Are Horses Becoming Too Spoiled With Human Kindness?

Bill Moyer maintains a significant increase in laminitis cases is due to horse owners setting their animals up for the disease.

"I see horses getting heavier, horses boarded in heated barns, horses being excessively blanketed and horses kept in stalls 24 hours a day," says the Texas A&M University equine verterinarian. "We're killing them with kindness."

Likely candidates for laminitis problems are underworked and overweight horses. Moyer says show horses, broodmares, stallions, fat Quarter Horses on the show circuit and ponies are at serious risk. Horses with a prolonged or serious illness, such as colic diarrhea or a reatined placenta, are also likely candiates.

Nine Things Farriers Hate About Shoeing Rigs

In a survey of farriers conduced during last winter's Bluegrass Laminitis Symposium in Louisville, Ky., farriers voiced their opinions about the worst problems in their rigs. 

Some 22 percent indicated the rig was too small and didn't have enough room for supplies. Another 15 percent felt the rig was too expensive, 12 percent didn't like the fuel mileage, 10 percent felt it was too big and tall and another 10 percent didn't like the fact the truck could only be used for business purposes.

Some 7 percent said the rig leaked in the car wash, 5 percent felt thier rig wore out too fast, 5 percent said there was dead space in the center of the rig that couldn't be easily reached and 2 percent felt the rig was difficult to…