As part of Strangles Awareness Week 2020, Redwings talked to bacteriologist Dr Andrew Waller of the Animal Health Trust. I’ve added the results of the Q&A as a PDF here: COVID-19 vs Strangles. The Q&A is an excellent rundown of strangles symptoms and the issues over recovery. If you want to know how horses can …
Category Archives: Veterinary Medicine and Healthcare
“Matchless Preparations” “For All Disorders in Horses”
From Centaur or The Turn Out a practical treatise on the (humane) management of horses, either in harness, saddle, or stable; with hints respecting the harness-room, coach-house, &c. (1878) by Edward W. Gough, via Wikimedia Commons.
Pit Ponies at Rest and at Play
The last British pit pony retired astonishingly recently in 1999. Between the mid-eighteenth century and the very start of the twenty-first century, stout “pitters” (short-legged Shire crosses), Welsh cobs and British native ponies of all stripes hauled coal underground and above ground and worked pumps to keep mines from flooding. They were often stabled in …
War Horses Week: Russley Park Remount Depot, World War One, Women, Horses and Sources
“You are doing a man’s work and so you’re dressed rather like a man, but remember just because you wear a smock and breeches you should take care to behave like a British girl who expects chivalry and respect from everyone she meets. … See to it that [a Land Army Girl] means … a …
War Horses Week: Walking Wounded
I raided Pathé’s glorious YouTube channel for some footage of very weary, injured horses being assessed at a Blue Cross hospital during the 1914–1918 war. There’s no information about what country this might be, but the hats of some of the assistants look a bit French. If you have more of a clue than I …
O Horse of Little Brain?
My friend Robby runs the wonderful Retrokombinat, an Etsy shop full of finds from the flotsam and jetsam of twentieth-century Berlin. For my birthday he made me a card featuring one of a series of collectable science flyers dished out by the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper in 1931. It’s all about brain size, and as you …
Another Illegal Drug Scandal for Sheikh Mohammed, Princess Haya of the FEI
Guardian full story: Sheikh and wife shocked that a crate labelled “horse tack” found on one of their private jets in May by UK Border Guards turned out to be full of veterinary drugs that are potentially toxic and harmful to horses. I wonder how their internal investigation is coming along, five months later.
Whole Heap of Little Horse Links
The American Quarter Horse Association is being sued for not allowing the registration of cloned horses. (ABC News) A New Yorker suggests that the local Boris bike system is replaced by one providing horses. (Gabe Capone) The suspicious death of a racehorse in West Virginia. (Bloodhorse.com) A profile on Marty Irby, a Tennessee Walking Horse …
Whole Heap of Little Horse Links
This is the most sensible thing written about champion chaser Kauto Star’s controversial retirement to the dressage arena, from Greg Wood (Guardian) In a repeat of Jesse Owens’ sprint against a thoroughbred, bladerunner Oscar Pistorius took on a horse in Qatar, although not without, yes, more controversy. The South African SPCA say that the horse …
Whole Heap of Little Horse Links
A young Scottish showjumper who’s only been riding for three years has been sponsored by Euromillions lottery winners. (Horse and Hound) Meanwhile a nineteen-year-old started a millionaire’s fund of his own when he became the youngest ever winner of the showjumping CN International via Karen K. (Spruce Meadows) Corrective surgery for thoroughbred yearlings before auction. …