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How to Fat Score a Horse

Click to see VideoLast week we posted about why your horse weight matters and today’s video compliments the topic by teaching owners how to fat score their animal.

Keeping Fit

This is another handy video from World Horse Welfare and it provides step-by-step instructions for effectively measuring a horse’s fat. It important to keep horses fit, not too fat, not too thin, but a perfect balance of weight. Knowing how to measure your horse’s fat will help you to manage their weight on a daily level.
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Horse Trail Engineer – Horse Jobs

Man standing with a horse

While this job may not offer a great deal of hands-on animal time, it does require a serious understanding of equine habits and nature. Trail engineers actually have a fairly technical job which requires a knowledge of geography, direction and local flora and fauna.

What You Need

This is a position which may require previous engineering training and experience, knowledge of equines may be secondary to knowledge of the land and how to manage it. Often the engineers will contract to help maintain trails as well as creating them. This can be a freelance position or can be a salaried position depending on the place.
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Read Black Beauty Online – Chapter 16. The Fire

Black horse in a green field

Chapter 16. The Fire

Later on in the evening a traveler’s horse was brought in by the second hostler, and while he was cleaning him a young man with a pipe in his mouth lounged into the stable to gossip.

“I say, Towler,” said the hostler, “just run up the ladder into the loft and put some hay down into this horse’s rack, will you? only lay down your pipe.”
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Equestrian in the Home – Horse Gift Ideas

GiftWe’ve already featured arty horse items for the home and some stunning statues and today we’ve got even more (affordable) items for the horse lover’s home to share.

Horses @ Home

Each of us will have varying degrees of tolerance when it comes to horses in our home. Some want to see them everywhere and others want just an accent or two that provides a certain feel. We don’t care how many horses you have in your house, as long as the items are beautiful and noteworthy. We searched high and low to find a variety of fun and fab horse items for the home. They make great gifts for any horse lover, including yourself!
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Stunning Equine Statues & Sculptures – Horse Gift Ideas

GiftLast time we featured some fun arty horse items for the home and this time we have some more stunning decor to share. Statues and sculptures have to be our favorite types of horse art and these don’t disappoint.

Sculpted Horse

Whether they are lovingly sculpted out of clay, molded in metal or carved from wood, we love the strikingly physical equine form. There is something about three-dimensional art that has a way of capturing the essence of the animal, even when the form isn’t entirely equine in nature. These aren’t your average horse statues, each one was hand selected for their beauty of form and craftsmanship (and most of them are on our list this year).
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Why Does Your Horse’s Weight Matter?

Click to see VideoThis is another handy video from World Horse Welfare and this time the topic is horse weight. An essential element to horse welfare is keeping them at a healthy weight.

Getting Slim

While many of us know that underweight horses are a bad thing, did you know that an overweight one is equally as susceptible to problems? Being overindulgent can be as bad as withholding food in many respects, an overweight animal is obviously prone to leg, joint and feet problems to start. It’s important for horse owners to know their animal, their breed type and be able to recognize signs of obesity in equines.
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An Interview With April Kae – The Saddlebred Loving Songbird

April KaeTell us a little about you, what is your background & where do you come from?
I’m from San Diego, CA and spent most of my childhood there, although I lived briefly in Connecticut.

Even though I stayed in one city for most of my childhood my parents traveled a lot for work when I was young, so I had been to seven countries and seen most of the Unites States by the time I was 12. I am and always have been very close with my family, and those relationships influence me greatly.

Where can people find more information about you & your music online?
You can visit my website, www.aprilkae.com. You can also find me on Facebook and follow me on twitter @april_kae.
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Rodeo Clown – Horse Jobs

Rodeo clowns standing in a corral

Being a rodeo clown is a highly seasonal (or highly mobile) career path, rodeos often travel and are active when the weather permits. While an exciting job that offers a lot of spirited activity and contact with the animals, it is also among the most dangerous.

What You Need

Qualities of a good rodeo clown will vary by show and location. Regardless of where they are, they will need a strong understanding of the animals around them, which is seldom limited to horses. This understanding will help keep them on their feet uninjured. On top of the danger an engaging personality and even a bit of acting or theatric ability are important in this line of work.
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Read Black Beauty Online – Chapter 15. The Old Hostler

Black horse in a green field

Chapter 15. The Old Hostler

After this it was decided by my master and mistress to pay a visit to some friends who lived about forty-six miles from our home, and James was to drive them. The first day we traveled thirty-two miles. There were some long, heavy hills, but James drove so carefully and thoughtfully that we were not at all harassed. He never forgot to put on the brake as we went downhill, nor to take it off at the right place. He kept our feet on the smoothest part of the road, and if the uphill was very long, he set the carriage wheels a little across the road, so as not to run back, and gave us a breathing. All these little things help a horse very much, particularly if he gets kind words into the bargain.
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Artsy Horse Ideas for the Home – Horse Gift Ideas

GiftRecently we’ve been sharing a lot of horse theme fashion, but today we want to switch gears a little and look at a few items for the home. If you are an art lover, you are in the right place, we’ve got some lovely artistic horse items for the home to share.

Artistic Horse

We feature a lot of horse art and love to share new horse artists with our readers. Today we have some fun and fabulous horse art for the home – use them as gift ideas or fill your own home with them. We won’t tell. Either way, we have dozens of artistic horsey items to share and will have more to come.
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