Money
This is necessary for survival in this world. Money is needed to buy food and clothes, to pay morgages and rent. But if you have more money than you necessarily need, it can be spend on a horse. By more money I am not talking about a pound or two. No. I am not talking about a couple of hundred. No. I am talking about thousands. Most safe, decently behaved horses cost over one thousand. Occaisionally you do see some horses below this price who are said to be schoolmasters, but these are usually very old, or have an underlying problem. Even if you do pick up a good horse for under a thousand, you will end up paying a lot more in the way of insurance (essential, because if you are out riding and your horse gets scared and kicks a car, then insurance will cover the damage), food (essential for life) livery (certainly, you need somewhere to keep your horse, a field for excersise, and a stable for grooming, dentist vet or farrier visits etc…), tack, rugs, grooming kit, bedding etc. In fact, the average an owner spends on their horse per year is £3,600, so to be sure you want a horse takes consideration and care.

Time

Regardless of how much money or land you have got, time is just as important. Time is needed to muck out, groom, feed , ride, clean tack, etc…
With work also having to fit in on the time budget, and possibly caring for kids, or other animals too, time can be tight.

Patience
Time and money may be in plentiful supply, but that still doesnt mean you can just go and buy a horse. You need patience to bond with the horse, to get used to how to ride him, he may also be timid or young and need your confidence and patience to help him gain confidence.

Land or Livery
You need a stable to keep your horse in, or a field, preferably both. A field alone would ensure he gets lots of exercise and fresh grass, but is not so suitable in winter, or when the farrier or vet has to come. Tacking up and grooming also become a problem, and so, grass livery is the cheapest you get.
DIY livery is suitable for those who need a field and a stable but have plenty of time, it is the second least expensive option.
Part livery involves feeding and turning out, leaving you to ride and muck out. At most livery yards this option is expensive, but still not the most expensive.
Full livery means you pay a lot of money, and the people on the yard do all the work for you. If your budget allows, this option is suitable for when you go on holiday.
Working livery is usually quite cheap. The people on the yard do all or most of the work, but people who come for riding lessons ride your horse. The disadvantage of this is that you have no control whatsoever over who rides your horse, and you can only come on a limited number of days to ride, and the days that you can come are usually determined not by you but by the yard owner.
The moral of the story is; If you have the time, money, patience, land and riding experience and really, really want a horse, but can cope with the work involved, then you are ready!
Once you have considered all there is to consider, and you tick all the right boxes, you are prepared to go! Refer to my article on buying a horse for more information on the next steps.

Scientist have always suspect that Leopard-spotted horses existed in Europe about 25,000 years ago but all the evidence they had was cave painting depicting spotted horses but not hard DNA evidence which they have found to prove the existence of other pre historic horse. That has now changed, New genetic evidence suggests “dappled” horses depicted in European cave art were inspired by real life, rather than the cave painters drawing and imaginary coat on a horse.

Horses, were said to be the most abundant large mammal roaming Eurasian 25,000 years ago, were a key component of early European diets. Horse are also said to account for about 30% of animals depicted in cave art. The cave art in the blogpost show dotted horses in the cave of Pech Merle in France.

You can read the heavy science of this leopard-spotted horses in details at the bbc website.

The basic units of measurement for a cell are micrometers = one thousandth of a millemetre and nanometer (nm) = one thousandth of a micrometer.

The cell membrane is semi-permiable, so called because it allows certain substances to pass through, but not others. It is made up of a specific group of lipids (fats) called phospholipids. They have a rounded ‘head’ and a wavy ‘tail’. The tail is hydrophobic (repels and ‘hates’ water) and the head is hydrophillic (attracts and ‘loves’ water). The membrane is made up of two layers of phospholipids, and each layer meets the other tail to tail. Fat soluable molecules pass through the phospholipids.This is because the phospholipids are not attached and can move in a ‘wave’ in response to external ‘stimulus’ of essential molecules, therefore opening a gap. The molecules then have to wait in the middle of the membrane for another gap to open because only one layer opens at a time. Water soluble ones pass through special proteins known as pores. The membrane is studded with proteins, some only in one layer, carrying a polysacharide as a marker to avoid white blood cells accidentally destroying the cell, mistaking it for an invader, others spanning the entire membrane, and helping water soluble substances to pass into the cell (pores).

