?

My best friend's horse has injured her annular ligament, and although no one is saying anything to her face, people have been throwing around all sorts of suggestions, from the probable "she can't compete anymore and should be a happy hacker" to the more serious "find her a pasture" to "Put her down now."

Based from your experiences, I would like to know which of these three scenarios is most likely? I am not looking for a diagnosis, but I want to have the right attitude to provide the best support possible to my friend without getting her hopes up too high nor sounding like a downer.

Some information to help base your opinion on: this mare used to be a show jumper and I've seen her jump 1m50, her previous owners were crap to put it mildly, so she has an old injury which flared up a couple of months ago and ended up being this annular ligament injury.

It is a bulge at the fetlock (forelimb) and she has had it drained. She was put on bute for sometime but wasn't sound even on bute so its been stall rest and hand walking for her over these past weeks. Recently she had an ultrasound and they are considering a surgical operation seeing as there is little improvement.

Would you say it is likely that they would have to put her down? Bear in mind that these are people willing to spend a huge amount of time and money to get her better, I'm pretty sure they would go to the length of getting her a prosthetic limb if necessary.

What do you say?

So I have finally come to the epiphany that the course I want to do is veterinary not fine arts, however its a bit late for that as most of the deadlines for vet were on the 15th october.

I'm probably going to either take a foundation year or take a gap year and apply next year, but my school compulsorily asks that I make a UCAS application regardless, and I think its worth the shot as well.

What foundation courses and normal undergraduate courses in veterinary science are still open to applications?

All I'm finding from research are the courses who's deadlines HAVE passed, but I'm interested in the ones I can still get and it seems near impossible to find.

I'm being pulled in two different directions, I equally love art and horses. My family want me to pursue art, so I'm taking a Fine Arts course in the UK next year and I'm in the process of completing my A levels in art, literature, french and psychology - my predicted grades are 3 A*s and 1 A.

However, I'm realising that I'd love to be an equine chiropractor. Bearing in mind the qualifications I have are in no way scientific, will I be able to pursue this career later on in life? All I have are A's in Math, science and additional science at GCSE.

What if I change my mind later on? Will schools refuse me? Can I take a course specifically focused on equine chiropractic later on in my life?

I was specifically interested in Writtle, but I can't find their admissions requirements.

I recently saw someone using their well-fitted lungeing cavesson as a bitless bridle, it seems logical that this could work, but I've never seen anyone ride in a lungeing cavesson before - what are your opinions on this matter?

Is it okay to use the lungeing cavesson in this way or is it harmful in a way that a proper bitless bridle wouldn't be??

1) I'm just curious, I barely ever see people with drop nosebands anymore and I was wondering why that is? Is it allowed to use them in shows for dressage? generally, what discipline are they best fitted to? Are they harsher or softer than a flash? Are there any problems associated to them?

And can you turn a normal bridle into a drop noseband by lengthening the cheekpieces and simply tying the cavesson snugly below the bit? I have actually seen a friend do this and was wondering whether it was smart use of a bridle or just stupid.

2) Lungeing cavessons: some people have told me that they ride in a well-fitted lungeing cavesson, is that an okay thing to do as an alternative to using a bitless bridle?? (again, I'm just wondering, don't jump at my throat)

Thank you for your answers!

Hello all :)

I've recently started introducing the spanish steps to my horse, and he's learned much faster than I expected, except we have now reached a standstill.

If I am on his back and advance my leg, he lifts his nice and high, this is great, except he sort of just does it on the spot, we don't go anywhere!

I've tried groundwork with him, if I'm beside him he will reluctantly advance or only very slowly advance, but once I'm on he's more likely to go backwards than forwards.

I tried firm contact and then completely loose reins, but it doesn't appear to make a difference, and if I use my crop even gently he just starts walking. Once he's walking if I ask for the spanish walk he just halts. I've watched numerous tutorials but none seem to cover this issue!

I'd really appreciate any advice you have for me as it is the first time I try this with him.

Additional information (if it makes any difference)

-he's a seven year old arab gelding

-I ride in a D-ring snaffle

-no martingale/draw reins, I tried once but it only hindered his performance

-I've done this exercise bareback and obtained precisely the same results.

I had my saddle properly measured yesterday and sadly realised my supposedly professional trainer picked out a saddle that is very ill-fitting for my horse. It is a good two inches too long for my compact arabian gelding, which at the moment I can't do much about, but the gullet also narrows down (going from too wide to too narrow), which is also unsuitable for my horse.

I am in the process of getting him a new saddle (that fits), but having done some research on the potential ill-effects of a badly fitting saddle, I'm sort of horrified at what my horse must have endured for these past six months.

I had been using a saddle pad with a mutton pad on top, and I would like to know if that would have made it any less harmful for him?

My horse absolutely LOVES chewing on his lead rope, if I'm handwalking him he will take it in his mouth, if he's set free and I accidentally leave it on the ground he picks it up and trots around with it neatly folded in his mouth or just stand there chewing and chewing.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this doesn't seem to be a particularly bad habit to me, although my lead ropes all look disgusting eventually.

Is there any reason for it? Should I give him an alternate thing to chew, and if so, what?

He has a rubber ball with handle and a salt lick but he ignores both rather deliberately, preferring to chew the rope that attaches the lick onto his stall. He also has a habit of licking my hands, if thats related.

Any ideas?

