By Melanie Huggett

Consistent care is crucial for maintaining your horse's health and preventing potentially costly veterinary expenses. Getting to know your horse's baseline health makes it easier to identify when something is amiss. Catching issues such as injuries or infections early allows for quicker treatment and faster recovery. Below are some key areas to focus on.  By staying on top of these routine checks, you can ensure your horse remains healthy and catch potential issues before they become serious:

1. Hooves

A horse’s hooves support its entire weight and are made up of bones, tendons, blood vessels, and the hoof wall, which is composed of keratin (see figure 1). The old adage "no hoof, no horse" underscores how vital hooves are to your horse's well-being. Hooves grow about six to ten millimeters each month and need to be trimmed or shod by a farrier every six to eight weeks to ensure proper balance and traction. Regularly clean out your horse’s hooves with a hoof pick to avoid infections like thrush and white line disease, and keep the stall and paddock tidy to reduce exposure to dirt and bacteria.

2. Legs

Check your horse’s legs regularly for any signs of abnormalities, such as swelling, heat, or an unusual pulse, which could indicate injury or lameness. Also, look for cuts, scrapes, or abrasions, and treat them promptly by cleaning and bandaging as necessary. Injuries on the lower legs are particularly prone to infection, as these areas often come into contact with dirt and manure. Horses can sometimes injure themselves by striking or rubbing their legs during exercise. If your horse is prone to leg interference or participates in activities that increase the risk of leg injury, consider using protective boots to minimize the chance of harm.

FIGURE 1: The Horse's Hoof

3. Tail

A horse’s tail is used for communication and swatting flies. If you notice that your horse is losing hair at the top of his tail, it could be from a paddock mate chewing it, or it could be caused by rubbing. Tail rubbing can be a sign of itching due to insects or internal parasites. Fly sheets and fly spray can help ward off flies during the summer months. To avoid parasite infestation, a rotational deworming program, developed with your veterinarian, is recommended for all horses. Typically, this involves giving your horse a different deworming medication every two or three months throughout the year.

4. Groin

Though often considered an “unmentionable” area — and a topic of discussion that will send young girls into titters and squeals — a horse’s groin does need attention. Waxy buildup of dirt and dead skin (smegma) inside a male horse’s sheath, which houses his penis, can lead to infection. Smegma will also harden inside a small cavity in the tip of the penis into a “bean,” which can make it painful to urinate. For these reasons, male horses should have their sheaths cleaned and beans removed semiannually. A mare’s udder should also be checked regularly and cleaned if necessary, especially if she is a broodmare. If any soap is used for cleaning, it is extremely important that it is rinsed completely away, as any residue could cause severe irritation to the sensitive skin in the groin area. Some horses may take offense to having their sheaths or udders cleaned, so proceed with caution!

5. Digestive System

he horse has a sensitive digestive system designed for constant grazing on high-fibre forage. The majority of the horse’s diet should consist of forage such as pasture or hay. If not given free access to forage, feed many smaller meals throughout the day in order to simulate grazing as best you can. Three meals is better than two, four is better than three, and so on. Colic (intestinal upset) is the number one killer of horses. Signs of colic include not wanting to eat or drink, frequent rolling, biting at the stomach or flank, restlessness, increased pulse, or decreasing fecal output. If you suspect colic, call your veterinarian immediately.

6. Body Condition

Monitor your horse’s body condition to make sure he is neither too fat nor too thin, as both emaciation and obesity can lead to serious health problems. Common areas for fat deposits include the crest of the neck, shoulder, barrel, and tail head. The “Henneke Scale,” which rates the body condition of horses from one to nine, is often used to assess the condition of horses. A healthy horse should be a score of four (moderately thin) to six (moderate to fleshy). Five (moderate) is ideal; this horse would have a level back, ribs that are easily felt but not seen, rounded withers, some fat around the tailhead, and shoulders and neck that blend smoothly into the body. 

7. Vital Signs

Know your horse’s normal vital signs, including temperature, pulse, capillary refill time, respiration rate, and gut sounds, and how to take them. These can tell you if your horse is sick or in distress. The average horse has the following vital signs:

• Temperature of 37.5 to 38.0 degrees Celcius, taken with a rectal thermometer;
• Heart rate of 40 to 44 beats per minute, taken at the carotid artery, inside the elbow joint, or under the jaw;
• Capillary refill time of two seconds, taken by pressing a finger on the gums;
• Respiration rate of eight to 16 breaths per minute at rest, felt with your hand on the horse’s flank;
• Active gut sounds, heard with a stethoscope or your ear pressed to the horse’s flank. 

FIGURE 2: The Horse's Teeth 

8. Eyes

Horse’s eyes can be various colours, the most common being dark brown. Blue, hazel, amber, or multicoloured eyes are also found. No matter the colour, eyes should be bright and clear. Cloudiness of the lens, swelling of the membranes or lids, or discharge should be reported to a veterinarian. Horses with pink skin around their eyes (such as Paints and Appaloosas) are more prone to eye problems, especially melanomas, a type of skin tumour.

9. Teeth

A horse has between 36 and 44 teeth. All horses have 12 incisors for shearing grass and 24 molars for grinding food, but they may or may not have four canines or four wolf teeth between the molars and incisors (see figure 2). Wolf teeth are often removed by a veterinarian as they can interfere with the bit, which sits in the “bars” or the interdental space between the incisors and the molars. The horse’s teeth, which continually grow throughout a horse’s lifetime, are often used to estimate age. Most horses require their teeth to be “floated,” or filed, by a veterinarian or equine dentist approximately once a year. Chewing causes the molars to wear unevenly creating points on the teeth, which makes it difficult to chew food and can cause painful ulcerations. Young and senior horses typically require more regular dentistry.

10. Nostrils

The nostrils are the beginnings of the respiratory system, and can open very wide when increased inhalation is needed. Check nostrils for signs of mucus discharge. Clear discharge is normal, but mucus that is white, yellow, heavy, or has a putrid odour can be a sign of infection or disease. Common respiratory diseases in horses are equine influenza and equine herpesvirus.

More by Melanie Huggett

Main photo: Robin Duncan Photography - How well do you know your horse? By becoming well acquainted with your horse when he is healthy, you’ll catch abnormalities early before small problems become more serious health concerns.