Handy Horsey Hints

• During this dry crispy weather, Freshen up his dry hay with some water, he will love you for it! Turn the bale on its side and hose it, do this the night before you want to feed it, making sure that it is fed within the next few hours or it will go mouldy! Add some molasses to the water for an extra treat!
• When rugging your horse always make sure the clips on the leg straps are clipped inwards so they don't accidently clip themselves onto anything ie; while he's rubbing against your fence!
• Neck rugs that are separate to your rug can be secured from slipping and twisting by threading the bottom buckle of the n/rug through the front strap of his rug! This will solve the problem.
• If you find yourself needing to Dye your horses tail for a show this can so often end in tragedy… to avoid getting black all over the back end of your horse, try this… go to the $2 shop and get a cheap flannel-backed plastic table cloth as large as you can get, cut a hole in it ( no bigger than the palm of your hand) about 2/3 along the centre of cloth pull tail through, long end of cloth should touch ground, secure the short end over his rump with his rug, now you should be successful at dying his tail not his coat!
• Hessian Chaff bags make great weed mats in the garden.
• Have you ever tried to give your horse a bute sachet by mixing it in his feed only to find that he has successfully left every granule in the bottom of his feeder? Or tried mixing it with water in an old 20ml syringe and getting him to swallow it? Very difficult indeed! Try cutting the entire end off the 20ml syringe add the desired amount of powdered medication and administer to mouth Hey Presto! it sticks to his tongue and he can't spit it out! Problem solved!
• Disposable nappies make great pads for wounds and duct tape makes a great substitute for vet wrap (in some cases anyway ie: around the hoof)
• Would you like to keep your horses tail looking 'swish' year round? Find that your tail bags don't fit all your rugs? Try this….get a old pair of tracksuit pants cut 1 leg off just below pocket, holding the cuff at the bottom of leg and cut the leg into 3 strips lengthways (stay with me…) then thread tail through the cuff hole to the bottom of the dock, separate the tail into 3 pieces and plait it in with the strips of material, fasten at bottom by tying a knot in remaining material and 'voila' a tail that is protected from the elements! both in the paddock and while riding!
• Old car tyre inner tubes make great protection for horses with foot abcesses or the like. Cut off 1/3 of the tube (or more depending on size of hoof), dress hoof with poultice etc and slip ½ of the tube over foot (like a sock) and fold the other half up in front of the leg, secure 'boot' with duct tape (not too tight!) around pastern. This should keep your dressing in place and out of the muck!
• For easy care saddle pads that we use for training….go to Clark Rubber or similar and get some foam, the same stuff 'pool noodles' are made out of, cut to the size of your saddle cloth and there you have an inexpensive alternative to a regular Cloth pad, we have used these extensively and find that they don't get hot, wet and smelly, they don't retain heat so they are not hot on the horses backs, very light, hygenic and you can get them in different thickness as your horse changes shape with work!

Links of Interest

www.equiculture.com.au                   Developing responsible horse ownership.

www.massageforequines.com.au     Equine massage in Brisbane.

www.dpi.qld.gov.au                           Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries in Queensland.

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