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Horse I-Search Paper

The equine industry has greatly affected the way we live our day to day lives. Horses
have been used for pleasurer as well as manual labor. The equine industry has effect the local
economy by raising over $300 billion dollars, 4.0 million horses, and contributing over 1.6
million jobs that are full time. The impact of the equine industry varies from state to state.
Equine industry continues to evolve, but still remains a steady market. According to
http://www.alltech.com/, the average horse owner owns five horses and most of those horses are
used as leisure horses.
You can ride horse either English or Western style. The English riding is the hardest of
the two styles of riding for beginners. An advantage of English riding is the rider has more direct
contact with the mouth of the horse to better speed and control of the horse. With Western riding,
the rider uses little or no contact to the mouth of the horse to control the speed and direction of
the horse. Horses and riders compete in shows for both English and Western riding.
What do you do if your horse colics? A horse that colics that extremely common. A few
signs to look for to tell if your horse colics is pawing at the ground, trying to roll over, excessive
sweating, high pulse, restlessness, and not wanting to eat according to http://www.petmd.com/.
Colicing in a horse is defined as abdominal pain that builds up in the digestive tract. The first
item of business that you need to take care of if your horse colics is to call your veterinarian as
soon as possible. If you wait to call the veterinarian until later, you could cause a minor problem
to become a major problem. Your veterinarian may ask you some questions about your horse.
The best thing that you can do for your horse while you are waiting for the veterinarian to get
there is to let your horse drink water. Water may help lower the danger of the impact of colicing.

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If your horse colics during the winter months, you need to give your horse warm water. A horse
colicing during the summer months should receive cool water. You might have to coax your
horse to drink water by adding a small amount of grain to the mixture. You need to have more
water than grain in the bucket for the horse to drink and dont let the grain start to ferment. The
second best thing that you can do for your horse is to regularly exercise your horse. The exercise
needs to be kept consistent. Do not let the horse exercise strenuously with lengthy periods of
time without any exercise.
A horse that does not like to stand still while mounting can put you and people around
you in danger. The first thing that you need to do when breaking your horse if it has this bad
habit is to give the horse at least four feet of rope instead of holding onto the rope tightly. The
second thing you can do is to make the horse move his feet faster than what he would like to
move his feet. By making your horse move his feet faster than what he likes causes if to want to
stand still while mounting. Do not let your horse move in circles, but you can move your horse
quickly in a back and forth pattern.
Horses need to have their teeth checked regularly. You take your horse either to a
veterinarian or to an equine dentist. Horses will show many different signs of needing their teeth
looked at. Shying of the head, looseness of teeth, not eating, and chewing food slowly are a few
signs that you need to take your horse either to a veterinarian or an equine dentist.
You can train your horse to do many amazing things. Training your horse to ground drive
is one of the many things you can teach a horse. The purpose of teaching your horse to ground
drive is to be able to control your horses speed, motion, and direction from standing on the
ground. The first step in training is to introduce your horse exercise training after the horse has
learned to lunge and before the horse is broke to ride. The first exercises that you should focus on

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teaching your horse is turning to the left and right, circling, halting, backing up, and transitioning
between different gaits. You need to groom your horse just like you would if you were going to
have your horse lunge or getting ready to go for a ride.
The next step is walk your horse into a round pen to start training. The stirrups need to be
tied together with a rope to keep from scaring the horse while training. The horses halter should
have lunge lines attached. You need to tie up the extra lunge lines by running the extra lunge
lines from the outside to the inside of the stirrups.
The left lunge line needs to be in your left hand and the right lunge line needs to be in
your right hand. You need to stand about three feed to the left of your horse with the right lunge
line laying across the hip. Next you need to ask your horse to walk. You will have to give out
extra lunge line the further the horse walks. You should walk behind the horse with a gentle
contract in the lunge lines. Your horse will turn left by increasing the contract on the left lunge
line and giving lunge line with the right hand. You need to maintain light contact on the lunge
lines until the horse goes in the direction you want the horse to go and then you need to release
the lunge line. The horse will stop walking by pulling on both of the lunge lines at the same
time. You will need to ask your horse to back up from the halt by saying back or shhh.
The Morgan horse breed is known to best the best pleasurer horse according to
(http://www.aces.edu). Morgan horses are an American breed that are mainly used for pleasurer
showing and as a show horse. Stock horses are the best breed of horses for manual labor. Stock
horses are built for ranch work. This breed has big shoulders, forearms, and hindquarters.
Quarter horses are best for ranch work.
Horses need to have their teeth checked regularly. A common thing a horse will do is
colics. Horses that do not like to stand still can easily be corrected. Horses are amazing animals

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that will do anything for their human if they are taught how to. You can teach these amazing
animals to do almost anything you ask them to. Horses are used both for pleasure and manual
labor. The equine industry is a huge part of our world. Without horses, the world as we know it
today would not exist.

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Work Citied

"Colic in Horses." PetMD. PetMD, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.petmd.com/horse/conditions/digestive/c_hr_equine_colic>.

College, Laura. "How to Train a Horse to Ground Drive." Animals. Demand Media, n.d. Web. 30
Jan. 2016. <http://animals.mom.me/train-horse-ground-drive-3783.html>.
Cunningham, Jody, and Susan Cunningham. "Ground Driving." Mike Thomas Horsemen. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2016. <http://www.mikethomashorsemen.com/uncommon-horsesense/ground-driving>.
"Horse Refuses to Stand Still." Parelli Natural Horsemanship. Parelli, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2016.
<http://www.parelli.com/horse-refuses-to-stand-still.html>.
King, Marcia. "Dealing With Colic: 32 Dos and Don'ts." TheHorse.com. theHorse, 1 Oct. 2009.
Web. 30 Jan. 2016. <http://www.thehorse.com/articles/24404/dealing-with-colic-32-dosand-donts>.
McCall, Cynthia A. "Light Horse Breeds Types and Uses." The Light Horse. Berkeley:
Cooperative Extension, U of California, 2011. N. pag. Print.
Nadeau, Jenifer. "Basic Dental Care For Horses." Basic Dental Care For Horses - Extension.
Extension, 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 30 Jan. 2016.
<http://articles.extension.org/pages/29842/basic-dental-care-for-horses>.
Wyrick, Julianne. "Today's Equine Industry." Alltech, Inc. Alltech, Inc., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.alltech.com/blog/posts/todays-equine-industry>.