Health & Education
We all want the best care possible for our horses. The Heath & Education section covers both Learning Institutions, Organizations as well as many sources for equine assistance including Veterinarians and Farriers.
For those who want a to formally study horses, the Education section includes College Riding, Equine Studies, and Veterinary Schools. Learn about the wide variety of horses in the Horse Breeds section. Supplements and Treatments Therapy are also included in the section.
Everyone can learn from Fine Art and there are some specialty Museums that might surprise you.
Horses as a therapy partner enrich the lives of the disabled. These facilities are listed in our Therapeutic Riding section. To help children and young adults build confidence and grow emotionally, please see the resources available on the Youth Outreach page.
Looking for a place to keep your horse? You can find it in the Horse Boarding section. Traveling? Find a Shipping company or Horse Sitting service if your horse is staying home!
Want to stay up to date with the latest training clinics or professional conferences? Take a look at our Calendar of Events for Health & Education for the dates and locations of upcoming events.
Do we need to add more? Please use the useful feedback link and let us know!
by Marion E. Altieri for Equine Info Exchange
Hurricanes, tornadoes and other life-altering natural disasters descended on your community. You and your family were totally unprepared—or thought that you’ve been ready for years. But either way—the storm struck with a viciousness of biblical proportions—and you were left with few resources, if any. The realization that all your livestock, including horses and cattle, have been lost, disoriented or hopelessly scattered—is almost more than your human soul can bear.
You were just about to give up, to bury your face in your hands as uncontrollable tears originated in your war-scarred soul and coursed down your muddied face. Everything for which you’ve worked your entire life—seems to be gone. Your beloved horses, your priceless cattle—are gone with the wind…literally.
And then, you see a vision. Your discouragement turns to hope as you see them, a team of cowboys and their horses. Arriving in pick-up trucks and horse trailers, or actually on horseback, the brave, dedicated members of The Horseback Emergency Response Team (H.E.R.T.) has arrived—and you realize that your life’s work and love may not be lost, after all. Indeed, there is hope because the great State of Texas has official channels for dealing with your monumental problems—and, through H.E.R.T., they will do all they can to help restore your life to normal.
At some point, nearly every horse will need a leg wrap or bandage. However, an inappropriate bandage application can cause as many problems as a well-applied bandage can prevent. The key to successful bandaging begins with the proper materials and application. So, before you reach for the nearest roll of Vetrap, review some basic principles behind bandaging and wrapping legs:
- Evaluate Need
- Providing support for tendons and ligaments during strenuous workouts
- Preventing or reducing swelling after exercise or injury
- Protecting legs from impact
- Shielding wounds from contamination and assisting in healing1
For more severe cases or if you are in doubt, it’s always wise to consult your veterinarian when determining bandaging needs.
Dr. Kenton Morgan, senior veterinarian, Equine Technical Services, Zoetis, shares his answers to some of the most common questions horse owners have about controlling parasites.
Q: When is the best time to deworm my horse?
A: Horse owners need to take advantage of the environment and deworm when parasite levels can be at their highest — during the spring and fall — per American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) guidelines. Horses at greater risk may need more frequent anthelmintic, or deworming, treatments. Spring is the best time to treat for encysted small strongyles (strongyles in the larval stage). Quest® Gel is a broad spectrum anthelmintic that with just a single dose, effectively treats and controls encysted small strongyles, bots and roundworms. A recent study shows Quest is nearly twice as effective in reducing egg counts as a double dose treatment of fenbendazole for five consecutive days.1
Q: How important is dosing to an accurate horse weight?
A: For your horse’s safety, and decreased risk for contributing to parasite resistance, it’s important to dose to your horse’s weight when deworming. Both under- and overdosing can contribute to safety and resistance issues. Download the Horse Weight Calculator mobile application from Zoetis to easily determine your horse’s weight.
by Patricia N. Saffran
Heather Kitching breeds stunning large spotted Thoroughbreds, at her Angrove Stud, Great Ayton, Yorkshire, UK. She began her breeding program in 2006, after a careful study of horse genetics. She says, “Sabino 1 (SB1) white patterning did not enter into our breeding program and SB1 is not a color variant for Thoroughbreds.”
Ms. Kitching explains, “I did not introduce Quarter Horses into our breeding program. We used horses who were tobiano [white on the legs and large clean white spots on the body] but that carried a high percentage of Thoroughbred. They were eventers carrying Irish blood. Our horses are over 92% Thoroughbred now, and the next generation will take them to 95.6% Thoroughbred. Although Sabino 1 does not appear in the Thoroughbred, there are many variants of the W gene [white patterning] in the Thoroughbred that I know of, at least two.”
by Patricia N. Saffran
“Do you see that Thoroughbred in the pasture over there with the splotchy paint colors and white socks above the knees? He has to have Quarter Horse in him, but don’t say I told you so. I could get in a lot of trouble with the Jockey Club if anyone found out I was saying Thoroughbreds aren’t what they’re supposed to be,” so says an anonymous source on a visit to a New York State Thoroughbred farm. Sure enough, the horse in question had a beautiful Thoroughbred conformation but was quite colorful.
Do Thoroughbreds have Quarter Horse in them and is that responsible for the occasional high colors and socks above the knees? What are the genetics responsible for the high colors in both breeds so that one pattern can resemble the other, or more importantly, what are the latest genetic findings?
