses that might have died. A diagnosis of laminitis is no longer a death sentence.

With Brian Morton - Collection can be defined as the shortening of the horse’s outline and stride with increased impulsion and engagement from the hind end. If you are not able to shorten your horse’s stride, you will never be able to get a horse to fit a stride into a line that is set short. And, if you lose the impulsion when you shorten the stride, you will never be able to produce a powerful round jump-off a short distance.

Research shows that wells dug by feral donkeys and horses benefit other species and the environment. Erick Lundgren and colleagues studied the behaviour of feral equids in the Sonoran Desert in the Southwestern United States. They found that feral horses and donkeys dig their own wells, which are sometimes up to two metres deep. The wells provide benefits for other species and lead to an increase in biodiversity in the surrounding area.

Horse owners are familiar with the tragic pictures shared on social media of the emaciated horse rescued by the authorities, or the one that could not be saved due to its poor condition. Malnourished horses are a reality even in our affluent Western world. Sometimes these horses are the result of well-intentioned people trying to “save” unwanted horses, only to find they are unable to do so because of cost or scarcity of feed.