Clean your Horse Tack regularly

Always clean your horse tack equipments such as saddle, saddle pads, and horse girths regularly.

On using contaminated saddle pads or horse tack can lead to development of ringworm on horses. On top of that, they spread from one horse to another while having direct contact such as sharing haze staying in same stable.

Ringworm start as a small circular patch of hair loss on horse body and it grows into larger size, if they are not treated properly. The most sensitive areas to get infected in horses are horse neck, horse shoulders and area under eyes. They cause lot of itching in horse body which makes him quite disturb and aggressive.

If your horse is developing symptoms of ringworm, do not neglect it start his treatment immediately. The infected horse must be kept away from all other horses to avoid flow of this disease. The affected area must be washed with a shampoo consisting of miconazole and must be applied on horse body for at least 5 days.

When your horse is sick check all items in your horse tack wash them thoroughly and put it under sun for drying. Putting horse tack in sunlight destroys all kind of fungus from horse body.

How to check out whether your horse saddle is clean or not

Horse Saddles becomes dirty after frequent use. They require regular wash; here are the steps to wash the horse saddles:

• Remove all kind of spots from horse saddles; you can do it by rubbing it with a cloth dipped in alcohol.
• Let it dry for sometime, if you want fast results, you can also use a blow fryer for it, but you have to use it gently.
• Saddles may lose their shinness after wash, to get back its old shines oil its leather with mink oil.

A New Equestrian Game Launched

A new equestrian video game has been recently launched in Europe called “My Horse and Me 2”

In this game, players would also be given facility of taking care of their horse by cleaning, feeding, applying saddle pads, horse saddles and regular check up to vet. The purpose behind this is to encourage feeling of love and care in children towards horses.

There is also a training session to participate in horse race beside that some friendly characters are also introduced to help in wining equestrian race.

Other features include taking their pony to discos, an option to give him relax with family.

The game has been made by Polish designer Anawiki Games. The game will be available in Nov 14 for PlayStation2, Nintendo DS and PC.

Ulcer in Horses

Ulcer is a common disease among horses and foals. Around 50% Horses in their lifetime show the sign of ulcer. Racing horse has higher developed ulcer chances much higher they may develop from moderate to severe ulcers.

Factors of ulcers

• Fasting (not eating) – Horses have the habit of grazing; they eat in many small meals at frequent interval of time. There stomach is empty and stomach has a damaging effect on horses.
• Amount of Exercises: As their physical activity increases, there is a change in feeding habit. High amount of physical exercise increase the time for stomach to empty, so large amounts of acid can remain in an empty stomach for a long period of time. Stress also decreases the amount of blood flow to the stomach making lining of the stomach more vulnerable to injury.

Signs of ulcers in horses

• Avoid walking
• Shows violent behaviors on wearing saddle pads or horse rugs.
• Diarrhea
• Lying on the back
• Weight loss

Treatment of Ulcers in Horses

The treatment of ulcers involves

• Decrease acid production.
• Buffer the acid that is produced.
• Protect the lining of the stomach from the effects of the acid.

For these we use

• Proton pump inhibitors: They inhibit the production of acid by the stomach.
• Protect ants: These drugs block acid from coming into contact with the stomach lining.
• Increasing the amount of roughage in the diet.
• Increasing amount of pasture in horses in diet.
• Decreasing the amount of grain. Use supplements to complete the need of vitamins in horse body.

It takes a long time for ulcer to heal. Always follow your veterinarian's treatment recommendations. Never stop the treatment and medicine in between; else your horse will never heal.

Selection and proper fitting of right saddle on your horse

Selection of right kind of saddle for your horse is vital as it affects the back of horse and rider position on horse. An unfit saddle can lead to broken horse back. No equestrian rider would like to see his horse in discomfort. Therefore, all experience riders go for a horse saddle which is comfortable to their horse. Now how do you know that which saddle is fit for your horse and which is not.

The solution is to go to there are companies who measure your horse back length and determine which horse saddles are suitable for your horse back.

After purchasing a correct saddle, we have to place it carefully on horse back. Place the saddle on horse back. Next step is to slide it along the back of horse till the lowest point of saddle meets the lowest point of horse back.

One sign to check whether the saddle is correctly placed is to that it horse saddle would not be pressed on the shoulder of horse, but will be placed on the natural grooves of it.

Origin of Gucci Purses : an interesting story

There is an interesting fact about world famous branch Gucci, one of the top class leather purse manufacturers originally was founded in a saddlery products manufacturer shop in Florence Italy. The family owned company sold many products at Gucci, and with increasing in business they move to Rome. In Rome, they opened a luggage store which with time attract people from all over the worlds

Moral of the story is that every company starts with small thing, with continuous hard work and passion it develop into a big thing like Gucci, so never stop dreaming and never give up.

Types of Pad

In ancient times, saddle pads were used to protect saddle from becoming damp and wet. With improve in technology saddle pads have also become methods to make a saddle fit on a horse back. Saddle Pads have different types and each type is used for different purposes. These are:

• Square Pad: Made of quilted cotton with a strap that fits around the billets and girth to keep the saddle pads in place. They come in variety of colors and shapes.
• Gel Pad: Helps in distribution of pressure and absorb impact that can help in providing relief to horses with sensitive backs.
• Foam Pad: They are shock absorbing and help to fit a saddle by equal distribution of saddle weight and pressure.
• Riser Pad: Also known as bump pad, helps to lift a saddle and improve allover fit. Ideal to use when horse muscular shape is changing or in case not able to find a saddle pad which can fit properly on horse back.

Regardless of the design, never ever try to change the basic fit of a saddle while putting pad, shifting and moving saddle from their place can cause pressure points on horse body, this can lead to improper movement of horse while moving and running.

It is very important to place those saddle pads that can fit properly on horse back.