Keeping your horse healthy is a full-time job. Health professionals explain the most important things how to keep a horse healthy.
1. Monitor your horse’s health through grooming
As recommended by Sue Palmer, the equine physiotherapist
In the rush to fit riding our horses around work, family and social life, grooming is usually cut short and only enough to make sure our horse is clean enough to ride.
This year, adjust your schedule so that once a week you’re giving your horse a thorough grooming session for at least one hour.
Brush your horse all over
Observe your horse’s reactions as you groom – if he flinches, puts his ears back or swishes his tail he could be in discomfort.
Once you’ve finished with brushes, use your hands to feel all over your horse. Feel for heat, swelling or sensitivity, always comparing left with right.
Doing this once a week will let you know what’s normal for your horse.
2. Keep your horse at a healthy weight
As recommended by Dr Teresa Hollands, the equine nutritionist
If your horse is overweight, it can put him at risk to all sorts of health issues and 80% of ponies and 25% of horses in the UK are overweight.
The good news is that it’s preventable so if your horse is at risk because he’s a good-doer, you can protect him by using this checklist:
Ensure he’s eating enough bulk, while controlling calories, so know the energy value of what he eats.
Check his fat score across his body by checking him once a fortnight.
Ride, lunge or lead for 30 minutes a day, six days a week to increase his heart rate to 80bpm.
Turn him out wearing a muzzle, rather than leaving him stabled.
Balance his diet with a vitamin and mineral supplement or balancer.
3. How to keep a horse healthy – check their teeth regularly
As recommended by Martin Brookes, the equine dental technician
The diet of domesticated horses means that they don’t wear their teeth down as they would in the wild. It’s recommended that horses have their teeth checked every six to 12 months.
Signs of dental problems can include quidding (dropping balls of food), a foul odor from the mouth or nasal passage, or evading pressure and the contact when ridden.
4. Let your horse live as nature intended
As recommended by Colin Mitchell, the veterinary surgeon
The key thing I’d recommend to horse owners for a horse’s long-term health and welfare is quite simple: as much turnout for grazing as possible.
Turnout provides exercise and can help with weight control. However, horses in the wild would spend all day grazing rough hill land just to eat enough calories to maintain their weight, so fertilized, improved grazing can lead to weight gain, meaning special care is required for these types.
A horse who’s constantly eating fibre also produces large amounts of saliva, which buffers stomach acid and the grinding action helps keep the teeth healthy, so a turned out the horse is much less likely to suffer from gastric ulcers and dental problems.
There are situations where horses can’t be turned out, for example when recovering from surgery or injury, but otherwise the more turnout the better.
5. Protect your horse’s feet
As recommended by Ben Benson, the farrier
One of the biggest factors in how to keep a horse healthy is the environment your horse lives in, so my top tip is to make sure your stable management and foot care routines are up to scratch.
If your horse is messy in the stable, trying different bedding can help. Drainage is also key, but if it can’t be altered or is insufficient, then layering and absorbent product underneath the bulk of his bedding will soak up the wet and stop it splattering on to feet, legs or rugs, as well as making mucking out easier!
Scrubbing out your horse’s feet regularly will remove stuck-on mud, which can act as a sponge for bacteria.
Once properly dry, painting a good quality hoof product, such as Kevin Bacon or Silverfeet on to the frogs, soles and hoof walls will help to waterproof your horse’s feet and stop droppings or mud sticking to them.
Hoof horn is modified skin and needs to be kept supple to minimize cracking. The best test for any hoof oil is to rub it into your own skin and see how it feels after 10 minutes. Too many products act as a barrier instead of a moisturizer and protector.
6. Stem Cell treatments for your horse’s health improvement
As recommended by Dr Nauris Laizans, FEI veterinarian
In case your horse has any health problems related to tendons, ligaments or any other soft tissue, cartilage or joint injuries, it is crucial to see your veterinary as soon as possible.
In the early stages of trauma, stem cells have a great healing and regeneration effects that have already helped several thousand horses to get back to work and significantly improve their quality of life. You can learn more about horse tendon, ligament, joint and cartilage injury treatment with the newest generation of effective Stem Cell Therapy by contacting us directly. We also provide expert consultations to help you keep your horse healthy!
Medrego team reminds you: keep your horse healthy and happy, and don’t forget to check its health regularly!
