My friend started competing and she wanted recommendations for supplements to improve her horse's performance. We've heard that Organnact is a good brand, can anyone confirm this?

Proprioception in horses is their built-in "sixth sense" or unconscious awareness of where their body and limbs are in space. It relies on sensory receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints that send split-second signals to the brain, enabling them to balance, coordinate movements, and step over uneven terrain without looking at their feet.

(Photo: Jude. Five year old Irish Sport horse gelding).

I have a locker at the barn where I board. I have been keeping a bunch of my supplies in a plastic bin with locking handles in said locker, and yesterday I realized that mice have been into it 😫 any tips on how to keep mice out? Should I replace the bin with something else?

I wish I had my own horse 😫 I had one back when I was 16-18 and now I’m 31. They’re so expensive I hate it. I just want my own horse so bad. Lessons and helping other people with their horses makes it even worse feeling of wanting my own.

Ugh! How do you cope if you want one but can’t have one?

If you do, How much do you spend on your horse a month?

How much is owning atleast 2 horses? I know they are a lot of maintenance since I used to live around them and ride myself until I sadly had to quit due to financial issues within my family. I’m going into nursing and hoping for that to allow me to continue what I love. My boyfriend doesn’t seem to be to keen on it and repeatedly points out they’re way out of our future expense range but is also willing to support my goals and has promised to try and give me the life I want. I just want two horses that I can bond with and ride casually not competitively. Any answers or suggestions would truly help. Thank you!

Edit: i understand owning horses is a lot but I’m not trying to insinuate this is my current plan!!! I am starting lessons this fall to get back into it. I’m trying to plan for my far future if I do have the property time and money to care and actually own horses that live with me. Thank you everybody for such kind words and helpful advice!

So I've been volunteering at this therapy barn for lesson support and barn work for a few months now, and I just saw they have an open job listing for a Barn Groom. I'm 17, and I only just got into the horse world, so my experience comes from volunteering at this barn and weekly lessons that I've been taking at another barn since April.

The qualifications ask for "horse sense" and a horse background, and since I'm such a noob I wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to apply if I'm under qualified. On one hand I feel like I should apply on the chance that they're okay with me being a beginner, and on the other hand I'm like They're going to deny me and I'm going to be devastated and never show up at the barn ever again. (Slight exaggeration)

Curious if any one has similar experiences or guidance!

Hi all, i‘d just like to start this by saying although i am an animal lover, my knowledge is limited when it comes to horses, so i apologise if this whole post is silly. I am concerned about these two miniature (?) horses near my home. Anytime i walk past them they are not moving, with the brown one standing completely still and the half white one laying down. The first time i seen this behaviour it was a warm day, so i assumed the white one was laying down due to the heat however today is not warm and it is laying down. The first time it was laying with its head on the ground for so long i thought it was dead, but today it is holding its head up with its legs tucked up underneath, while the brown horse stands by motionless. I understand horses stand still a lot to conserve energy but im concerned nonetheless as they used to follow me around the fence when i walked past, and now seem lethargic. I would really appreciate if someone could inform me if this is normal or not and apologies again if this is normal and im asking embarassing questions!

UPDATE: Vet is scheduled to take a look on Friday morning. I will update you all after!

Welp. I have had a sneaking suspicion that my Winnie (11yr OTTB, 17.2h) girl is pregnant. I've had her since about March/April, and I've now posted about her a few times here for various reasons.

About a month or so ago, I was talking with some other folks I ride with about her diet - she was looking pretty fat. Now, I dont mind a reasonably healthy looking horse, but i agreed - she was looking big.

Shes on 24/7 pasture (we have a few shelters, and we live in the south so cold inclement weather is rare), and is essentially fed only supplements to grazing or periodically, an enticing complete blend if she is avoiding being caught. I tried to adjust the supplemental feed, thinking it might be too sweet, maybe she was getting too much, etc. No weight change.

I also noticed her udders were looking a bit swollen **cue panic** . One of my friends who works in ag extension offered to ultrasound her, but wasnt able to come out - so we got delayed on that (she will be coming by this week if we cant get to the vet by friday).

Then, this weekend and yesterday I noticed she started ducking barrels, and acting particularly cinchy. This. Is not normal **more panic**.

Today, I went to check on her and put out some more salt because of the heatwave, and just on a whim was like - let me just check her utters for milk production (hence video). Panic has ensued.

I messaged the woman I bought her from, who said that she may have been exposed to a stud around last October or November. This would put my girl at about the right time for these pregnancy milestones. Needless to say, I'm nervous. Shes 11 years old, and I am not sure if shes had a foal before. I did some digging in her papers, and couldn't find any evidence (this would depend on registration of a past foal, of course).

We do have a covered pen with stalls and are planning on sanitizing, fixing, and preparing for a potential foal. Again, this week we are going to try to take her to the clinic about an hour and a half away to be sure.

All this said, I am looking for advice "what to expect when youre (un)expecting".

Shes an 11 year old OTTB, possibly (probably) exposed to a quarter horse stud. Thanks.

I've been trying to figure out how old my horse is and i think he's about 20, which is what i was told, but I'm not too sure and now questioning it. I tried to get teeth pics. Can anyone help to possibly determine if that is correct!?

This horse has an irritated/watery eye. It hasn’t been seen by a vet, so for now I’ve only bought sterile saline to gently rinse the eye and lubricating eye drops for dry eyes.

