Health & Education
We all want the best care possible for our horses. The Heath & Education section covers both Learning Institutions, Organizations as well as many sources for equine assistance including Veterinarians and Farriers.
For those who want a to formally study horses, the Education section includes College Riding, Equine Studies, and Veterinary Schools. Learn about the wide variety of horses in the Horse Breeds section. Supplements and Treatments Therapy are also included in the section.
Everyone can learn from Fine Art and there are some specialty Museums that might surprise you.
Horses as a therapy partner enrich the lives of the disabled. These facilities are listed in our Therapeutic Riding section. To help children and young adults build confidence and grow emotionally, please see the resources available on the Youth Outreach page.
Looking for a place to keep your horse? You can find it in the Horse Boarding section. Traveling? Find a Shipping company or Horse Sitting service if your horse is staying home!
Want to stay up to date with the latest training clinics or professional conferences? Take a look at our Calendar of Events for Health & Education for the dates and locations of upcoming events.
Do we need to add more? Please use the useful feedback link and let us know!
If we can look at behavior as the expression of an individual, we can also see that it is a dynamic entity that constantly changes. It has some components that are species specific like instincts, others coming from life experienced through memory, and some that are unconscious, like emotions. All of these are filtered through an individual’s personality.
Behavior can be influenced through the learning process, defined as the acquisition of information. In horsemanship a very important part of the information comes from the interaction between human and horse and we, horsemen, need to take responsibility for this. Aside from what can be openly perceived, learning produces a much hidden fact: the stimulation of neural cells, which causes the production of new molecules (proteins). These changes at cellular level determine the new way the cell and the whole individual will respond to a stimulus at a later time. This is true for humans and for horses or any other kind of animal.
In light of this, it is very important that in horsemanship we make so communication and understanding of each other really works both ways, from human to horse and from horse to human.
Breed Profile: The Akhal-Teke
Courtesy of The Akhal-Teke Association of America
A horse like a shimmering gold mirage, its head held high, almond eyes focused on you, poised to leap into action, yet held by the tether of its deep bond with the human beside it.
That is the quintessential Akhal-Teke, a race that has shared its history with humans for thousands of years and is among the oldest equine breeds.
ORIGINS
These horses are descendants of the steeds that enabled the Scythians to dominate Central Asia until the 4th century BC, described by the Greek historian Herodotus as controlling a vast empire from the Russian Steppes and India westward to the Baltic and the Caspian Sea, The Scythians were partly pastoral, partly nomadic raiders who supplied slaves to the Greeks. Fast horses were essential to their trade.
It is claimed the Ice Maiden of the Altai Mountains, discovered 11 years ago and widely publicized in America through the Nova special, was a Scythian. This woman, who lived over 24 centuries ago, according to radio-carbon dating, was buried with six horses in gilt harness. Her tribe has been called the Pazyryks. They occupied the mountain plateaus that now lie on the border between Russia and China. The Ice Maiden must have been a powerful figure to merit the sacrifice of so many horses, although in fact 5 were geldings and the sole mare was found to have crippling arthritis in her joints.
by Dr. J Kathleen Young
Much like human athletes, performance horses have special nutritional needs. And with all athletes, it’s important for diets to match activity and athletic level, to reach the highest level of achievement.
“These six tips may help you to supply your horse with adequate energy to support optimal performance,” says Katie Young, Ph.D., equine nutritionist with Purina Animal Nutrition.
Know if it’s anaerobic or aerobic exercise
Physical activity is broken into two general categories, aerobic and anaerobic, and it can be helpful to understand the science.
Anaerobic exercise, characterized by short bursts of maximum effort, is primarily fueled by glycogen, a polysaccharide which is composed of sugars and stored in muscle fibers. Soluble carbohydrates from the diet provide the building blocks for glycogen.
Read more: Six Ways to Feed Performance Horses for Greater Achievement
Dr. Eleanor Kellon, Staff Veterinary Specialist for Uckele Health & Nutrition
Everyone looks forward to the warm weather as the ideal time to ride or work their horse. Most understand the dangers of working the horse under conditions of high heat and humidity. However, the horse can be compromised easily under less than sweltering conditions if you do not know how to correctly protect them.
Horses control their body temperature primarily by sweating. In warmer weather, it becomes crucial to support and maintain proper hydration, whether doing endurance training, events, trail rides, or standing in a field in hot weather.
