If you own a horse, you are probably aware of the time and money needed to properly care for this amazing creature. Since horses have a longer life than do most animals, keeping them healthy can be somewhat of a challenge. Still, there are several things you can do to help ensure your horse stays healthy. Below are five tips that will help you get started down the right path.
Feeding your horse a well-balanced diet is one of the most important aspects of good equine health. If you are unsure of what this actually entails, consult with your veterinarian to find out what types of grains and other feeds may be appropriate for the type of horse you own. Age may also make a difference, so it is also important to keep this in mind when choosing the proper diet.
Keep your horse’s digestive tract healthy by deworming on a regular basis. Failure to do this can result in your horse having worms that can result in significant harm, or even sometimes in death. This is important with many animals, and should be tended to regularly.
Horses also need to have regular exercise and plenty of love and attention. Make the time with your horse enjoyable by giving it a good brushing before and after you ride it. Offer affection and yummy treats such as apples or sugar cubes to encourage it to think of you as his friend. By making friends with your horse, it will try even harder to please you.
Do not forget to clean under your horses feet with a hoof pick daily, as well as before and after you ride it to make sure that it has not picked up a rock in his hoof as this will make it lame. You will also need to have his hooves trimmed by a farrier every 8 weeks to keep its feet from getting cracked, sore or overgrown.
During winter, you may need to provide a rug for your horse, especially if the winter months are particularly cold. Horses that are in stables will also need to have rugs for the night as they can not move around to keep warm.
Remember that having a good horse feed is something that is important. You want to research your particular breed of horses and see what kind of diet they will do best on. Another thing to keep in mind is not only what kind of breed of horse you have, but what their lives are like. Are they racing horses, or working horses, or are they just horses that you keep as pets to ride. Do you show them, or are they simply farm horses? These are all important questions to ask, because the answers to these questions will help you figure out what the best diet is to give your horse.
There are many things that you have to be concerned with when you are raising animals. In general, animals should always follow certain paths and should do certain things, and as an animal owner you have to be sure that you are watching for these things and taking steps to correct things that might be going wrong. You want to be sure that you are doing whatever you can to insure that your animal is being raised healthily, and being raised in a way that makes him into the best animal you can have. A horse is something that you have to pay close attention to, because there are so many things that could go wrong. If you haven’t been around horses, you should get some horse books and read up on them because if you don’t’ know what things to watch out for, you might not be able to tell when something is wrong.