Hi all,

Last month I took my six year old arabian to his (and my) first show ever. We only did very basic dressage, and managed to get fourth place, but I could really do with advice!

He was extremely tense, his head was right up, even when I let go of the reins completely during the warm up. The judges stand spooked him every single time we passed it, and all of his paces were completely rushed. Of course I did horrible in a variety of different ways, but I know how to fix that, and I still think he did amazing considering his age and both of our inexperience in this area, however if anyone has tips on how to calm young/hot horses in stressful situations, I'd LOVE to hear them!

Thank you!

My horse has been trained by my trainer, and he's amazing at dressage. He's only six years old and literally started a month ago, but he can do half pass in walk, trot and canter. This looks great when my trainer is riding him, and then I get on, try to do a basic leg yield in walk, and we look disastrous.

I think its mainly because I'm having trouble with my seat, he always ends up with too much inside flexion, or he crosses over in front but the back legs are all over the place. I also can't seem to get the right balance with my leg aids. Either I'm doing too much and he goes too fast and stops crossing his legs, or I don't do enough and his butt sticks out to the side. I have a crop, which I do use, but it seems just as bad as my leg aids.

Any tips on how I can improve my riding to get him to leg yield? It looks so damn simple when my trainer does it! He's given me a whole load of tips in lessons, obviously, but it would really help to get a fresh outlook and some written advice, I sometimes feel he contradicts himself when trying to explain. Or maybe I'm just that bad!

I recently googled my horse's name and found a page where his previous owner talked about him and posted a photo of him as a four year old.

The horse is now six and a half, but he looks completely different!

The photo of him two years ago shows that he was dappled grey with a very dark mane, and he's is now flea-bitten grey with a much lighter mane.

I can see how the mane could get lighter, but its the first time I own a grey horse, so is it possible for a horse to change from dappled to flea-bitten?

I'm also 100% sure this is him as the parents and grandparents are mentioned and they match exactly what is on his passport, same goes for birth date.

Other than that, he resembles the horse in the photo physically in that I can tell they're both arab, and the muzzles look alike, but other than that its hard to tell because the horse in that photo looks so much younger.

So, does anyone know if this usually happens?

Hi all!

I recently got my first horse, he is incredibly sweet and great on trails as he used to be an endurance horse.

BUT, seeing as he is so used to going in the same direction as all the other horses, he spooks during lessons when crossing other horses! I've managed to get him used to crossing them in walk, but we're still a total disaster when crossing horses in trot or canter - he jumps to the side and tries to turn around, which once resulted in me toppling right off.

Any tips on desensitising him?

He's quite young (6 years old), which I'm hoping will make it easier to teach him not to react this way, but at the moment its a pretty big setback when it comes to schooling him.

Thank you for your input!

Hello, I live in Dubai, UAE and its my first time buying a horse.

We are looking for a very calm, gentle all rounder, ideally between the age of 8 and 15 years old; nothing spectacular as I don't intend to compete.

Supposedly horses here are cheaper than in Europe, but I'm having a hard time judging the price range.

Only yesterday I saw adverts for two horses, one for 10 000 AED, the other for 170 000 AED, even though they didn't seem that different in terms of breed and ability. Is the first one a hoax or is the second one a ridiculous amount?

If anyone knows anything about prices in the UAE I'd be really grateful for your insight.

I'm soon getting a horse, which I will be keeping at an equestrian centre nearby and I was wondering what the livery usually covers. This is a question that I will soon be asking my teacher in any case, but for the time being I wanted to find out what it generally entails.

I'm under the impression that the payment is literally for the stall and feeding the horse, whilst all the mucking out, grooming and exercise will be my responsibilities.

I'd like to know how things generally work from your experiences.

Thank you!

I'd like to know the approximate distance to space out trotting poles and canter poles as I'm starting to do more independent flatwork.

Obviously I've noticed that canter poles have larger spaces between them than trotting poles, but I'd like to know how many strides I should take between each pole when laying them out for a horse of about 15 hands.

Thank you!

I recently discovered 'mrbruff' on youtube, he gives excellent english revision videos, however I'm now moving on to Additional Science and History (Civil Rights), both using Edexcel and I'm having trouble finding relevant, interesting and reliable channels.

I discovered one called the educator but it was much too basic whilst others covered the relevant topics but in a more complicated way, as they would for A levels I think :/

If you know anyone good please let me know?

My family and I recently bought a couple of zebra finches and although we have experience with budgies, lovebirds and cockatiels I'd like some advice about these little birds.

1) The male seems fine, he chirps and sings all day long, but the female just makes these little high-pitch honking/tooting sounds - she does not stop!!!

She's eating and drinking normally, she gets along fine with the male (grooming each other, feeding together and sleeping side by side) but it just sounds like she's stressed. What does this honking mean and how can we help?

2) We were considering freeing them after a week or so, but a friend of ours said that they might be weak of wing and not used to being independent. I have to say that the female doesn't seem so weak of wing seeing as she escaped her cage and flew around the petshop (which is quite large) for a while before being caught.

In any case we aren't so sure whether freeing them is a good idea, so I'd love some professional advice.

Thank you!

Hi, I'm just trying to find a very simplified definition for electric charge.

E.g. Current is flow of electrons.

No more than a sentence, but this is really important for my science revision.

Please help?

Trying to revise for chemistry and came across this question, then realised I had no clue how to answer. It says to explain this in terms of atoms, can someone help me?