All the ins, outs and in-betweens of naming your American Quarter Horse.

I find myself intrigued most days about some of the names owners and breeders come up with for their American Quarter Horses. I’ve seen plays on words; made-up-on-the-spot-for-the-occasion names; we-must-have-let-that-one-slip names; cliché names; and the ever-popular pedigree names. I get a chuckle each day wondering, “How in the heck did they think of that? I never, in a million years, woulda thought of that name!”

AQHA Customer Service Rep Kayla Randall

What and how an American Quarter Horse can be named is a common question. AQHA does have rules that tend to change from time to time regarding naming a horse. I’ll explain these rules, plus tell you how to change your horse’s name if you decide you don’t like it, or didn’t pick it in the first place. Check out the AQHA Rule Book for a complete look at AQHA rules and regulations. Read the rest of this entry »

Tips to keep your horse standing still while you get on.

Become a better horseman with "AQHA's Fundamentals of Horsemanship."

From “AQHA’s Fundamentals of Horsemanship”

Can you barely swing your leg over your horse’s side before he starts to walk off?

If you’re envious of those horses who stand still as a statue until their riders are ready, these instructions are for you.

Objectives

• To get onto your horse without his moving or becoming disturbed.

• To have your horse “await further instructions” once you have mounted.

• To ensure the mental, emotional and physical connection between you and your horse is not disrupted when you get on his back. Read the rest of this entry »

Keep yourself and your horses dry with these land and paddock drainage tips.

Keep your land dry and your appetite for other great horsemanship tips "whet" with an AQHA membership.

From America’s Horse, with contributions from Kristin Syverson

Here in Amarillo, we were recently hit with a formidable winter storm. When the sun made its reappearance the next day, most of the snow promptly melted, leaving us to slog around in its wake. There’s no time quite like spring for messy, squishy conditions, so we think it’s a good time to talk about drainage.

What can you do to deal with standing water on your property?

Before you pour on the sand and gravel, take some advice from Les Smith, a professor of landscape architecture at Ball State University who specializes in equine facility planning. Read the rest of this entry »

Choosing a mare for your hunter under saddle breeding program.

From The Journal by Meghan Mackey

We talked to leading breeders of hunters under saddle Nancy Sue Ryan of Show Stop Farm in Nocona, Texas, and Robin DeGraff of DeGraff Stables in Port Clinton, Ohio, to find out what you need to consider when choosing the mare that will share her genes, carry to term and influence the first four to six months of your next hunter under saddle prospect’s life.

Conformation

• Heritability is estimated to be 30 to 50 percent

Conformation and structure are the most likely traits to be handed down to a foal by its sire and dam as opposed to trainability, talent and social traits that can be heavily influenced by environment. Read the rest of this entry »

Get the latest figures on horses exposed to contagious equine metritis.

By Kristin Syverson with information from the USDA Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service

We recently received a report detailing the current state of the contagious equine metritis (CEM) outbreak.

As of March 10, 13 stallions have been confirmed by National Veterinary Services Laboratories as positive for Taylorella equigenitali, the organism responsible for CEM. Three mares have also been confirmed as positive.

CEM is a serious venereal disease, largely because it is highly contagious. Read the rest of this entry »

The death of Natasha Richardson last week was tragic in so many ways.

Not only was it the loss of a talented actress, but two young boys must now grow up without their mother. And what makes this death even more heartbreaking is that it was such a trivial thing: a fall while skiing on what was pretty much a bunny slope.

It reminded me of something similar that happened to me in the early ’90s. I was living in southeastern Idaho at the time, and some friends wanted go to out for a Sunday afternoon ride. I decided to take a horse we’d just bought. She was an ex-racehorse but was pretty good-minded, and I thought it would be good for her to get out and stretch her legs. So I threw on an Aussie saddle that I liked to trail ride in and took off with her.

We were up in the mountains near my home, and it was just a nice ride with nothing out of the ordinary other than the mare spooking at some llamas. We all decided to lope our horses down a part of the trail we knew was safe. I asked my horse to pick up her speed, and the next thing I remember, I was on the ground and my friends were all around me.

I’d fallen off my horse. I don’t know how or why, but I was on the ground. My friends informed me that the air had been knocked out of my lungs and I had struggled to catch my breath again. I don’t remember any of it.

I told my friends I was fine and got back on my horse, who had stopped as soon as I came off. (She was a good horse, and I still miss her today.) We rode back down to the trailhead, I loaded my horse back in the trailer and drove home. I got her unloaded, back in the pasture and as soon as I got in the house, I collapsed on the couch. That’s where my husband found me when he came home. Read the rest of this entry »

Tips for managing your pre-horse show jitters.

Tips from "America's Horse" give you a leg-up to success in the show ring despite your nerves.

From America’s Horse

The amount of pressure you perform best under varies from person to person.

When your nervousness exceeds your optimum levels, you lose focus and your skills suffer. Here are a few ways to manage that anxiety you feel before an event.

Plan Ahead

• Make lists of the things you need to do, pack or clean before you leave.

• Find necessary items ahead of time to avoid frantic last minute searches.

• Load your tack and clothes the day before so you can take a mental inventory and make sure you don’t forget anything. Read the rest of this entry »

AQHA’s new Greener Pastures program gives me some peace of mind.

I’m not what anyone would call a prolific horse breeder. In fact, the grand total is four – and of those, I still own three of them. The other one, a pretty little grulla filly that we named Loves First Stop, was born shortly before I went to college.

