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New horse owners learn basic do's and don'ts of equine husbandry |
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By JULIET BRISKIN | Central Texas Edition |
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May 9, 2002 -- New horse ownership can be a daunting endeavor, but the Texas Cooperative Extension Service hosted a new horse owners workshop on April 23, at the Pearce Pavilion in College Station to provide information to those new to equine ownership. The day-long event covered basic safety, general health care, body condition scoring, and basic horse nutrition. Dr. Mike Martin, a field services horse veterinarian with Texas A&M University, stressed the need for asking a horse to do new activities in increments. He explained that by asking a horse to take small steps, eventually he will understand the bigger picture. Martin also stressed the need to remove pressure from the horse as soon as he responds to the owners' re-quest. "Use a little bit of pres-sure," he said. "When the horse responds, take off pres-sure and reward the animal." According to Martin when considering the health of the horse there are three main things that need the most attention; infectious diseases, parasites and nutrition. "Pay close attention to nutrition," he said. "So many problems can be avoided with a good nutrition plan." Martin explained that deworming products come in many different forms and with the help of a nutritionist or vet the horse owner needs to determine what is best for their animal. Becoming familiar with the various products on the market is very important according to Martin. "One thing you need to know about a fairly new product called Quest, is that it's safety margin is very narrow," he said. "You can get in to trouble with Quest if you don't know what you're doing. If you are not sure how a wormer is working on your horse, take a fecal sample and have it run by a veterinarian. They can tell you if your wormer is working or not." Martin suggested that the first time horse buyer should try to get as much information about the horse's health history. "It is important to get a program together and lay out a calender for the year," he stated. "You need to figure out how you are going to worm the animal -- every 60 days or on a continuous product. Dentistry is a big deal as well. Certain age horses such as three-year-olds that are shedding a lot of teeth and of course the older horses need good dental care." Martin went on to emphasize the need to vaccinate a horse. "Be sure and vaccinate for diseases or you are going to kill your horse," he said. "Sleeping sickness, rabies and tetanus are the important ones, but there are also respiratory diseases such as strangles, flu and rhino, that the horse needs to be protected against." Dr. Brett Scott, Extension equine specialist, discussed the importance of estimating the weight of a horse and how to score the body condition of a horse. According to Scott "you need to be accurate as possible with weight when worming a horse." He stressed that inaccurate worming doses can kill a horse. The scoring system Scott uses is a scale of one to nine with 5.5 to 7.5 representing the optimum score. Scott emphasized that learning to score a horse takes time and practice. When estimating the weight of a horse Scott outlined a method that if done correctly will allow an owner to come within about 50 pounds of the horse's actual weight. "To do this you need a cloth measuring tape. Measure the heart girth and the body length then square the heart girth measurement and multiply it times the body length of the horse," he explained. "Divide the total by 330 and you will get a very close estimate of the weight of your horse." |
