It is vital for your horse’s health that the two of you have a close and loving relationship. 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.

Most horse owners treat their horses as a part of their family, feeding them well, including exercise into lifestyle, keeping him well groomed and showering them with lots of love and attention. 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 amount of horse care or maintenance required will vary depending on the horse’s breed. 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. Some of the most important things to include if you want to have a healthy, happy horse are listed below.

• Horses are large animals that require constant care and upkeep.
• Horses are very sociable animals that need love and lots of attention.
• You’ll need to visit them daily and care for them as part of your family.
• A horse needs an activity to engage in every day which will stave away boredom.
• You must provide horses with a nice sized stall for them to live and sleep in.
• Provide your horse with a healthy, balanced diet.
• You must provide the horse with lots of water daily.
• Your horse will need to have annual vaccinations.
• Routine health check-ups including worming and dental care.
• Foot care (hoof maintenance).
• Obedience training.
• Horses must have a large area in which to exercise that will have to be cleaned often.

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. Small changes in their general behaviour should alert you to an issue before it gets this serious, though!. They may try – like children – to attract your attention by acting in a manner in which they have been trained not to behave!

Owning a horse – more so than just about any other pet – is a huge commitment, so you need to be prepared for this. 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. Perform regular exercises to keep your horse healthy and happy. You should not exercise your horse all day. Horses need adequate periods of rest as well. Remember also that it’s important to include a variety of different work and exercises for your horse as otherwise he will get bored quickly. Change the activities or work tasks regularly to maintain your horse’s interest.

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: this is a bit like gym for horses. First you need to do groundwork exercises with your horse. You will notice that the horse’s obedience, strength and flexibility will improve over time.
• 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. Dressage training focuses on improving lateral work and pacing techniques. 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. You can use either an outdoor or indoor arena, or a fenced-off area in a farm or larger field.

It is Not Just the Horse Who Benefits from Horse Exercises - Riders Do Too.

Horse exercises are beneficial to the rider of the horse as well as the horse because it encourages the rider to develop a balanced and secure position on the horse. Riding skills can be dramatically improved over a relatively short period. The rider’s goal is to develop good “contact” with the horse. “Contact” is the feeling of togetherness through your hands to the horse’s mouth and through your upper body to the horses back. 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.

When good contact has been achieved, you can then begin to work together to improve the health and happiness of your horse by performing exercises with your new best friend.

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.

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