Hydration isn’t just about water intake or loss
Sweating also causes significant losses of salt. Losing both can lead to devastating consequences. Horses can lose water volume up to 4 gallons per hour, and as much as 4 ounces of salt per hour. The Sodium in salt, which is Sodium Chloride, is absolutely essential for the horse's body to retain normal, healthy levels of water. Regardless of how much water the horse drinks, it will not be able to retain a normal amount of water in the body without adequate Sodium, or salt.
The brain reads Sodium levels in the blood to stimulate the horse to drink when it needs hydration. When water levels drop and Sodium concentration rises, the horse is signaled to drink. However, before any changes in water or Sodium levels in the blood can occur, the body will pull what it needs out of the tissues to maintain blood levels. This can, and does, result in inadequate hydration levels at the tissue level before it shows up in the blood.
The American Bashkir Curly is one of the most mysterious breeds. It’s the only known hypoallergenic horse. People who are allergic to horses often find that they are not allergic to Curly Horses.
These unique horses with a curly coat are indeed a breed, a very old ancient breed found in art and statuary in early China as far back as 161 AD. There is also historic evidence of their presence in South America and Europe.
How did the Curly horses come to the USA? The answer is still uncertain, but there is proof that the Curlies have been in North America since the early 1800s.
Many Indian pictographs illustrating the "Winter Counts" (number of horses in their herd) have noted that in the winter of 1801-1802 the Sioux had stolen some curly horses from the Crow. This incident placed the tribes at the Standing Rock/Cheyenne River Reservation at the mouth of the Grand River in the Dakotas.
A significant location of the Curlies today has been traced to Indian Reservations in North and South Dakota. Many Curlies then and now have been acquired from the wild horses that roam the open lands of the United States.
Dr. Eleanor Kellon, VMD, Staff Veterinary Specialist for Uckele Health & Nutrition
It’s never too early or too late to make a difference with joint nutraceuticals.
The first joint nutraceuticals came to the market about 30 years ago and are here to stay with good reason – they work. In fact, a case could be made for supplementation for a horse of any age that is in formal work.
Studies in experimental animals have confirmed that glucosamine alone or in combination with chondroitin sulfate can help prevent the development of arthritis. Among the documented effects are stimulation of hyaluronic acid and collagen production, and improved bone mineral density.
Having conducted several very large scale field trials of joint nutraceuticals over the years, I can attest to their usefulness in young horses in training. Before they show any actual, obvious lameness per se, more subtle weight redistribution occurs, which has negative effects on their gaits. Movements become stiff, often disjointed, with rough transitions. Muscle pain often develops as well and behavior issues may appear.
Feeding the best race horses in the world requires the best horse feed. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and team trust Purina® Race Ready® horse feed to take them to the winner's circle.
Purina is excited to share exclusive insight on what Kiaran McLaughlin puts into caring and feeding each horse – including Derby contender, Mohaymen.
When there is greatness on the inside, it shows on the outside. See how Kiaran’s dedication to each horse’s full potential is complemented by the unique feeds from Purina® .
Whether you are training top Thoroughbreds or spending your time showing, reining, eventing, trail riding or playing polo Purina has a feed that is ideal for your performance horse. Learn more at www.purinamills.com
By Dr. Bill Vandergrift, Courtesy of Triple Crown Feed
Many high performance horses present with weak top lines, characterized by little or no fat covering on either side of the spinal processes and poor muscle definition along the spine from the withers back through the coupling and hip. Performance horses require a strong back to properly balance themselves and power through movements required for racing, galloping, jumping and dressage. A horse with a weak top line is not expected to perform to the best of its ability. The causes of weak top lines are many and often interrelated. To improve the top line, one needs to determine the primary cause. Often, it is much more involved than simply trying to feed more.
Common factors contributing to a weak top line include:
Gastric ulcers | Intestinal inflammation | Chronic pain
Sore back | Subluxation of vertebrae | Inadequate nutrition
Read more: Why Does My Performance Horse Have a Weak Top Line?
Six Professionals Who Are Finding Ways to Make Caring and Mindfulness the Foundation of Their Work with Horses and People
by Rebecca M. Didier
As happens, this story begins with a chance meeting…it was on a beautiful, hard-to-reach island off the coast of British Columbia that two individuals from different parts of the horse world discovered they not only shared an idyllic view, they also had a common goal: to fundamentally change the way the equine industry works, how it affects the lives of those within it, and how they, in turn, influence the world as a whole.
