Animal Livre

Horses are amazingly beautiful and sensitive creatures. Horses require not only understanding and patience to have a horse as a pet, it also requires a whole lot of care.

Herd Mentality:

Observe horses in the herd system, each horse’s welfare in the wild depends upon an instinctive submission to the discipline of the herd. The instinct is for immediate action. To the horse, action is survival. When horses live in an herd environment, they often take turns sleeping and standing guard for any predators. When the leader of the herd signals danger they take flight.

Learning respect and ascending to authority starts on the first day of life for the foals, there is a distinct pecking order in herds of horses.

It is important to keep a quiet profile around horses. Horses naturally do not like unnecessary noise because in the wild their survival depends on detection of predators with their hearing. Extraneous noise interferes with this predator detection. This predator detection is tightly coupled with a horse’s flight reflex. Due to these survival genetics, horses have a physiological wiring in their brains that predisposes them to prefer quietness and to become bothered by unnecessary noise. Many horses can get startled easily from abrupt noises and this could result in injury to the horse, the rider, or people around the horse. Talk to your horse in a quiet, reassuring voice.

Relationship With Horses:

A horse will love you if, first and foremost, you treat it fairly, and secondly, if you allow yourself to develop a relationship with it in the same way you would a human partner. There are too many who will look after the horse’s material needs but put nothing back into the partnership itself. The horse born in captivity will identify with an alternative provider and companion, resulting in a healthy relationship from the beginning. A healthy relationship with your horse requires: trust, coupled with respect, fondness with compliance, and a desire to please.

Check Your Horse:

Examine your horse every day and especially prior to riding the horse. Carefully examine the horse’s legs and back for any unusual heat or lumps. Make sure that the horse’s eyes are alert and not glazy. Listen for any excessive noise or gurgling sounds coming from your horse’s stomach. Catching problems before they become serious is critical to keeping a show horse sound and alive.

Exercise caution and discretion when around stallions and mares when they are in heat. They are dealing with hormones on an order of magnitude that you probably can not comprehend. Stallions typically bite and some may be easily triggered into violent behavior.

Grooming Horses:

Keep your horse clean. Keep your horse’s entire coat free from dirt, mud, sand, and sweat. Brush your horse every day. Pick out your horse’s feet every day. Wash out any sweat residue from the saddle pad or girth every day. Wash out any dirt or sand residue, as from the riding arena, on your horses legs every day. A number of different problems can result if a horse’s coat is not kept clean.

Barn Care:

Keep your horse’s stall clean. Make sure that your horse’s stall is cleaned every day. Be sure that any wetness is removed with the manure. Replace the removed bedding with fresh, clean, dry bedding. Water should be dumped from buckets every day without exception. Unhealthy dirt and bacteria can build up in a bucket if it is not cleaned on a daily basis. Clean water is essential to maintaining a healthy horse. Make sure your horse always has clean, fresh water available.

Training A Horse:

The intelligence of the horse increases rapidly with education. An intelligent trainer can make an intelligent horse. A kind but firm trainer will result in a disciplined but pleasing horse.

Horse Feed:

Feed your horse(s) at the same times every day. A horse may get upset and colic or injure themselves by kicking the stall or pawing, if not fed when feeding is expected. You should not make radical changes in a horse’s feed program. If you must make a change in the feed program, make the change gradually. Drastic changes in a horse’s feed program can cause the horse to colic and in some cases, may die. Your horse’s stomach is a highly sensitive bio-reactor that maintains a delicate balance of the organisms that digest food in your horse’s digestive track.

Visitors should not feed a horse that you do not own without the owner’s permission; no carrots, no apples, no treats, nothing. The horse could potentially, get sick if they have an allergy or sickness.

Pay attention to everything that goes into your horse; that means all feed, all hay, all water, all treats, all supplements, all pills, and all shots. This knowledge could save your horse’s life in an emergency situation. Post this information on your horse’s stall door so that it is available to a vet if you are not around in an emergency. Make sure that your horse gets high-quality feed and hay. Your horse’s health and soundness depends on the nutrition that you provide for them. Take good care of your horse. A rider without a horse is no rider at all.

Vet Care:

Make sure that you have a good equine veterinarian. A good vet will save you money in the long run and may save your horse’s life some day. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Make sure your horse has all the vaccinations that are normal for your geographical location. All horses should be on a good worming program to control intestinal parasites. A horse should be wormed by a vet at least twice a year.

Horse Flies:

In the summer spray your horse trailer down with fly spray about 10 minutes before you load the horses. The flies should leave, and your horses will be without those pesky flies!

Cooling Horses:

Never spray a hot, sweaty horse with cold water immediately after working the horse. This can cause muscle spasms and binding, or shock that can lead to death. Wait until the horse is breathing regularly, and use warm water if it is available. If a horse has heat shock, consult your vet and the vet may instruct you to cold hose the horse, even if still hot and sweaty. Never put a horse in a stall or confined area while sweaty or while they are still breathing heavily. This can result in shock and/or colic that can lead to death. Walk the horse until the horse is cooled out and the breathing is normal.

Shoeing:

Horses’ hooves generally grow approximately 1 cm in a month, and take nearly a year to grow from the coronet band to the ground. Horse’s hooves need to be trimmed regularly (about every 6-8 weeks). Shoeing a horse does not hurt them. If you were to grow out your finger nail, you could put an earring/pin through it without causing discomfort; however, if you pushed the pin through the part of your nail that is attached to the soft tissue of your finger, it would hurt. When horse shoes are nailed in, they are nailed at an angle so which the horse doesn’t feel it.

