Care for Your Horse Health

Care for your horse health requires a deep dedication and love for the animal. Like all animals, horses must be given normal preventive care to avoid sickness and maintain their good health. The basic requirements for your Care for your horse health are clean fresh air, food and drink everyday. The horses should be kept in a clean stable where water is always available.

Care For Your Horse Health

It should start when feeding the horse or the pony, you must remember that it needs about three percent of its body weight for nourishment daily example grass or hay and hard feed. It must be fed with about seventy percent of grass or hay everyday.

Feed only good quality of grass, hay and feed. Usually, rotten hay can cause stomach pain to the horse. There must be plenty of fiber or bulk in the hay. The utensils for the feed or water must be clean. The food must be given on a regular basis to care for the horse health. Assert at least one hour before putting the horse to its routine exercise.

Oats, barleys, bran, nuts, sugar beet, linseed or a course mix of cereals are good for your horse health. Try to prevent the horse from eating too quickly since this can cause it to choke. One tip is to mix large rocks in the bucket of the horse's food. This way the horse is forced to take smaller amounts of food as it avoids the large rocks.

Foot care is important too for your horse health, so do it regularly. Usually, every four to six weeks depending on the condition of the horse and the weather, the horse's footwear are checked and fixed. At least once a day, the feet of the horse must be unsoiled by removing any stones or mud. Keeping the feet clean at all times would avoid infections and lameness.

Don't forget the teeth of the horse must also be checked at least once a year. Not only it is important for horse health but sharp teeth can be problematic when feeding and riding the horse. To rasp or file the teeth of the horse, the vet would do a floating to remove the sharp points of the teeth.

To prevent horses from growing parasitic worms in their tummies, they must be given a worming program. Depending on the type of worms, for the horse health it should be wormed every eight to thirteen weeks. Veterinarians can give wormers which can be mixed with the horse's daily food. These wormers may be in the form of paste, gel, powder, granules or capsules.

Worms such as the lungworm, pinworm or seatworm, tapeworm and redworms may grow in numbers in the horse's stomach if not treated properly and immediately. Bot eggs can also hatch on the coat of the horse. The horse may also have ringworm which is a contagious skin disease and can be treated through an anti-fungal wash. Therefore for your horse health don't ignore this important facts.

In caring for horse health, you must keep a first-aid kid meant for horses. This would include: a thermometer, petroleum jelly, salt or saline solution for wounds, animalintex, gamgee, scissors, bucket, sponge, antiseptic cream or gel, bandages, medical gloves, towel, soap and brush. The horse or pony must also be vaccinated to fight possible equine flu or tetanus.

Equine Infectious Problems

A few special problems that horses may have are the equine infectious anemia and laminitis.

Anemia

The Equine infectious anemia is a serious health problem that amounts approximately to 500 cases each year. EIA is a viral disease that affects the immune system of the horse. Due to this, the horse may develop other infections such as bronchopneumonia. There is no cure yet for EIA. For your horse health it is best to have tested through a serum test.

Laminitis

Laminitis on the other hand is also a horse killer. This disease affects the horse's feet caused by the disruption of blood flow to the laminae of the horse. The causes of laminitis are toxins in the horse's body, high fever, digestive upsets due to overfeeding, severe colic, severe stress and excessive weight carried.

This may be can be discovered when there is heat in the horse's feet, increased pulse, pain in the toe and lameness. Treatments may include administering medical fluids to the horse's body, dietary restrictions and therapy.

In caring for your horse healthyou have to know if the horse is sick, remember these few symptoms. The horse's appetite suddenly decreases. You could also notice a reduction in the horse's stamina and irregular heartbeats. The horse may also suffer from too much sweating, depression, red eyes and swollen legs. Call for the veterinarian when the horse seems sick to prevent serious problems.