Mollie

I know the main way an abbotoir works but how are the animals treated? I'm talking in a GOOD trustworthy abbotoir not a dodgy one where animals are treated terribly.

My QH had a hogged mane when I brought him almost about 18 months ago, it has taken me ages to get it to a nice length. It's thick and looking good. Although he's always had a little bit missing in the middle, now that little bit is getting bigger and bigger. He has no neck rug on so nothing is rubbing it. It's not flakey or sore and I've washed it a couple of times in the last few weeks to make sure it's not sore. I was thinking of using some "stop itch" on it and washing it everyday for a week and see if that makes a difference. Can anyone help please? Anyone know any good remedies?

I have a 15 year old QH he is a very good doer but does get a little stiff and "old man like". I know gumnuts are often fed to senior or elderly horses and I was just wondering if I should start feeding them, I've heard they're great for the horses and they love them. So can anyone give me an opinion and some information please?

Hello, so I have a QH gelding whom I love dearly. I have owned him for a little over a year now. He is prone to founder so I will not be giving him hard feeds during spring, which is coming up soon (September). But once spring is over I will need to supplement him again as our summers are extremely hot and dry and we're left with very poor quality grass, although there's usually LOTS of it.

I currently feed him:

2 scoops of wheaten chaff

1 scoop Hygain Ice pellets

2 cups of Speedi-Beet

This is the scoop I'm talking about: http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://newm...

Supplements

2 tablespoons salt

100ml apple cider vinegar

The recommended dose of Equilibrium for his weight

Dolomite

He gets this feed 5 times a week.

Is there anything I can do to improve his diet. I'd like to be able to feed him often during spring and what I'm currently feeding him is all fine for founder horses, does anyone think it would be okay for him to have a hard feed during spring or should I just watch his weight?

This horse is turned out 24/7 I won't consider stabling him. He is muzzled during the day in spring and yarded a couple times a week.

He is currently getting one flake of grass hay in the morning and 1 flake of meadow mixed with clover hay in the evening.

His weight is okay at the moment, seeing as we still have more than a full month of winter left I'm expecting him to drop more weight, but so far he's looking great.

Please no rude comments or the classic "how much are you feeding him, you need to weigh it" he's a horse I'm not going to weigh his food, he gets the same feed all the time it's not like I give him heaps one day and barely nothing the next day.

Thanks in advance!!! :)

My Lachon (Lhasa Apso X Bichon Frise) turned 4 in March. He was originally brought from a pet shop (it's pretty much a puppy mill pet shop). However we rescued him when he was 18 months old. His previous owners didn't want him anymore. He is desexed but only got desexed when he was around 18 months, just before we got him.

A couple of months ago maybe April or May we got home and he had a big lump about the size of a golf ball maybe a little smaller, it was not near the tip of his penis it was about halfway in between the tip and where his balls would be. The lump was hard. About 10 minutes later it disappeared. We though maybe it was something to do with needing to pee. He didn't get the lump come up again until maybe June.

Then again on Wednesday, the lump on Wednesday was especially hard but around the same size as the previous lumps. When they come up I usually let him out in the backyard to go to the toilet and watch him carefully, usually by the time he comes back in, whether he's pee'd or not, the lump has gone.

Now today he has another lump, the lump we've seen before is not there, it's a smaller lump nearer to the tip of the penis today. It's not as hard as usual.

I think I'm going to take him to the vet for an examination but I just wanted to know if anyone knows what this is or could be? He is in great health, he gets exercised daily and fed well. We've only ever seen him have his red thing out like once or twice he doesn't get it out much if that matters haha.

Thanks in advance for any help, please no rude comments/answers. The dog will go to a vet I just thought it would be a good idea to put a question out on here.

My horse gets stiff and "locked" hips, I'm not sure what has caused this but my farrier has been doing his feet for 8 years and he's had it the whole time. My horse is a 14 year old QH. He has been used as a low level eventer until about 3 years ago when he slowed down a bit. Now he does Dressage work at Elementary level and just trail riding. My farrier is also a vet and he's said that it's nothing to worry about that is just the horse. I was wondering does anyone think he'd benefit from Chiropractor work and massage therapy?

Okay I've been working LOTS on my geldings overall posture in the arena, he has built up a lot of muscle over the last year and lost a lot of fat so he's looking a very good weight right now. He's been going very well in the arena (I do dressage by the way). He is going round nicely and moving forward and collected very well. He tends to lean into the bit, being a QH and not really built for dressage but I work the bit a tiny bit in his mouth and use a tiny bit of leg and he picks himself up again. When he's going good I don't work the bit at all I keep my hands very still. I do carry a dressage whip because occasionally he'll ignore my leg and I'll work the bit but still need some assistance so I give him a tickle with the whip.

Anyway, the outside track around the letter R is a big issue, there are horses (mares) in the paddock next to the arena so it can be hard to keep him focused but he's getting a lot better. Anyway he once got shocked by the electric fence on the other side and now he won't go near the letter R. I don't know if this is just a problem at home or if he'd be the same at a comp (I don't think he would but still). I try my best to stay still and not react to him, but as soon as we get near R he leans off of the track and will go back on it after. I use so much inside leg it's ridiculous, if I use my reins he'll just turn his head and his body will stay inside, does anyone have any tips for this?

