Horse care is quite an obligation. It requires taking care of your horse?s health emotionally, physically and mentally. You must be aware of all the available techniques to care for your horse and keep your horse in optimum health. Here are some important facts about proper horse care.

Overall Health

There are many specific factors to horse health. For example, healthy horses may drink up to 8 to 10 gallons of water per day. And there are health risks to the horse if it stands in its own manure for long periods. Also Horses groomed regularly have healthier coats and less disease. Always remember that your main source of health care advice for your horse should be your veterinarian who knows the specifics of your horse and its circumstances.

Hoof Maintenance

Horse hooves need to be picked clean on a regular basis and also need to be inspected for any damage. Keeping clean, dry hooves is the best preventative measure against hoof fungus or any other impairing conditions that can occur with an unattended horse. Daily, or at least weekly, cleaning and inspections should suffice in dry or normal weather conditions and more often in severe weather.

Horse Feed

Feed your horse 3 times a day, or allow them to graze openly on their own in a proper pasture. Improper feeding habits can cause colic or other illnesses which can severely maim or kill a horse. Keeping food off of the dirty ground as much as possible will help you avoid this problem. You need to watch what your horse consumes because they are not naturally aware of these dangers. If you are not careful, your horse could become very sick.

With more thorough knowledge, you can be a better caretaker for your horse. Of course there are many other issues to consider in horse care. It is important for you to be responsible and well-versed in all aspects of caring for your horse. Once we have domesticated them it is our duty to maintain their well-being in order to ensure that they live long and healthy lives as our pets and friends.

Contributor: Tom Wills is happy to share information about saddles for sale with everyone online who has any inquiries regarding a new saddle for sale.

Posted under Horses

Mantaining your horse's saddle is a top priority. Since saddles are usually made of leather, they require quite a bit of attention to make sure that they last and that you get you money's worth out of them.

A good cleaning every thirty days or so should e adequate. This will be enough to stop build up of dirt and rust on the components of your saddle. If you use your saddle more frequently you may also want to increase the frequency of your cleaning regiment to err on the safe side.

Many saddles can outlive your horses, except for horse saddles that are not cared for properly. Horse saddles need regular attention to stay in good usable condition. This includes cleaning as well as the application of some sort of leather sealant or oil.

A yard or ranch fence is a good place to perch your saddle when you are working on it. The saddle can be cleaned with a mild detergent and warm water. Do not use too much water on the leather itself or it will be destroyed. Scrub the leather lightly so as not to rip or tear the surface. This will maintain the integrity of the sealant.

You do want to take your saddle apart to clean those hard-to-reach places. Crud can collect in cracks and areas between saddle parts. You do not want your saddle to become a petri dish of funk that can make you sick, your horse sick or just plain reek a foul odor. Be diligent with the sanitation of your saddle and you will save yourself the grief of a nasty fungus ruining your riding time.

Before you begin working on the leather of your horse saddle, put the metal parts to soak in water. When you are done scrubbing the leather, you can finish cleaning these components. Remember never to soak the leather and don't forget about the metal parts left in the water when you are done cleaning the rest of the saddle.

The horse will cause moisture underneath the saddle, so you need to sanitize this area as well. And don't forget to take care of any detached leather parts like the straps and stirrups. Do not replace any parts when reassembling the saddle until the are completely dry to avoid rusting or fungus growth.

Clean parts are now ready for an application of some sort of protectant, both the leather and metal parts. When applying the oils to leather, do so evenly so that it doesn't leave strange smears and streaks and be sure to clean away any extra drips or pools of oil that accumulate.

Once you have oiled your saddle and thoroughly dried off all of the leather and metallic parts, it is time to reassemble your saddle, Hopefully, you have kept careful track of all the parts that you detached. Do not leave any parts out when putting it back together or the saddle may fall apart or fail during use.

Taking Care Of your horse saddle will prolong it's usefulness. You are working to keep up it's looks and it's functionality. Rust and rot can break down a saddle and have a negative effect on you or your horse's health. If you tend to your horse saddle on a regular basis, you should have no problems keeping it in great, usable riding condition.

Contributor, Tyler Wilmas, is a horse connoisseur and has a lot of great saddles for sale in his feed supply shop. For more info on horse tack and other horse issues, read more of his posts online.

Posted under Horses

All saddles for sale are made up of the same basic parts. It's good to know your way around a saddle so that you know what you should be looking for before you buy. English saddles and western saddles for sale have many similar attributes.

Major Saddle Components

Let's introduce some of the terms used in describing horse saddle components. Learning the parts of a saddle will help to open your awareness about the products you are evaluating. You don't necessarily have to memorize the entire anatomy of a saddle, but having a base knowledge will improve your selection process when you're looking at any saddles for sale.

The "tree" is the part that all saddles for sale are constructed of. It is a basic skeleton that is made of wood, steel or other man-made materials.

The "pommel" on the saddle is the front bump which keeps the rider from moving forward on the horse's back. Western saddles have horns coming out of their pommels.

The "skirt" covers the area where the stirrups attach to the saddle. They are available in round and square. Round skirts cover less of the horse's side.

The "seat" obviously is where the rider sits in the saddle.

The "cantle" is the raised rear part of a horse saddle that helps to keep the rider from falling backwards.

The "stirrups" on a horse saddle lay on either side of the horse and hold the rider's feet.

The "billets" on a saddle are leather straps hanging from the sides used to attach the girth which holds the saddle on the horse.

English saddle parts:

The "saddle flaps" on a saddle are leather strips that lay between the horse's side and the rider's leg.

These components are found on western saddles:

The "fenders" on a western saddle are similar to saddle flaps on an English saddle but are usually a more slender strip of leather.

There are many other parts of saddles when you go into further detail. And the other parts can be equally important in determining which of the many saddles for sale is right for you. But these terms should give you a basic understanding of the general layout of a saddle.

About the Author, Anne Katherine is a seasoned pro regarding saddles for sale. See other blogs by her elsewhere on the internet if you like what you see here.

Posted under Horses