A Per-Horse Health Log Your Vet Can Actually Use
Owners record events. Vets need baselines. What to write down so that in an emergency you can answer the questions you will actually be asked.
Horse Gum Color and Capillary Refill: The 10-Second Check
Normal horse gums are pale pink and refill in 1 to 2 seconds. Anything else means call your vet now, not keep watching. How to check, and what fools you.
Horse Gut Sounds: What to Listen For and What Silence Means
Where to listen in all four quadrants, what normal gut sounds actually sound like, and why silence plus colic behavior is a call-now emergency.
Horse Weight Tape Accuracy: How Far Off Is It?
A study of 1,716 horses found weight tapes averaged 5.68 percent under true weight. Here is why, who drifts most, and what the number is good for.
Henneke Body Condition Score Chart: 4 vs 5 vs 6
The Henneke chart drawings look nothing like your horse. Here is what a 4, a 5 and a 6 actually feel like in each of the six scoring areas.
Horse Body Condition Score: How to Do It by Hand
Body condition scoring is a feel test, not a look test. The six areas, the 1 to 9 Henneke scale, and the seven things that fool your eyes.
How to Check a Horse’s Digital Pulse, Step by Step
Find the digital pulse at the fetlock, learn why a healthy one is hard to feel, and know the bounding pulse that means call the vet now.
How to Check Horse Heart Rate (and Get a Real Reading)
Every number comes out high because he fidgets. Where to find the pulse, why your reading inflates, and how to get a resting heart rate you can trust.
How to Take Horse Vital Signs, Step by Step
Where to put the thermometer, where to find the pulse, how to count breaths, and the specific ways owners get a wrong number without knowing.
Horse Vital Signs: Normal Range, and Your Horse’s Own
Adult horses run 99.5 to 101.5 F and 28 to 44 beats per minute. But the range is a population. Here is how to find what is normal for your horse.