Within the membrane is a jelly like liqid known as the cytoplasm. It contains water, nutrients waste and dissolved substances. Suspended within the cyoplasm is the are the various organelles of the cell.

The nucleus is the control centre, it is the largest organnelle in the cell, and contains DNA. I will explain more about DNA later on. Within the nucleus is the nucleolus, which manufactures ribosomes.

The ribosomes (20nm) are the location of protein synthesis, the place where a chain of amino acids is made into a protein such as an enzyme (a globular protein that reacts with its substrate (the molecule it acts on) to create a product). Some ribosomes float freely in the cytoplasm while others are found on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Smooth ER has no ribosomes attached, while rough ER has ribosomes. Free ribosomes make products for the cell, while those on the rough ER make products for exportation from the cell. A structure known as the golgi body or dictyosome packages finished proteins into transport vesicles, which are very important, especially for enzymes which might start to digest the cell otherwise.

Mitochondria are the sites of respiration, the place where reactions occur. Oxygen and glucose are necesary for this to happen. The reactions that occur provide the cell with an instant energy source, mostly in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which is made up of a sugar (ribose) a base, adenosine, and three phosphate molecules. This is broken down to ADP (adenosine diphosphate) + one inorganic phosphate. This provides the cell with energy, and the unnecessary by products are sent out of the cell (heat, water, CO2). A metabolically active cell such as a smooth muscle cell has lots of mitochondria. This system can only provide energy for up to ten seconds, even with CP as a backup molecule. After all the immediate ATP has gone, glucose oxidation occurs to create more. One minute or more of exersise, and lipids are oxidised and used as an energy source insead.

Perioxisomes (one micrometre) are small structures that breakdown hydrogen peroxide, a highly toxic by- product, into harmless oxygen and water.

That was a short description of a cell, now i will focus on genes. These are what determines our appearance, our horses appearance, and the appearance of mans best friend (dog) and all the other living creatures. Below are some key words.

Genotype= the arrangement of genes

phenotype= the way genes express themselves (appearance)

loci (si. locus)=a ”point” on DNA (at each ‘base’) where the gene is found

allelle=a variation of a gene (brown eyes and wall eyes are from the ‘eye colour’ gene but cause different effects and so are different allelles.

Dominant= a gene that creates an effect, even if only one strand of DNA contains that particular gene

Recessive= a gene that requires two doses on one locus (one dose on each strand) to produce an effect.

A dexyribonucleic acid molecule consists of a sugar (deoxyribose) a phosphate group (phosphorus molecule) and two organic bases which combine to form a ‘rung’ of the ‘ladder’ of DNA. DNA is twisted into a double helix and ‘pushed together’ into tightly coiled chromosomes.

Each base has a particular shape and its pair has a complementary shape, meaning that no other base can combine with it. In DNA, Adenine always pairs with Thymine and Cytosine always pairs with Guanine but with RNA T is absent and in its place is Uracil. A and G are purines, which are larger than their partners, while C and T are smaller and known as pyrimidines.

DNA never leaves the cell. If a copy is needed for the ribosomes to assemble a protein, then ribonucleic acid transports the information gets to its target structure, therefore it is a mobile copy of a gene.

To create a protein, a copy of DNA is made onto the messengerRNA and taken to a ribosome. Part of the DNA uncoils and the DNA sequence is copied onto mRNA and taken to the ribosome. TransferRNA is made upof a single strand of nucleic acid, looped back on itself to create a clover leaf shape that collects amino acids and brings them to the ribosome which then makes an amino acid chain in order of instruction which, once complete becomes a protein.