Make sure that you have a good farrier, especially if you show your horse over jumps. The concussion from landing from jumps amplifies any problems in a horse’s shoeing. If a horse gets sore feet or legs from bad angles or bad shoeing, the horse can not just take his shoes off, sit back on a couch, and rub their feet, or find another pair of shoes like you can. Bad shoeing can result in your horse becoming lame due to a number of problems including: bowed tendons, popped splints, or shoulder/back soreness or spasms. Bad shoeing can ruin a good horse, so don’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish where shoeing is concerned. A laid-up horse is far more expensive to maintain than a good farrier. And remember not all horses need to have shoes, only if they are competing, walking on hard/rocky surfaces, or have hoof problems.

Sleeping:

Horses do lay down to sleep, but only if they feel completely comfortable in their environment. It is not enough to provide a dry stable, food and water. Horses will often sleep standing up by locking their knees. Horses are one of the few animals that can put one half of their body asleep while the other half is wide awake. Emotionally and mentally, all horses need to feel they have and be comfortable in their own space!

To fully enjoy a horse’s finer qualities you must treat them with both kindness and quality care. In the end, a happy horse will mean a nicer ride and a happier rider.

As all cat owners know, a feline can be a wonderful addition to any
family. One of the most basic aspects of cat ownership is proper health
care for the cat. Health care for a cat encompasses a wide array of
vaccine shots, flea protection, vet visits, medications, and even proper
exercise.

However, the most important aspect of cat health is also often
overlooked. People spend hundereds of hours and thousands of dollars over the
lifetime of a cat to keep it healthy, but most cat owners don’t pay
nearly enough attention to the proper cat food.

The right cat food is absolutely essential to a healthy, happy cat.

But what is the best cat food for your cat? While each cat will have
slightly different nutritional needs, there are some general rules that
must be considered when looking for cat food.

First of all, cats (like their human owners) need a high quality diet.
This means the best types of protein, fats, carbs, and the less
preservatives and chemical additives, the better. Most of the research
available online does not compare specific brands of cat food, as much as
specific ingredients to feed your cat, and which to stay away from!

Cats need a high protein diet. Wild cats are very carnivorous, and cats
derive a great deal of their nutritional needs from protein. House
cats, while not wild, still have many of the same nutritional needs as
their wild feline ancestors. So, the most important ingredient in any cat
food is protein.

Carbohydrates are also an important part of a cats diet, though not as
important as protein. Cats really should derive the majority of their
nutritional needs from protein, so cat foods that are high in
carbohydrates may not necessarily be the best for them.

Interestingly enough, many of the premium brands of cat food, such as
Eukanuba and Innova offer exactly what most cats need, and aren’t
necessarily more expensive in the long run. This is because high end cat
foods need a smaller serving amount than the low end cat foods to give a
cat all the nutrients they need to be satisfied and healthy.

When comparing a premium brand such as Eukanuba, to a lower cost brand
such as Purina, the cost difference for the recommended serving size is
only a nickel a day. Furthermore, because a cat will eat less of the
high end cat food, their waste will be reduced. This can cut down on the
frequency of litter replacement and litter box related chores.

Another aspect of cat food to be considered is the quality of the
protein in the food. Because of the way many pet food companies describe the
meat in the food, it can be difficult to figure out exactly what the
difference between “chicken flavored”, and “chicken dinner” is.

Food that contains “chicken meal” can only be made from the skin,
flesh, and bones only. This is really the best type of protein for a cat.
Food that has “meat byproducts” can contain nearly any animal parts, and
are of lower quality than “chicken meal”. Food that is “chicken
flavored” only has to taste like chicken, but may not contain any animal meat
at all. Also, chicken is generally better than beef for cats.

And it goes without saying, preservatives, as well as artificial
colors, should be avoided whenever possible. Although specific research is
lacking on this subject, we do know that preservatives and artificial
colors can have a negative impact on human health. It is only logical that
cats will also be negatively affected by artificial colors and
preservatives in their cat food.

To teach your dog tricks even easy ones you need to have some small reward treats, be in a quiet suitable place and keep the training sessions to 10 - 15 minutes or your dog will start to get board, remember when he gets something right lots of praise and a reward treat, just be careful not to get him over excited or he will loose concentration.

Getting your dog to give you his paw, first get your dog to sit, then as you say the word ‘paw’ take your dogs paw in your hand, give the dog a treat, repeat this, after a few times do not take his paw so quickly, say the word, count to one then take it, you should notice he is bringing his paw up as you say the word if he does not go back to saying it at the same time, do it a few more times then slow your response again. After 2 or 3 sessions most dogs pick this one up quite happily.

The high five, like a lot of tricks the high five is a progression of an earlier trick, in this cast the paw trick. Hold a treat in your fingers and raise your hand slightly higher than you would for the paw trick. You dog will think you want to do the paw trick and will reach for the treat with his paw as we taught him earlier, as he reaches up you say “high five” and give him the treat. Once your dog has mastered the paw trick this one should be very easy to learn and with just a few sessions he will be doing it on hand signal rather than voice control.

Getting your dog to jump through a hoop, before you start this one I would just like to ask you to be a little sensible and not hold the hoop too high as you do not want your dog to heart himself while doing the trick. Sit your dog on one side of a hoola hoop, get the dogs attention on your hand on the other side of the hoop take a treat in your hand and give the dog the command to release him from the sit, at first he may attempt to go around or under the hoop, if this happens start again, your dog wants the treat and will soon learn that going around or under does not get it so he will soon start going through it, when he does say hoopla and give him the treat. He will soon be jumping through the hoop on the command of hoopla. When I started doing this trick I had a medium sized dog (a Labrador) so I started with the hoop 6 inches from the ground and slowly raised it to waist height, if you have a smaller dog you might want to start with the hoop touching the ground so the dog just goes through the hoop and then slowly raise it as he gets used to the trick.