How to read your horse’s vital signs We all have a different opinion of what defines a healthy horse, some say they should be leaner while others say they should carry a bit of extra weight on them. There are also those who say it depends what the horse is used for, a top-level competition horse, for example, should be …

You might think that depression is something that only people suffer from but horses can become depressed just as easily as we can. Unlike us, though your horse can’t literally tell you he’s depressed so has to tell you in his own language. There can be many reasons why a horse is suffering from depression or is chronically stressed but …

We’ve all heard the saying ‘a little bit of dirt never did anyone any harm’, well horses have taken that phrase to the extreme! Not only do they regularly eat mud and dirt they actually need it as part of their natural diet. As well as being an essential part of their diet, horses also need dirt to help keep …

Just like people, horses can trip over their feet from time to time with no real cause or reason. It may be that the ground is slippery or even or that your horse just wasn’t paying attention. As with us this is perfectly normal and happens to all creatures that walk. If, however, your horse is tripping much more than …

Not everybody will bandage or wrap their horse’s legs prior to exercising them but if you choose to do so then it can be difficult to know how to wrap them properly, especially if you’ve never bandaged a horse’s legs before. For a bandage to work properly you need to wrap the horse’s legs so that they are able to …

We all want the best for our horses and would love to give them the best of everything all day every day but this isn’t always possible and with many of us making sacrifices just to keep our horses, being able to feed a hard keeper properly is curial. There are plenty of options out there for both easy and …

Laminitis is an inflammation of the laminae (or lamellae) part of the horse’s hoof. It can be extremely painful and debilitating to horses and in extreme cases can lead to the coffin (or pedal) bone protruding through the sole of the hoof. When this happens it can make it impossible for the horse to stand, sadly often requiring the horse …

Let’s be honest nobody likes being bitten by midges and while most of the time it’s just irritating it can, in some horses, lead to sweet itch. Sometimes referred to as summer itch its proper name is Culicoides Hypersensitivity (due to the Culicoides midge that causes it) and can affect thousands of horses around the world every year. Rather like …