Horses have 64 chromosomes. 62 of these are responsible for various parts of the horse, such as colour, etc. but the last two are sex chromosomes. These are known as X and Y. Female chroosomes are XX and male chromosomes are XY. The females ovum is always X. For this reason it is the males sperm that determines the of the foal. Y is dominant, and so if a Y chromosome comes from the male the result is a colt. Despite Y being dominant, there is an equal chance of a filly as there is a colt.

Cells split through mitosis and meiosis. The former is for growth and the latter is for reproduction. The former produces two identical cells with the full number of chromosomes (diploid), while the latter produces four cells with half the number of chromosomes (haploid). When the ovum and the sperm fuse, the full number chromosomes is restored. If this did not occur, the number of chromosomes would double with every generation.

That wasjust a quick explanation about The equine cell, and DNA, if it is a subject that takes your interest, more information can be found in an equine genetics book or online.

Recommended reads;

Equine science by Sarah Pilliner and Zoe Davies.

The collision happened where the slip road joined another road off junction 39, near Shap, at at about 6PM on Friday. A male rider in his 60s suffered a minor head injury and serious chest and leg injuries. A woman in her 50s suffered minor knee injuries.

When collision like this occurs, the horses always come off worst, most of the time losing their lives.

You can practice cross country schooling over logs, rather than avoiding the logs as you usually would, step over them and count going round them as refusals and run outs.
Water jumps are one of the most important aspects of a cross country course. Most courses have one, some have multiple water jumps. You can practice for water jumps by stepping your horse through puddles, on a suitable surface you can canter through.Going from light to dark should also be practiced as it can be scary for the horses as their eyes take a while to adjust. Going from dark to light can be equally scary, as this scenario can have a temporary blinding effect.

During the duration of a cross country competition you should never gallop flat out. Doing this strains the horses tendons and ligaments and tires him out , while also straining his heart and lungs. For these reasons you should take the course at a strong (but not fast pace) that is both steady and controlled. When you reach a point where there are no jumps, you can make up time by lengthening the pace, or easing into a totally controlled gallop.
For your horse to be fit enough to gallop parts of the course you need to practice. You can canter over fields and through the woods. You must first make sure the ground is safe, it must be soft, but firm. It must not be muddy or slippy, nor hard and dry. The area must be of fairly soft grass or good soil.

Before you compete, you should apply a fairly generous amount of event grease, to ensure that if you horse does hit a jump, he will slip and slide over it.
Once you have finished your round, and again at the end of the day, run your hand down your horse,s legs and check for cuts, scrapes and swellings.

Happy schooling and competing!!!

Good Luck!!!
Eniola Odurinde

Livery
You also need to take an informed decision about livery. There are several types of livery you can go for, but first you need to find a good yard. Make sure that it is affordable, clean, hygienic and that all the horses look fit, healthy, happy and well.
There should at least be an exercise arena, a stable block and lots of good grazing.

Full livery
The most expensive, but also the most inclusive option. It includes full care, feeding, grooming turning out, mucking out, so someone else does everything for your horse and you can just turn up to ride (although doing that defeats the object of horse ownership).

Part livery
This type of livery is not as expensive as full because only the horses basic needs are attended to.

DIY
The best option for experienced people, DIY is just as it says. You do it all yourself!

Grass livery
The least expensive, but also the least practical.
You rent a field and that’s that. You feed, groom, and do everything on this field, which is very impractical in winter or when the farrier or vet comes.

People with fat wallets who are still learning about horse care should go for the first or second option, while those that are experienced should go for the second or third option. The fourth option is not practical.

