The Logistics of Caring for a Horse

While it’s fun to romanticise the idea of owning and caring for a horse, it is an immense responsibility that requires much time and money. If you are thinking of becoming a horse owner, consider the following responsibilities you will need to assume to ensure the animal’s well-being.

Daily Care Routine

Horses require a great deal of daily care to keep them happy and thriving, including meeting their daily nutritional needs and giving them opportunities for socialisation. A daily horse care routine should include the following.

The Logistics of Caring for a Horse

Feeding & Nutrition

Like people, horses require a well-balanced diet. Since the dietary needs of a horse will change throughout its life, it’s essential to speak with a vet or expert about the feeding needs of your horse at its age. While the specific needs will vary based on horse size and activity level, on average, horses need roughly 20 pounds of food daily (or about two per cent of their body weight in food). Food can consist of grain or roughage (such as pasture grass or hay), which provides the necessary balance of essential nutrients.

Horses have delicate digestive systems that require them to graze on small quantities of food throughout the day rather than large meals. Your horse should never be fed right before or after exercise, as its digestive system isn’t well-equipped to handle this. In addition, they need access to clean water throughout the day to aid digestion. Most horses need at least eight gallons of water each day.

Both food and water intake should be monitored to ensure the horse receives everything it needs to thrive. Changes in appetite may also signal that the horse may need medical attention.

Grooming

Horses are known for their stunning coats and flowing manes, and these require daily attention from horse carers to keep looking their best. Daily grooming is also essential for the horse’s health and cleanliness and can help strengthen the bond with your animal.

A typical daily grooming routine should include a mane comb, hoof pick, body brush, dandy brush, shampoo, and soft brush. Each comb and brush detangles hair and removes dirt that can irritate the horse’s skin, and each has a specific purpose. Grooming should be done before and after riding or exercising the horse. For hoof care, ensure a blacksmith trims and reshoes your horse every six to eight weeks.

Exercise & Training

Daily exercise and training can help maintain your horse’s mental and physical health. It also helps build stamina and strength while reducing injuries. A typical exercise and training routine comprises various forms of exercise, such as walking, running, and swimming. A racehorse’s routine may include strength-building work, such as walking or running through sand or water.

A proper routine will incorporate warm-up and cool-down periods to keep the horse’s muscles and joints safe and include stretching to improve a horse’s range of motion. These activities will vary based on the age and abilities of the horse. Rest periods are also crucial for a horse’s recovery and strength and should be included in the routine.

Turnout & Socialisation

‘Turnout’ refers to taking your horse out of its stall to pasture or exercise, and this is an essential daily practice for your horse’s well-being, even if it’s not a formal training day. It allows your animal to socialise with other horses, get fresh air, and engage in natural behaviours like grazing and wandering that are essential for its well-being.

Health & Medical Care

All horses require medical care to ensure they’re healthy, including regular check-ups, vaccinations, preventative care, injury prevention, and, in some cases, injury treatment or rehabilitation.

Regular Veterinary Check-Ups

Horses should have a general veterinary check-up every year; this should increase to twice a year for horses over the age of twenty. These check-ups will examine your horse’s overall health, from dental to hoof health. You should also get a veterinary check-up if you notice changes in your horse’s typical behaviours or eating habits.

Vaccinations & Preventative Care

Horses require various vaccinations to prevent them from contracting serious illnesses or spreading them to other horses they encounter. These vaccines protect against diseases like tetanus, encephalomyelitis, influenza, and rabies. Horses born to vaccinated mares begin their vaccine schedule at roughly six months old, while horses born to unvaccinated mares need to start vaccinations sooner. Once the initial vaccines have been administered, most vaccines require yearly boosters to maintain their effectiveness.

Horses are prone to many parasites, making parasite treatment and prevention essential to their medical care. Unless symptoms of a severe infection require immediate treatment, parasite treatment and prevention will be incorporated into the regular check-up.

