Innehållsförteckning för November 2018 från Equus

With time and patience “Mutual Benefits” (True Tale, EQUUS 492) means a lot to me. I’ve had a new Tennessee Walker for five months now who is struggling with spookiness. I guess we both are. He was described as an “experienced trail horse” when I bought him, and he is mostly as advertised: 9 years old, cute, funny and good with all of the handling basics. I assumed that an experienced trail horse would not be spooky. Yet every time I ride him around our pastures and property, he spooks at least once. It’s not a bad spook---usually a little jump, or running just a few steps. Still, I’m 68, and I’m getting too old to have to endure spooking. I’ve been doing groundwork with him but still feeling discouraged.…

SEEING RED Q: You notice what looks like blood in the snow near where your horse recently urinated. Where does this rank on the panic scale of zero (“No big deal”) to 10 (“Call the veterinarian this very second”)? POP QUIZ ANSWER Relax. If your horse is otherwise healthy and is acting normally, this ranks as zero on the panic scale. The red spots that you see are a result of the urine reacting with the cold snow. Proteins in the urine, called pyrocatechines, oxidize in low temperatures, which produces colors ranging from a light pink to red, orange or brown. The same thing can occur when a sample of urine is refrigerated.…

Horse Speak is both a science and an art. There is a science to the mechanics of moving your body in specific ways to communicate. The art of Horse Speak develops when a person becomes fluent enough to respond to nuance. For horses to believe our body language, we must match our insides with our outsides. Trying to hide an emotion--- like fear, for example---will never work, because horses are uniquely clued in to the inner state of a predator species (that would be us). You cannot lie to a horse. It is, therefore, more useful to simply acknowledge and label the emotion you might be experiencing than to try to hide it or ignore it. Your horse does not care if you are feeling a particular emotion---he only cares…

At the center of the paddock stood the sorrel gelding--- tall, lean and muscular--- with his head lowered almost to the ground, his handsome face turned away. Although I had visited often, he would not look up. I lingered, leaning on the paddock rails, resting my head on my arms and willing him to lift his head and look at me, but he never did. Eventually, it was time to head home. When I first started visiting Frankie, I was new to the horse world. I’d never owned a horse nor known anyone who did. But as I entered midlife, I decided it was time. So I sat down at my computer, googled “horse riding lessons,” and located this Quarter Horse ranch about 45 minutes from my home. I will…

Horsepeople tend to agree on the big stuff: plenty of hay, sunshine and water for all. Take care of your tack. Mend fences. After that, people get a little more particular. One person insists that bridles must be hung with reins draped in a figure-eight; another shudders at the sight of a shaggy mane. My pet peeve is a little different because it mainly comes up when I’m away from the barn. But it’s something that I hear fairly frequently, especially among the non-horsey parents with whom I spend a lot of time. Here it is: I really dislike when people talk about kids, young girls in particular, going through a “horse phase.” Why is a love for horses seen as a phase, instead of as a genuine passion or…

GIVING LEGS A LOOK Running a hand down each of your horse’s legs is a good habit to develop. But what exactly are you looking for? During the quick passes over your horse’s legs, you’re learning what his normal contours feel like. Most mature horses have a collection of bumps and lumps that don’t affect soundness, and you’ll want to be familiar with their location, size and texture. That way you’ll notice when something changes: A bump that’s suddenly bigger, warmer or squishier is worth a closer look. It’s important to feel your horse’s legs every day (or at least every other day) to be able to distinguish normal from not. Also observe your horse’s reaction to having his legs handled. It’s not unusual for a horse to object mildly…

Two decades ago, if you mentioned dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) around the barn you may have gotten puzzled looks in response. Back then, this industrial solvent turned anti-inflammatory therapy was relatively new to the horse world, and even if people had heard of it they viewed it as an unusual or even mysterious option. Since then, DMSO has gone main-stream. It is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for topical use on horses, but veterinarians regularly use the chemical “off-label” in other ways to treat a wide array of inflammatory conditions, from laminitis to neurological problems. When the DMSO’s distinctive garlicky smell wafts through the barn these days, people are more likely to nod knowingly than wonder what’s going on. Nonetheless, DMSO is a little like aspirin---something that many…

If law enforcement authorities ask you to house a horse while they search for his owner, look up the law governing estray, stray or loose horses in your state. Statutes usually specify how the report of an estray must be handled, how long the horse is held, the steps required in searching for the owner and which expenses are reimbursable for the person holding the horse. In Texas, for example, owners of estrays must pay the property owner for any damages caused by the estray horse as well as costs of housing the horse (provided the property owner reports the stray horse to the sheriff’s department). In addition, the sheriff’s department is required to prepare a notice of estray, to search for the owner, and to place a “found horse”…

Only three years down the pike from American Pharoah, and we have another Triple Crown winner! Trainer Bob Baffert has expressed as much surprise as anyone else, but from my perspective the recent win by Justify was not a mere matter of luck. Baffert trained both Justify and American Pharoah, and there is no doubt in my mind that he possesses a superior concept of how to train and condition Thoroughbreds for classic-distance racing. In previous articles, we have examined several great racehorses of the past---Man o’ War, Phar Lap and Secretariat, comparing them in terms of pedigree, conformation and galloping style to the 2015 Triple Crown champion, American Pharoah (see “American Pharoah and the Triple Crown,” EQUUS 458). Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner, remains the absolute gold standard…

Have a question about your horse’s health, care or training? Our experts offer solutions for a range of equine-management problems. Write to EQUUS Consultants, P.O. Box 7510, Falls Church, Virginia 22040; email: EQLetters@aimmedia.com. Send photos when helpful. NUTRITION A safe weight-loss plan Q: How do you get an obese horse to lose weight without too much stress? I am adopting a 12-year-old gelding from a rescue group. He looks like he is in advanced pregnancy. You can’t feel his ribs, even when pressing down! He needs to go on a diet and start daily workouts, but I am concerned about the proper way to go about this without causing ulcers or other stress-related problems. He will have daily turnout but will be in a stall at night and for breakfast.…

allele---one of the alternative forms of any gene on a chromosome. Each allele represents a different variation of a physical trait and each has one corresponding allele on the chromosome’s paired counterpart. For example, one blue-eye allele will have one corresponding allele that carries either a blue, green or brown-eye trait. body condition score (BCS)---a designation, based on a nine-point numeric scale, indicating the amount of fat on a horse’s body. A BCS is assigned after a visual and hands-on appraisal. chromosome---the self-replicating genetic structure of cells containing the cellular DNA that bears in its nucleotide sequence the linear array of genes. Each species has a constant number of chromosomes set in pairs in the nucleus of each body cell; the horse has 64, or 32 pairs. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)---large…