With the help of a neighboring horseman who started her for me, I prepared her for the International Buckskin Horse Association’s 2-year-old western pleasure futurity. “Stopper” was a fun, spunky little project. In fact, she probably had too much spunk for western pleasure, but hey, that was where we had pointed her. She went along with the plan most days. Other days, we’d gallop around the cattle pasture, which was a fun way for both of us to decompress.

But when I went off to college, work at the college newspaper beckoned, which was good because it led me into a career I love. And homework. I had coasted through my small-town high school pretty easily, so when real homework reared its head, there were days I could barely keep my head above water. Boarding a horse – besides being prohibitively expensive – just wouldn’t have worked. It wasn’t fair, either, to let her stand idle.

So, I created an ad for IBHA’s official publication and then, from my college apartment, began fielding calls about Stopper, who lived at my parents’ place about two hours away. “No,” I told one caller, “she wouldn’t be appropriate for a beginner-level child.” “No,” I told another,  who had thought I looked tall standing beside the supposedly short horse in the photo, “she’s a good size – about 15.3.”

But like Cinderella, eventually we found a good fit, with a family in Indiana. They’re still listed as her current owners, and AQHA records show that they bred her once. They got a dun filly in return and named her Loves First Design. (I “love” the fact that they kept the “Loves First” line going!) They were good people, and I have no reason to believe that Stopper isn’t still being well cared for. She now would be, amazingly, 22, and I’m sure she’s fat and happy.

But I still wonder. I hope she’s sound and healthy. I hope she’s still got that fun, sparkly personality. And I hope her future is secure.

I wonder, because I know what happens to a lot of good horses. Their owners’ circumstances change, and through no fault of the horses, they end up at an auction. From there, it’s a high-stakes game of Russian roulette. The outcome could be another quality home, or it could be a trip over the border to a slaughterhouse, or into a neglectful or abusive home.

In my job at AQHA, I get a lot of exposure to the unwanted horse issue, and the numbers are mind-boggling. There are 100,000 horses a year that become “unwanted.” And included in that number are sound, sane horses – some of them registered Quarter Horses – who have just fallen through the cracks. I certainly wouldn’t want that for Stopper, and I’m thankful that AQHA is stepping in to help shore up some of those cracks. This is when it’s really cool to work for the Association – when it comes up with programs that have the potential to help a lot of horses.

Tonight, I signed up for that program – AQHA’s Greener Pastures. It allows me to track Stopper and any other horses from my past. If her owner ever needs to find a new home for her, this program will pass along my contact information. I am volunteering to either provide her a home, or help place her in another suitable one. (It’s not guaranteeing that I’ll buy her back, because who knows what my financial situation will be when or if that time comes … it’s just giving me the opportunity to help if I can.)

Sure, there will still be unwanted horses out there. But some of them who get tagged with that label aren’t truly unwanted; their “people” just don’t realize it when the horses need help. Although I hope Stopper has a happy home for life in Indiana, she’ll never be unwanted. I’m signed up to be the safety net.

Happy riding!
Holly Clanahan
Editor, America’s Horse magazine

Don’t miss the fun, educational and heart-warming stories in the print version of America’s Horse! It goes to all members of the American Quarter Horse Association, and it’ll also keep you in the loop on Association news. We want you to belong!

The American Association of Equine Practitioners offers advice for a horse owner whose mare cut her tendon. AAEP is an AQHA educational marketing alliance partner.

Question:

My 5-year-old mare cut the tendon in the front of her hind leg. Will the tendon will ever heal, and will she ever be able to be ridden again?

Answer:

Extensor tendon lacerations in horses tend to have a good prognosis. It will depend, of course, on the severity of the laceration and the type of activity your horse performs.

There are a couple of reasons why extensor tendon lacerations are usually less serious than lacerations of the flexor tendon on the back of the limb. First of all, extensor tendon lacerations usually do not involve a tendon sheath. Tendon sheath involvement can result in serious infection and/or adhesion development. Read the rest of this entry »

‘DQ’ usually stands for ‘Dressage Queen,’ but we like ‘Dressage Quarter Horse’ better.

Improve your horse with dressage principles and other tips from "The Journal."

From The American Quarter Horse Journal

Dressage can benefit your American Quarter Horse.

Basic dressage principles give you tools to help you become a better rider no matter what discipline you choose. In fact, whether you ride purely for recreation or you’re hoping to be the next world champion, dressage principles can take you to the next level in your riding.

In 2005, Lynn Palm’s Palm Partnership Training had a “Quarter Horses in Dressage” class at Royal Palm Ranch in Bessemer, Michigan. Read the rest of this entry »

What the National Animal Identification System has to do with you and your horse.

Horses play an important role in the livestock industry.

By Kristin Syverson with information from the Equine Species Working Group

On March 11, a representative of the American Veterinary Medical Association testified before the U.S. Congress on animal identification, making the case that a mandatory nationwide program that tracks livestock is the most effective way to minimize the effects of an animal disease outbreak.

Currently, the National Animal Identification System is a voluntary program intended to identify animals and record their movements for the purpose of disease management and control.

AQHA supports NAIS as a voluntary program.

What does this have to do with you and your horse? Read the rest of this entry »

Go to QuarterFest on our dime!

Tell us what you like about America’s Horse Daily and win a free trip to AQHA’s first-ever equine expo.

It’s a celebration of our favorite animal, the American Quarter Horse. It’s an opportunity to soak in an amazing amount of knowledge and enjoy all-star performances and clinics. It’s the first-ever QuarterFest. And for you, it could be free.

To kick off our inaugural extravaganza – which will be May 1-3 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee – America’s Horse is giving away a trip to the event, complete with airfare from anywhere within the lower 48 states, hotel accommodations and admission to all special events.

Read the rest of this entry »