Horse Health

THE HEALING POWER OF HONEY – TREATING WOUNDS IN HORSES

Honey has long been celebrated for its medicinal properties, and records of its use date back to ancient civilisations. Yet, unlike many ‘ancient’ remedies, honey has stood the test of time. In recent years, its role in veterinary medicine, particularly in treating wounds in horses, has gained significant attention. With horse owners increasingly seeking out…

BylizzieFebruary 24, 20250Comments

Horse Channel Horse Health

WEANING – CAN WE MAKE IT LESS STRESSFUL?

Sport and pleasure horses are typically artificially weaned at around six months of age. Whether weaning is done abruptly or more gradually, in all cases, this ‘artificial’ weaning occurs when the foal is still closely bonded to his mother. During this period, weanlings commonly experience increased distress behaviours, including decreased eating and sleeping, reduced play, weight…

BylizzieFebruary 20, 20250Comments

Horse Health

MAKE IT LAST – HOW TO MAXIMISE HAY USAGE AND AVOID WASTAGE

Text: Hannah Botha, MSc How can you stretch your hay further, and what options are there to reduce waste? Hannah Botha from Epol talks us through her top tips for lowering forage wastage. Tip 1: Ensure you are feeding the correct amount Forage should be the foundation of every horse's ration, and ensuring that it is provided…

BylizzieFebruary 14, 20250Comments

Horse Channel Horse Health

WHAT IS FASCIA?

And how do we keep it healthy? Fascia is a thin casing of connective tissue surrounding, supporting, and holding every organ, blood vessel, bone, nerve, and muscle. Yet this tissue does more than just provide structure; it has nerves that make it almost as sensitive as skin, and it is designed to move with the…

BylizzieFebruary 11, 20250Comments

Horse Channel Horse Health

MAKING YOUR HAY COUNT – WHEN TIMES ARE TOUGH FINANCIALLY

Text: Hannah Botha, MSc Equine Science With ever-increasing prices, we are all looking for ways to cut costs, but one area that we should never skimp on is our horse's hay supply. Forage is a vital part of the horse's diet, as it provides a valuable portion of the daily energy requirements and is essentially what the…

BylizzieFebruary 10, 20250Comments

Horse Channel Horse Health

MOVEMENT IS MEDICINE

Text: Shelley Wolhuter Horses are designed to move. In fact, when it comes to horses, movement really is medicine. In the wild, horses have been known to cover an average of 40km daily. Different terrains and climates would affect this average, but regardless, that distance is still rather impressive! Living as Mother Nature intended offers certain…

BylizzieFebruary 6, 20250Comments

Horse Health

UNDERSTANDING EVENT LINES

[Text] Christine Pinna If there is one thing that has been a complete game-changer for me in the last fifteen years of barefoot trimming, it would have to be learning to read the horse's hoof wall in order to understand what has happened in the horse's life in the last few months. This often shows me…

BylizzieFebruary 3, 20250Comments

Horse Health

ANAEMIA IN HORSES

Anaemia is when the number of circulating red blood cells in the bloodstream is lower than normal. The normal ‘packed cell volume’ (PCV) in horses is 32-52%. Packed cell volume measures the percentage of fluid in the blood vessels taken up by red blood cells. The range for packed cell volume is so wide because…

BylizzieFebruary 3, 20250Comments

Horse Channel Horse Health

FIBRE CAN CHANGE ABNORMAL BEHAVIOUR

Stereotypic behaviours are actions that are repeated without any apparent or obvious purpose or function. These behaviours involve a need-related drive that develops if an environment has inadequate opportunities for satisfying the need the horse is trying to fill. Once established, these behaviours may become a need in and of themselves, and the animal repeats…

BylizzieJanuary 31, 20250Comments

Horse Channel Horse Health Horse Training

TRANSITIONING YOUR OTTB

To a more natural life Text: Christine Pinna Thoroughbreds are notorious for having hoof issues, requiring stables, blankets and plenty of concentrates to maintain their condition. But is this really the way it has to be? Background It is important to understand the lifestyle your newly purchased Thoroughbred has lived up until the point that he became…

BylizzieJanuary 28, 20250Comments

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