Horses are expensive to purchase and care for, but worth it for their utility and companionship. Keep them happy and healthy with this essential advice.
Whether you own one or two horses on a small ranch or a full stable, their health and happiness should be your priority. Equine health and happiness go hand in hand—a happy horse is a healthy horse. Provide your horses with the care they need and they’ll live long, fulfilling lives on your ranch. These ways to keep your horses happy and healthy will ensure that your stable is satisfied with the love that you give them every day.
Give Horses Plenty of Exercise
No horse is happy when they’re stuck in a tiny stall all day—a lack of proper exercise can lead to health problems even if the horse is otherwise healthy. Make sure that horses can stretch their legs and exercise every day. Letting horses out to pasture can provide them with adequate exercise, especially if they’re playful, but if they don’t do much, then you may need to walk or ride them around the ranch to keep them healthy.
High-Fiber Roughage
Horses love to chew; sometimes, their love of chewing can cause them to gnaw on your barn, pasture fence, or their enclosure. Letting them chew on wood isn’t good for their health.
To prevent the boredom that leads them to start eating your stable from the inside out, give your horses plenty of fibrous roughage that takes time to chew and digest. During the warmer seasons, you may need to feed less roughage if you supplement horses with pasture time. Watch for horses that chew on things they shouldn’t—it may cause dangerous dental or other health-related issues.
Act on Health Issues Immediately
Though horses can tackle the toughest tasks and have the high endurance to match, the slightest health issue can debilitate them and weaken them for the rest of their lives. The most important way to keep your horses happy and healthy is to stay on the lookout for the most common horse health issues and act on them quickly when you see the signs.
Monitor your horses’ health by watching their appetite, behavior, and appearance. Have a horse veterinarian at the ready if you ever need help urgently. Always trust the opinions of a professional horse veterinarian; horses can be fickle when it comes to the care they need, but don’t let their nature stop you from loving them.
