We WARHorses know that our horses are precious and delicate beings. They appear large and strong but size and strength do not make them impervious to accidents and illness. Walk into any saddle shop or feed store and we will find ample products to keep our horses healthy and comfortable from fly sheets to pain meds [...]
Today maybe April Fools Day but this post is about a condition that is no laughing matter. I first encountered quidding when my horses became senior citizens. I began to noticing wads of twisted hay strewn about the pasture. What in the world? Were these wads the handiwork of some crazy bird or perhaps the mysterious [...]
Today’s #WARHorses TIP is one that hits home for many of us - buying feed. Baby’s gotta eat but that weekly trip to the feed store can put a pinch in your pocket book. Wouldn’t it be great to save a few dollars? Feed stores and manufacturers occasionally offer loyalty discounts; i.e., buy 4 get 1 [...]
Recently a Wisconsin horse farm lost 16 horses and more than 100 others showed signs of distress after eating blister beetles. The horses were fed alfalfa hay purchased at auction from South Dakota. Necropsies performed on each horse confirmed the cause of death: the diagnosis supported when beetles were found within the remaining hay. Lyle [...]
Dear Appy, I'm really good to my horse. Why does she feel the need to fart at the precise moment I'm grooming her tail or giving her a good scratch? Flatulent Filly Mom Dear Mom, Geesh,you humans are so uptight about passing gas. I see you crouching in the corner of the tack room to let [...]
Equine Veterinary Education (EVE), one of two journals published by the British Equine Veterinary Association, is an online forum which publishes peer reviewed educational articles on diagnosis and treatment for equine injuries. With regard to Australia's fires, the publishers have released, free of charge, an article on treating horses burned in bushfires. The article, penned by [...]
New Years is a time to reflect on the previous year and to wipe the slate clean for the new one. New Year Resolutions are an ancient practice dating back nearly 4000 years. Both ancient Babylonian and Roman cultures used the new year to reaffirm their religious faith. The expectation was that in being better people, [...]
By Karen McPeak I worked at a tack store a couple of years ago when a customer, probably in her mid-forties, came in to buy only what her trainer told her to buy, right down to the brand. As I remember, she was stressed. She had just bought her first horse—to the tune of $75,000, her [...]
Kentucky Derby favorite Omaha Beach scratched just a few days before the big race. Due to a fairly uncommon condition called epiglottic entrapment. The epiglottis is a triangular shaped cartilage at the base of the airway. It acts like a lid, flipping up and down protecting the horse’s airway as it swallows food. Epiglottic entrapment occurs [...]
A single bolt of lightning can be hotter than the surface of the sun reaching 1 billion volts of electricity. Lightning occurs worldwide, most frequently along the equator and more so over land than sea. The United States for example sees an average of 20 million lightning strikes each year. A person’s chance of being struck [...]
