Archive for June, 2012

Surviving “Stall Rest” With Your Horse

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

Everything seems to be going fine when suddenly you feel (or see) that your horse has pulled up lame.  You call the vet and he or she gives your horse a thorough examination.  The prescription is usually the same: Stall rest.

Maintaining the sanity of you and your horse through this time can be tough.  Typically, it is the athletic horse that gets injured, and an athletic horse is a fit horse with a lot of energy.  Usually, the first few days after his injury your horse may be on pain medication and not feel like doing much anyway.   But soon he will be up and looking for something to do.   Be sure you check with your veterinarian get a clear meaning of “stall rest”.  Much of how much you can do will be based on the nature of the injury (mild to severe) and the age/disposition of the horse.  Before doing any activities with your horse, ask your vet:

  • Can stall rest include access to a 12×12 attached paddock?
  • Can he come out of his stall at all to just eat some nearby grass?
  • Can you let him “hang out” in the cross-ties while you groom him?

Keeping your horse’s boredom level down so he doesn’t cause damage to himself or his stall can seem daunting, but there are a lot of options.  You can still interact with your horse and even build a stronger bond.  Here are some ideas to make stall rest time a bit easier:

  1. If necessary, you can move your horse to a barn closer to home so you have more of an opportunity to visit him.
  2. Putting him in a stall designed for him to look out and see things going around are great.  Also, stalls with metal grating between stalls so he can see other horses next to him is better than isolating him in a stall with solid planks.  Classic Equine has several stalls that meet these needs.
  3. If the stall doesn’t have European style fronts or Dutch doors, ask if you can keep the stall door open and attached a sturdy stall guard or even a gate  so your horse can hang his head out, but keep his body in.  Classic Equine Equipment has pasture gates in many shapes and sizes that can also be used as stall doors.
  4. If it’s OK with you, let people know it’s OK to give pats and carrots to your horse when they pass by.
  5. See if  you can also stable your horse in a stall near medium activity at such as near the grooming area so he can see horses as they are being readied to  ride.  Another option is to be located near one of the farrier’s shoeing areas as people typically hung out there with their horses while they were being shod.  This allows you to keep up with your barn friendships as well.
  6. Horses are  social animals and can be happy just having someone nearby.  Take you office work or your  lunch and sit outside the stall while he eats.  It may sound silly, but you can even read to him.  He knows your voice and hearing it will be calming.
  7. There are also many horse toys on the market that can help eliminate boredom.  A simple one to make at  home is to get an empty plastic gallon milk jug and cut a hole in the front of it.  Put horse cookie in it and hang it at a safe height off the ground.  Your horse will soon learn that when he bumps the milk jug the right way, a cookie will fall out.  Of course, make sure you take into account these extra cookies into his daily caloric intake so you don’t end up with a sound, but pudgy horse!
  8. Don’t give up on grooming.  Whether done inside his stall or in the cross ties (the benefit is a change of view) currying and brushing can help with circulation and muscle tone.  You can read up on massage and “carrot stretches” to also keep him flexible during his convalescence.
  9. If you do take your horse out for grooming, whether in the aisle or the g rooming stall, it’s best if there is a soft, secure surface for him to stand on.  Classic Equine Equipment has a variety of safe stall mats.
  10. Always wish you could braid manes and tails like the pros or do one of those  fancy French braids?  Now is a great time to practice.  Your horse will love the attention and will be the envy of the other horses in the barn.
  11. You might even teach your horse a few things stall rest.  If your horse needs work on his ground manners, now is a great time to practice things like ground tying.  Or you can teach your horse the basics of “clicker training.”

Hopefully your horse’s recuperation will be quick.  But in the meantime, I hope these ideas will make it less boring for you and your horse.

 

Posted in Horse Health, Horse Stalls | No Comments »

Enjoy The Sun, But Avoid The Sunburn!

Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

With summer now officially here, you know it makes good sense for you to be careful in the sun with adequate coverage and sunscreen.  But  it’s also important to check your horse for signs of sunburn and learn how to avoid problems.

Sunburn occurs from too much exposure to the sun without proper covering or protection.   It can be caused by a side effect to some drugs, like tetracycline, that cause photosensitivity.  Light-colored horses and horses with white markings can get quite badly sunburned without proper care.  This occurs especially on the muzzle and around the eyes.  Dark-coated, dark-skinned horses usually are not as prone to sunburn, but can experience a certain amount of bleaching of their coat.  The most common is that a black coat turns red.

