Water and Salt – hot items

From Utah to Iowa to Maine and all points in between, it’s been a warm summer. Some weeks in some states have been downright hot. Hydration for you AND your horse is key. So is salt intake. I like tortilla chips myself. My horses like […]

Confessions of a bad rider

My name is Maddy. And I own a bolting horse. The first time we met, she tossed me. The second time, she tossed me, too. I love her dearly, but after those experiences, I stopped riding her. For several months, she was the one left […]

This Bug Dope is a God-Send, she says

Marsha Craig and her miniature horse, Lily, have provided hundreds of therapy hours to folks in nursing homes, hospitals, and schools. Read more here. But they spend most of their hours outside, at their home in Massachusetts. Bugs are a problem there. Or, at least […]

Vet reflects on tornado

More than a month after an EF-5 tornado ripped apart Moore, Oklahoma, Dr. Clayton McCook paused to reflect on the damage, the recovery, and the prospects. EF-5 is a Level 5 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale; it is the highest level, with “incredible” […]

Summer Read: The Nature of Horses

Authors of horse books generally come in two varieties: Horsemen and women who write about their expertise. Their strength is horses. Writers and journalists who love horses and want to write about them. Their strength is writing. It’s rare to find books by authors who […]

Bug products worth the cost and effort?

No Mas to my old routine! This summer, I’ve decided to stop my zealous and expensive efforts to keep flies off the horses. Why? At 20 to 25 bucks a bottle, fly spray is expensive. Read what readers pick for Best Fly Spray. […]

What Would Joe Do

Joe Camp keeps popping up on my radar. He’s been busy for decades with dogs (writer/director of “Benji,” etc) and horses (author of scores of top-selling horse books), but lately we’ve been moving along parallel ‘Nature is Best’ paths. He blogged about kissing wormers goodbye […]

A Horse’s No Win Situation

That was the tough, take-away message from Dr. Rebecca Gimenez when asked about how to protect your horses in the event of a tornado. Close them in barns and you run the risk of harming them when the barn collapses. You may also stress them […]

Lean, Steady, Agile is what your horse wants of you

What?? You failed to read the “Method for estimating maximum permissible load weight for Japanese native horses using accelerometer-based gait analysis” abstract on the National Center for Biotechnology Information website?? (It’s on our NickerNews Links page) You’re forgiven. In fact, one of the BestHorsePractices goals […]

Equine Grief

Barbara King is a member of a small group of articulate scientists discussing and contributing exciting research on non-human emotions. It’s a fascinating field and one that has, over the generations, weathered challenges of anthropomorphizing and, on the other end of the spectrum, outright dismissal. […]