Viewing
If you have enough practical horse care and riding knowledge, have money to keep the horse and have found a good livery yard you can start looking.
If you are a first time owner it is strongly advised that you go for an older, safe schoolmaster who will look after you. Magazines and recommended horse websites are a good place to start.
Buying from sales is not advised, especially for a first time owner because most of the horses that end up there are there for a reason (undesirable vice, bad back, weak tendons etc). Although nice horses can be found at sales,  it is better to be safe than sorry.
When you have found a suitable sounding horse, it is time to go and view and try it out. Go and look at the horse, groom it, ask about its medical history, ask if vaccinations are up to date, pick up its hooves, check hoof condition,  tack it up, ride it, jump it, do whatever you want the horse for with it.
If the price is reasonable, and the horse is responsive and does what you want, passes vet inspection, and you like it, it is time to consider buying. When you have acquired the right horse, allow at least five days to settle in before work begins. After rest period you can slowly start to introduce work.
Once you have been working gently for a few days you can start to use more advanced  supplying exercises on both reins such as serpentines and loops and later on you can start to work on impulsion and control with lateral work such as leg yielding, shoulder in, rein back etc (only attempt to do these exercises if you have been taught correctly under instruction.

We hope that you now understand the most important things about buying a horse and choosing livery and can now make an informed decision.

Good luck!

Happy searching!

During the winter while ponies splash and squelch through the mud, their feet may be picking up bacteria and these micro-organisms bury themselves under the skin and cause redness and itching.

Thrush

On the bottom of a pony’s foot is the frog. This is the place where thrush attacks, and the symptoms include black discharge, horrible smell and soft, soggy frogs.

Thrush can be treated with surgical spirit or a specially designed treatment.

Mud fever

Mud fever is caused by bacteria that enter the heels and pastern via the skin causing scabs redness and itching.

If the wounds are dry use a grease based ointment, if they are weeping use an antibacterial scrub such as hibiscrub to wash them.

In extremely severe cases the vet may need to be called and may recommend antibiotics to help infection clear up.

The ailments above are generally found in winter, while the ones below vary.

Laminitis is a serious foot condition that generally found in spring summer and autumn caused by the pony being overweight, especially from lush grass or high sugar diets. It can also be caused by alien diets such as chicken pellets nicked from the shed, or dog food.

The feet get hot and feverish and and the horse will often stand in the ‘laminitis’ stance, rocking back on their heels to relive the pain of standing on their front feet .

If your pony shows these symptoms CALL THE VET.

Laminitis needs veterinary attention because if left untreated it causes severe pain, serious effects on the foot, and pedal bone rotation.

Abscesses

If you are picking out your ponies hooves as normal and he suddenly flinches away from the hoof pick he may have an abscess under the sole of his foot.

If he has got an abscess it will require veterinary or farrier attention. He will make a hole in the horses foot and poultice it to draw out the infection. The poultice will need to be replaced daily, your farrier will show you how.

In general, hooves need good care because they carry the horse (and you) around.

Apply moisturising hoof ointment daily but keep hoof oil to a minimum (only for shows).

Relaxation

Once you have got your horse backed and are starting to ride him, the first step to focus on is relaxation (lack of tension, response to aids etc).
On the top of neck and back the horse has a group of muscles that, when in contraction cause the horse to hollow its neck and back and a hollow back is a weak one, a rounded back is a strong one. When in the field a horse does this when alert (so we will refer to these muscles as the ‘alert’ group). When riding contraction of this group of muscles is caused by fear, resistance to an aid, confusion or heavy handed riders.
When the alert muscles contract the muscles on the underside of the horses belly and neck (the ‘relax’ muscles) relax using hollowness but when the relax muscles contract and the alert group relax the back is rounded and the head held in desired position.

Rhythm

In riding rhythm is essential. The sequence, as well as the timing of footfalls should be correct, even and movement should be smooth.
Some ponies have naturally smooth gaits, while others have naturally bumpy or uneven paces.
For regulating an uneven pace, walking and trotting poles greatly come in useful. Ride circles, curves and straight lines using correct spacing. Using short thick poles like old telegraph poles also encourages engagement of the hocks.

Contact

Contact is how the hands hold the reins. The reins should not be taut, nor should they be slack. The reins should be held gently but firmly. Imagine you were holding two gerbils. Don’t squash them, but don’t allow them to get away.
In the more advanced stages of riding, the horse should ‘seek’ the contact.
If the pony are riding is going too fast for comfort do NOT put a constant pull on the reins, instead sit up look ahead and sponge the reins or else the pony will fight your hands and hollow his back.

