By Horse Industry Association of Alberta - Get out your rubber boots – spring is coming (believe it or not). Unfortunately, so is mud. With the heavy snowfall seen in many parts of Canada this past winter, the spring season promises to be messy when the ground starts thawing and the snow starts melting. Mud can cause problems for horse owners. It affects pastures and can cause health issues in horses.

The Equestrian Canada (EC) Coach Licensing Program is preparing for its official launch in early 2020 and represents a great step forward for equestrian sport in Canada: the opportunity to make our sport safer for children, athletes and coaches alike.

Ph.D. candidate Lara Genik and Dr. C. Meghan McMurtry from the University of Guelph’s Department of Psychology conducted a survey at the 2015 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (RAWF) in Toronto, looking into the prevalence and impact of less studied painful incidents among children while handling and riding horses. Genik’s research survey set out to understand common painful incidents associated with riding and to gain insight that could potentially lead to intervention through safety and educational programming.

Horse fever, horse crazy, bitten by the horse bug, horse madness: A condition usually associated with pre-teen and young teen girls, characterized by an obsessive love of horses. Symptoms: Incessantly talking, reading, writing, drawing, and daydreaming about horses; collecting horse posters, magazines, models and horse art in excess; living for the moments when horses can be touched, smelled, ridden, or simply in close proximity.

In an effort to narrow down the conversation, as the topic of consent applies to countless aspects of our horse-human relationship, I decided to focus on consent around touch, because horses are one of our most-touched domesticated animals. This is a fascinating thing, given that in a feral or wild setting, horses might rarely ever touch each other, and would typically not do so without first either giving or receiving permission in the form of behavioural cues. In domestication, we touch horses to halter, groom, saddle, bridle, ride, train, bathe, treat, and often just to feed them. For most horses this happens numerous times every day and is often combined with a restraint of some kind, like a halter, meaning they are not able to move away from this touch.

At some point, most riders have wished for something like a magic pill, a solution that will instantly alleviate nagging training issues. Since that is impossible, the next best thing is an arsenal of arena routines whose execution will improve your horse. The exercises in this article will give you a looser, more balanced horse, and will create engagement without excessive effort.

“Horses will always be waiting for you,” is a well-intentioned reassurance uttered too frequently and exclusively by loved ones who’ve never experienced the isolation of a hiatus from horses. My fiancé offered me the same phrase following the doctor’s orders to stop riding due to minor pregnancy complications that could worsen by the turbulence of a moving horse. This temporary farewell to my lifelong passion served as my first sacrifice of motherhood, and I felt the significance of it at the time.

A study into the causes of severe equine asthma (sEA) has revealed associations with over 113 substances, including latex found in artificial surfaces. Lead researcher Sam White found that natural rubber latex was among “the most surprising and significant” of several new allergens present in the dust horses breathe.

Bits and breathing. Both words start with the letter “b” and most might assume their relationship ends there. But Dr. David Mellor, a leading animal welfare expert at Massey University in New Zealand, believes there is more to the story, especially when it comes to our horses. His research, shared in a talk at the University of Guelph in autumn 2017, looks at how bit use can impact equine breathing during exercise and what this means for equine welfare.