The Rio2016 organizing committee is doing everything possible to ensure that all horses arrive, compete and leave Rio disease-free.  To that end, extensive documentation procedures have been put in place for exporting horses.

These seven upgrades (all available through Classic Equine Equipment) are functional, cost effective and can enhance your property value. These projects can be accomplished by most do-it-yourself-ers and the results will be appreciated by both the two- and four-legged users!

While we all dream of a big, beautiful, brand new horse trailer, sometimes the reality of finances has us looking at used horse trailers instead.  There are fabulous deals on great trailers out there, but you may have to look hard and long, as well as be able to compromise on your dream list. As you and your 15hh Quarter Horse going to be together for awhile? Are most of your trailer trips short and infrequent?  Then maybe a regular size trailer will work just fine.  Do you dream of owning a 17hh Warmblood. Then maybe an extra-wide/tall trailer is something you can do without.  Slant load vs. straight load? Ramp or step-up?  There are pros and cons on both, but most comes down to personal preference.

Summer is a great time to own a horse and spend time riding - except when you're swarmed with flies.  In addition to just being annoying, flies can also spread disease, including  Pigeon Fever and Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA).  Here are some ways to help keep the fly population away from your horse and barn.

When someone says, “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” they are talking about the custom of telling a horse’s age by looking at his teeth.  It is possible to estimate the age of a young horse by observing the pattern of teeth in the mouth, based on which teeth have erupted.  A horse's incisors, premolars, and molars, once fully developed, continue to erupt as the grinding surface is worn down through chewing. A young adult horse's teeth are typically 4.5–5 inches long, but the majority of the crown remaining below the gum line in the dental socket. The rest of the tooth slowly emerges from the jaw, erupting about 1/8" each year, as the horse ages. When the animal reaches old age, the crowns of the teeth are very short and the teeth are often lost altogether.  Differences between breeds and individual horses, however, can make precise dating impossible. 

If you and your horse enjoy trail riding, then the sport of Competitive Trail Riding (CTR) might be a good fit for the both of you. A Competitive Trail Ride is not a timed event like endurance where the fastest time wins.  It is probably closer to Eventing in that riders are out on the trail one at a time and negotiate obstacles.  There are also mandatory vet checks.  And, like Eventing, success comes from the trust and communication between horse and rider to safely complete the course.   A CTR is usually held on a weekend and can run one, two or even three days.  The competitors usually cover a distance of 15-40 miles per day.

The horse’s respiratory system (lungs) provides much needed oxygen to assist with metabolism, while the circulatory system (heart) delivers the oxygen and nutrients to the tissues.  It also provides a way to carry off the waste products (most commonly carbon dioxide) created when the horse’s “engine” is running/  On the simplest level, the respiratory system acts like an air exchange – oxygen comes in and carbon dioxide goes out.

Horses have binaural hearing, meaning they hear out of both ears at the same time, the same as people and most other animals.  However, unlike humans who have small, flat ears, a horse’s ears are large and shaped like a cup.  These ears act like a satellite dish to capture sound waves and funnel them to his inner ear.  Because of this, very little sound is missed and the horse might hear noises that you can’t.  This is one reason why you may think that everything is perfectly fine, but suddenly you horse spooks for no apparent reason.  He may have heard something that sounded like a predator to him.

Horses are herbivores, or roughage eaters. They are grazing animals with digestive systems designed for constant consumption of plant food.  Very much like humans, the horse’s digestive system is a twisty-turning roller coaster ride for any food that the horse eats.   It takes about two to three days for food to pass through this last and largest part of the equine digestive tract.