I suppose I should start at the beginning of the story of the mystery foal. His mother is a 13.2 grey Connemara type pony mare who was bought for a 13 year old girl a year ago. She rode and competed on her over the summer while the mare grew progressively fatter. Pony puts on […]
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Welcome to our blog page, HOOFBEATS, where we talk about the countryside with a main emphasis on training and caring for horses and ponies. If you would like to contribute ideas and information about your own experiences, we would be delighted to hear them. Please email to [email protected]
The opinions expressed here are from personal experience and we strongly advise you to contact your vet or your riding instructor if you are seriously worried about your horse.
It’s that difficult time of year again now that April has arrived. I’m already on my second attempt to take off winter rugs and rough off some of the horses and ponies. Once the hunter trials have finished, most people will rough off their hunters to give them a rest before starting to get fit […]
The results of our Survey are posted opposite this blog. I suppose it’s no surprise that windsucking is the Number One worry. It is an unpleasant habit in a horse and is obviously very common. Unfortunately there are no guarantees of curing a windsucker but it can be helped so click here for more info. […]
A sarcoid is the most common form of skin cancer in equines and is often not malignant. Three of my horses and ponies have had a sarcoid at some stage. In all three cases they were non maligant and, I’m glad to report, have now gone. Some sarcoids can be difficult to treat and can […]
Rugging up horses and ponies for winter is a hot topic at the moment. We are still experiencing mild days this Autumn, some temperatures as hot as an Irish summer day. Last week it was 20 degrees in the Midlands. Two days later it was 12 degrees. How unpredictable is that? But generally the nights […]
I came across my first case of Parrot Mouth this week. Thankfully I have never had a horse with a parrot mouth before but while the vet was here yesterday doing flu vaccinations, she spotted that a yearling has a mild case. Parrot mouth can’t be spotted in a newborn foal but appears between one […]
We’ve had several enquiries about when to rug up a horse or pony in Autumn. This is a difficult time of year, like Spring, and there are no hard and fast rules but this is what I would do: If the horse is not too hairy by now, put on a lightweight waterproof rug on […]
Resistance is a horse or pony’s way of saying “No thanks”. There are many different forms of resistance, depending on the animal’s temperament. Some are more dangerous ones than others. If your horse is resisting something, don’t despair. Only a saint of a horse never resists anything in his life. I saw it in action […]
One way of earning a little extra cash during the summer months is by taking students from abroad to ride. Before enquiring abut this, you need to have teenage children of your own and well behaved horses and ponies. There are several agencies in Ireland which will help you find a student for the summer […]
I wonder how many desperate horse owners key this question into their internet search engines? It popped up among the many queries which bring people to our website this month. Of course the question itself conjures up all sorts of other questions – how much experience has the owner got? How old is the horse? […]
Here is another question which was asked by a visitor to our website. Let’s deal with ponies first because they’re more straight forward when it comes to shoes. Very small ponies and ponies for beginnersI don’t put shoes on small ponies because they usually have hard little feet. Shetlands rarely, if ever, need shoes. I […]
I’ve already mentioned before in this blog how beneficial lungeing is. It’s very useful for horses and ponies which: I have taught people to lunge horses and ponies and, while they have no problem lungeing my animals, they have gone home to find that no matter what they do, the horse just won’t lunge. The […]
Children often get bored riding in an arena and young boys especially have a limited interest in riding round in circles. If you don’t have other places to ride, try some pony games every now and then to keep them amused. I find they are very popular, help to encourage even the youngest of riders […]
Are ponies out on grass more lively than stabled one? This is an interesting question we received at HorseandPonyInfo recently. What do you think? The first answer which might pop into our heads is that stabled ponies have more pent up energy from being locked up so they are more lively. A pony out in […]
The equine dentist came today to check the teeth of two new ponies and of two older horses who had their teeth floated (or rasped) six months ago. One of the new ponies had been giving a bit of trouble by leaning down on the reins, pulling them out of the rider’s hands, and making […]