Authors: Dr. Mike Lindinger & Gayle Ecker With exercise, the body temperature rises. This heat must be dissipated, or the horse will literally “cook”!  The body cools itself through the evaporation of sweat, so sweating is especially important for the exercising horse. The sweat contains water and electrolytes, or salts. The main electrolytes are sodium,…

Selenium deficient soil can lead to several conditions in domestic animals including white muscle disease.  Of importance to Ontario horse breeders is the fact that most foals are born with low blood selenium concentrations.  Some clinical signs of low selenium levels may include dysphagia or weak suckle reflex due to pharyngeal/masticatory muscle weakness.  Southern Ontario…

One can go down many rabbit holes searching on the internet for horse health advice and Dr. Google is known to serve up many popular myths.  Over the years, Equine Guelph, the Centre for the horse at the University of Guelph has developed twelve free interactive online healthcare tools to help horse owners provide optimal…

Strangles, the highly contagious upper respiratory disease caused by the bacterium, Streptococcus equi (S. equi) has been front and centre on social media lately with numerous disease alerts being posted.  These alerts are triggered by positive test results for S. equi and reported by an official laboratory to the provincial or state veterinary office.  Given…

With an increasing number of want ads on horse industry job boards, there is no denying the equine industry is clamouring for suitable employees.  Speaking with three facilitators of the Ontario Equine Education and Employment Program (OEEEP) it becomes abundantly clear, this is a Win-Win program for those looking to embark on a career with…

New Ration Balancer Info-sheet, Forage and the Importance of Analysis With the cost of feeding horses continuing to rise, horse owners need to become savvy when it comes to feeding their herd on a budget without compromising equine nutrition.  A greater understanding of forage, the largest component of the equine diet, really improves the bottom…

It is not uncommon for mares to have trouble getting pregnant because their uterus remains too inflamed after breeding. This condition is referred to as persistent breeding-induced endometritis (PBIE). Ontario Veterinary College researcher, Dr. Tracey Chenier is working to find out what causes this inflammation and how to treat it. “Horse owners and breeders often…

Equine Guelph’s Large Animal Emergency Rescue (LAER) training team kicked off their 2024 schedule with a one-day refresher workshop at the beautiful Holly Oaks Farm on March 20, in Lynden, ON.  Among the attendees were members of the Hamilton Mounted police, York police, McKee-Pownall veterinary services, Troy Equine Services and members of TEAD – therapeutic…

Looking to make the most of your equine business expense claims this tax time?  Sign up for Equine Guelph’s free monthly e-communications to gain access to resources like an informative video with BDO finance expert Glenn Ventrcek. If your receipts are all in a shoe box and you are wondering which expenses you can claim…

Start Early with Sickness Prevention! Learning healthy habits early makes biosecurity second nature and that is why Equine Guelph is offering their Sickness Prevention in Horses  short online course on TheHorsePortal.ca FREE to teenagers (14 – 17).  The March 18 – 29 offering of this course will be open to the grass roots of the…

Learn more during Equine Guelph’s Vaccination Education Month in March Have you noticed bug season starting earlier and finishing later?  Have changes in the weather caused more standing water in your paddocks? If you answered yes to these questions and wonder how climate change may impact your horses, not to mention your vaccination program, read…

March 10 – 16, 2024 is Canadian Agricultural Safety Week (CASW) – an annual campaign held the third week of March of each year.  EquiMania! supports the campaign for #FarmSafetyEveryday with many free games and resources to keep youth safe on horse farms and until the end of March TheHorsePortal.ca is offering a free online…