Since it’s always easier to prevent something than to treat it, here are some suggestions to safeguard your horse against sunburn:

  • Covering your horse with a fly sheet not only protect against flies, but also from the harmful rays of the sun.  The fly sheet has tiny holes that allow air to circulate so he doesn’t get too warm.
  • Use a fly mask, especially one that covers  both his ears and all the way down to the tip of the muzzle.  Many horses have white blazes and snips – anywhere the coat is white with a pinkish tint showing is susceptible to  burning.
  • Use a sun screen product on your horse.  While it is best to use sunscreen  products especially made for horses, it is also possible to use sunscreen  for humans on your horse.  To be safe, use the ones designed for sensitive skin.
  • Apply sunscreen ½ hour before going in the sun and reapply any sun screen products every two hours to maintain its strength.  There are some colored sunscreens that will help you see if the product needs to be reapplied.  For example, if your horse has been grazing on wet grass, the sunscreen on his nose can easily be washed away.
  • You can also use fly spray that contains sunscreen to prevent sunburn as well as control pests.
  • Use shampoos and coat conditioners with sun screen as well for extra protection.
  • Limit your horse’s time in the sun, especially from 12 noon-3pm when the sun is typically strongest.
  • Offer shade for your horse to get out of the sun, e.g. trees, a run in shed, or overhang for his paddock.
  • If some of your horse stalls face the afternoon sun, consider getting shutters on the stall windows that can help block the sun.
  • If you’re going on a trail ride, select a shady route.
  • Turn out your horse at night and keep him out of the sun during the day.

Remember that sun burn can occur even on cloudy days so take the same precautions even when the sun isn’t shining.  If your horse does become sunburned, protect it from further sun exposure and try to keep the area as clean to prevent infection.  You can use sunburn relief products like aloe to help reduce pain and keep the skin moist to avoid peeling.  Antiseptic ointments also work to protect and help heal.  If blisters or some other skin condition develops, it’s best to check with your vet to make sure there’s not some other problem at work.

Posted in Barn Management, Horse Health, Horse Stalls | No Comments »

3 Things to Consider Before Building Your Barn

Thursday, June 21st, 2012

 

Taking a few minutes to think through these three things can help you avoid costly mistakes.

1. Location, Location, Location

One of the most critical decisions you’ll make is where to build your barn.  You want it close enough to your living quarters for easy access, but far enough away so that you can enjoy some quiet time when needed.    You want it close to existing water and electricity so it will be easier to run them to the barn.  You also want close access to the road to make it easy for trailers and maintenance crews (and, God forbid, the fire department), but far away so that you don’t have to worry about traffic.

You  also want to consider the path to and from the barn, to the manure pile, and any potential drainage issues.  You don’t want build at the bottom of a hill as you can end up with all the rain water and snow melt eventually seeping right into your barn.  But you may not want to necessarily be at the top of a hill either.  Dragging bags of feed or rolling a wheelbarrow of shavings up a hill to the barn is extremely tiring.

Once you identify a likely site, if possible wait 4 full seasons before building.  That gives you time to see if there are any ponds that form during the rainy season, or snow drifts during winter.  Which way does the wind blow – don’t take a magazine’s word that it always blows from the north in the winter.  In the Pacific Northwest, the bad weather actually comes from the south and one barn owner had her barn facing the wrong way!

2. Go Big Or Go Home

While everyone is on a budget, it is always a good idea if you build a barn bigger than you think you’ll need it.  It is much easier to “go big” initially than it is to add on later on.  Another horse owner thought she only needed a 2 stall shed-row for her horses.  Then her friend wanted to board her horse at her farm.  Soon the owner realized that she could offset the cost of her horses by boarding other people’s horses.  While it eventually worked out, the owner had to have the builder come back and build an addition.  It would have been cheaper to have built a 4 stall the first time and used the other stalls for storage.

3. Ask For More Than You Think You Need

You can never have enough doors and windows and storage.   Let me repeat that – you can never have enough doors and windows and storage.  If you find out later that you don’t use one of the doors, you can always keep it closed, but you’ll wish you had one when you’re carrying a heavy load all the way around the barn because you only put in one door.  I also recommend that instead of putting windows in a stall, you go ahead and put in a Dutch door.   If you don’t want to have paddocks attached to the stalls, then keep either or both parts of the door closed.  But you may find that one day you do want to add some paddocks and having a door already in place will make that much easier.  Doors at both ends of a stall can also make it easier to clean as you can sweep dirt and shavings outside the barn instead of into the aisle way.

When you are ready to start designing your barn, call the experts at Classic Equine.  They can help you make the decisions that will help you create the barn of your (and your horse’s) dreams.

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Solving the Deworming Debate with a Two-Step Plan

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

The controversy with how to deworm, when to deworm and even IF you should deworm has been loud and heated.   The solutions seem to be either overmedicate (and your horse develops a resistance to dewormers) or don’t deworm at all (and take a chance your horse gets infested).  But there IS happy medium.  Here’s how.

