BUYING A HORSE : CONSIDERATIONS BEFOREHAND

Owning a horse is fun. You spend time with them and really bond with the animal you ride. You get to ride, to go showing, or crosscountry, hacking or western, dressage or driving but there is more. It is not all such fun, there is also a work element involved, as well as money that will be spent on daily matters,.
Before considering buying a horse, you have probably had some lessons at your local riding centre, and
found it very enjoyable and thought, ‘well, why dont I get a horse?’
STOP!!!!!!!!!!!! Dont go and buy a horse and expect everything to be fine, you need a lot more consideration beforehand.
Have you got time, patience, money, land etc…?

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.

Horses buying a horse, diy livery, livery, things to consider

Leopard-spotted horses existed in Europe ages ago

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.

Horses horses dna

Equine biology- a simple, helpful explanation about the basics of a cell

I am about to explain the very basics of a complicated and specialized science. I will only explain the things which are easy to mentally digest, and will start with the basic structure of a cell, then I will move on to a quick briefing on DNA.

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.

Horses

Two horses died when a car collides with the horses and their riders in Cumbria. A man in his 70 has been charged for causing the collision, his charges includes drink-driving, driving without due care and attention and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.

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.

Horses

If you are planning to go cross country, but don’t have access to a course, bear in mind that you don’t actually need to go to a proper course, you can practice at home out hacking.

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

Horses cross country, horse training, Horses, hunting, jumping