Help your horse cope with a not-so-full-time job
W
E HAVE ALL BEEN THERE: SQUEEZING AS MUCH TIME as possible out of weekends or burning the midnight oil to fi nish a task long overdue
can leave you feeling sore, tired and a bit bewildered, wondering if you even had a weekend at all. Many of us have day jobs outside of ranching or fi ll the week with the offi ce duties required to make the rest of the operation run smoothly. By Friday, you probably have a list of projects and chores stored in your head or scrawled on the back of a feed-store receipt. On the other hand, maybe you to iled all week to
make sure your chores were done and gassed up the truck and loaded the horses so you could make that roping or trail ride circled on your dash calendar. The natural ebb and fl ow of commitments on a
ranch can also require varying levels of activity, de- pending on the season. Doctoring calves or gathering wayward bulls may not be jobs that need to be done every day, but they are bound to come up and, quite often, all at once. Whatever the reason, you may not be the only one sporting a few stiff muscles come Monday. Your horse could be feeling the consequences of your weekend activities as well.
Before you go If you know you’ll be working
your horse harder than he’s accus- tomed to, even if just for a few days, take stock of his current condition. It will be much easier to notice a swollen joint or favored leg if you have a good idea what “normal” looks like. Give your horse a once-over and take note of anything that looks
tscra.org November 2016 The Cattleman 81
unusual. It’s always advisable to have your veterinar- ian check in if you see a problem or think that one could develop. It’s helpful to become familiar with taking your
horse’s vitals and knowing what those normal ranges should be. Would you know if your horse had a fever or was dehydrated? What should a normal resting heart rate average? Knowing when one of these signs is “out of whack” could be a big clue that something is wrong and help you avoid a bigger wreck down the road, possibly quite literally. Just as you wouldn’t (hopefully) set off on a road
trip without checking the tires and basic soundness of your trailer and tow vehicle, make sure your horse is just as ready for the tasks ahead. Knowing how to check the basic measures of your horse’s health, such as pulse and respiration rates, temperature and hydra- tion levels, can be as important as checking the fl uid levels in your vehicle.
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