365 Days in Horse Country – Trail Trials     Trail riding is the number one pastime of horse owners, so it’s no wonder that competitions have been created to help encourage training of good trail horses. One of these competitions is trail trials.  Held by different regional organizations around the country, trail trials test the willingness, sensibility, and obedience of the trail horse ...

365 Days in Horse Country – The Lusitano   The Iberian Peninsula has produced many fine horses, among them the Andalusian of Spain and the Lusitano of Portugal. First developed for warfare, the Lusitano is now used in Portugal in the bull fighting ring.  Both situations call for a horse that must remain calm and move with agility to protect its rider in the face of attack.  The two breeds ...

365 Days in Horse Country – Rex: The Silver Screen Star   Equine movie stars have been around since the film industry first came into being.  I have written about many of them too!  A popular subject for movies, horse have proven themselves to be box office winners. One early equine movie star was a black Morgan stallion named Rex, whose career spanned the 1920s and 30’s.  According to P ...

365 Days in Horse Country – Swedish Warmblood   Unlike many sport horses that were originally developed as driving or working horses, the elegant and intelligent Swedish Warmblood has been bred in Sweden as a riding horse for more than 400 years.  It was created as a military horse in the seventeenth century.  Breeds that contributed to its development included Swedish work horses, Friesian ...

365 Days in Horse Country – The Spanish Riding School  Ask any person well versed in the history of horses, and he or she will be able to tell you all about the Spanish riding School. The Spanish Riding School is an old, prestigious training centre for Lipizzan horses and riders in Vienna.  Called the Spanish Riding School because the first horses trained at the school in 1572 were of Spa ...

365 Days in Horse Country – The Hackney   A horse called the Norfolk Trotter was the predecessor of the modern day Hackney, which is a high-stepped show horse considered rare by the Livestock Conservancy.  The Norfolk Trotter was bred for style and speed, pulling fancy carriages in England during Georgian times.  In the mid-1700s, breeders put Norfolk mares to Thoroughbreds, and the found ...

365 Days in Horse Country – Rodeos   One of the most loved spectator sports in the horse world is the rodeo.  The event started in the 1800s in the Western United States, where cowboys (and cowgirls) worked day in and day out handling cattle.  Rodeos were a way for these folks to show off their skills and their horses.  By the 1900s, this casual event grew into a professional sport. Toda ...

365 Days in Horse Country – Should I Blanket My Horse?     As the Canadian winter continues to gain a deeper foothold, you are probably wondering whether or not you should be blanketing your horse. This age –old question stumps horse owners the world over whenever winter blows into town.  The answer depends on your horse and just how cold he really is. Although the air may be quite chi ...

365 Days in Horse Country – Three-Day Eventing  An exciting equine sport known as three-day eventing, or combined training, is an Olympic discipline that commands tremendous athleticism from both horse and rider. Essentially a triathlon on horseback, three-day eventing consists of three days of competition in three different disciplines: cross-country jumping, show jumping, and dressage.  ...

365 Days in Horse Country – Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)   If horses could get asthma, It would be called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).  This oftentimes, debilitating disease causes difficulty breathing in, and more difficulty breathing out.  Horses with this condition can often be heard wheezing loudly, coughing, or experiencing shortness of breath. Horse ...