Think twice before buying a horse
As majestic as horses are, they are hard work to look after.
Three generations of horse-loving women walked the Herald through the guide to caring for one of the planet’s most majestic creatures – horses.
Claudine Carstens, an experienced horse owner invited the Herald to her smallholding to experience a morning in the life of a horse owner.
At 8am she, her mother and daughter were booted up, readying themselves for feeding and grooming the eight horses on the smallholding.
The morning started with feeding the horses. The horses get fed Spurwing Horse Feed that looks like moist shredded grass. Claudine believes in feeding her horses forage instead of concentrate (pellets).
She explained that people who don’t know much about horses would feeding them mostly concentrates and underfeed them on roughage. She said this leads to problems with the horse’s diet and subsequently could cause its health. They could get laminitis and colic, and could become very difficult to manage.
Horses are a lot like children. If you feed them too much they become unmanageable,” Claudine said.
In terms of feeding horses the right quantities, Claudine said it is important to know your horse’s weight. Weight also is important if you need to administer medication to the animal. There are three ways to determine a horse’s weight – weigh it on an electric scale (most accurate way), calculate it or use a weight tape.
Calculating it would require the owner to measure the distance from the horse’s shoulder to the buttock, and also to measure its heart girth.
She said the ideal is to feed a horse 2,5 per cent of its body weight daily, depending on the kind of work the horse is expected to do or whether the horse has been out of condition or sick.
Feeding ratios for horses depending on workload (hay/ concentrates):
• Maintenance – 100:0
• Light work – 90:10
• Medium work – 80:20
• Hard work – 75:25
The next part of the morning’s routine was to groom all the horses. Claudine’s horses get pampered from head to toe. First the horses are brushed out thoroughly to get off anything that could be lurking under their coats. Then they are brushed for a second time to organise their hair, much like people would go about brushing their hair every day.
After brushing, their hooves are cleaned.
A lot of people don’t do this and the danger is that the hooves will start to rot,” Claudine said.
Her horses are so well trained that they know to stand still to get their hooves cleaned. Claudine scrapes out all the muck that gets under the hooves. Her horses’ hooves also are cut regularly to prevent problems for the horse. Claudine and her groom cut and file the hooves themselves.
She said a horse’s teeth should be looked at once a year.
What happens is their teeth get very sharp right at the back. They look a lot like a dog’s fangs and a dentist needs to file them down because it makes eating uncomfortable. They also bite themselves and develop ulcers,” she said.
After grooming, the horses got a fly mask to prevent flies from sitting on their eyes and faces. At that point the horses knew they would be out of their stables soon and they neighed with excitement.
Claudine then took them to the allocated open spaces on her smallholding where they walk freely while nibbling on grass all day.
Claudine and her groom wish to offer their services to horse owners in Randfontein who need assistance with their horses should they not know what to do. They also cut hooves themselves.
Claudine can be contacted on 076 408 3779.
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