Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) and Equine Cushing’s Disease (also known as Pars Pituitary Intermedia Dysfunction, or PPID) are reasonably common conditions we encounter in our horses. This article will deal primarily with EMS, but because PPID can be a cause of increased insulin levels in horses, it needs to be mentioned as well.

If you have been riding for some time, chances are you have come across a mount that challenged you. Or maybe he scared you. Perhaps the horse forced you to face that very difficult question: Is this the wrong horse for me… or is it just me? What can you do when fear cripples your riding experience?

Stability Before Strength - Balanced muscular development cannot happen without first achieving a body that can stay stable throughout movement. In other words, a horse that is wiggling around trying to find balance, or one that has found balance by adopting a crooked posture, cannot develop strength in the ways that lead to better performance. Before a horse can add power to his locomotive muscles, he needs to find joint and limb stability while moving in his basic gaits.

In 1968, show jumping trio James Day, Jim Elder, and Thomas Gayford surprised the world by putting Canada on the podium when they won Canada’s only gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City. It was the first time Canada had ever entered a team in the show jumping and, going in, the Americans, Germans, and British were the favoured medal contenders.

This article is the second in a two part series about equine first aid for the trail and home. In Part 1 of the series, we focused on vital signs, first response, care of wounds, and home remedies. In this article we’ll be looking at what to do if your horse comes up lame, sustains a head injury, suffers rope burns or saddle rubs, or comes down with the flu while you’re out on the trail.

Principles and Postures to Improve Your Horsemanship - When Cathy Woods first expressed her idea of combining body/mind principles of yoga with equestrian activities, her friends, she writes, thought she was nuts. But believing in her intuition, she went ahead with her Body, Mind, Equine program, in which she combines horsemanship with mindfulness and the principles of yogic thinking. From the experience of that program, she has written a truly beautiful book, Yoga For Riders.

A poll on HORSEJournals.com asked the question: Should equines be cloned? Some 83 percent of respondents said no, not until more research has been done; 15 percent said maybe, in special situations with strict parameters; just two percent said yes, and that registration of clones should be allowed.

When I started out with horses it was as a working cowboy. The horses I rode all belonged to the ranch I worked for and I thought because I made my living on the back of a horse that I was a good rider. The horses I rode were for the most part considered “broke.”

Horses are more likely to suffer from laminitis in the fall than at any other time of year. Two reasons are the high NSC (non-structural carbohydrates) from cooler nighttime temperatures and increased blood ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) secretion from the pituitary gland. Both of these lead to elevated insulin.