Petsmu

If you are considering buying a new horse, there are several issues of concern to you. Smart buyers and riders know what they want before speaking to horse sellers.

It is important to know everything you can about the new horse. Learn its history, blood lines, habits, preferences, skills and overall attitude. It is also important to find out about its inherent traits. All horses have their own unique traits. Know which ones are most desirable to you.

Traits to Consider

Some horses are better at certain tasks than others. When buying a new horse, pre-determine what skills you want the horse to possess. Some to consider are:

* English riding
* Showing and jumping
* Racing
* Western riding
* Trail riding
* Roping
* Team roping
* Barrel racing
* Endurance

Questions to Ask Before Buying a Horse

How much do you expect to pay? Look only at horses within your price range. What gender, color, age and size are you looking for? Weed out horses that don’t fit within your requirements. Does the horse load and unload from trailers well? Will it tolerate shoeing and hoof trimming? Score your prospective horses on a scale of one to five for these items. The higher scorers will help you determine which horses are of the most interest to you.

When buying a new horse it is important to be sure it has been thoroughly evaluated. An initial inspection of the horse must be performed by someone capable and experienced. If you don’t know what to look for, bring someone you trust who does. Here are the areas you need to check:

* Eyes. Make sure the horse can see out of both eyes. Do a flinch test by waving your hand quickly in front of each eye. Check for any differences.
* Ears. Check for excess ear wax or over-sensitivity when the ears are touched.
* Mouth. Check for any lesions or sores. Be sure the teeth are normal and aligned. Watch the horse chew to check for normal biting ability.
* Head, neck and chest. Check for symmetry and balance of muscles. Be sure the horse moves its head, neck and chest freely and without difficulty.
* Feet. Inspect all four feet for swelling and sensitivity to touch. Flex and extend all joints to look for pain, resistance or head lifting that indicates pain or discomfort.
* Rear end. Check for good tone, signs of discharge and signs of diarrhea.
* Lameness. It is imperative that you are able to observe the horse trotting in circles in both directions and in a straight line. Watch closely for irregular bobbing of the head, sloppy movements or skipping that may indicate pain in any of the legs.

If the horse has passed your initial evaluation, it is time to take it for a ride. Observe its stamina, nerves and whether or not it is alert and well behaved.

If you have any doubts, either walk away or arrange an agreement based on the findings during the veterinary examinations. This is common practice and a legitimate horse seller will agree to some reasonable terms.

Be sure the three required exams are performed by a veterinarian of your choosing or one that has a neutral opinion. The required exams are:

* Health certificate, which is usually for crossing state lines.
* Insurance exam, to satisfy mortality and other questions related to insuring the horse.
* Pre-purchase veterinary exam, detailing the medical status of the horse at the time of purchase.

When buying a horse, you want to find one that is healthy and has a good attitude. The horse’s experience and dependability levels must closely match, or be above, that of the primary rider. A willing and intelligent horse can be trained to bring you years of pleasure and skilled work habits. Choose your horse wisely.

About the author: Rachel Harding has been riding horses since she was five. Sign up for our free newsletter and get all the information you need at Horse And Rider Info
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

The evolutionary history of the horse is one of the most-covered subjects in modern biology. And no wonder - of all modern animals, the horse has behind it the most intact and visible family tree.Our story begins millions of years ago - with the Perissodactyls.

No, not “pterodactyl” - those clawed flying relics of the dinosaur age as imagined in B-movies and The Flintstones. The “Perissodactyls” are hoofed animals with an odd number of toes on each foot (they are also distinguished by their tooth structure); this group of animals is itself, say scientists, descended from the same ancestor as the tapir and the rhinoceros but, unlike these animals, gradually adapted to life on drier land than the tropical forests preferred, even today, by the rhino.

One creature’s evolution often influences that of other creatures in its environment, and this was true of the equids (the horsey branch of the Perissodactyl family tree), who began eating grass as this new crop began to flourish. Such a diet favored the spread of new sorts of equids who had larger teeth.

Likewise, the equids - adoption of a dry, steppe-like habitat, where predators lived and where the comparative lack of foliage made it harder to hide, encouraged the survival of those equids who ran the fastest. Gradually longer-legged equids with a long third toe (which allowed for greater running efficiency) began to predominate. The Mesohippus species of 40 million years ago reflect this trend.

It’s a common - but disastrous - mistake to see evolutionary history as a smooth straight-line progression from early to middle to modern versions of an animal, with the modern animal taken as the final copy of the earlier animals’ rough draft, as if we were viewing successive sketches of Michelangelo’s David in a line that ended with the real statue.

In fact, though, most equid species lived their day and died, without having any influence on today’s horse; they existed in their own right, and we shouldn’t think of the modern horse as the “goal” of all this equine living and dying. Many genealogical lines simply ran out, while one (leading to our horse) happened to survive; but it could as well have been any, or all, of the others, given slight modifications in some habitat a million years ago or so.

In any case, of the many horselike species whose fossils have been found, it’s thought that Plesippus - a species descended from the earlier Dinohippus - is the father of the modern horse. This species responded to falling North American temperatures by heading, either to South America or across the Bering Strait from North America to Eurasia, about 2 and a half million years ago, with a few staying behind in North America.

Somewhere toward the end of the Tertiary period or at the beginning of the Quaternary - that’s scientists’ talk for the beginning of the most recent Ice Age, roughly 1.8 million years ago - descendants of Plesippus gave rise to offspring different enough from their sponsors, and like enough to our modern horses, that scientists have dubbed them Equus stenonis, the first “true” horse.