The best place to start is with a fecal egg count (FEC) to determine the high, medium and low “shedder” – those horses that seem most prone to worms.  Typically, 80% of horses are responsible for 20% of the parasites. This easy and inexpensive test by your veterinarian on your horse’s manure helps you identify the horses that need the most aggressive treatment, and allows you to save money and the risk of resistance on the others.  Once identified, you and your veterinarian can help map out the best plan for your horse from the different drug classes of dewormers available.

Next it’s important to give the correct dose by weight.  Use a weight tape of necessary to be sure that your horse is getting the right amount.  And be sure that your horse is swallowing all the medication.  It’s a good idea to have another fecal egg count done 1-2 weeks after deworming to be sure that the medication is doing its job. If you still see a high egg count, it could mean that your horse is not getting the right dose of medication or that the worms are resistant to it.

But getting your horse the right deworming program is only half the battle.  Changes in pasture management are often also needed management to cut the risks that worms will infect or reinfect your horse.  Strongyle eggs are passed in manure. Larvae hatch in the field and are picked up by grazing horses.

Ways to reduce this risk include picking up manure in paddocks, putting hay/grain in feeders instead of the ground, keeping manure away from water sources, reducing the number of horses grazing in each pasture, rotating and resting pastures every few weeks to interrupt worm life cycles, and drag or harrow pastures in hot, dry weather to break up manure piles to kill eggs and larvae.

Parasites are a herd problem so a good plan covers all the horses on the property, whether that’s your backyard or a large boarding stable. The number and age of the horses, the amount of pasture they have and your geographic location are all factors. Frequent trips to shows and new horses coming onto the property can increase ­exposure risks. All new horses should have a fecal count done upon arrival.

Using this plan can help protect your horses from parasites now by cutting back on overuse of medications and underuse of pasture management.

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Stall Mats – the “Swiss Army Knife” of Barn Equipment

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012

Stall mats were originally designed to help provide cushioning for your horse to stand on while stabled.  Typically they are installed over a concrete, gravel or dirt floor.  They can encourage your horse to lie down more.  It can help insulate him from cold or wet ground.  With stall mats, you can use less bedding as you only have to use enough to absorb urine and not for the reasons mentioned above. They are also easier to clean and disinfect.

But did you know that stall mats can be used for a variety of other uses around the barn?  Here are just a few:

  • Use stall mats to alleviate mud – use them at gates where there is alot of horse/people traffic, outside barn doors or stall doors into paddocks.
  • Use them in the barn aisle to provide a safe secure footing for grooming, vet or farrier visits or for cushioning the aisleway when leading horses from their stalls.
  • Use them inside run-in sheds to provide additional comfort and to make them easier to clean.  Use them in front of run-in sheds to keep the ground from being turned into mud as horses repeatedly enter/exit the shed.
  • Use them in your grain room to help make cleanups of spilled grain quick and easy.  If your barrels are kept in a dirt area, putting down stall mats can also help make it more difficult for rodents to burrow up to gobble your grain.
  • Use them in the hay room to keep your hay dry and clean.  Since hay has a tendency to fall apart when flakes are removed, you can put mats down first and stack your hay on top.  When the hay is gone, just sweep up the leftover hay off the mats.
  • Use stall mats in your trailer on both the floor. With stall mats in the trailer, it often isn’t necessary to add bedding.  You can also attach mats to the walls and dividers of the trailer to help keep your horse from bumps and bruises on the road.  Trailer mats also can cut down on the vibrations of a moving trailer.
  • Take a stall mat to the show.  Put it down where you tie your horse to the trailer.  It will give him a soft, secure place to stand and help keep his hoofs clean as well.
  • Turn any area (even your pasture) into a vet or farrier work area by putting down stall mats.
  • Use in outside wash racks – provides traction and eases stress on legs.
  • Use them in your grooming/tacking up area – provides a soft and secure surface for both you and your horse.

If on of your stalls mat is no longer useable, it may still be able to be repurposed.  Though not always easy, stall mats can be cut into smaller pieces and used in other areas of your barn or home – as a doormat in front of the tack room, in the dressing room of your trailer, underneath the mounting block to keep it steady, or under flower pots on your porch or as a weed-block around trees and bushes.

Finally, remember that stall mats are made of rubber and can be recycled!  Ground up rubber can be used in equestrian arenas, playgrounds and as mulch.

Classic Equine has some great stall mats in a variety of sizes to meet your needs.

  • 3/8” or 1/2” Button Mat – perfect for areas where you need extra traction, like wash stalls.
  • 1/2” – excellent for use in your trailer.
  • 3/4” Stall Mat – a great general purpose stall mat.

Check out our Loktuff mats at:  http://www.classic-equine.com/flooring-mats/stall-mats

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