Read Black Beauty Online – Chapter 17. John Manly’s Talk

Chapter 17. John Manly’s Talk

The rest of our journey was very easy, and a little after sunset we reached the house of my master’s friend. We were taken into a clean, snug stable; there was a kind coachman, who made us very comfortable, and who seemed to think a good deal of James when he heard about the fire.

“There is one thing quite clear, young man,” he said, “your horses know who they can trust; it is one of the hardest things in the world to get horses out of a stable when there is either fire or flood. I don’t know why they won’t come out, but they won’t — not one in twenty.”
Read more →

Hoary Alyssum – Toxic Plant of the Week

We are working our way through the alphabet in the a-z of plants your horse can’t eat. Today’s plant name is sure to get a giggle or two. Hoary Alyssum sounds like a woman of ill repute in some wild west town during the gold rush – it must be bad news!
Read more →

Equine Kitchen – Horse Gift Ideas

Gift We’ve been keeping everyone up to date with the latest in horse gift ideas, from shoes to sculpture. Today it’s time to visit the kitchen & take a look at some fun horsey gift ideas for cooking horse enthusiasts.

Equine Cook

The only type of horse we like to see in the kitchen is the artificial type, in the form of cute accessories or classically beautiful pieces. Horses are an unexpected touch that can work in any type of decor, from whimsical to formal. It’s all about your taste & just how horse crazy you really are.
Read more →

Equine Flavored Accessories – Horse Gift Ideas

Gift We’ve been across the board delivering horse gift ideas on any number of subjects, from shoes to sculpture. Today we want to return to the wardrobe with a few fun equine theme accessories.

Wearing Horses

We like to wear horses on a daily basis, but don’t like to be overbearing about it. A little horse here, a little horse there and we are happily bringing our fave animal with us wherever we go. From keeping your neck warm to holding your pants up, we’ve got all kinds of fun accessories today.
Read more →

Equine Stationary & Card Sets – Horse Gift Ideas

Gift We’ve been offering all sorts of horse theme gift ideas for all types of discerning gift givers and today we are switching gears. Today we are looking to the past for a gift that isn’t often received in the 21st century.

Write A Letter

When was the last time you wrote a letter or sent someone a card? It’s a great way to share your appreciation for the equine animal while spreading some snail-mail joy. Everyone loves to get mail, even the paper kind – especially when it holds a note from a friend or relative. We selected some amazing card and stationary sets to share here, some that may even convince you take up letter writing again. 😉
Read more →

How to Fat Score a Horse

Last 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.
Read more →

Horse Trail Engineer – Horse Jobs

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.
Read more →

Read Black Beauty Online – Chapter 16. The Fire

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.”
Read more →

Herb Paris – Toxic Plant of the Week

We are well into the alphabet in the a-z of plants your horse can’t eat. Today’s plant sounds as if it should be some fabulous French cooking secret, but you definitely don’t want to sprinkle Herb Paris over your horse’s dinner.
Read more →

Equestrian in the Home – Horse Gift Ideas

Gift We’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!
Read more →

Stunning Equine Statues & Sculptures – Horse Gift Ideas

Gift Last 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).
Read more →

Why Does Your Horse’s Weight Matter?

This 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.
Read more →

Horse Care & Breeds

Follow The Equinest on