The Equinist: Articles and Commentary by Susan Kauffmann

I  was recently on a popular horse forum and a young woman asked about what bits people would recommend for her two year old. He was being very mouthy with the snaffle bit she was using and she was concerned. She was wondering if she should try a curb bit. Several "red flags" flew up in my mind upon reading this post, so I decided to answer.  My first comment was that a two year old is too young to be ridden, and I quoted Dr. Deb Bennett on how a horse's skeleton matures. Fortunately, the young woman responded that she is not riding the horse, just doing ground work and wanting him to get used to a bit at this point.  This was my reply: "Glad to hear this -- smart girl!  Always a good idea to have a horse's teeth checked before starting bitting. When it is confirmed that the teeth are okay, what we do with the babies is get a very soft, flexible, rubber, mullen mouth snaffle (no joint in the middle). These bits are absolutely useless for riding; their sol...

I recently got my hands on a helmet visor called Da Brim, and I believe this product is a must-have for anyone wanting good sun protection while riding. This light-weight visor attaches easily and securely to just about any riding helmet (there are models for helmets with and without built-in visors), and it stays put. I found out just how well it stays on when I went out riding on a seriously blustery day -- the visor didn't budge, though it did feel like my head wanted to go for a little sail off my neck at times! I am impressed with the overall quality of this product, too:  it is tough,  well-made (in the USA -- yeah!), and easy to clean. Most importantly, it offers great protection from the sun, and as equestrians as a group show high rates of skin cancer, this is something to take very seriously. I actually feel cooler when I ride in it, as I have my own little portable "shade", and there is no glare getting into my eyes over the top of my sunglasses, either. ...

Okay, I admit it: I'm a paddock princess, wanting my paddock to be so clean and tidy you could eat off the ground. Well, maybe I wouldn't eat off the ground, but I do sometimes throw hay around for the horses to pick at, so they are doing just that. What that means, of course, is manure duty -- lots of it. To make this task as easy as possible on my perpetually sore back, I use an electric, three-wheeled cart so I am not lifting the weight of all that poop all the time. Great cart, but the thing comes with horrible, cheaply made tires that are not so cheap to replace. I got tired of shelling out for new ones all the time, so I decided to see if I could find better ones myself. Imagine how happy I was to discover Marathon Industries, a company that specializes in flat-free tires! I gave them a call and found them exceptionally nice to deal with -- they really went above and beyond to try to get me just the right tires for my odd little cart. Sadly, we were only able to fit o...

I am one of those people who absolutely MUST have serious quality footware. Why? Because my feet have "issues" that cause immediate agony if I put anything on them that doesn't have great support and good cushioning. That has made finding rubber boots for barn chores a real pain -- both literally and figuratively. I used to get Acton boots from Canada, but they are one of the many companies who simply don't make 'em like they used to: where my first pair lasted something like seven years of hard use, my second pair fell apart after one season -- and they were not cheap. What to do? Start hunting for a different brand. Little did I know what an international, epic journey this would be! I tried other boots from manufacturers in Canada, England, the U.S., etc.,  but all of them were either so lacking in support that even adding my custom orthotics wasn't enough, or they were shaped in weird ways that made my foot problems worse. I was getting desperate, to t...

This is what California Trace does for Obie, who is shown here in his unbathed, unbrushed, au naturel state! Many horse owners are overwhelmed when it comes to choosing a mineral supplement for their horses. Some wonder if their horses really need a supplement at all, while others buy several and throw them all into their horse's feed, figuring that if some is good, more must be better. What should a responsible owner really do? If you are feeding mainly forage (hay and/or pasture), which is truly best for the vast majority of horses, it is more than likely that you do need some kind of mineral supplement. This is because most hays and grass are deficient in several or more key minerals. Depending on your area, these may include copper, zinc, selenium, or calcium. The flip side of this is that many hays contain excessive amounts of other minerals -- most notably iron -- and these can potentially interfere with the body's ability to use the already short supply of copper...

NOTE: This article originally appeared in a Canadian horse magazine, so all temperatures are given in Celsius.                          Despite the fact that many of us do not ride our horses much during the winter, we often need to provide them with something extra in the grocery department when the mercury takes a nose dive. However, determining just how much we should feed them and when they really need it is often a bit of a mystery.              During cold, wet and windy weather, horses require more energy to maintain their internal body temperature. Just how much energy an individual horse needs depends in part on the environmental conditions, but it is also affected by the horse’s overall body condition and the state of his winter coat. For example, a horse with an insulating layer of fat and a thick coat will conserve energy better than a thin horse with a short coat. Whil...

There’s nothing like a steaming cup of coffee or a hot bowl of soup on a cold winter’s day, right? Well, imagine if all you had to drink was frigid water, or worse, you had to eat snow to quench your thirst. Not a happy thought, yet that is exactly what many horses face on a daily basis in the Winter. While it is certainly true that horses are not humans and don’t need to be treated as such, it is well proven that horses supplied with warm water during cold weather drink more and have fewer health problems as a result.  Maintaining ample water intake is actually a critical part of ensuring the health of your horse during the winter months. Studies have shown that horses prefer drinking water with a temperature of 7-18 C (45-65 F). Under average conditions, a horse will consume about 30 ml of water per pound per day, which works out to approximately 6-8 gallons for a 1,000 pound horse. They will drink considerably more in warm weather or if they are exercising and sweating. This mig...