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Welcome to our Videos page, here you will find the step by step video guide on teaching you how to attend to your Horse and his needs. You can find helpful tips on Grooming, Strapping your Horse, Lunging, Applying a Tail Bandage and Stable Bandage.You can find more useful tips below on, How to Care for your Horse, Feeding your Horse, Horse Behaviour and Points of the Horse..
To view any of the videos on the step to step guide just click on the Title and it will take you direct to the link
How to Care for your Horse
The horse has been with man throughout history and has served a variety of practical purposes, most notably horses have been used as a means of transport but also as a work horse in agriculture. Today, the power, agility, gracefulness and speed of the horse means that horses are mostly used for personal pleasure and utilised in competitions.
Because of their size and strength, horses are often misunderstood by people who don't know much about them. They often assume horses require little care - just stick them in a field and they'll be fine. They also tend to underestimate the safety aspects of being around horses - safety for both horse and human. Finally, many novice horse people, and even some experienced ones, don't understand horse behaviour and communication and so handle the horse inappropriately.
Always remember that the primary source of health care advice for your horse should be your veterinarian who knows the specifics of your animal and your situation. If in doubt, ask your veterinarian.
To find out more information about horses and ponies select a category from the list below.
HOOF CARE
Cleaning
A hoofpick is probably the most important tool in a grooming kit. Always clean your horse’s hooves before and after riding. Whether or not they are ridden, horses kept in stalls or confined areas should have their hooves picked out daily to prevent thrush. Horses on pasture should have their feet cleaned periodically.
Trimming
Like our fingernails, a horse’s hooves grow continuously. They need to be trimmed every six to eight weeks to keep them in proper shape.
Trimming is a job for a trained farrier. An inexperienced person can easily trim the hoof wall too short or pare too much sole, causing the horse to be sore. More importantly, the hoof must be balanced precisely to the horse’s natural way of going or he’s going to end up lame. The skill required to keep a hoof properly balanced takes a lot of training and practice to develop. In the long run, it’s cheaper to pay for a good farrier than risk ruining your horse.
Shoeing
Horses who are doing a lot of work or working on hard ground will need to be shod. Some horses with weak hoof walls, flat soles or other problems might need shoes even if they’re not working. Consult your farrier or veterinarian for advice.
Shoes need to be reset every six to eight weeks. Leaving them on too long can damage the hoof. If a shoe comes loose without coming off completely, it can also injure the horse. (Never pull off a loose shoe without cutting the clinches first.)
FEEDING YOUR HORSE
What should I feed my horse?
For our purposes, feed for horses can be divided into three categories: pasture, hay and concentrates.
Pasture
The most natural food for horses is good quality pasture. Most mature pleasure horses doing light work will do well on pasture alone if they have sufficient grazing. However, horses are selective grazers and need a large area to meet their nutritional needs. Just because a field is green does not mean it contains sufficient grazing for a horse, and depending on where you live, for a large part of the year pasture is not available.
You can optimize the amount of grazing available by dividing your pasture into sections and rotating your horses through the different paddocks. That way, you give the grass a chance to grow back and can pick up the manure.
Hay
Hay is the basic food of domestic horses. Only feed good quality hay to horses. Inspect hay carefully before buying it, asking the seller to open a bale. Make sure the bales are green and dust and mold free. Stick your hand down into the centre of a bale to make sure it's not warm. Feeding moldy hay can cause colic and dusty hay can cause respiratory problems. (To avoid dust, it's a good idea to pull the flakes apart and shake them out well before feeding. As a precaution, you can also soak hay before feeding.)
HORSE BEHAVIOUR
One of the most interesting and most difficult aspects of horsemanship is learning to understand our horses and relate to them on horse terms. It always fascinates me that people consider themselves superior to animals and yet expect animals to learn our language rather than the other way around. Horses and dogs both learn to respond to complicated human demands but people often misinterpret basic horse and dog communication.
Building trust
As prey animals, horses have a very strong sense of self-preservation. Their instincts are to run quickly from any threat and to stay within the security of the herd. With good training and positive experiences behind him and a confident rider sitting on top, a mature horse will follow directions instead of instinct to a large extent. But we have to realize that the flight and herd instincts are just below the surface. It's our responsibility to build the trust that keeps instinct in check and the horse manageable.
Trust between people or between people and animals is built on a history of positive interaction. In order to trust someone, we have to believe they will respond consistently and appropriately in a given situation and that they will follow through with what they say. The same goes for horses. To build trust, we must respond appropriately and consistently to their behaviour or anticipated behaviour and once started on a course of action, follow through.
Understanding what horses are saying..
Consistency and follow-through are simply a matter of self-discipline on our part, but appropriate response is only possible if we understand what we are responding to. In other words, we have to learn to understand what our horses are saying. After all, why should a horse trust a person who responds angrily to her fear on the one hand, or sheepishly to her bravado on the other?
Because people are verbal, we tend to dismiss other forms of communication. Horses don't use words. They don't even use sounds to any great extent. But watch horses as they interact with one another and with people. Their ears, eyes, muzzles, tails and body posture are all communicating.
Horses are social animals. As herd members, they interact with other horses continually and use a system of communication to let herd-mates know what they want and don't want. (Animal behaviourists disagree about how much animal communication is under conscious control and how much is automatic reaction to a stimulus, but that argument needn't concern us here.)
Calls, body positions, movements, and odours are all methods of communication. We can't sense the odour or chemical messages, but we can see and hear the others. Sit on the fence some sunny afternoon and be a silent spectator. See what signals you can recognize. The ability to understand horse body language makes our association with horses more rewarding and safer.
Equine body language
The most obvious signal is overall body outline. It's easy to tell the difference between the high, rounded outline of an excited horse and the flat outline of a relaxed one.
Ears
Ears are good indicators. They point in the direction of the horse's attention. Both ears pricked forward may look pretty, but when you're riding, you want at least one ear on you. Ears pinned back indicate anger or fear. (Fear and anger are closely related in people too.) Ears moving back and forth often indicate uncertainty. Some beginners misinterpret any backward pointing of the ears as anger, but it's the horse with ears flat back who's liable to kick.
Tail
The tail is also very expressive. 'High-tailing' is a well-known sign of excitement, but did you realize horses flatten their tails between their legs like dogs when frightened? A horse who scoots away from something with his tail tucked under is truly scared. Tail lashing is a sign of irritation and annoyance. A kinked tail is a sign of submissive fear and often precedes a buck.
Facial signals
More subtle for us are facial signals. In her book The Horse's Mind, Lucy Rees has a diagram of mouth and nose signals. A long nose and tight mouth show anxiety and fear. Horses will also show 'worry wrinkles' above the eyes. Watch a horse being taught something new. At first, his mouth will be tight. Then in the moment he understands, you'll often see the mouth relax and chew.
A wrinkled nose indicates annoyance and disgust. A horse threatening to bite has an open mouth and perhaps bared teeth. (Not the same as 'mouthing' in foals which is a submissive gesture.) A long nose with a slightly open mouth shows the horse wants to mutual groom, a gesture you may have seen while currying your horse. It becomes the characteristic long nose, drawn-back lower lip and extended neck when you find 'the spot'.
