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EQUINE WELLNESS
Equine
Your natural resource!
WELLNESS
SPECIAL ISSUE
FEED AND SUPPLEMENTS
FOOD FIGHT Understanding the WHYS behind food AGGRESSION
Tied UP
ALL
How to treat and avoid these muscle disorders
Riding
WAVE
Can veterinary COLD LASER THERAPY help your horse?
A NEW TWIST IN
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5COMFORT GIRLS ONLY:
TIPS
to saddle fit
IS HE
GRIEVING? How to help your horse say goodbye
VOLUME 7 ISSUE 5
HOOF FORM How it effects limb function and conformation
october/November
EquineWellnessMagazine.com equine wellness 1
Contents 22
26
Features 10 a leG to stanD on
26 Winter Warm-up
48 Hot spots
how hoof form affects your horse’s limb function and conformation.
here are the top four warming herbs you can offer him this winter.
14 FooD FiGHt
30 all tieD up
51 DiD you KnoW?
34 unDerstanDinG eleCtrolyte use
52 Girl talK
Proper hydration is key to your horse’s health and wellness.
Five saddle fit keys to comfort for female riders.
38 a neW tWist
54 iFeeD
understanding the whys behind food aggression will go a long way towards retraining this habit.
18 riDinG tHe WaVe Veterinary cold laser therapy can be a helpful aid for treating equine tendon/ligament injuries, as well as for rehabilitation and performance enhancement.
22 sellinG points
In a saturated market, it’s getting more and more challenging to find horses new homes. Learn how to give your horse a leg up to his future.
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equine wellness
take a look at the variety of muscle disorders that fall into the category described by this broad and generic term.
New regulations are being established for equine joint supplement manufacturers.
42 is He GrieVinG?
horses experience bereavement in remarkably similar ways to us. here’s how to help your equine through the loss of an equine friend.
Does your horse seem sore? For answers, look first to these two main problem areas.
Many of us look for organic products for ourselves and our horses. But how do you know if what you are purchasing is truly organic?
Feeding technology that mimics the natural grazing habits of your horse.
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38
Departments
Columns
6 Editorial
8 Neighborhood news
37 Product picks
55 DVD reviews
46 Equine Wellness resource guide
56 Holistic veterinary advice
59 Marketplace 61 Classifieds 62 Events
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5
Food Fight Does your horse make ugly faces at feeding time, threaten to bite or even kick? Understanding the whys behind food aggression will go a long way towards retraining this habit. by sCot Hansen
Food is one of a horse’s most important resources, and no matter how much you give him he is always possessive about what he has. In order to keep that food, horses will become aggressive. Most are merely food aggressive when it comes to other horses, but there are those that include humans in their herd and will also become aggressive with their owners. There are two kinds of aggression – true aggressive, and false aggressive. It is important you know which category your horse falls into before you try to correct him, or you’ll just make him worse.
A
False aggression A false aggressive horse is usually the one that pins his ears at feeding time. He typically does this as you approach and often leaves his ears pinned while being fed. He will usually let you feed him and pet him. This is false aggression. I feel sorry for these horses. They’re the ones at shows that are
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usually treated badly. Everyone labels them aggressive because they pin their ears as people walk by. All the horse is doing is asking for food the only way he knows how, by begging everyone with his ears. As each person walks by and ignores the horse, or in some cases gets mad at him, he stands there confused and unable to understand why the “trick” he has learned no longer works. So how was this “trick” learned?
In the case above, the horse has accidentally learned to ask for food by pinning his ears and is not actually being aggressive. It usually happens by accident, and because the owner is in a hurry at feeding time, she reinforces it every day. It starts like this: the horse in the stall or paddock sees food coming and pins his ears to warn other horses to stay away. He will do this even if the other horse is in another stall or paddock. It is just a natural reaction for some horses to let the other ones know they need to keep clear. At the same time as
the ears are pinned, the owner throws in the food. The horse says to himself, “Wow, I just realized if I pin my ears they throw me food.” The next day it happens again. Within two to three feedings, the horse is convinced that pinning his ears does two things: it keeps other horses away, and makes the food come through the feed window. It is easy to identify this type of horse. He usually pins his ears at feeding time, and typically doesn’t care if you pet him or hang out with him while he eats. You can usually take the food away without much fuss.
However, there is a huge problem coming for this horse and owner. These horses sometimes appear aggressive when they are not. This usually happens when someone is standing there with the food chatting with someone else and not feeding it to the horse. As the horse waits with his ears pinned and nothing happens, he will sometimes make an aggressive move towards whoever has the food. Immediately, someone wants to correct him and exclaims how nasty he has become – not true!
All the horse is doing is asking for food the only way he knows how, by begging everyone with his ears. What has actually happened is like you raising your voice to someone to get something done. The horse cannot speak, so instead of raising his voice for emphasis, he raises his actions. In this case, the horse pinned his ears and said, “Throw me my food please.” When that did not happen, he then raised his voice and request by making a false lunge or snapping his teeth, stating in a more forceful way, “Stop ignoring me and throw me my food now.” This is the
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