Straightness

Horses are born naturally with a dominant side where the muscles are shorter, thicker and more bunched meaning that they naturally bend better to this side. On their other side the muscles are longer and weaker and stretch more easily than they contract.
Do lots of supplying exercises, and stretching exercises for the shorter side but don’t do them equally on both sides or else the horse will muscle up evenly on both sides causing one to still be predominant.

Impulsion

Impulsion is the surge of strength produced when the hindquarters are engaged, but it must never be mistaken for speed.
A young, green or unfit horse should not be asked for impulsion as they cannot produce it correctly.
Before you can ask a horse for collection he must be fit, and have completed every ‘rung’ on the training ladder(that is except collection(and extension!))
To ask for impulsion half halt then give the forward aid while the hands ‘contain’ the energy to avoid increase in speed, and the result should be a surge and lift and hind legs should be pushing off from the ground.
You can tell if a horse is moving forward by looking at their back legs. If their back legs form an upside down V the horse is using his hind quarters.

Collection

Before collection can be achieved the horse must have achieved impulsion.
To ask for collection ask for impulsion but use your hands to limit the forward movement there fore shortening the strides.

Extension

The opposite of collection, extension is produced by lengthening rather than shortening the strides.

None of the rungs in the schooling ladder should be missed out. Every single rung and all its exercises completed is the only way to go right to the top. If your horse can’t cope on a certain rung, go down a rung and redo the whole rung till there are no problems.

For more information you can read Successful schooling: Training your horse with Empathy by Karin Blignault or 6 steps to a schooled horse by Susan Mcbane.

Grooming your pony

Besides water, food and sufficient exercise, another important aspect in horse care is grooming. Whether you own or loan a pony, or simply help out at a friends house, grooming is an important skill you need to learn beside riding.

As well as keeping a ponies coat clean, grooming promotes blood flow, stimulates breathing, strengthens the bond between you and him /her and it removes dead skin cells and dead hair.

If you think of grooming as flicking a random brush over your pony, then you are mistaken. That certainly is NOT the way to groom a pony. When you groom a pony you should do it methodically so that you do not flick dirt back on to a part of the pony that you have already brushed. Start by picking out the hooves but remember to pick them out from heel to toe as otherwise you may hurt the frog(!) (the sensitive middle part of the bottom of the hoof) if your hand slips.

Check for signs of thrush (smelly feet, black discharge) and carefully put the ponies hoof down. Next, start grooming the mane and use a body brush or your fingers to comb the mane till you can go through it without trouble. A de-tangler spray would really help.

Remove mud from the coat with a dandy brush and and then use a body brush to remove grease and scurf. After a few strokes with the body brush use a metal curry comb to remove the hair from the body brush. Note: the metal curry comb is only used for cleaning the body brush, and should NEVER be used on a pony.

Now set to work with the tail, but stand to the side to avoid getting kicked and pull the tail to the side. Use a body brush or your fingers because, however tempting it may seem to use a plastic curry comb, this is not advised as it breaks the hair and can give your pony split ends.

Now as a finishing touch, why not add some hoof shine?
Otherwise you can use effol or another well known hoof strengthening cream or paste.

War Horse is a touching story about a boy’s love for his horse and their mutual suffering amid the carnage of the First World War, the story not only explore the horrors of war from both the boys viewpoint and his horse’s viewpoint and how it affected them both.

In previous films, Spielberg has explored the relationship between children and other creatures, bringing out sides of children and seemingly dumb creature that actually have a lot to offer, his extra terrestrial film (ET) did just that; communication and understanding between ET an alien and child formed the core of the story. Spielberg also directed another film exploring the survival of a boy in the Japanese occupation of Shanghai which was based on J G Ballard’s autobiography; Empire of the Sun.

Theatre purist argue that no amount of magic Spielberg and his DreamWorks studio can apply to War Horse to make it a memorable as the stage version which is still going very strong at New London Theatre and it due to open in New York in 2011.