Good ole Punxsatawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, predicting another six weeks of winter and thus more cold weather, snow, and frozen ground to deal with in our horse keeping. One of the biggest questions we tend to deal with this time of year as horse owners is whether or not our horses need blankets.
The answer? It depends.
Like much with horse keeping and training, you can go easily either way on the blanket issue and have a perfectly healthy, happy horse. Last year I didn’t blanket Ace. This year …

Two plus years ago when I started this blog, there was really only a small handful of active equestrian bloggers. Quite a few others started around the same time I did – and like Mrs Mom from OhHorseFeathers and OnTheBit – have become great friends. And our little corner of the world has since exploded with horsey writers of all backgrounds, locations, disciplines, philosophies, and personalities. No matter what we write about, though, we are all bonded together by our love of horses.
This week has been a particularly poignant one …

Learn to recognize, treat, and prevent colic in your horse before it’s too late

In a lifetime of riding, and a little over a year of horse-owning, I finally had to deal with my first bout of colic. Fortunately Ace just had a very minor case of gas colic from which he recovered in a just a couple hours. It’s not always that simple, though. And no matter your experience, it’s always always scary.
It’s absolutely imperative that you learn to recognize the symptoms of possible stomach issues; left alone they could …

One thing most experienced horse people will tell you is that you shouldn’t wrap your horse’s leg until you know what you are doing.
Whether it’s for support while working, to prevent swelling while standing in a stall, or to protect an injury, standing wraps should only be applied by knowledgeable, practiced hands. It’s important that you have somebody like a trainer or vet teach you, and that you practice practice before you even need to wrap your  horse’s leg for real.
I’m fortunate that I was taught well at an early …

When I used to teach summer riding camps for kids, we always spent a day focusing on horse care. It was always really fun showing them just how much work horses are (yes I was trying to scare them out of convincing their parents to buy a pony and put it in the backyard), and teaching them a few little-known facts (at least to the general population). My three favorite tidbits of information to share with the un-horse-initiated, which never fails to amaze them are …

Ponies are not babies. They …

Well, I definitely jinxed Ace and I by writing a post entitled when do you call the vet. Thanks to Murphy’s Law we had not one, but two visits from the vet this week.
The vet came out to check another horse at my barn, and a few (including Ace) were scheduled to get their teeth floated at the same time. However, the vet was missing the piece of equipment that holds the horse’s mouth open, so he couldn’t float. Instead, I had him run a Coggins on Ace and also …

I’ve owned Ace for nearly a year now, and by far the biggest issue I’ve had is deciding when a vet call is needed. It’s a fine line to walk; trusting my judgment as an experienced horse person versus when I need a vet’s expert opinion.
Some people never take chances and call the vet for every little lameness and incident. Some don’t call the vet unless a horse is practically dead. It’s great to always get the advice of a vet, but it’s also very expensive. So where do you …