Although the actual purchase of a racehorse may be a fairly simple one, actually owning, training and maintaining it is far from easy. Owning a racehorse involves having a lot of knowledge about the animal, how to care for it and how to get the most out of it in regard to racing, not to mention the time you will need to dedicate to it. If you like the idea of owning a racehorse but either don’t have the money, time or experience to do so, there is another option – buying shares in a horse. There are several reputable companies online that allow anyoneRead More →

You’ve done the searching, you’ve combed the classifieds, you’ve test ridden several horses and you’ve settled on THE ONE. What do you need to do now? Write the seller a check, load up and head down the road? You can… but depending on what you want to do with the horse, your level of long term commitment to the horse and your goals for the horse, a pre-purchase exam might be money well spent. What is a pre-purchase exam? A pre-purchase exam is a series of tests performed by an equine veterinarian that determines the horse’s current soundness and health and can identify problems thatRead More →

Buying a horse is actually the simple procedure of exchanging pounds and pennies for an animal of your choice. But buying an animal suited to your abilities is a difficult task. Before looking for a horse decide what use and purpose the horse will serve, for pleasure, for breeding, or for showing. Each of these is in a different category and requires a different kind of animal. However, you may be fortunate enough to find a combination of all three attributes. Consider these tests before you buy a horse: 1. Look at him from a distance and examine his build as a whole. This isRead More →

When looking for a new working hunter horse I always look out for a few key qualities in the horse. When looking for a working hunter the first thing we look for is what we would describe as a nice stamp of a horse or rather good posture, good straight movements and good eyes and features. I personally like Irish horses that are true to type for their class and I don’t tend to go for foreign horses. In terms of age, I like three year olds, rising four, just broken and being ridden. For less experienced riders, I would recommend a minimum of aRead More →

As a horse owner you want to know the amount of nutrients your horse takes in. A well balanced diet is important to keep your horse healthy. Protein and sugar especially need attention. Our specialist diet team receives many questions about the levels of protein and sugar in feed. To give you a rough guidance we have put together some rough figures. Horses who are grazing a lot become too fat quickly. How can you prevent that? By giving less hard feed? In that situation, what about the vitamins and minerals? One solution is to give specialist biscuits. With one biscuit a day you giveRead More →

The RSPCA is urging horse owners and farmers to check their electric fencing after being called twice in a week to deal with reports of deer trapped in the fencing. In both cases the deer were freed and released unhurt. Lee Hopgood, an RSPCA Cheif inspector was called to a report of a fallow deer caught buy its’ antlers in fencing at Stourport-on-Severn, on 9 September and to another incident in Halesowen on 12 September. The British Horse Society have backed the RSPCA telling horse owners that “It’s common sense really, regardless of whether it is a deer stuck in your fencing or your horse,Read More →

Fossils show that the horse’s earliest ancestors cna be traced back about 55 million years to Eohippus – a small mammal with four toes on its front feet and three on its hind feet. Over millions of years this animal gradually developed a single hoof on each foot and longer limbs so it could move over wide areas in search of food. Theses animals roamed in herds for saftey. As the horse travelled across the continents, th differing climates and terrain produced a different kind of horse. The hotter climates produced horses that could cope with the extreme temperatures. Horses from hotter climates were notedRead More →

Has your horse ever crowded you, bit you or bucked? Has your horse ever tossed his head or wont take a bridle? Well in this article we are going to address 5 tips to stop bad horse behavior. If any of these describe your horse, then you’re dealing with bad horse behavior. While each of these problems can have their own specific solutions, it turns out that by applying some very general but effective horse training principles, we can go a long way toward eliminating all of these problems. When it comes to horse behavior, many problems can be reduced to one of two issuesRead More →