Tack & Farm
Our Tack & Farm section features an Apparel section to find both practical and fashionable riding attire. If you ride English & Western or Race, many sources are available in the Tack section.
Building a barn? Need an architect for your equine dream home? Find one in Barns & Stalls.
Have a hungry horse? Of course you do! Find a place to buy your feed and tuck your horse in at night in the Bedding & Feed section. Looking for a place to keep your horse? You can find it in the Horse Boarding section. Keep your horse happy and beautiful with resources in our Grooming section.
Traveling? Find a Shipping company or Horse Sitting service if your horse is staying home!
Running and maintaining a farm or stable is a continuous effort, and to help find products or tools you need, please see our Equipment, Fencing and Management Tools sections.
Seeking Services? Find financial and tax expertise in our Accounting section. Companies who will help protect your investment are found in the Insurance section. For those who want legal advice about purchasing, liability, and other issues, please look at the Equine Law section to find an expert. Build and promote your business with teams from Marketing / Videography / Web Design.
Do we need to add more? Please use the useful feedback link and let us know!
Forage makes up between 50 and 90 percent or more of a horse’s diet. Much of the forage part of the diet comes in the form of hay. Because it’s such a big part of the ration, good quality hay can help keep a horse healthy, while poor quality hay can be detrimental.
“As nutritionists and horse owners, we put a big emphasis on the quality of hay we feed,” says Gina M. Fresquez, technical specialist for Equine Technical Services at Purina Animal Nutrition.
“The most important factor determining hay quality is the stage of plant maturity at time of harvest,” says Fresquez. “Young, immature plants contain more nutrients than older, stemmier plants. Though after hay is harvested, the level of hay quality goes beyond the age of the plant at harvest as there are more factors to consider.”
When selecting your horse’s forage, Fresquez recommends keeping these six signs of good quality hay in mind:
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High leaf-to-stem ratio
Think about the leafy greens you eat. You likely prefer greens with leaves rather than just stems. The same is true for your horse.
“Look for more flat leaves in the hay and fewer round stems; this indicates the plant was less mature when cut,” says Fresquez. “More leaves typically mean higher digestibility and nutrient content for your horse.”
by Bonnie Marlewski-Probert
Whether you are going to a horse show, a weekend camping trip or attending a riding clinic at a local stable, trailering your horse is going to be involved. Below are 10 Trailering Tips that will help to make your horse’s next ride stress free.
- Load your horse last. After you have gassed up the truck, loaded your tack, feed, clothing, hitched the trailer, checked that the brake lights and turn signals are working, then and only then should you bring your horse out of his stall. Leaving your horse standing in a hot, enclosed trailer while you try to remember where you left your boots or the cook stove for your camping trip, is just not going to get it done. Not only is it tough on the horse, it is tough on the trailer that will often get kicked by the stressed out, impatient horse within.
by Nikki Alvin-Smith
A new barn is an exciting purchase and before you gallop headlong into the aisleway and slip on the concrete do a quick check on how well saddled up you are for a successful outcome.
Here to help you on your ride are the top five questions that you should ask your prospective builder from a financial perspective:
Will the building company provide you with basic elevations drawings and/or a floor plan (or stamped architectural drawings if needed) for presentation to your local Zoning officials and Building Inspector? Plans can be very expensive to produce and a good builder will provide a barn design, with specs, that meet or exceed the snow load, wind load and other general requirements for agricultural buildings in your area.
Read more: Horse Barn Building 101 – The Top 5 Questions to Ask For Your Financial Well-Being
