Northernhorse.com Blog

The Alberta Equestrian Federation (AEF) is urging all horse owners in the province to learn and implement biosecurity practices that would provide optimal measures to prevent their horses from becoming infected with communicable and potentially fatal diseases. Download pdf of Biosecurity Brochure.

An outbreak of the neurological form of equine herpes virus type-1 (EHV-1) on two farms near Saskatoon in mid-March helped push the federation into action, says Bill desBarres, a spokesperson for the group.

EHV is common in horses worldwide.  Latent infections are thought to be activated when a horse is stressed and then sheds the virus. Clinical signs or symptoms can include fever, coughs and nasal discharges. Continue Reading… »

Ever wonder what to do with all those extra pieces of wood you have laying around?

http://www.rense.com/general70/drift.htm

http://www.jansch.freeserve.co.uk/small%20driftwood%20pieces.htm

http://www.hemmy.net/2007/04/25/driftwood-horse-art/

I’m writing to tell you about my favorite old guy. His name was Leo . He was a buckskin quarter horse.  I met his mom Loretta through a lady. We were  talking and I was telling her about a bad experience I had and she sent me to  Loretta.  That is where I  Met Leo. He was 9  years old at that time and what a handsome boy he  was. I fell in love at first sight and I wouldn’t ride anyone else much to the dismay of my friend.  Leo  really helped me to build my confidenceafter only a month.  So much so that I started to barrel race only for fun in Loretta’s corral and other things with him. I wasn’t  scared any more to ride.   I rode him for four years until I had my daughter. When my daughter was 6 months my favorite horse passed away at 25. He was   such a good guy If  I was scared or nervous.  He would stop and look at me as if to say I’m here don’t worry  it’sokay.  I won’t hurt  you. Forever in my heart.

A television documentary based on the novel “Fate of the Stallion” by
Ron Hevener is calling it a wrap. “It’s been great, and we want to
thank everyone who helped make this happen,” says the author. “It was
magic!”

Inspired by “Nahgua” (a proud Arabian stallion down on his luck and
his climb back to glory), the book sold out its first printing. At one
point, almost every school library had a copy. “We’ve heard from
television executives in four countries,” says Hevener’s publicist. Continue Reading… »

This week we have lots of new things to tell you about on Northernhorse.com

Anybody who has been using our classifieds and having to deal with the scammers will be interested to know that we have set up software to block scammers. Interestingly most come from Nigeria and another small island off of Africa. Too bad people with this much talent and work ethic can’t get a real job. Continue Reading… »

Did you think your mare was in foal but now that the time has come for her to foal, she is obviously not pregnant? Abortion in horses may result from a variety of causes. Infectious agents, such as bacteria, viruses or fungi, may attack the fetus or its membranes, resulting in fetal death and expulsion. Other factors attributable to the mare, fetus or external forces may also cause loss of the embryo or fetus. These factors include twinning, hormonal deficiencies, congenital anomalies, ergot alkaloid toxicity or ingestion of tent caterpillar setae. Some of the more common causes are discussed in this article by Dr. Dan Kenny - Diplomate/A.C.V.I.M./Ontario Veterinary College/University of Guelph.

We are getting some very nice foal photos for the Foal Photo Contest. This is such an exciting time of year.

If you would like to enter, you can upload your own photos to the site. Directions on how to do this are below the photos on the Photo Contest page. If your foal gets the most votes he/she will be the winner of a cute little foal halter. Continue Reading… »

We are getting lots of posts for our Events page. There are already lots of fun things to do this summer. In fact some clinics I hoped to sign up for are fully booked already.

Over the past winter the fact that so many more people are using their horses in the winter came up quite often in conversations. I can remember when… my kids shudder when I start with that line, apparently my long term memory is still pretty good, but I can remember when hardly a horse in all of Alberta sold over the winter. I can remember when neither myself nor any of my friends put a saddle on their horse from late fall until spring. And now some of my friends are bragging that their horses are really fit from riding in arenas all winter (and they are too, of course) and they think we should all head out on a trail ride in the very near future. Continue Reading… »

I usually see my baby horses being born. My mares think it is perfectly normal that I am busy helping. They would probably miss me if I wasn’t there. Or so I like to think anyway.  Many years of watching, sleeping in the barn and not sleeping at all have taught me some of the things to watch for. There is a nice summary of all the things we learn about predicting foaling time on the website of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs.

Ryan Smith sent us this information about the Western Select Horse Sale in Olds.

The Western Select Horse Sale in Olds was a success!!  A total of 40 horses went through the sales ring, with 30 finding new homes.  Average price was around $2400, including young horses, broodmares, and broke horses.  Overall a great day, great sale - and we are looking forward to this sale again next year!!