Head to Tail Equine Massage, LLC

12/19/2020

Merry Christmas !

10/02/2019

SmartPak's Hoof Health Consultant, Danvers Child, CJF, talks about and shows you why regular horse hoof care is critical to your horse's overall health. Because after all,

02/27/2019

07/31/2018

Some Common Myths

1.Hosing a horse with cold water will cause muscle spasms or a heart attack.
Completely false. Cold water won't hurt the horse one bit, and the cooler the water, the more efficiently it will cool him down.

cold-hosing-horse
2.Letting a horse drink all he wants after exercise will cause founder (or colic
Again, completely false. Water cannot make a horse founder, no matter how much he drinks, or when. (An important exception to this is the horse that is severely overheated. See sidebar "Heat Can Kill.")

3.Cold water will cause founder or colic.
It won't. But studies have shown that horses given warmish water will drink more. So it's a good idea to draw a bucket of water and let it warm up a bit if your water supply is very cold.

4. Horses cool out faster when wearing a cooler.
Nonsense. Never put any kind of cooler on a horse in hot weather. When you're hot, do you crawl under a blanket or take off extra clothes? The same thing goes for your horse. You want his body heat to transfer to the air and blow away, not be trapped close to him.

5.Never clip a horse because his hair helps him cool out quicker.
Like #4, this is also false. Common sense alone will tell you that the less you have between skin and air, the quicker cooling will occur.

Keep Cool with Salt
Maintenance horses require 1-2 ounces of salt per day to meet their requirement for sodium and chloride under normal temperature conditions. This may increase to 4-6 ounces of salt per day in hot humid conditions or with added exercise. Inadequate salt in the diet can result in abnormal eating behavior such as licking or chewing objects that have salt on them or licking/eating dirt. Water intake may also decrease, increasing the risk of impaction colic.

Heat Can Kill
Horses overworked in the heat can develop body temperatures of 105º or higher and risk damage to their brain, muscles and internal organs - even death. Overheating is possible any time the temperature and humidity combined are more than 150 (e.g., 80º temperature and 70% humidity, 100º temperature and 50% humidity, etc.), so use caution in those instances. When you add "normal" summer temperature and humidity percentage, they often total at least 150. You may be tempted to ignore this advice, thinking that you've frequently worked your horse hard when the total is over 150. But veterinarians tells us that they see a fair number of horses collapsing from the heat every summer, or at least having low-level heat exhaustion.

01/19/2017

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12/23/2016

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

07/28/2016

Use these guidelines during hot weather, and you can avoid the potentially serious horse health problem of overheating.

01/22/2016

08/11/2015

Sign the petition to help save this wild herd of horses!

The Salt River has been home to a herd of wild horses for generations. the U.S. Forest Service has given public notice for removal and destruction of this herd. http://publicnotices.azcapitoltimes.com/search/detail.aspx. The Tonto National Forest Service has released a public announcement that they…

07/16/2015

I am sharing this because a friend of mine was out with her horse when a car overtook her at speed - the passengers thought it would be great fun to shout and yell as they drove past … the driver was a woman who found it hilarious - the passengers her children …. there is no excuse for this type of behaviour.

07/10/2015

http://www.gofundme.com/y6p8m7fk

PLEASE HELP! Please click below to read...

She is a kind and caring woman way past the age of retirement. Her husband died 2 years ago after a long illness. The medical bill ate up all of their savings for retirement and then some. She is in her late 70's and has had to go back to work full-time in order to sustain herself. And now as of...

07/08/2015

Recognizing the signs of equine neurological disorders and starting ?treatment early will give your horse his best chance of recovery from neurologic diseases.

03/17/2015

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

03/06/2015

02/13/2015

When a muscle contracts and does not fully release, i.e. it is in spasm, it affects more than just the group of muscles involved in the spasm. Over time the horse builds up compensations elsewhere in the body which may result in a loss of power and co-ordination, affecting the stride length and athletic capabilities of the horse.
Regular massage can help prevent this chain of events happening.

12/30/2014

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

11/15/2014

Alayne shares winter-weather pasture management tips and her own experience on getting the most out of her grass.

09/20/2014

Examine your horse's vital signs, body, and behavior on a regular basis to be a better horse owner.