Daily Horse Care Year Round

Daily Work, Rest and Sleep

The horse obtains needed sleep by means of many short periods of rest, approximately two and a half hours of sleep, on average, in a 24-hour period. Most of this sleep occurs in many short intervals of about 15 minutes each. Since lying down makes a prey animal (which your horse is) more vulnerable to predators they prefer to remain standing up, utilizing a unique "stay apparatus" in their legs, which allows them to relax their muscles, and doze without collapsing.

Work, rest, sleep,
Don't let the hills become too steep.
Mane, tail, hooves,
Look how pretty my horse moves.
Ticks, flies, bugs,
Oh, boy, if anything - this sucks!

Occasionally, your horse needs to lie down to reach REM sleep, preferably on soft ground. This may happen only for an hour or two every few days to meet its minimum REM sleep requirement. However, if a horse is never allowed to lie down, after several days it will become sleep-deprived and in rare cases may suddenly collapse as it involuntarily slips into REM sleep while standing. This condition differs from narcolepsy, though horses may also suffer from that disorder. 

Companion Horse Makes Good Bed Fellow

Also, keep in mind, that your horse may not sleep well if kept entirely alone, because its instincts are to keep a constant eye out for danger. Horses sleep better when in groups because they rely on other horses to stand guard.

Daily Worming

A horse on a daily preventive is protected as long as the worming program continues and the drug remains effective. Therefore, horses kept on a daily deormer could be at great risk for severe parasitic disease if the regimen is disrupted and the horse was exposed to high numbers of infective stages. There is experimental evidence that the use of daily dewormers (pyrantel tartrate) in juvenile horses interferes with the development of acquired immunity to strongyles, research doesnt know whether this practice diminishes protection against ascarids as well.

Horse owners who feed a daily dewormer, such as Strongid C®, or Strongid 2X® must be aware that it is not effective against bot flies (bots), so you should deworm once in the fall and once in the spring using a 1.87% Ivermectin paste.

The Horse.com website recently posted: "Deworming horses is more complicated today than it was a few years ago, as researchers have revealed growing concerns about parasite resistance and the need for individualized dewormer regimens." No one is saying deworming with daily wormers will hurt the horse. However, the concern lies with the overuse of daily wormers and the resistance issues that it can cause (as can overuse of regular paste dewormers, but it appears the resistance builds up more quickly with the daily dewormers).

Parasitotolgy experts have discovered that when horses are dewormed too often (even if given the correct dosage of medication), all it does is killing the susceptible worms, while making the resistant ones even stronger.

Many vets are now recommending deworming based on fecal exams to make sure
the horses really need it. 75% of the horses tested this way don't need
deworming but about every four or five months. In fact, many people use
diatamaceous earth to deworm their horses (using paste wormers 2 or 3 times
per year) and have no issues with worms. BUT research is now indicating that the DE doesn't really do anything and the reason the horses are ok is that they didn't need to be dewormed in the first place.

Only about 25% of horses are unable to fight off the parasites, and those are the ones that need to be dewormed and watched. By doing the fecals, you can identify if you have any of these "susceptible" horses (the "high egg shedders") and how often they need to be dewormed.

Daily Hoof Care

A horse’s health is dependent upon various factors such as feed/nutrition, living conditions, genetic influence and the list goes on, but the most important factor to consider is the care of the hooves. A horse’s hoof is dependent on the whole body’s health, and improper care will affect the horse’s overall health.

As owners, our goal is to feed the hoof by maintaining a good diet with grains and forage, by providing the ability to move frequently with sufficient turnout, and by working our horse as much as possible. Body weight is also a factor in keeping the hooves healthy. An overweight horse can lead to laminitis or founder. To avoid these problems, be careful of over processed grains, limit grain intake and watch the amount of supplements given to your horse.

The care and well being of a horse is also dependent on regular hoof maintenance, which will include visits by the farrier. In general, hooves need to be trimmed every six to eight weeks. Shod horses especially need a farrier's attention on a regular basis due to hoof growth loosening the shoes and growing over the edge of the shoes. The services of a reliable and experienced farrier are vital to helping keep your horse's hooves healthy. One of the most basic parts of horse hoof care is picking out the mud, manure, stones and other debris from your horse's hooves especially after a long trail ride.

Also, when you are traveling numerous trails with rocky terrain and your horse is stabled on pasture or soft dirt, consider boots for your rides. There are several different types of boots that you can choose from and there are various websites that provide information and instruction.

Keeping your horse on clean, dry footing is also a key factor. The flooring of the stable should not be damp and should allow for drainage. Also, your horse's paddock area should provide drainage to minimize the amount of time your horse has to stand in water and mud. Most of the moisture your horse's hooves need come from within the hoof itself and is provided by a healthy diet. Constant contact with wet conditions will promote rapid drying of the hooves and will cause them to start cracking and chipping.

Lastly, supplements can also help to maintain a healthy hoof if not already provided in his grain. DL-methionine is one of the most important amino acids for hoof growth. Biotin is important for hoof growth and repair. It helps in the utilization of proteins and helps prevent eczema and dermatitis. When deciding on a supplement for your horse look for one that is a good source of Vitamins A, D, and E to help grow healthy hooves. Always provide access to a salt/mineral block that has a good mix of calcium and phosphorous to prevent them from becoming deficient.