By Kim Dimevski, SA Horse Trails Growing up learning about horses in the typical stable yard environment can give one a fairly limited education. Within these fixed confines we often only know what is taught to us by our instructors, and especially when young we tend to hang onto every word they say. We know what…
Q: Is a horse now classified as a domestic animal? Asked by Eve Exley The modern horse is classified as a domestic animal, as he is defined as a species bred, born, raised and used by humans. Horses were first domesticated about 5,600 years ago. There are also some herds of original native horse breeds still in…
Horses are trickle feeders, designed to eat fibre all day long, rather than consuming large meals less frequently. Fibre digestion takes place in the hindgut where a population of micro-organisms break down the fibre, in a process called fermentation, to provide a source of slow-release energy. Fermentation requires a healthy population of bacteria in the…
A common stable vice The unnatural conditions in which the domesticated horse is kept today, can lead to a variety of abnormal behaviour patterns called 'stereotypies' or 'vices'. Weaving, wind-sucking, crib-biting and box walking are just some of the habits that horses may acquire because of the restrictions placed on them by domesticated life.…