Injury Prevention & Treatment

Most daily care practices, such as stretching and adequate rest periods, are primary injury prevention tools. When treating injuries, several interventions can relieve any discomfort your horse may be experiencing and help it recover. These interventions can include pain relief medications, cold hosing to reduce swelling and inflammation, ultrasound therapy, physiotherapy, and extended resting periods. The interventions used will vary based on your horse’s specific needs, and a veterinarian can help you identify the right course of action.

Stable Management

Maintaining your horse’s stable is an essential daily task to keep its environment clean and safe. A clean environment helps prevent the spread of disease, reduces unpleasant odours, and creates a comfortable environment for your animal. Stalls should be cleaned out twice daily, with fresh bedding added each time.

Dividing Responsibilities

With so many tasks and schedules to follow, caring for a horse is far more than a full-time job. It leaves little time for other essential activities in your life and even less for fun and entertainment, such as visiting casinos.com to get the top bonus offers or going on holiday. Because of this, most horse carers share the responsibility with others. This may involve dedicated roles for training, stall maintenance, and overseeing medical needs, dividing the workload to make it more manageable without sacrificing the quality of care your horse requires.

Conclusion

From daily grooming and exercise to yearly appointments and medical needs, there is a long list of requirements for adequately caring for a horse. Ensure you’re fully prepared for these responsibilities before bringing a horse into your life.

 

 

 

How Many Horse Racing Books Did Nick Mordin Publish?

How Many Horse Racing Books Did Nick Mordin Publish? It seems a long time ago, but in the mid 1990s Nick Mordin was very much a name of horse racing journalism, from research, data analysis, articles in leading publication to the author of popular racing books.

He first came to prominence when writing for Odds On magazine. To be fair, I can’t remember ever reading this publication, but loved his features in the Sporting Life’s Weekender – Systems. Mordin had a passion for horse racing, which saw him turn his back on an advertising career as a copywriter.

Some may remember Harry Findlay ‘having a go’ at Nick Mordin in the year Denman made waves in National Hunt racing and went on to win the Gold Cup. I’m pretty sure Findlay took offence with Mordin over some data about the chances of Denman – known as The Tank – about winning the Gold Cup. It may well have been an article written for the Sporting Life’s Weekender – Systems.  ‘There’s no such thing as bad publicity’ comes to mind.

Mordin shunned the limelight and it may well have been one of the reasons why he gradually slipped off the radar.

However, this didn’t stop him having four books, including the best seller Betting For A Living, which was published by Aesculus Press Limited in 1992. This book was very much in the style of the American publications which have always been light years ahead of the game, especially in the 90s. Even to this day, most horse racing publications are about the stories told by professional gamblers which rarely detail how they made their money. If they do broach the subject it is next to impossible to garner any real information.

Mordin’s books were written to help the average punter improve their lot with facts and insight to make their betting pay.

In fact, Mordin’s books covered all aspects of finding winners detailing all four corners of knowledge:

Betting For A Living, published by Aesculus Press Limited in 1992

The Winning Look, published by Aesculus Press Limited in 1994

Mordin On Time, published by Rowton Press in 1996 (later edition by Aesculus Press Limited)

Winning Without Thinking: A Guide To Horse Racing Betting System, published by Aesculus Press Limited in 2002

All books are still available on Amazon.

Each book detailed vital knowledge founded on research, data analysis and systems, how to objectively assess the look and behaviour of race horses and the importance of time and a rating system that actually works. All topped off by Winning Without Thinking (which I haven’t read.)

Mordin wasn’t simply trying to sell books but help punters achieve their goal of winning money if not becoming a professional gambler. As Mordin said he wanted his literature to be used as an academic course and subject in its own right and something appreciated for his outstanding dedication to the subject which was wholehearted.

He led the way in answering questions. Being a successful gambler is all about that endeavour.

Does Illegal Horse Racing Still Happen?

Does Illegal Horse Racing Still Happen? In a world where people want to bet on anything and everything, for example on TonyBet, it perhaps should not be all that much of a surprise that there is usually an illegal alternative to anything legal.

Whilst the likes of illegal underground boxing might not come as much of a shock to people who have watched films like Fight Club, the same sort of attitude might not be the case when discussing illegal horse racing. Though it is a more common thing to come across in the United States of America, it is also something that happens in the UK – despite the fact there are nearly 50,000 legal races each year.

