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Posts Tagged ‘horse’

Cushing’s disease occurs in various animals (e.g. dogs, horses, people), although the symptoms in horses are different than the symptoms in other animals (e.g. in dogs it results in hair loss whereas in horses it results in greater hair growth). When the disease occurs in horses, it is known as Equine Cushings Disease (or ECD).

ECD is an illness caused by excessive hormone production. The pituitary gland produces too much hormone, which over-stimulates the adrenal glands, which in turn produce too much steroids. It is the excessive quantity of steroids which causes the symptoms associated with ECD. The over-production of the pituitary can be caused various changes, such as the growth of benign tumors, enlargement of the pituitary due to age-related changes, or a decline in the regulatory chemical dopamine due to age-related changes in the brain. All of these factors tend to be age related, so the disease is much more common in older horses (over 15 years) although it has been found in horses as young as seven years.

The nature and cause of the disease itself was first explained by Harvey Cushing, an American brain surgeon, in’21. Consequently, the disease is named after him.  Read more...

When looking to buy a horse, one of the first decisions is whether to get one which is untrained, partly trained, or fully trained. Most people, especially if it is there first horse, will be better off getting a horse which is already trained for whatever they intend to use if for. For example, if one intends to use the horse for basic riding it should already be trained for riding, whereas if you are using it for show jumping, it should already be trained in show jumping.

It is of course possible to buy an untrained or partly trained horse. The obvious advantage of this is that it will be less expensive than a trained horse. Also, you can have the horse trained exactly the way you want by your choice of instructor, and have the pleasure of being part of this. However, there are a number of substantial disadvantages, such as:

- Cost of Training. The cost of training depends on individual circumstances and is hard to estimate, but it is under-estimated far more often than over-estimated. Aside from the direct trainer costs, unless the trainer comes to you, there are the additional costs of either stabling the horse with the trainer, or transporting the horse to the trainer for each lesson. Many people find that by the time the horse is fully trained to the level they require, it would have been cheaper to have bought an already trained horse.  Read more...

Animal communication can be a great benefit to all pet owners. The ability to understand your animals feelings and perspective on life will help you create well balanced and happy animals. It can be very easy to observe our animals behaviour and to place our own judgements on why they behave the way they do, but what happens if you are wrong? Animal communication is a way of truly understanding and getting closer to your animal.

It is very easy for us humans to place negative feelings on to our animals. I am sure that you will agree with me that it is a horrible feeling when some one makes false judgements about us. So why is it any different when we do the same to our animals!

For example the other day I saw how a dog had been labelled as a bully with other dogs. This strong judgement had been made because the owner had observed that when her dog was around younger or gentle dogs, she would look very friendly but when she got close would snap at them and show aggressive signs.

Her behaviour was completely different to nervous or protective dogs where she would leave them well alone.  Read more...