Blog : Equus Education

First Fence (Pony Jumpers 1) by Kate Lattey

August 27, 2016 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

AJ feels that her dreams have come true. In First Fence, she finally has a pony of her own. Squib, her grey Connemara cross is far from perfect – he is strong and a handful to ride. He does however love to jump. And AJ loves her gelding wholeheartedly, as much as she is struggling to control him.

The story begins with a chance meeting at a Pony Club rally. Squib is being typically hard to control and AJ suddenly finds herself able to learn alongside two very knowledgeable horse people. What’s more, they’re helping her to improve – and Squib!

AJ is relieved to have met Katy and eagerly accepts her offer of help and friendship. As she learns more about the girl’s competitive nature and her great riding abilities, AJ questions if Katy is so keen to help because she’s a friend or because she’s after AJ’s talented pony.

Just when AJ feels that she is getting a chance to ride regularly and attend competitions, she finds that she doesn’t want to be in Katy’s presence. She doesn’t feel she should be indebted to her new friend or her mother. Their offers of assistance, tack to use and a stable for Squib at no cost to her suddenly seem too good to be true.

First Fence is a great introduction to two young women from different backgrounds but with the same passion: horses. It is an easy and enjoyable read and filled with the most important thing – horses! I’ve no doubt readers will enjoy this opening book to the Pony Jumpers series.

Author: Kate Lattey
https://nzponywriter.com/
Fiction – teen
In my library? I was able to download the first four recently, so as an eBook it is!
Want it? Get it now on Amazon.

Equisal – Tapeworm Testing Product

August 26, 2016 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

So you may be familiar with fecal worm egg counts. These determine the worm burden of a particular horse. This in turn tells us whether it is necessary to provide them with an anthelmintic treatment. I have recently been made aware of one such treatment that identifies if horses have a worm burden – specifically tapeworms. Interestingly, this is not carried out via a faecal test. Nor is a blood test used. The Equisal Tapeworm Test makes use of saliva to determine a worm burden and if any action is necessary.

Equisal

This is an interesting product that is no doubt beneficial to those concerned about their horse’s health. With this test, you can quickly determine the tapeworm burden of your horse. If it’s an issue, then you can promptly act on this by worming your horse with an anthelmintic that targets tapeworms. According to details on the Equisal website, it is important to:

Simply incorporate tapeworm testing every six months into your targeted worming programme.

Current EquiSal data shows that only 25% of horses have a tapeworm burden.

Like with many products, if you order in bulk you make a saving. For those who have large horse properties, the bulk investments would well be worth looking into.

The benefits of routine testing is that it may not be necessary to worm some horses. If the worming product is cheaper than the testing product, owners may debate it is easier to just worm horses. But a build up in resistance to some wormers by parasites indicates that it is better for horse owners to only worm horses that have a significant worm burden.

A product like Equisal for this reason can greatly benefit those who are managing horses. It is another example of a horse related product that will benefit many across the equine industry.

“To see the wind’s power, the rain’s cleansing and the sun’s radiant life, one need only to look at the horse.” – Author Unknown

Profile On: Jane and Stuart Myers, Equiculture

August 24, 2016 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

Jane Myers was kind enough to answer some questions about the work that she and Stuart carry out with Equiculture. Check out their answers!

How much of your day/week is related to horses?
All of our working week is related to horses, we live and breath horses every day, although we no longer own horses as we are travelling, delivering our talks around the world.

What is it exactly that you do?
We (Equiculture) teach horse owners about sustainable horsekeeping practices (I was one of the speakers at The Sustainable Equine Conference at Nottingham Trent University recently for example). We now work between Australia and the UK, I spend about four months in Australia and Stuart six months.

Equiculture Promotes Sustainable Horse Keeping

We provide a one day or half day talk on the subject of sustainable, environmentally friendly horse/lan.d management. This talk gives participants up to date facts about some of the most important issues of our time. This talk encompasses the latest information about sustainability, soil loss, clean water etc. but also includes the latest information about equine obesity management (particularly in relation to pasture).

