Basic Care

The time to school your beloved equine buddy on the things she needs to know for a trip to the vet is not when the vet is trying very hard to coax her into the stocks for a ticklish bit of examination. That way lies madness for everyone involved.

Here's a very basic skill-set for your horse: Read more

I'd like to make it clear that I'm not a veterinarian, and my intention is not to be giving veterinary advice. I've had horses all my life, worked with and for vets, and I've been a trainer and farrier for many years. So the following is intended to be simple and helpful advice for you and your horse, based on my own years of experience as both a horse-owner and a horse professional. Read more

I had an appointment to shoe one of my client horses today, for his first shoeing of the year. I typically recommend that, if at all practical, horses go barefoot for a few months a year. In the Northwest climate, the winter months work out well for that, since it's mostly too muddy to do a lot of trail riding, and arena footing is both soft and consistent enough that a horse can work comfortably, either barefoot, or wearing EZboots. Read more

The cold snap seems to have broken, and the weather system moving in from off the Pacific is bringing warmer temperatures and dumping rain, melting the recent snow and soaking most of the Puget Sound area.

Rainy, warmer weather also help set up the environmental conditions for horses to rapidly develop rain rot, also called rain scald. Preventing rain rot isn't particularly complicated; you simply have to keep your equine buddy clean and dry. Unfortunately, that can be easier said than done, in our climate. Read more