Wild Card Sport Pony at EquiSports Llc.

02/15/2025

02/15/2025

02/14/2025

02/09/2025

02/09/2025

02/08/2025

In 1930, the Mars family faced the heartbreaking loss of their beloved racehorse, Snickers. Just weeks later, they introduced a new candy bar named in his honor - creating what would become one of the world's most popular chocolate treats.

The Mars family's deep connection to horses went beyond just business - Snickers was a cherished family pet, and his memory lives on in every chocolate bar that bears his name. Today, Snickers remains one of the best-selling candy bars globally, a sweet tribute to a special horse who captured the hearts of the Mars family.

02/08/2025

Here is some very timely and important information courtesy of the horse doctors at Pine Ridge Equine Hospital:

As we are in the midst of foaling season, let’s talk about what is normal and abnormal. The placenta is made up of two major parts: the red bag (chorioallantois) and the white bag (amnion). The red bag attaches to the uterine wall, which allows the exchange of nutrients and oxygen to the fetus. In a normal delivery the amnion is visible and characterized by a white appearance. A red bag delivery is characterized by a red velvety appearance.

A red bag delivery is considered an EMERGENCY as it signifies premature separation of the placenta leading to a lack of oxygen to the fetus so **you need to intervene immediately.** The red placental membrane should be opened carefully to release fluid, the foal should be delivered/pulled with your assistance and then stimulated to breathe. Foals may develop problems associated with lack of oxygen even though they appear normal at birth.

If your mare is having or had a red bag delivery, you need to call your horse doctor ASAP!

02/08/2025

While the number of confirmed equine rabies cases every year is low, talking about this disease remains important because of the potential for human exposure—which does NOT have to involve a bite from an infected horse, as contact of skin or mucosa with the horse’s saliva could be enough to transmit the disease.

Rabies has many faces, but they are all deadly—once a horse shows clinical signs, the animal invariably dies within a few days as there is no treatment.

The good news is that modern vaccines are highly effective and current AAEP recommendations list rabies as one of the “core vaccines” that should be given to all horses annually to maintain immunity (read the full AAEP vaccination guidelines here: https://aaep.org/guidelines/vaccination-guidelines).

Equine rabies is a real risk for all horses, and a public health concern as well. Be sure to set up a regular vaccination schedule with your veterinarian if you haven’t already done so. Remember that strange behavior on behalf of your equine friend is always a valid reason to check in with your horse doctor!

02/08/2025

These two pictured horses with more or less similar conformation are reaching very differently with their hind legs. Both horses are in a trot, on different diagonals but that doesn't matter. The top horse's hind footfall will land behind the forehand footfall on the same side. The bottom horse's hind footfall with land in or ahead of the forehand footfall.

The bottom horse is reaching further under itself with the hind than the top horse. The bottom horse is more balanced because keeping the hind footfalls landing in or a head of the forehand footfalls means that there is one center of balance under the horse's belly in a trot stride.

The top horse is not reaching under with their hind and the footfall will not reach far enough ahead to land in the forehand footfalls. There is a gap between the hind and forehand footfall, meaning the center of balance under the belly is not shared but separated. This creates a front-hind-front-hind-front-hind, back and forth balance point under the belly in the trot.

The reach indicates that the top horse is pulling the trot stride forward with the shoulders while the bottom horse is pushing the trot stride forward from the hind. Pushing from the hind is better. As they say, we want to ride a horse "back to front" to achieve lightness and optimum balance with suspension. We do not want a horse pulling its hind around as if it is a little red wagon.

I use a garden rake to smooth a section of arena footing 6 feet (2 meters) wide and three trot stride long. We then trot a horse through the smooth footing lane so we can see the footfalls and the reach, or lack thereof. To correct a lazy hind that is not reaching, we must do the work of engagement.

This means engaging the hind muscles to increase hind reach in order to achieve a truly centered balance point under the belly. Collection work is not cranking down the reins to cork up the energy of the forehand so the hind energy can catch up. That would be false "collection" that creates a false frame of balance, something we see a lot of today. Instead, we need to carefully and deftly hold the forehand together while, with a deep seat and leg, we encourage our horse's push from its hind.

It is good to always observe footfalls and reach. For me it is the first step in evaluating a horse's movement.

01/13/2025

01/12/2025

Here's an effect of saddles that are too narrow and incorrectly angled.

When I've come across this, the physical and emotional trauma I've felt in the horse has been sickening. The physical damage is done - you can't put back what's gone.

The emotional distress can be enormous and I sincerely believe it's emotional trauma that has built up over many months and/or years, as an unprotesting horse continues to do as asked, despite the problem being exacerbated whenever the rider's weight hits the saddle.

Perhaps they become numb to it over time, and it's only with deep and gentle work that the problem is revealed. I hope that enough of the distress is released for the horse to continue its ridden career with renewed heart.

I've usually been with a new owner when we've come across this, thankfully not that many times, and we've taken heart that the horse knows its needs (and pain) are seen and heard. Sometimes we can't change what's there and what's been done, but we can certainly help with the horse's response to it.

This isn't a new observation - there's a reason Balance Saddles call this region of the body the 'junction' - but it's always worth building awareness and *empathy.

(Please excuse the limitations of images - it can be hard to find what I need! I need one of those amazing South American veterinary artists to do one for me!)

- Jane