If you strive to achieve a close bond with your horse the chances are that your horse will be the healthier for it. You may not think your companionship plays a big role in your horse’s health, but in actuality, it does! With proper care you can achieve a special relationship with a happy and healthy horse who will be a loyal companion for a lifetime.
Treat Your Horse like He’s Family.
A well-cared for horse is treated as a family member would be - given a good diet and plenty of exercise, is well-groomed, and given attention and love. Owning and riding horses is a fantastic experience whether for sport, show or leisure as they are simply so beautiful and capable of infinite love and affection. A horse can provide a rewarding experience for those involved in caring for it.
Caring For Your Horse – The Right Way.
The specific breed of horse will to some extent determine the level of care, maintenance and exercise needed. Horses are strong and loving animals with easy-going personalities, but horses just like any animal need certain things in order to keep them happy and healthy. The list below should give you an idea in just how much is required in terms of care if you want to keep a horse.
- A large animal like a horse demands a high level of upkeep and care.
- Horses are very sociable animals that need love and lots of attention.
- Horses need daily visits and companionship, and you'll need to love and care for them like any other family member.
- A horse needs an activity to engage in every day which will stave away boredom.
- Your horse will need a stall comfortable and big enough in which to eat and sleep.
- You must provide a healthy horse diet.
- Your horse will need a constant supply of fresh water.
- Horses require certain vaccinations yearly.
- Regular health checks which include dental care and worming treatments.
- Foot care (hoof maintenance).
- Obedience training.
- You'll need to have access to a large enough and well-maintained area in which to exercise your horse.
Horses will often act out if they do not get sufficient attention. Sometimes they even try to break out of their stall in search of adventure. You may also begin to notice their general behaviour beginning to change. They may try - like children - to attract your attention by acting in a manner in which they have been trained not to behave!
If you plan to get horses make sure you are ready because more than any other pet owning a horse is a huge commitment. It also costs a lot of money, especially if the horse gets sick and needs medical attention from a veterinarian. This is just one of many reasons for which you will need to ensure you have good horse insurance.
A Healthy Horse Needs Plenty of Exercise.
Like us, horses like to have a bit of fun. There are plenty exercises you can do with your horse to keep them happy and in optimum health. Exercising should not, and does not need to be all day long. Horses should rest too. Another important factor to remember is horses can get bored very quickly, so it is important to create different types of work or exercise for horses. You need try to change of similar activities or work frequently so the horses remain interested all the time.
Exercises to Help Maintain the Health and Strength of your Horse.
- Riding in circles/Bending exercises: using circles in a figure of eight movement. You should perform these circle eight movements on both reins (left and right) to maintain even suppleness and balance on both reins.
- Lateral work: Lateral work is similar to gymnastics. Horses are at first trained a range of exercises from the ground. Once accomplished, you will notice how the horse will improve and maintain flexibility, obedience, and strength of the hind limbs.
- Pacing: The purpose of pacing is to improve the horses pace. Your training should focus on teaching your horse how to politely speed up or slow down. For example, moving to a trot from walking.
- Maintaining control/Training techniques for discipline: dressage, jumping, and endurance riding are techniques for discipline. The purpose of the dressage technique is to focus on improving pacing and lateral work. The purpose of endurance riding, is to focus on improving the horses stamina.
You can exercise your horse virtually anywhere that space and safety allows. Only exercise your horse in a secure area that he cannot escape from. Also make sure the area is safe, so that neither you or the horse gets hurt. You can buy horse insurance to cover you if you are riding someone else's horse; so be safe rather than sorry, as accidents can and do happen even to the most cautious of riders.
Horse exercise works well when executed in an area where the horse can concentrate. Areas that work well are either an indoor or outdoor arena, or a specific area in a field or on a farm.
Riders as well as Horses will Benefit from Horse Exercises.
Both horse and rider will benefit from these exercises, as a rider can practice balance and position whilst performing them. Riding skills can be dramatically improved over a relatively short period. The rider’s goal is to develop good "contact” with the horse. This term refers to how connected you feel with the horse, both through your upper body to the horse's back and also through your hands and down the reins to his mouth. How you have trained your horse - and how much of that training your horse has retained - will determine your level of "contact" with your horse. The horse will have the ability to work through his back and hindquarters if he has been well-trained. You will know when you have established a good contact when you feel the reins soften as your horse arches it's neck in front of you and rises it's back under you, you will also notice that your horse will use its hindquarters to thrust itself forward, rather than pulling onward from the forehand.
Once you have developed good contact with your horse you will be able to work and perform exercises together which will help to improve your horse's health and increase your horse's level of happiness by creating a tight bond with your horse.
While exercise is key to a happy horse, other things can occur which may effect the health of your horse. It would be nice if a happy horse was always a healthy horse. Sadly there are plenty of ailments and illnesses from which horses can suffer, which is why it is important to also have good horse insurance to cover the cost of unexpected vet's fees.