4 more ways to know if your horse isn’t sound…
Following on from our previous article on ‘soundness‘, our equine rehabilitation specialist Catherine McCourt discusses 4 more ways to know if your horse isn’t sound. Unusual stable behaviours If your horse stops hanging his head over ...
Clipping horses
Anyone who keeps a horse through the winter months will be aware of the monstrously hairy coat that our four-legged friend develops at this time. Nature has provided horses with the means to keep themselves cosy through our harsh winter climate and if all...
Ponies left to suffer with severely overgrown hooves
ISPCA Breaking News 6th November 2015 Ponies left to suffer with severely overgrown hooves ISPCA Inspector Lisa O ‘Donovan responded to a call yesterday, 5th November 2015 regarding ponies with extremely overgrown hooves in the Dunmanway region of Count...
Laminitis – a case study
A 19 year old grey mare was presented to me with a history of on-going laminitis. She had been treated previously by a vet for a respiratory infection with steroids and had developed laminitis shortly after. On presentation the mare was very lame, relucta...
Improving the jumping canter
Leaving aside the ability of the horse and the skill of the rider, the success of a jumping round largely comes down to the quality of the horse’s canter. In this post, our Showjumping expert Liam Buckley gives us a simple exercise with canter poles to ...
Glen the Squirrel
This isn’t a horsey story, but it’s so cute we had to share it! A very young squirrel fell from a tree and this marked the start of a most unusual relationship. A woman found the squirrel and its sister lying on the ground. They had fallen a...
The Merry Minstrel – ‘Socks’ – training the young horse
Socks is a 17hh 6yr old Chestnut Gelding. We purchased him at the end of 2014 from a show jumping yard. What we liked about Socks was his positive attitude, his three good paces and his flashy good looks. Over the past year he has been competing at Prelim...
Doing a better job
“The years teach much which the days never knew.” This is one of my favourite quotes and it reminds us to look back on where we have come from and what we have achieved. Ten years ago I was an ambitious young person, very driven and with huge ambition...
5 ways to know if your horse isn’t sound
It’s easy to tell if your horse isn’t sound..right? He’s going to be hopping on 3 legs and if he isn’t doing that, then that means he’s ok? Well no, I’m afraid not. It can be surprisingly difficult to tell if your horse is “off” or not. ...
Joseph Murphy – 2015 in review
If there’s one thing I can say about 2015, it’s that it has had its ups and downs. On the national front the team have enjoyed great successes with our string and for the third year running I am Eventing Ireland’s leading rider, which is an achi...
