Horse Care

Horsemart reader and blogger Lucy Saxelby talks us through some of the tell tale signs of when a mare is getting ready to foal. *Warning* some of the descriptions in this article are quite graphic – this is nature after all!   So you have bitten the bullet and after weeks, months or years of deliberating, you have finally put your beloved mare into foal, probably to a stallion who took a similar level of hesitation for you to choose. Your mare is steadily getting rounder, ...

The new Renewable Energy Heat incentive ‘RHI wood pellet boilers’ scheme has come into much controversy recently. However lately, a rather unusual use for the boiler has emerged.   It has come out that the wife of a previous Ulster Unionist (MLA Neil Somervill) uses the system for the arrangement of her family business.   The pellet boiler is used to run her ‘horse solarium’   Mr Somerville described: "My wife runs the business which...

  Skin. We all have it, and chances are most of us take it for granted, but the skin is the largest organ on yours and your horse’s body. Its importance to your overall health is huge, and your horse is certainly no different. Keeping skin in top condition isn’t just down to good grooming, it can be achieved by feeding the correct nutrients, vitamins and minerals too. Unfortunately the grass in your horse’s field is unlikely to contain everything neede...

Lameness in horses is something that is relatively easy to spot and can end up becoming quite a serious issue if it is not looked after properly. You can usually tell if your horse is lame, by watching its gait. A lame horse will usually develop a limp, which is often recognisable by the bobbing of its head whilst it walks.    One way in which you can examine your horse to see if it is lame or not is to walk it on a lunge line. Often, a horse will appear lame when it first step...

  Have you ever thought about changing your horse’s bedding material? We’ve taken a look at some of the choices of equine materials to help you choose a bedding material that will work best for you and your horse.       Straw Seen as an old fashioned bedding material, and is one of the cheapest beddings on the market. Straw can easily be brought from a local farmer, and produces a traditional, deep bed. There are many different type...