Horse World

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

There are many daily care tasks that are necessary for the health of your horse.

Hooves need to be cleaned and checked, you need to check your horse’s teeth, joints, and digestive health. You need to make good decisions regarding the right feed, watch out for foot and leg issues, buying proper tack and perform correct grooming.

Your horse will need regular vaccinations and deworming, of course plenty of riding exercise.

To keep your horse healthy you need to be on the constant alert for any number of horse ailments that may crop up such as horse allergies, colic, Cushing’s disease, dehydration illnesses, dermatitis and other skin conditions,

Heaves, head shaking (a nerve problem or associated with allergies), stomach problems and ulcers, and also West Nile Virus.

Health care also requires regular vet care, learning how to care for your horse during cold weather, or caring for a horse after it has a surgery such as a castration, dealing with preventing heat stress and how to check your horse’s teeth and perform dental care.

There are also less pleasant tasks such as preventing parasites, worms and insects from bothering your horse and making him sick.

Your horse also needs you to be able to recognize basic horse behavior changes and illness such as cribbing which is a sign of stress and nervousness, or hind limb interference which is when a horse hits its back legs together, or moos swings and temperament changes which could be a sign of illness and don’t forget the bored horse which may kick a stall door in, or do a behavior called, “stall walking and weaving”.

You need to know common horse first aid such as what to do for common injuries such as bumps and minor hematomas, knots and knobs.

Horses can also suffer from back pain, bowed tendons, broken bones, feeding issues and the special needs of older horses.

Part of properly caring for your horse is learning how to feed, groom train and exercise your horse.

There are special care needs for shelter and fencing, seasonal care, hoof care, parasite control, euthanasia decisions for older horses or horses that are seriously ill and decisions about breeding and buying additional horses.

The life of a horse owner is never dull or simple, but it can be tedious as many of the tasks are the same day after day.

Taking proper care of your horse as time consuming as it may be it can also be very rewarding work.

There is nothing quite so special as the bond between horse and rider, especially when the rider has a lot of time and finances invested in the health of the horse. One of the best ways to bond with a newly acquired horse is to groom the horse everyday.

Previous Articles By This Author

• Buying Your First Horse
• Equipment for Horses
• Basics of Horse Care
• Grooming your Horse
• The History of Horses