Don’t Underestimate The Need For Rest When Treating Injured Horses

It’s not unusual for a farrier or veterinarian to be trapped between the welfare of the horse and the welfare of the rider. Kent Carter, a member of the International Equine Veterinarian Hall of Fame who is on the staff at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, says the dilemma can arise when what’s best for the horse conflicts with the rider’s needs to have the animal ready to work — whether on the racetrack, in the show ring or on a cattle ranch.

“Sometimes we have to try and get an owner to understand the horse needs to be allowed to heal and compete later,” Carter told veterinarians and farriers at the American Association of Equine Practitioners Focus on the Foot conference in mid July in Columbus, Ohio. “Sometimes that can be a year or more. But we have to emphasize that can mean they can eventually compete at a higher level for a longer period of time.”

How Is Equine Conformation Best Defined?

Marvin Beeman says confirmation can be defined in several different ways. The International Equine Veterinarian Hall Of Fame member with the Littleton Large Animal Clinic in Littleton, Colo., says Webster’s Dictionary defines conformation as the “form or outline of an animal.” This can be applied to the standard diagrams of a horse from a lateral, cranial and plantar view with applied plumb lines. The procedure establishes a visual means to determine whether the limbs…