I have a QH that is prone to founder and I was hoping to try Equisure this spring, has anyone had experienced with it and would care to share with me please? I have had no response to previous questions and really want to hear more before I try it on my horse.

So pros and cons and also which is better Equisure or Founderguard.?

I'm 15 and have ridden since I was 2 years old. My mum used to have horses and being a very good and competent rider, although she had some bad falls and lost her confidence really bad. She's currently wanting lessons but has agreed for me to teach her a little on my horse (whom is very trustworthy and well behaved), I will ride for 20 minutes or so first and then she'll have a go. What are some good exercises I can do with her that will help her get her confidence back. She's pretty confident on the ground, if its one on one, she gets nervous when we feed the horses in the paddock but that's because they get very aggressive with each other (not towards us however).

So yeah any help would be good, I hope to get her trotting a bit but we'll see how she goes at walk first. I was planning on having her on a lunge for a bit.

A little over a year ago my QH mane was completely hogged and it has taken so long to get it looking nice and not sticking up in the air.

I have my first dressage comp on him I'm September (maybe if all goes well) and I really don't want to pull his mane. The ideal length would be really nice and long. But at the moment it's over double what a good plaiting length is so does anyone have any ideas on what I can do without making the mane short?

I will be going to my horse for a few hours today, I'll be riding but I'll need other things to do with him, usually I do lots of groundwork and just let him eat some grass and stuff. Does anyone know any tricks I can teach him, he already knows kiss, yes and bow.

Currently my QH is ridden three times a week. On a Thursday I ride for 45-60 minutes in the arena doing dressag or small jumping. On a Saturday I ride for about 45 minutes either in the vineyard where I do mostly walking but also lots of uphill trot and canter work. And on a Sunday I generally ride for around 2-3 hours. We do a long trail ride in which we do lots of walking on different terrain and different places all the time. We also do trotting and cantering a lot.

Currently it's winter, the nights are around -2 to -5 celcius at the moment and the days are around 14-15 celcius. He is in a 300 gram fill synthetic rug on at night but during the day he is naked.

He is fed 3 times a week, his hard feed, which consists of 1 scoop of wheaten chaff (a scoop is just the normal scoops that you buy from a saddlery), half-3/4 scoop of Hygain Ice pellets and 1 cup of Speedi Beet. He also gets all necessary vitamins and minerals.

Everyday he gets 1 flake of grass hay in the morning and 1 flake of meadow/clover hay in the evening. He is a good weight at the moment and looks healthy. Although I'm open to any changes in his diet to make him healthier or that are good for him.

So of anyone thinks anything needs to be changed/stopped/added in his feed please let me know.

Also just a note he is prone to foundering and he is all English ridden just in case it matters.

So in January this year I was out with a friend for a ride on a really hot summer day. Our ride was going great, we had just been to the damn and let the horses cool off which was a lot of fun. Neither or is had phones because of going to the damn we had left them back where we saddled up. On the way back we decided to jump a log that was lying on the ground, no real reason just some fun. Usually my QH takes a while to settle into jumping, over the first 5 or 6 jumps he's so unpredictable, but anyway my friend went over and then I followed, only in trot so I didn't even expect a jump, the log was tiny. Well anyway he did a massive cat leap and jumped about a meter in the air. I fell off and broke my wrist in two places. 3 days later, with lots of drugs, surgery and two nights in the hospital I came out feeling very sorry for myself. I then had no confidence with riding at ALL.

I'm fine now almost 100% normal with my confidence again. Although I can't bring myself to jump. I've walked towards the jumps like tiny little ones and I've walked over them on him I've trotted towards them but I can't build up the courage to trot over them I always slow down to a walk before I get to it. It's not a really big issue and I just want to overcome it and ignore it. However I am so afraid he will do some massive jump or add in an extra stride or take off too early as he always does at first. Would it be a good idea to have someone else do the first few jumps? I know a girl that I think would be willing she's very confident and does lots of jumping I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I asked.

Or are there any techniques I can use to stop him taking off early or adding in strides?

Any help will be much appreciated thank you!

Since last night (so about 24 hours) my dog has been coughing and choking, gagging and heaving. It's like she has something stuck in her throat and she can't get it out. She's been on her normal two walks today. One this morning and one this arvo, both lasting around an hour. She was fine on the walks, ran around like usual and did not choke. She has eaten 3 meals since the coughing etc started which have consisted of a little bit of kibble along with raw mince meat, raw egg and a bit of dog meat. All of which the dog is fully used to eating. She's been consuming water normally, she may have even drunk a little more than usual but lot excessive amounts.

She will be fine for ages and then she'll start coughing and choking, then she'll sit up and heave and gag. I don't really know what to do but I think I will be taking her to the vet tomorrow, I was just wondering if anyone has an idea of what may be wrong with her.

