Heather Smith Thomas - Storeys Guide to Raising Horses

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by publishing practical information that encourages personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Edited by Deborah Burns and Lisa H. Hiley

Art direction and book design by Jeff Stiefel and Ash Austin

Indexed by Samantha Miller

Cover photography by Bob Langrish, front, and Dusty Perin, back & spine

Interior photography by Bob Langrish, iv,

.

Illustrations by Elara Tanguy, based on original artwork by Elayne Sears, except Elayne Sears,

Text 2020, 2009, 2000 by Heather Smith Thomas

Ebook production by Slavica A. Walzl

Ebook version 1.0

February 2, 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other without written permission from the publisher.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information.

Storey books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for premiums and sales promotions as well as for fund-raising or educational use. Special editions or book excerpts can also be created to specification. For details, please call 800-827-8673, or send an email to .

Storey Publishing

210 MASS MoCA Way

North Adams, MA 01247

storey.com

library of congress cataloging-in-publication data on file

To Velma Ravndal my 4-H leader and mentor who shared her love and knowledge of horses, and her high standards of horsemanship, with many eager young riders.

We learned from her that good horsemanship always has a purpose: to promote unity of horse and rider, always with the best interests of the horse at heart. My commitment to horses and my desire to share that commitment with others in my writing is a direct result of her inspiration and guidance during my youth.

For thousands of years, the horse has served humankind; our history is inextricably linked with his. Until recently, he has been our chief means of transportation and source of power for farming. After the invention of tractors and cars, horses numbers dwindled, but, since the 1950s, there has been renewed interest in horses for sport and pleasure and for working small farms.

The horse of the twenty-first century has a distinct advantage over his forebears. In the early days, nearly everyone owned a horse, the principal means of conveyance. Many people did not have the aptitude, understanding, or patience to be good horse handlers or caretakers. Today, horses are no longer needed for transportation, and people who own horses enjoy and appreciate them. Now, perhaps as in no other time in history, the horse in the United States is owned by folks who respect him, seek to understand him, and want to do their best to take good care of him.

Our biggest stumbling block as horse owners comes from our Computer Age way of thinking: wanting to accomplish everything quickly, whether training a horse or learning to ride. Contemporary conveniences and time-saving devices have spoiled us; we want shortcuts. There is no shortcut to becoming a good horseman or horsewoman, a knowledgeable horse owner, and a good horse breeder. Theres no substitute for time invested and the desire to learn all we can. It can take a lifetime.

Dedication makes a horse person. Only one who seeks to understand a horse can truly enjoy him. The casual horse enthusiast may admire a horse from a distance or ride one on weekends, but that person is missing a great deal. One who lives with horses, cares for them daily, and works with them, sincerely trying to improve horsemanship and understanding while continually thinking about them, their problems, and their personalities that person will get the most satisfaction from horses.

Fully enjoying horses involves more than admiring them in pictures or watching one gallop across a pasture. The key to really enjoying horses is doing feeding, grooming, breeding, showing, moving cattle, racing, jumping, or riding for pleasure. We all need a sense of belonging a realm in which we feel at home and with which we identify. Working with horses and accomplishing something with them can give us this sense of purpose.

Understanding and experience make a good horseman. An intuitive feel for horses a sense of what a horse needs at a certain time and how best to care for him makes a responsible horseman. Part of fully enjoying a horse is caring for him as best we can: being able to tell when hes fit and healthy and when he isnt, and, if he isnt, being able to tell what he needs and whether he needs veterinary attention.

Your horse needs proper care the right amount and right kind of feed, and enough of the right kind of exercise to keep him fit and in condition for the work he is to do. The good horse person cares for his or her horses as regularly and responsibly as possible, as one would care for and love a child or friend. When it comes to horses, the dedicated horse person is a perfectionist and will do anything and everything to take proper care of them and learn what that proper care entails.

Horses are unique creatures. The horseman must come to understand each horse in his care, learning whats best for each individual in a given situation. There is no substitute for the eye of the master. The person who understands a horse will give him the proper amount of work and rest, reward and discipline. Horse owners have an enormous responsibility, for these animals are totally dependent on us for their existence and well-being.

Caring for a horse is a challenge, and there is much to learn. The serious student of horses today is fortunate because there are many sources of help and advice. This book does not attempt to cover all aspects of horse care and breeding but will be useful to the reader who wants to learn about the basics of good horsekeeping, raising horses, and their health and soundness.

My aim in this book is to provide useful information to the horse owner with special emphasis on horse care and intelligent horsekeeping. This is a book not on training (although every time you handle a horse you are training him, for better or worse) but on horse husbandry the art of keeping a horse fit and healthy in body and spirit. Learn from your horses and they will learn from you.

In this updated edition, I have included cutting-edge information from current research and have deleted a few passages that were based on outdated ideas or theories. Modern technology and medical research, for example, have given us new feed products for insulin-resistant horses and horses with muscle problems, new treatments for EPM, new vaccines for influenza, an equine vaccine for leptospirosis, and a vaccine for West Nile virus, which was unheard of in North America when this book was originally written.