If you already own a horse or are thinking of purchasing a horse…please think of basic horse care that the horse will need.

The very basic care would include:  (1) trimming feet every 5 to 8 weeks, depending on the horse – average horse would be every 6 weeks, (2) deworming (average 4 times/year and vaccinations (twice a year – spring and fall) and (3) cost of quality hay and/or grain, and (4) dental work as in teeth being floated (average once a year).  This is the basic care a horse should have, therefore, the horse should be educated to receive all the items included on the basic care list.

There are a great number of horses for sale these days.  A person who owns an unhealthy and/or unbroke horse is going to have a very difficult time trying to sell or to even find a good home for that horse.

Bob Avila says it best:  ”When an owner doesn’t instill enough handle on a horse for him to accept delivery of basic care, he’s put his horse’s future at risk.  To me, that’s borderline abuse –horses like that can fall through the cracks into dire straits, should an owner’s life circumstances change.”

Please think of your horse’s future in case circumstances in your life might change.  Try and give your horse the best possible chances to not fall through the cracks!

Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) is a multifaceted health problem that is prevalent in 60 to 90 percent of adult horses.  I find this high percentage rate very alarming!!!  Horses in training have greater severity and higher prevalence of gastric ulcers.

EGUS is sometimes very hard to recognize and diagnose.  Some of the subclinical signs are irritability, poor hair coat, lack of “heart” and desire and/or if you feel your horse is just not doing right.  More clinical signs would be colic, gastric rupture, weight loss, poor body condition, poor appetite, poor performance, etc.  Other signs could be excessive salivation, teeth grinding, gastric reflux, depression, and abdominal pain.  An endoscopy is required to determine/confirm  a gastric ulcer in your horse.

The main purpose for this blog, on EGUS, is to inform everyone that ulcers are not just found in stressed horses or horses in training.  There are a number of factors that can be stressful to horses such as an unfamiliar environment, weaning, regrouping and lay-ups.   Gastric ulcers have been diagnosed in pastured and infrequently ridden pleasure horses as well.

This evening I was looking through my March issue of “Horse and Rider” and found an interesting article discussing a new alternative that reaches beyond equine massage.  The article is a small portion of a new book titled… Beyond Horse Massage: A Breakthrough Interactive Method for Alleviating Soreness, Strain, and Tension by Jim Masterson, with Stefanie Reinhold.  Jim Masterson is the massage therapist for the United States Equestrian Team endurance team, and for equine clientele competing in the Federation Equestre Internationale World Cup, Pan American, and World Games competitions.

I found the article very interesting in many ways but the best part is that it is something we can learn to do ourselves!  A quote from the article:  “In contrast to most traditional treatment modalities, the Masterson Method enables the horse to actively participate in the process of releasing tension.  It is something you do with the horse, rather than to the horse.  In fact, if you don’t allow the horse to participate, it doesn’t work.”  His method helps to alleviate soreness, strain and tension.  He discusses the three main junctions of the horse which are (1) Poll-Atlas Junction, (2) Neck-Shoulders-Withers junction and (3) hind-end junction.  He describes the signs to watch for that demonstrate you are on a blocked area of tension and that you are applying the right level of touch…the signs from the horse will be blinking, dropping his head and softening, sneezing and snorting, yawning and shaking it out.

If you subscribe to the magazine Horse and Rider…I would suggest you read the article.  I went to their website and it says the article can only be found in the magazine and not online.  The book can also be purchased through HorseBooksEtc.com