Whilst getting away with illegal horse racing in the US is understandable because of the vast size of the country, the same can’t be said for the United Kingdom. That means it is much less common in Britain, though it does still happen.

As you can imagine, there are all sorts of things that happen at such events, which is what makes them illegal. The idea of looking after the welfare of the horses is secondary, if not disregarded entirely, whilst any bets placed on such events are liable to be lost entirely from the unscrupulous people taking them.

What Are Illegal Horse Races?

There is a difference between a race that takes place outside the jurisdiction of the British Horseracing Authority, or the relevant authority in the country in question and one that is completely illegal.

In many ways, it is equitable to distinguish between flapping tracks and licensed ones in greyhound racing, alongside completely illegal ones. In that instance, licensed tracks have gained a license to operate from the Greyhound Board of Great Britain, whilst flapping tracks have not done so and therefore operate without the oversight of the governing authority.

Meanwhile, Illegal greyhound races are those that take place ‘underground’, known only to a select few and with practices that are often harmful or dangerous to the participating greyhounds. Similarly, the world of illegal horse racing isn’t just one where the British Horseracing Authority hasn’t issued a license but is one where the people involved are taking part without any sense of oversight.

There is no duty of care to the horses or the jockeys, meaning it is essentially an experience in which anything goes. This is what makes it illegal and, as with similar greyhound racing, dangerous to all concerned.

Rancho El Centenario

For an example of the world of illegal horse racing, it is worth looking at a town of 800 people called Milner, located in the US state of Georgia. The racecourse is called Rancho El Centenario, flying the flag of Mexico and using armed guards to search the cars of any people who wish to head in to watch the racing. To be able to do so, they need to pay $100 a head, which gives them entry to the pecan farm on which the racing will take place. The people heading there know what to expect and it isn’t what they’d get at a licensed race track.

Journalists witnessed a trainer plunge a syringe into the neck of a horse, eliciting cheers from the nearby crowd when one of them asked for another for her. Though they denied that it contained performance-enhancing drugs, instead insisting that it was just designed to prevent the horse from having a stroke or a heart attack, evidence suggests otherwise. A journalist from the Washington Post picked up a similar syringe post-use and sent it to Industrial Laboratories, who said that it contained methamphetamine and methylphenidate.

This, of course, is just one example of such a track. There were 89 such locations at the time that the article was published. These unregulated ‘bush tracks’ are places where the trainers can do what they want to the horses. Animal abuse stands alongside doping as something that goes unchecked at such tracks. Even jockeys aren’t safe, as one jockey, who was kicked out of regulated racing for using shock devices, found out when he died at Rancho El Centenario. Whether you’re riding or being ridden, the risk of death is high at such a track

What was signficant about the 2015 Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton Park?

What was signficant about the 2015 Kauto Star Novices' Chase at Kempton Park? Inaugurated, as the Feltham Novices’ Chase, in 1975, the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase is run over three miles on the opening day of the Christmas Festival at Kempton Park, a.k.a. King George VI Chase Day. Indeed, along with the King George VI Chase, itself, and the Christmas Hurdle, it is one of three prestigious Grade 1 contests on the feature card of the year at the Sunbury-on-Thames venue. In 2013, the race was permanently renamed in honour of Kauto Star, who was retired from racing the previous October, having won the King George VI five times, in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011.

The 2015 renewal of the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase, run, as usual, on Boxing Day, was won by the 9/4 second-favourite Tea For Two, a six-year-old trained by Nick Williams. The son of leading National Hunt sire Kayf Tara jumped superbly throughout and, having taken the lead between the final two fences, only had to be pushed out to beat Southfield Royale by four lengths, with the favourite (and future Cheltenham Gold Cup winner) Native River a similar distance behind in third.

The result was significant, though, that Tea For Two was ridden by his regular partner, Lizzie Kelly, the 22-year-old stepdaughter of his trainer. Thus, Lizzie Kelly became the first female jockey to win a Grade 1 National Hunt race in Britain. Reflecting on her historic victory, she said, “This has been a long time in the planning and it is some feeling.”

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