HORSES

Balling Gun	Liniment
Bot Block/knife*	Rectal Vetrinary Thermometer*
breeding hobbles	roll of cotton
dental float	scarlet oil*
fly repellent*	sheath cleaner
forceps/needle holder	sturdy halter*
4in. gauze*	three 18-gauge, 1/2-inch needles*
hoof dressing*	tie rope and bull snapes*
hoof packing	12-cc syringe*
hoof pick*	twitch*
Leg wraps	veterinarian's phone number*

- Horses need special housing depending on the size. First of all there are two types of stalls. One is the box stalls. These are the best kind. If you wants this it must be 12 square ft. or larger. With the correct size the horse be allowed to move around freely and lay flat if it so well desires. You would want the bedding to be Straw, wood shavings, old hay, or moss(Make sure these items are not moldy). The floor of the stall should be either gravel or clay; six inches deep over wood and eight inches deep of cement with the four inches of bedding above it all. The stall should be completed with a door to a pasture.

If you can not provide box stalls you may get tie or standing stalls. The standing stalls are five feet wide and eight-ten feet long including a place to tie the horse. These stalls are more work then the box stalls. Regardless of the weather the horse MUST be exercised daily. Tie Stalls should be cleaned and bedded daily.

Feeding- Feed your horses according to the amount of stress they are subjected to. This stress can range from standing in a sunny pasture (zero stress) to racing or showing regularly, which involves considerable stress from hard work, transportation, change in water, excitement, and other factors.

If a horse is a pasture horse, where there is lots of grass 2 acres is enough for one horse. However if there are more horses you do the math:-) Make sure the grass is plentiful. There is no need to ever mow the pasture as that will provide insufficiant amounts of food for the Horse.

During the winter the grass will start loosing most of the nutrients and therefore you must start supplying free-choice food to the horse. This will be hay (feeding at least twice a day or according to the eating habit of the horse). It is not good to feed a horse only pellets because after a while the horse will get bored of the pellets and not eat as much anymore(even though they supply all the right nuitrients. Try and mix it with other food choices-consult your veterinarian about this) and this will lead to Boredom. Boredom causes cribbing, pawing, stall walking, weaving, and other bad behaviors that are often nearly impossible to cure once they start.

Grain is a daily food that horses must eat. A working horse can eat up to 6 pounds daily(lightly worked). Yet other working horses(Hard working) should get up to 16 or more pounds of grain daily. If however your horses is an older horse or does not have enough body fat you should add steamed, rolled, or crimed grain with MOLASSES added. You could also substitute this for corn oil. Add this SLOWLY at first as this could cause diarrhea if using too much. If this happens don't cut it off, just cut back on the amount used.

Salt and Water- At all times the horse must have a salt block available containing trace minerals as should fresh water. DO NOT ALLOW A HOT SWEATING HORSE TO DRINK UNTIL YOU HAVE WALKED IT GENTLY OR LET IT GRAZE A WHILE. If you do the horse might colic or founder or even dying as a result of either symptoms.

Exercise- A horse needs daily exercise. If you plan to work your horse hard then you need to build it up gradually. Do not work your horse hard to where it will become lame, break a bone its' foot, heaves or founders.

The saying "no foot- no horses" is completly right. If you don't ride your horse on rocky, gravelly, or hard surfaces or if you don't race, show, or work it daily you do not need to have your horse shoed. Their hooves need regular triming unless the horse pastured on gravel. To trim the horses feet you must call the farriers to have it done professionally. If the hooves cracked call the blacksmith immediantly.