So in previous winter my horse (a good doing QH) used to get a hard feed daily, consisting of wheaten and lucerne chaff and some Hygain Ice pellets, with all his necessary supplements, he'd get two flakes of hay per week. he kept weight well and by the end of winter he was at the perfect weight that I felt he looked good and comfortable at. Spring came and he was lame, meaning out of work, so he gained LOTS of weight he is prone to founder so it was a difficult spring.

Anyway this winter he's been a good weight so far. In his paddock there are 4 horses, 3 of them have a feeding/rugging roster, Doc (my horse), Danny and Tom get fed and rugged together everyday all us owners help each other out. So we've brought 30 bales of hay and we have a shed full of hay, the horses get about 3 flakes a day split evenly between them, so about a flake per day each, sometimes less but I guess it averages to about that.

I think my horse is looking much healthier on the hay rather than hard feed, it's a better way of feeding too, or so I think. He hasn't dropped much weight, he's staying pretty normal. He is a lot lighter rugged than last year and looks pretty good.

So what I wanted to ask was, in YOUR opinion would you feed hay or a hard feed in this situation?

Someone I know has a TB boy who is 7 and JUST broken like 2 weeks ago. He is currently extremely underweight, he gained a lot if weight then lost it all again at the breaker, he is now looking really bad.

Currently he's getting fed 3-4 biscuits of good quality meadow and clover hay, 1 of the biscuits is Lucerne however.

He is fed twice daily, 2 scoops of oaten chaff, economix something or other, copra and a multivitamin.

I was just curious as to what they could do to get weight on him. I'm just doing this to get an interesting answer and possibly learn more about feeding, I am not trying to tell them how to look after their horse I just think this example is good.

Anyway this horse is crazy, he does at least 20-30 laps of a 50 acres paddock per day at full speed gallop. He sweats like crazy while doing so. He does it for no apparent reason, the other horses in his paddock (including my own horse) are fat and lazy and completely ignore him doing this, their heads are always down eating away at the grass. I have only seen this boy eating actual grass maybe 5 times.

Personally I think he has underlying issues but I've tried to help the owner, she knows barely anything about horses only the little memory she has of her childhood with them, this was 30 years ago however. So many people have tried to help and she just brushes them off. She is going to get herself or her children hurt by the way they carry on around the hors ever many people have warned her and there's nothing she listens to.

Any answers are appreciated! Thank you :)

I have a 3 year old small Sussex Spaniel *****. She's desexed. She has a very hard time putting weight on and keeping it on. She gets 2 hours exercise daily, up hills, down hills off leash running jumping etc yet she has barely any muscle tone. I haven't spoken with a vet about this, she just seems a little skinnier than usual nothing in her diet has changed. She gets fed Supercoat kibble and Nutro or Science Diet tinned food along with veggies, rice and/or pasta.

She is a very nervous dog, and I think this may be her main reasons for her being skinny.

Last time she was weighed she was 13kg the vet said she's okay but wouldn't want to be much smaller. She is very small for a Sussex Spaniel in every way, she's petite.

I was thinking of putting her onto "Advance" or "Science Diet" brand on a working dog food. She gets fed plenty, way more than she should need. She also gets fed twice a day.

My horse has had a hard time with previous owners and he's come a long way with me, he's a completely different horse and has so much respect and trust for me. We have an amazing bond and I could never sell him. But I have this problem: I want to take my riding further, I want to do more dressage. My horse is almost 15 and finds dressage movements hard, I do not force him because I know he tries his best to please me. I don't have the money to keep and look after two horses and I would love to keep my baby. I can't retire him because he's still perfectly fine for trail riding and LOVES going for rides 4 times a week it's just the arena work that is hard on him.

He has previously schooled and competed Elementary dressage. I am 15 and I would love to take my riding further. I've been riding for most of my life and so I know what I'm doing. I want to challenge myself more and go further.

A friend of a friends has two Grand Prix level dressage horses and being a dressage rider I would LOVE to have a ride on a horse this talented. The horses are both Warmbloods (not sure what breeding they have). I'm not the type of person to be very forward about things and I would never ask to ride someone elses horse, unless I knew the person well. But after meeting these people they want me to go and ride one of these horses, I am so happy and excited. The only thing is these horses are at such a high level of work, being ridden in double bridles (of course) etc etc. The highest level horse that I've ridden is probably medium possibly advanced.

I'm a good rider and have ridden for 14 years, I know how sensitive to any movement such a well trained horse can be and I'd just like some tips and some questions answered.

How do you ask the horse for passage?

How do you ask for Piaffe?

Thank you. I would really like to push buttons but with such little experience riding these kinds of horses it will be impossible.

I have acrylic nails on at the moment, but today my horse stood on my nail and cracked/ripped it straight across the middle, the nail bled and looks a bit bruised. The acrylics have only been on a week and are no where near ready to come off so it would be too hard to pull them off. I can't soak them in acetone because my nail is extremely sore.

Does anyone have any experience with something like this, or any idea what I should do?? Please it's very sore and I'm a bit worried it'll get infected or something.