They crossed into North America and survived for millions of years, perhaps giving rise to the other ancient horses known to have inhabited the area during this period - the super-sized Equus scottii giganteus, whom the present author swears he is not making up (they seem to have exceeded modern horses in size). But all North American horses died out, rather inexplicably, around 11,000 years ago - at the same time as many other kinds of animals, and for reasons scientists have yet to discover. Was it some mega-virus of the ancient world? Or, a more tantalizing possibility, did humans (arriving on the North American scene, according to some theories, at about this time) hunt them to extinction?

In any case, horses had no purchase on this continent until after European colonization of the Americas began in 1492; for this long period, then, from 11,000 BCE to 1491, the horse’s development took place in Eurasia instead. (Another tantalizing thought - after the colonizers had reintroduced horses to Mexico, the southwestern US, and Peru, some indigenous tribes told stories about how “the grass remembers” these new animals.

Did these people groups retain some memory, perhaps through myth and legend, of the long-gone North American horse?)

The outline of horse-history given here is just one sketch, based on one strand of scientific theorizing. Like those ancient Perissodactyls giving rise to many species of not-quite-a-horse, most of which flourished in their time and died without contributing in any way to the development of modern horses, scientific speculation as to the origin of any species will include many interesting, intelligent “dead ends.” So who knows.

A popular theory, the “Four Foundations” theory, suggests that at some point long predating the horse’s disappearance from North America, four basic types of horses developed in Europe (from those Plesippi, perhaps, who crossed from North America to Eurasia before the last Ice Age began). Warmblooded, forest-dwelling horses and draft horses of northern Europe, plus taller, slimmer Asian horses and pony-sized Tarpans, are considered, in this theory, to be the “basic” horses from which all others are descended.

About the author: TRP Services offers Thoroughbred horse racing and horse racing tips online for horse racing handicapping and those who love thoroughbred horses for the horse racing tracks.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

Everyone remembers the “Simpsons” episode in which beleaguered Homer - not yet the walking punchline he was to become in later seasons - works himself nearly to death, taking second shifts at the Kwik-E-Mart with Apu, in order to afford a pony for young Lisa.

All ends well for the Simpsons, but the care and feeding of horses really isn’t light work.
First of all, there’s the question of lodging. After all, your new Thoroughbred race horse isn’t exactly going to fit in the closet. Horses require shelter from rain and wind, such as a barn, stable or shed; this is especially true if you’re keeping the horse’s hair short, in which case you may also need a horse blanket. In pleasant, sunny weather, your horse needs shade. Your horse also needs, year-round, grazing land - usually between 1-3 acres of pasture per animal fills the bill. And there’s the all-important exercise grounds (keeping a horse cooped up 24-7-365 is just cruel).

Most Americans horse owners, not having access to these things, rent a space for their horses at a boarding stable. These, of course, are not cheap - and some horses, especially stallions, aren’t best kept in such social environments anyway, as they will tend to fight with other animals.

Even if you live in a temperate climate and keep your horse out to pasture most of the time, she or he needs a place to shelter from the rain, as the insulating coat of hair doesn’t work nearly as well when it’s wet.

If you can keep you horse on grounds of your own, make sure, when feeding the horse, watch out for laminitis, a debilitating condition that can come from eating the lush, quick-growing early-spring and fall grass (such grass is high in fructans and other non-structural carbohydrates). Similarly, if you’re lucky enough to be able to rely on a natural nearby water source, check every day to make sure the stream hasn’t dried up, gone stagnant or developed blue-green algae (lethal to horses).

Finally, be careful in selecting fencing materials. Wire is a terrible choice for small pens (they’ll run into it); that goes double for barbed wire, which is condemned in almost every horse management book (but widely used in the Western US). If you do use wire, use it in a larger pen (where the horse won’t constantly be coming into contact with fencing), use a smooth and clearly visible wire (perhaps a heavy woven mesh with closely spaced strands), keep openings between strips too small for a hoof to fit through, and maintain your wire fence carefully.

To help with the visibility issue, as well as the durability of the fence, you might consider using a wood top player (no chance of trampling that down). Wood or synthetic-wood fences make a somewhat more expensive, but correspondingly better, more durable choice.

Horses need to eat 1.5-2.5 % of their body weight in food every day. The most common sources for filling this heavy nutritional need are grass, hay, grain, and pellets sold commercially. Again, keeping your horse fed is not cheap.

Horses’ coats should be groomed every day, ideally; in the real world, you should at least groom your horse before every ride to prevent chafing. A grooming regime includes the following elements: A round, short-toothed tool called a curry, used to loosen detritus from the horse’s coat and generate cleansing natural oils; a stiff-bristled dandy brush which cleans the larger materials stirred up by the curry; a soft-bristled body brush used for dust; a mane brush (usually wide-toothed; some people simply use a human hairbrush for this part); a hoof pick for cleaning the horse’s feet and preventing injury; fly spray, which needs no explanation; a metal or plastic tool, the sweat scraper, for, well, scraping away sweat; and scissors or clippers to keep certain areas short-maned (these include the “bridle path” behind the ears so that the bridle lays flat, and fetlocks).

You’re probably wondering how to bathe a horse? This task can be done with a simple garden hose and human shampoo (though horse shampoo is available for the punctilious) however, many horses, under conditions of normal wear and tear, never need a bath. No, I’m not kidding.

About the author: TRP Services offers Thoroughbred horse racing and horse racing tips online for horse racing handicapping and those who love thoroughbred horses for the horse racing tracks.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com