Paint Horse World Show
By wstern | January 20, 2009 - 8:47 pm - Posted in Horses

Cowboy mounted shooting, equipment involved, and free style that contains the APHA World Show in Fort Worth Texas, 2005.

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Can my horse infect other horses with strangles if he was boarded on a farm that had an outbreak?
By wstern | - 4:28 pm - Posted in Horses
Adele asked:

The outbreak was a month ago and infected horses are almost recovered. My horse did not get sick, but can he be a carrier? And if so, how long would he need to be quarantined before leaving?
My horse is 18 yrs old. If he has an immunity to strangles, can he still pass the organism to other horses, or does his immune system destroy it so he is not a carrier?

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Latest Paint Horse Rescued
By wstern | January 10, 2009 - 3:07 am - Posted in My Horses

Well I didn't really rescue her, I purchased her from an auction house.  She looked soo pitiful and skinny that I just wanted to make sure she was taken care of. She was stabled next to an older paint mare that was in worse condition than she is. The older mare (7 yrs) was so weak she could barely walk, her feet were in terrible condition with a severe quarter crack and she appeared heevy. I decided to spend what little money I had on saving this young mare (3 yrs).

These poor girls had a great story I have never heard before. Their owner said they were sold on a payment plan and the purchaser had quit paying so he went and repod the horses the day before. Yeah it cost him $400 per horse to get them out of hock and yet he let the older mare go for $275 and this mare for $225. On top of that he said he had a colt that he didn't bring to the sale also available that wasn't paid for either.

After the sale he went on to tell me how I had a $6000.00 horse as that's what he was offered for her as a yearling but of course didn't take. He sold her to this other person who had just begged and begged to buy her. Give me a break! These horse traders must think us buyers are stupid, I would prefer them to let me make up my own mind on a horse as opposed to listening to their lies. Nothing turns me off faster from buying a horse as when the Horse Trader starts talking trash no one believes.

Anyways her registered name is "Revells Ego", she is a black and white tobiano and around 14.3 hands tall.  I have had her since the 4th of January and she is doing very well. I will post additional pics of her as she gains weight. Its hard to see how sunken in she is in her hips, back and shoulder but trust me she is pretty bad. Click on any of the pics to enlarge them.

 

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Glossary of Equine Terms
By wstern | January 9, 2009 - 1:48 am - Posted in Training

Glossary of Equine Terms (These are sooo true!)

a) Hock: Financial condition of all horse owners.
b) Stall: What your rig does at rush hour in an unfamiliar city on the way to a big trail ride.
c) A Bit: What you have left in your pocket after you've been to your favorite tack shop.
d) Fence: Decorative structure built to provide your horse with something to chew on.
e) Horse Auction: What you think of having after your horse bucks you off.
f) Pinto: Green coat pattern found on freshly washed light colored horses left unattended for 2 minutes.
g) Well Mannered: Hasn't stepped on, bitten, or kicked anyone for a week.
h) Rasp: Abrasive metal tool used to remove excess skin from ones knuckles.
i) Lunging: Popular training method in which a horse exercises their owner by spinning them in circles until dizzy.
j) Gallop: Customary gait a horse chooses when returning back to the barn.
k) Nicely Started: Lunges, but not enough health insurance to even think about riding him.
l) Colic: Gastro-intestinal disorder resulting from eating at food stands during horse shows.
m) Colt: What your mare gives you when you want a filly.
n) Easy to Load: Only takes 3 hours, 4 men, a 50lb bag of oats, and a tractor with loader.
o) Easy to Catch: In a 10x10 stall.
p) Easy Rider: Rides good in a trailer; not to be confused with "ride-able".
q) Endurance Ride: End result when your horse spooks and runs away with you.
r) Hives: What you get when you receive the vet bill for your 6 horses, 3 dogs, 4 cats, and 1 donkey.
s) Hobbles: Walking gait of a horse owner after their foot has been stepped on by their horse.
t) Feed: Expensive substance used to manufacture manure.
u) Dog House: What you are in when you spend too much money on grooming supplies and pretty halters or at the horse auction.
v) Light Cribber: Ad in paper due to not being able to afford rebuilding of anymore fencing or box stalls for this buzz saw on four legs.
w) Three Gaited Horse: A horse that... 1) trips, 2) stumbles, 3) falls.

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How do you Train a horse to not Pee?
By wstern | January 1, 2009 - 11:00 pm - Posted in Training

Ok Here is the question:

Q: I have a serious problem with my 3-year-old Warmblood filly I recently purchased. I had her extensively vetted, and she vetted clean. However, after she arrived, I learned that her previous owner had conditioned her to not urinate in her stall. They did not put shavings on top of the stall mats, which, of course, made her inclined to not urinate as it would splatter her legs and feet. We have 12-by-14 stalls, which we bed pretty deeply, and it never occurred to me she would not "go" inside. She would wait until turnout. Sometimes it was more than 16 hours. Once we determined she just was not going to urinate regardless, I began to take her out on her lead rope and walk her twice daily. She will just go while out on her lead rope. I do not want to cause damage to her urinary tract, kidneys, or bladder, but I also do not plan to have a 1,400-pound dog to walk. How do I uncondition this behavior?      --Lynda, via e-mail

How in the heck do you do that?

Here is the answer this person received:

A: In my experience, horses that appear reluctant to urinate, and that are normally well-hydrated and don't have a physical problem or disease, will eventually urinate before incurring harm. So if a horse has been trained to urinate in particular location or to avoid urinating at particular times or places, the horse should urinate before it does harm as long as it has been taking in normal amounts of water. Similarly for horses that have a natural aversion to urinating on a hard surface, in a trailer, or whatever, they will urinate eventually. So if this were my filly, I would feed her a mash or soak her hay in fresh clean water so that I am sure she is ingesting plenty of water, then I would just wait.

Since in the case of your filly you tried for as long as 16 hours and she did not yet urinate, you might take some additional steps to encourage urination. To be very sure she is well-hydrated before putting her in the stall, you could allow her to graze on lush, wet grass for a few hours or overnight. It might also help to change the type of bedding, say, from shavings to straw.

It sounds like it has become her routine to urinate as soon as she is taken outside. The urge to urinate is likely enhanced by this arousal and exercise of moving around, together with a change in environment. So you might be able to take advantage of this tendency to get her to urinate in the stall. If after a few hours in her stall she has not yet urinated, you could take her out of the stall for a walk around inside the barn and into another stall. If that works, then next time just go back to her stall. She should eventually give up the aversion to urinating in her stall.

Urination also seems somewhat socially facilitated in some horses, so if you have a horse that reliably urinates whenever placed into a stall, you could try to incorporate that event into your retraining regimen. For example, you could take that horse out of the stall and into a freshly bedded stall within sight and sound of your filly at the same time that you return your filly to her stall after a walk inside the barn. If this is a learned aversion, the filly should eventually give up the "holding" in her stall.

I have never heard of this before .... anyone else ever heard of being able to condition a horse to not pee in thier stall? Wonder if you can "condition" them to go in one spot?

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