How to Help Your Horse Live a Long and Healthy Life

Photo by David Dibert

Welcoming a horse into your life is the stuff of childhood dreams. Many kids aspire to have a horse that they can ride and care for. However, for most people, this simply remains a dream. As an adult, having the opportunity to make this dream a reality is a big moment. Introducing a horse to your farm is a true privilege. Having the chance to spend time around these majestic creatures on a daily basis is an awe-inspiring experience. But it’s essential to never forget that caring for a horse is a huge responsibility. Your horse deserves to live a long, happy, and healthy life. So, it’s crucial that you do all that you can to make that happen. Here are some tips to help your horse to live a long and healthy life.

Exercise Regularly

We all need regular exercise to be healthy, but for a horse, being active is especially important. Horses need to be exercised each day. When your horse doesn’t get enough exercise it can impact both their physical and mental health. Without regular exercise, horses can be come depressed, and you may notice that their behavior changes. This is a sign that they’re bored and are lacking the stimulation they need to feel at their best. 

Of course, exercise is also essential for your horse’s physical health. Exercising your horse daily helps to keep their joints and muscles functioning well. 

As you know, life on the farm can be pretty busy a lot of the time. This can make it easy to forget to exercise your horse. So, it’s a good idea to set aside some specific time each day in your schedule that’s dedicated to your horse. You don’t necessarily need to ride your horse, simply turning out your horse can be enough to give them some gentle exercise and mental stimulation most days.

Choose the Right Nutrition

When it comes to nutrition, there’s no one-size-fits-all diet that all horses should follow. Instead, your horse’s nutritional needs should be assessed on an individual basis. There are a lot of factors at play here, so it’s important to consider your horse’s diet carefully. 

You will need to consider the stage your horse is currently at to choose the best food for them. Are they still growing? Are they pregnant? Are they lactating? Are they recovering from an injury? Each of these factors can impact your horse’s nutritional needs. 

Feeding your horse a complete diet that contains the perfect balance of nutrition is essential. However, this isn’t always easy. To remedy this, it’s helpful to assess any nutritional deficiencies that your horse may be experiencing. You can then review whether any additional diet supplements are needed to address these deficiencies.

Keep Up With Grooming

Grooming your horse is an essential part of your care routine. But there’s more to grooming than simply giving your horse a brush to make them look neat and tidy. Grooming your horse is an essential way to keep them feeling at their best and to keep their skin and coat healthy. Grooming your horse helps to prevent dead skin cells from building up, and also helps to remove ticks.

Protecting your horse’s hooves with regular inspections and cleaning is a must. Each day you will need to use a pick to remove debris from your horse’s hooves. Manure, straw, hay, and stones can all build up inside your horse’s hooves. If they’re not cleaned regularly this can cause issues, such as the development of thrush. So, keeping hooves clean and inspecting them daily is a must to protect your horse’s health and to prevent discomfort.

Teeth are another essential area to pay particular attention to when caring for a horse. Did you know that a horse’s teeth continue to grow throughout their lifetime? This makes it even more important to pay close attention to your horse’s dental health. Constantly growing teeth and dental issues can cause a lot of discomfort to horses. Many horses develop sharp points on their teeth as a natural result of the way that they eat. So, it’s vital to be alert to the first signs of an issue so you can deal with it fast. Having an annual or twice-yearly dental check-up is wise for horses. The veterinarian can then carry out a dental float to improve comfort if needed.

Aside from being crucial from a practical perspective, grooming your horse is also a fantastic way to spend time with your horse and increase your bond.