The Thoroughbred is often described as a purebred horse but this is not the case according to Franco Varola. He modified a French mathematical theory, Dosage Index, for racehorse performance with a points rating to distinguish short distance sprinters against the stamina needed for long distance runners. In Typology of the Racehorse, J.A. Allen, 1974, Varola writes, “The Thoroughbred in the present-day meaning of the word is neither a pure nor an impure animal, but much more simply a hybrid, obtained by crossing different strains for racing purposes, and by keeping these strains isolated from the remainder of the species of the genus Equus within a register known as the General Stud Book [UK, first published in 1793].” Varola finds the influence of the founding fathers of the breed in the 18th century too nebulous and prefers to trace them through more recent descendants, who have been bred to each other in what he calls a kaleidoscope of changing parts that remain the same. Regardless, he still refers to Thoroughbreds as hybrids. The notion of hybrid also applies to Quarter Horses.
Read more: In Hot Pursuit of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse High Colors
Kathleen Gustafson, PhD and Eleanor M. Kellon, VMD
The ECIR Group has improved the welfare of equines with metabolic disorder by focusing on prevention and treatment of Laminitis. The US alone has almost 10 million horses. The most current estimates are that 10% to 15% of horses will suffer from Laminitis every year, with 80% to 90% of the cases caused by endocrine disease. On average, that is 1 million horses per year in the US alone.
They recommend that Horses who cannot regulate insulin should not be grazing pasture. Owners should concern themselves with the insulin in the horse, not the fructan in the pasture.
This is ECIR Group review of an article which is largely based on the 2006 research dissertation of Dr. Bridgett McIntosh, entitled, “Circadian and Seasonal Variation in Pasture Nonstructural Carbohydrates and the Physiological Response of Grazing Horses”. The entire dissertation is publically available HERE This is an excellent resource.
By Jeff Hall, DVM, Senior Equine Technical Services Veterinarian, Zoetis
It’s the perfect day for a ride. But while unloading your horse, he quickly steps back, lifting his head high to catch on the bare metal of your horse trailer. The gash is deep. What are your next steps?
Make sure you know the best plan of action to help minimize your horse’s risk in times of emergency.
Injuries such as cuts and bruises are common with a horse’s natural curiosity and flight-or-fight response. Other types of emergencies can include colic, choke, lameness and illness. Considering such potential threats posed to your horse, your knowledge of, and access to, a first-aid kit will be crucial to help ensure his overall safety when away from immediate veterinary service.
I recommend keeping a first-aid kit in not only your barn but also your horse trailer, should you ever need quick access to supplies when traveling with your horse. Listed below are key materials to keep stocked in your kit.
by Patricia N. Saffran
Tobiano is a striking large white spotted coat pattern. Also called pinto, meaning painted in Spanish, the pattern is very old. Tobiano was one of the horse colors to come out of the expansion of coat colors during the Bronze Age in the Eurasian Steppe. Horses had been black or bay/dun, and then at this time, they started to appear in a variety of colors. This period was when some scientists believe that horses were domesticated, or alternatively, it was when horse domestication spread to Europe and Asia. Natural selection is a possible reason for the proliferation of color coats.
The name tobiano comes from the 1800s in Brazil. The question is how did pintos in Brazil come to be known as tobiano? Most sources offer cockeyed and incomplete explanations. The genotype for Tobiano (TO) color remained a mystery until it was discovered in 2007.
Samantha A. Brooks, PhD, Assistant Professor of Equine Physiology, Dept. of Animal Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, Brooks, who discovered the Sabino 1 genotype (SB1) variant (a white patterning), also worked on the Tobiano genotype. She discovered that the Tobiano gene is governed by a large chromosomal inversion on chromosome 3 near the KIT gene (responsible for white patterning). This inversion is only found in Tobiano horses, and it occurred around 3000 BC, at the time of the proliferation of horse colors.
With proper nutrition and veterinary support, orphan foals can become healthy, thriving adults.
Spring is here and so is peak foaling season. While an exciting time with frolicking foals, having a plan for the unexpected can help alleviate stress in case a mare is unable to care for her baby. To help orphan foals through the tough early stages of life, experts at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center have developed an emergency feeding program.
“As foals age, their nutrition requirements change rapidly,” says Karen E. Davison, Ph.D., director & nutritionist with Equine Technical Solutions at Purina Animal Nutrition.
Ensure orphan foals receive the best nutrition by following these recommendations:
Day 1
It’s important to feed colostrum to the foal within the first two hours of life.
“Colostrum, or “first milk,” provides antibodies needed to build a foal’s immune system and fight diseases,” explains Davison. “After 18 to 24 hours, foals can no longer absorb antibodies in colostrum.”
Check with your veterinarian to discuss the need for any medications or vaccines and if the newborn has the proper immunoglobulin levels.
- Health, Horses, Healing and Hippocrates
- Broodmare Nutrition During Late Gestation
- ‘Anonymous Horses’: Kill Pen Rescues Come With Serious Health Risks
- Introducing the Rare, Colorful and Beautiful Knabstrupper Breed
- Horse Speak: The Equine-Human Translation Guide
- A Breed from the Appalachian Mountains, Introducing the Mountain Pleasure Horse!
- UHC Gelding Clinics 2017
- Walkaloosa Horses and Their Colorful Coats
- The Morgan Horse: America's First Breed
- Big, Black and Beautiful! The History of the Majestic Friesian Horse
- Unwanted Horse Coalition Releases New Operation Gelding Program Policies for 2017
- Introducing the Trakehner: The Oldest of Warmblood Breeds
- Profiling the American Quarter Horse, A Very Versatile Breed
- Small but Mighty! See the Benefits of Feed Balancers
- Is My Hay Green Enough?
- Britain's Oldest Horse Breed in Battle for Survival
- Moriesians: Friesians and Morgans
- Horsemanship and Behavior
- Akhal-Teke, a Horse Like Shimmering Gold
- Six Ways to Feed Performance Horses for Greater Achievement