I (Jane) also coach rider biomechanics, you can find out more about that on www.horseridersmechanic.com.

Jane Myers of Equiculture

In this field of work, is it possible to be a full time professional and earning a liveable income?
It is difficult – but possible. We have had to sacrifice many things, but we love the flexibility of our work. If we had family ties, such as children, it would be much more difficult.

What are the general steps taken to be employed in such a role?
I have an MSc Equine Science ( I specialised in Grazing Behaviour) and Stuart is a people person (he has a degree in Youth Work and he worked in that field for many years before working for our own business – Equiculture). Our combined equine and human qualifications and experience has allowed us to develop our unique business.

Favourite horse memory?
I have so many… riding on the beach is one.

Future goals?
To get our message out to more people – on a TV show would be good!

Best thing about your sport/profession?
It allows women to get out and do things that they might not otherwise.

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Dark Sunshine by Terri Farley

August 22, 2016 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

Samantha is once again working to protect the local mustangs in the third book in the Phantom Stallion series. Dark Sunshine finds Sam unexpectedly coming across some horse rustlers. While she is out riding on her own mustang Ace, she stumbles across them and manages to stay hidden. After they have moved on, she is able to free one of the horses they are ill-treating and using as bait for other horses. Sam is keen to do something to save the others.

As Sam works to uncover the mystery of who the men are, she is surprised to find that their property River Bend Ranch is branching out. Her father Wyatt Forster is entertaining the idea of a pilot program for at risk children and rescued mustangs.

Sam can’t see how it will work on their farm – don’t they have enough to do already? Plus, she isn’t sure she likes the young girl Mikki who is to be the first at risk person to try out the program at River Bend Ranch.

Sam finds that Mikki is full of attitude, defensive and rude. The thirteen-year-old can’t see she should want to help Mikki or why she would want to share her father, Jake, Gram and the horses with her.

As Sam starts to make ground with regards to the horse rustlers, she fears she is losing a part of her father to another female. It seems too that Jake is investing his energy in Mikki. To top things off, Sam doesn’t seem to be making any progress with the buckskin mustang she has rescued. Dark Sunshine is a great follow on in this series. Sam develops further as a character and there is a little mystery thrown in to keep things entertaining.

Author: Terri Farley
http://www.phantomstallion.com
Fiction – teen
In my library? Along with many others in the series!
Want it? Get it now on Amazon.

Bureau of Land Management and Horses

August 19, 2016 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

So I’ve been reading a few of Terri Farley’s Phantom Stallion series of late. The books often reference the Bureau of Land Management or BLM. One character in the story works for the BLM. She is responsible for looking after the welfare of the local mustangs.

It’s only taken me four books in this series to realise I could put together a post relating to BLM work and horses! 😉

According to the BLM website:

The BLM protects and manages wild horses and burros under the authority of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 to ensure that healthy herds thrive on healthy rangelands.

The Bureau of Land Management

Horses aren’t the sole focus of the Bureau of Land Management. They do however have one area that focuses on wild horses and burros. In fact, you can read about the history on their fact sheet page.

Other areas the BLM focus on include:

land conservation
grazing
fire
planning
recreation

For those who are interested in helping to preserve the wild horses in the United States, then the work that the BLM carries out may be of interest. Indeed, it may be an area that you would like to pursue work wise. The BLM has 16 different offices listed in various locations on their site.

The Land Horses live on Needs to be Healthy, too

For those who are familiar with horses, they know that these animals need sufficient grazing and land to live on. If this is to happen well, then the land needs to be adequately managed. A program that works to promote the health of land and horses is one worth investing in.

“Horses change lives. They give our young people confidence and self-esteem. They provide peace and tranquility to troubled souls. They give us hope!” – Toni Robinson

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First Fence (Pony Jumpers 1) by Kate Lattey

Equisal – Tapeworm Testing Product

Equisal

Profile On: Jane and Stuart Myers, Equiculture

Dark Sunshine by Terri Farley

Bureau of Land Management and Horses

The Bureau of Land Management

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