Basic Horse Health

Horses are like any living creature they need love, food, water, shelter, and proper care survive. Are you providing the necessary needs to your horse? Horses need to have the proper amounts of grain and roughage a day so they do colic. The roughage needs to be clean hay or grass because bad hay can cause a horse to colic. Colic is when a horse basically gets a belly ache. However, the horse tends to lay down and tries to roll constantly. This can cause the horses intestines to become twisted and possible death if the colic is not treated properly. Always try to get the horse up and walking around and get a vet to give the horse the proper medication. Normally a pain relaxer such as ban amine works great.   

Also providing some type of shelter can help decrease chances of fungus, sunburn, and illness. A shelter during the winter and rainy months will help prevent rain rot and illness. While a shelter during the summertime will provide shade so a light colored horse will not become sunburnt. Which can be very painful for a horse.  Make sure that the horse has a clean source of water. You don’t want algae or any other critters swimming in the water because this can increase their chance of worms and internal pests. With this known it is also important to make sure you are giving routine vaccinations and wormers to protect your horses from spreading diseases that may be going around such as West Nile.

I hope that this quick bit of horse care tips helps you in establishing a healthy horse!

The Horse

Horses have been around for decades and they come into the world like anything else through birth. Horses have been wondering the ranges and some have even become domesticated pets for years now. But did you know that horses are designed with strong balance so they can flee any predator attack. And with that same thought they are also able to sleep lying down or standing up. I wish I could do that!

Once a mare (a female horse) is breed she will carry the baby for 11 months before it is born. Once a horse is born it is referred to as a foal. And they can normally stand and run in a very short time period after birth. When a horse is free it entire life it will stay with a herd and if it is a mare she too will have a baby when of age. If the horse is stud it will eventually fight to be the herd leader.

However, if the horse is domesticated most people will start training the horse for riding around the age of 2 and 4. When a horse reaches 5 years old it is normally done growing. And they have a pretty extensive life span for an animal. They can live up to 25-30 years old. Did you know that domesticated horses if treated properly normally live longer than wild horses because they do not have the dangers of the wild and most of the time do not have to worry about a limited food and water source.

Mustang Horses

This Week I want to take the time to let everyone know about some of the prettiest, toughest, All American Hearted horses around. The Mustang. Mustang horses have roamed the hills, valleys, and mountains for years even before the settlers came. They are one with the land. But the truth be known, Mustangs are not considered wild horses, they are considered feral because they were brought over here by the Spanish and then Americans claimed them to quickly travel the terrain.

Mustangs have had a tough life, once settlers began settling the United States, Mustangs were pushed further and further west until really there wasn’t much room for them anymore. Landowners started shooting them because there wasn’t enough land for cattle and all the Mustangs to graze. Now in today time the population of true free Mustangs is very slim. There are only a handful of true free mustangs that roam the hills of the west. However, there are many Mustangs in captivity by people who have been rescued form slaughterhouses or had nowhere else to go.

Now that you understand and know the Mustang background a little better. Do your part, by researching the Save a Mustang Foundation today. They provide great services to these horses.