Equestrians have an important role to play in environmental stewardship. A duty of care should be a central focus for all of us — care for the animals whose lives we are responsible for, and care for the land and resources that sustain us. As the world becomes increasingly urbanized and technology becomes more ingrained […]
Category: Equine Welfare
Happy Horses Need Happy Homes
I’m back in the saddle so to speak, 5 weeks into an Equine Guelph course after taking a term off. Relevant to this course, Management of the Equine Environment, as well as Behaviour and Welfare, a Q&A style article from The Horse popped up in my Facebook news feed, Happy and Unhappy Horses at Home. The […]
Fostering a Good Quality of Life
My 7th Equine Guelph course, Global Perspectives in Equine Welfare, has recently come to an end. It was a bit different from previous courses in that the discussions were more philosophical, which was a nice contrast to the science-based focus of other courses. It was fascinating to debate ethics and learn about equine welfare issues […]
Wild, Feral, Free-roaming: The Sable Island Horses
Two units in Global Perspectives in Equine Welfare have been dedicated to issues surrounding the management of wild/feral and free-roaming horse herds. The first unit was focused on the 2013 US government shutdown and how that impacted the herds managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The most recent unit has taken a broader […]
Are You Prepared for an Emergency?
Last fall I took the Equine Health & Disease Prevention course offered online through the University of Guelph. I highly recommend this course for anybody who has or plans to adopt a horse. It covers everything from the daily health check and how to effectively communicate with your veterinarian, to biosecurity awareness and an array of […]
Winter Care
Following up on a previous post, On Blanketing Horses, here is a selection of articles from The Horse on winter horse care. Formidable Frostbite – Fret not, horses are well-equipped to handle cold weather and rarely suffer from frostbite, even in the most frigid temperatures. This article provides an overview of all of the horses’ […]