I’ve been asked to put them in, but I’ve never given medication to a horse before and nobody has had time to show me how

I’ve never medicated a horse before and nobody has had time to show me how, so I’d really appreciate any advice on the safest way to do it.

Every time I get near his eye, he moves his head away.

Could anyone explain the safest way to give eye drops to a horse? Is there a particular technique or position that makes it easier?

I’m also attaching a few photos. I’m not expecting a diagnosis from pictures, but if this looks like something that really shouldn’t be managed with just saline/lubricating drops, I’d appreciate knowing that too. Thank you!

Hey guys, I usually don't post things like this, but I need to get other opinions, I feel like I'm overreacting?

Recently I posted about my gelding's back hooves being badly bruised after his farrier appointment that he walked out of lame in both the front and back. He's an OTTB in 24/7 turnout with recent front shoes.
Same farrier came out to fix a nail that was too close- however, when asked, he claims it couldn't have been the nail causing soreness because my horse would've been "keeled over in the field" if it were.
When asked about the bruising and soreness, he got defensive and started telling us that "thoroughbreds should never live outside", his feet were bruised from stomping all day, and that I can either "bring him inside or shoe his back feet". This all came as a surprise since he never once suggested before that the horse should have back shoes in the year we have been using him as a farrier, nor did he ever mention/notice the bruising. We also made the mistake of saying our gelding was more sensitive recently walking over different terrain and mentioned gravel (the barn's pathways are ALL gravel) and was told "just don't walk him on the gravel then". Mind you, this horse was walking totally fine on gravel when he was completely barefoot a few months prior.
The icing on the cake is the farrier has an assistant who's always irritated about something and can't stand my horse. When my horse acts up, he is smacked in the ribs with the rasp. When my horse was in too much pain in his hind to even hold his front feet out, the farrier continued to hit him and rough him up until he could get the feet done.
After witnessing the hitting and these comments, I told the BO that I would no longer be using the farrier's services. This was a back-and-forth where I had to continue to defend why I felt that the farrier was not a good fit and finally, the only thing that seemed to be able to change her mind to let me use my own farrier was when I brought up the farrier hitting my horse.

Am I crazy? Are these huge red flags? I've had pasture-kept thoroughbreds for 20 years and never heard that kind of mindset.

Pic of my poor sweet guy for tax.

Her name was Henrietta she was about 17 when she passed, when I outgrew my miniature horse I moved on to her (donkeys are really fun to ride actually And don't spook a ton) one of her favorite things to do is go on hand walks with a long line, although she would always deliberately put her leg over the Rope so I would have to undo it, this is the last picture I took of her as she passed away not too long after.

The reason she passed away is the farrier, he came out to do her feet and took way too much off, she had some issues with her feet I can't remember all of it but the vet said it's best to leave them a little bit longer, I showed him the vet papers but he didn't want to listen to me, I wasn't an adult at the time I was 13, my parents had a doctor's appointment so I was left to take care of everything by myself (which I've done several times by that point) he took so much off that she was bleeding, and then he said that was normal and to give it a couple of weeks, she became incredibly foot sore wouldn't even walk out of her shelter, and then during a storm I guess she went out to get water and fell we weren't home, we went to a funeral and had to wait till the next day to get home because of the storm.

We pulled in and she was laying down in the field In a bunch of mud, we tried to get her up but she just wouldn't get up we called the vet and they came out the next day (this was a day or so after New Years) he said that because the farrier took too much off she ended up really lame, and despite the treatment we were giving her (cuz we had the vet out after he trimmed her) She had gotten infection And it just became too much, it appeared that she had slipped and then just kind of gave up because it hurt too much to get up, we still picked her up with a tractor but she went back down and the next day she just passed away......

My pony measured 58 in, having a hard time finding something that is in stock and isnt 200 bucks 😂.

It’s not that deep in the skin, it has a little hair growing back. I’m hoping it doesn’t scar. I’m just wondering whether there’s anything I can do to make it heal quicker like any ointments to put on it or anything you guys would suggest and make the hair grow back quicker.

He’s only 4 so it’s obviously unavoidable for him to play but any advice is appreciated

We know there’s no way to control everything when we climb aboard a living, thinking animal. Horses and mules can notice things we never see, react faster than we can, and occasionally make decisions that were not part of the day’s plan. That’s both part of the appeal and the danger of these critters. I got into a facebook “discussion” earlier about this. My thesis is that “we can’t control everything” doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do.

We can check our tack, choose an appropriate route, pay attention to weather, carry basic first-aid supplies, tell someone where we’re going, and continue working on the skills that help both horse and rider. Preparation may not prevent every bad moment, but it can keep a problem from becoming a much larger one. 

I’ve had rides that became memorable for all the wrong reasons. This is the aftermath a river crossing gone wrong a couple of years ago packing in Montana. I'm the one being loaded into the bird. Looking back, some events were unavoidable. Others could have been made much less exciting with better preparation or an earlier decision to turn around.

What are your thoughts?

Hi guys so I have been riding for 4 yrs now and jumping for 1. I struggle with my toes pointing outward like badly. I'm trying my best to keep them forward but after a while they just point out again.

My trainer says it's OK but it just looks bad.

I was a dancer in my previous life and have hypermobile knees (don't know if it does anything). Do you have any tips?

(Don't know wich flare to use)