Horse Care Tips and Tricks

Caring for a horse can be a full time job. Hopefully I can make it a little bit easier on you with this article of all the horse care tips and tricks I’ve learned.

Are you about to buy your first horse?

Or are you moving your horse to your own property after boarding?

Have you been taking riding lessons for a while and you want to learn more about your horse?

Do you find that online resources on tack and equipment are often confusing and not to the point?

Then this page is for you!

This page will give you a breakdown of all things related to your horse’s health.

Horse Care Tips And Tricks | The Basics of Equine Healthcare & Supplements

If you are on this website, chances are your horse (whether owned, boarded or simply ridden) is your pride and joy. Your horse’s health and happiness is your top priority.

There are more and more new supplements on the market and new information about how best to tend to your horse’s healthcare. It can be frustrating to sift through this information and there are many untrustworthy sites simply trying to sell you their “cool new thing”.

We know how much you love your horse. So we are determined to make sure he or she always gets the best care by keeping you as well informed as possible!

You want to make sure that you are doing everything you can to keep your horse as healthy and happy as possible. Here on this site, you will find plenty of information on horse healthcare including the basics, what to do if your horse gets sick as well as information on horse supplements.

You will find out what the supplements are, what they do and whether they are right for your horse.

Basic Daily Care For Your Horse

Some basic things you need to do for your horse:

Grooming

Your horse needs to be groomed before and after every ride to keep their coat and hooves clean. If your horse has something in their hoof like a stone and you take them out for a hard ride, it could be very painful and potentially harmful.

After a ride when your horse is sweaty, grooming helps to dry them off and prevents them from getting cold and stiff, reducing risk of injury. Also, your horse should be groomed after a bath to again help with drying their coat off and also to smooth out their coat and untangle their mane and tail.

Ideally, your horse should be groomed every day even when they are not being ridden.

Here’s some of our articles on grooming:

• Step by step guide on how to groom your horse
• Beginner’s guide to washing a horse
• One of our favourite grooming kits
• Our favourite horse shampoo

Hoof care & horseshoes

I personally leave most hoof care duties to the farrier. The exception is picking hooves on a regular basis — which we covered above in grooming.

Here’s a quick article covering the ins and outs of horseshoes.

If you either use or are thinking of using hoof polish on your horse for competitions, you might also be interested in this article on the subject of horse hoof polish. Equally, have a read of this post before you decide on a hoof dressing for your horse!

Insect control

Depending on where you live, this may be more important. It will also depend a little bit on your horse and your horse’s existing health status and tolerance for flies.

Generally, healthy horses will roll in the mud to protect themselves. They should be be able to keep most of the rest of the bugs away by swatting at them with their tails.

Horses that have a low tolerance due to health status or other issues may benefit from having a light turnout blanket or a halter with an eye mask to protect their eyes from flies. This may also be useful in regions that simply have a ton of bugs.

Regular vet visits

Make sure you have a vet for your horse(s) and that they have regular checkups to make sure everything is okay. Preventative vet bills may be pricy but they’re nothing compared to how expensive things can get if anything goes wrong.

Parasite control

Your vet should help you with this!

First aid such as quick wrapping and application of analgesic liminent gels

Have some liminent gels on hand always incase your horse has some joint pain or swelling. Also have wraps on hand for compression of joints, tendons and ligaments.

Horse Supplements – Joint Supplements, Vitamin E & More!

Your horse may require certain supplements at times depending on his or her health, related to the following things:

• Joint
• Immune system
• Deworming
• Digestion
• Muscle

As we talked about earlier, thеrе are so many diffеrеnt types of horse ѕuррlеmеntѕ. You can get supplements for their coats, their bones, their joints, their hooves and anything else you can think of!

Bеfоrе уоu gо out a рiсk just аnу оld ѕuррlеmеnt, tаlk to уоur vеt оr ѕоmеоnе еlѕе who knоwlеdgeаblе and familiar with your horse as every horse is different.

You can also have a read of some of my posts about supplements:

• Should You Care About Horse Supplements?
• Types of Horse Supplements and What They Do
• Vitamin E For Horses: The 3 Reasons You’re Going To Need It!
• Vitamin E for Horses: Why Health-E Is My Favourite Brand
• How to Choose the Best Horse Joint Supplement
• Best Horse Joint Supplement Reviews | What To Buy Your Horse
• The Best Horse Supplements | Our Gallery

In the review of horse joint supplements, I include what exactly each one does, andtheir ingredients (if they are disclosed by the manufacturing company). The review even includes a joint supplement comparison as a detailed table that you can keep for reference. I would actually recommend that if you find it useful, you tape it in your feeding room or somewhere around the barn!

Common Horse Problems

Bald Spots

A very common horse issue that I’ve seen is horses that are balding.

This can be frustrating and concerning for owners. If you were losing hair or if your hair was thinning, you’d be worried right (it’s happened to me and I certainly worry and get frustrated!) so why wouldn’t you do the same for your horse?

If your horse has bald patches and you want to know why, check out this article I wrote about it that goes through all the different reasons why your horse might be losing hair and what to do about it.

Remember that the best thing to do if you have any immediate questions or concerns about your horse’s healthcare and supplements is to get into contact with your trusted veterinarian. If you do not yet have one, ask around and find a good one that is close and convenient to get to.

But for anything else we are always around!

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch anytime if you have any questions 🙂

You can also learn more about healthcare and supplements and your horse’s general healthcare in our catalogue of healthcare articles.

Happy riding!

-Martina

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