I don’t know about you, but when the summer hits I tend to be glued to the weather forecast planning my training, and changing length, intensity and timing ad-hoc usually before the sun rises, and again late afternoon. It really depends where one lives but in hotter climes checking temperature, humidity, wind speed becomes rather…
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How to keep your equine partner’s electrolyte intake balanced in the heat. Summers are a story, of chilling in the pastures, or doing the rounds at competitions, it all depends on where we live. The bottom line though remains, it is hot! And a horse that sweats loses electrolytes, which must be replaced for your…
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Did you know that your shoulders can throw your pelvis out? Did you know that your horses TMJ (temporomandibular joint) affects your horse’s hind end? Matthias Agneessens manual therapist and founder of Move2Ride, has this to say on the matter. “If your shoulders tip forward, so do your seating bones, and you end up loading…
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Also presenting at Move2Ride´s Equine Edge conference, Yogi Sharp aka The Equine Documentalist, as a farrier on a mission to improve hoof health, talked in tune with Sue Dyson, advocating keeping horses outside boxes, in the case of space constraints track systems could do the trick. He bridges ongoing scientific research with practical application. But…
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So, I’ve attended The Equine Edge conference, organised by Move2Ride the other day, and this is what stood out, hooves! Experts in their field, underlining their wisdom referring to studies, drummed home the importance of free daily movement for our horses to develop and maintain their bodies for soundness, mental health and performance. Sue Dyson,…
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Oh, oh.. that sight of an empty paddock, or, hang on, didn’t I release five horses into the field this morning? I count four; where is the fifth!? I do spot something chestnut in the distance…how on earth did he get out? The detective work and catching the mischievous pony is kind of fun when…
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We’ve probably all come across a water-shy horse at some point, resulting in a tedious discussion and futile attempts to explain to said horse that it is ok the water won’t bite you. Our equine friend continues to say no, leading to frustration, urging and pushing, whilst our horse’s feet simply stay stuck. The solution…
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We’ve all been there. Temperatures drop and we feel cold, but do our horses? Picture this: The sun goes down. We reach for our down jackets to head to the paddock to wrap our equine friend in his rug to snuggle up for the night. The sun comes out, we head to the paddock to…
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It is easy to fall into the trap that cold means less thirst, and therefore, it is only normal that our horses need to drink less when it’s cold. Whilst it is true that they will drink less than in summer, the basic need must be covered. On average, horses tend to drink 30 to…
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Our equine partners in northern climes may well have a little more time off than usual, depending on whether we have indoor arenas to train them or not. However, whether your horse enjoys a winter holiday or not, he definitely requires the calories needed to keep him warm. You could be forgiven for thinking, oh,…
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