Horse Care I

Develop your knowledge and skills of horse care. This course develops your ability to evaluate and manage horses, including using different handling and grooming procedures, understanding their required diet and evaluating their conformation. You will also learn about commercial applications, including trading horses. A thorough grounding home study course.

Lesson Structure: Horse Care I BAG102

There are 7 lessons:

1. Horse psychology and handling
   • The early horse
   • Survival mechanisms of the early horse
   • The modern horse - behaviour and memory
   • Using psychology to handle horses
   • Catching and leading horses
   • Fitting the bridle and saddle
   • Tying up a horse
   • Safety rules
2. Buying a horse
   • Temperament
   • Size
   • Weight carrying ability
   • Age
   • Equine dentitionand ageing
   • Glossary of terms
   • Dentition diagrams and detailed explanation
   • Colour and markings
   • Breeds
3. Conformation
   • The shape of the skeleton
   • Body proportions and parts
   • Conformation problems
   • How to describe confirmation
4. The digestive system and principles of feeding and watering
   • The digestive System
   • The alimentary canal
   • The Stomach
   • The small intestine
   • The large intestine
   • Absorption of food
   • Groups of food nutrients
   • The composition of some common horse feeds
   • The principles of watering
   • The principles of feeding
   • Feeding concentrates and roughages
   • Feeding groups of horses at one time
5. The grass kept horse and pasture management
   • Advantages and disadvantages of working off grass
   • Paddock size and miniumum area needed
   • Types of fencing
   • The water supply
   • Shelter
   • Fodder trees
   • General mangement of the grass-kept horse
   • Management in summer
   • Management in winter
   • Excercise
   • Grooming the grass-kept horse
   • Conservation of the land
   • Keeping horses at grass on small areas
   • Roughing off and turning a horse out
6. Grooming
   • The skin - epidermis, dermis, the coat
   • How the skin regulates body temperature
   • Reasons for grooming
   • Grooming tools
   • Grooming techniques - strapping, sponging, brushing
   • Using a stable rubber, dealing with stable stains on grey coats
   • Oiling the feet
   • Quartering
   • Setting Fair/Brushing off
   • Washing the mane and tail
   • Washing the sheath
   • Shampooing the horse
7. Industry Applications
   • Resources
   • Writing resumes - employment readiness
   • Competition horses (overview) - event horse, dressage horse, show jumper, endurance
   • Educating Horses
   • Breeding
   • Farm planning
   • Short term operations
   • Farm business structures
   • Quality management systems
   • Whole farm planning
   • Preparing a farm business
   • Managing risk
   • Sensitivity analysis
   • Financial management
   • Record keeping
   • Finance sources
   • Setting up a small business

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Learning Goals: Horse Care I BAG102

• Differentiate between the different procedures used for the handling of horses.
• Describe the procedures for the buying and selling of horses.
• Develop a program for the evaluation of the conformation of horses on a property/facility.
• Analyse the digestive system, including structure and function, of horses.
• Develop appropriate procedures to manage a horse at grass.
• Explain the methods used to prepare horses for specific uses, including their grooming for different tasks.
• Explain commercial opportunities available in the horse industry.

Practicals:

• Here are just some of the things you will be doing:
• Describe different psychological traits of a horse including:
  
  • herd
  • instinct
  • memory
  • fright.
• Explain how an understanding of horse psychology can assist with handling a horse.
• Compare three different methods of breaking in a horse.
• Demonstrate how to put on different pieces of tack including:
  
  • a head stall
  • a bridle
  • a saddle.
• Demonstrate how to lead a horse.
• Demonstrate how to ride a horse.
• Develop a list of safety rules for handling horses in a specified situation.
• Compare the differences in the way two different horse owners handle their horses, at the same horse show or competition.
• Describe the different ways of trading (i.e. buying or selling) horses in your locality.
• Develop a checklist of factors to consider when buying a horse for a specified type of use.
• Compare five different advertisements for the sale of horses of a similar type, to determine which of the five appears to be the best value, and listing the reasons why it appears good value.
• Evaluate the features of a horse being offered for sale in your locality, to determine the value of that horse.
• Label an unlabelled diagram of the parts of a horse's body.
• Define the different conformation terminology, including:
  
  • girth
  • body proportions
  • leg settings
  • conformation
  • bone.
• Describe the preferred features of the parts of a horses body referred to in earlier points.
• Compare the conformation of two different breeds of horses, based upon a physical inspection of a horse from each breed.
• Compare procedures used to evaluate the conformation of horses at two different properties/facilities.
• Label the parts on an unlabelled diagram of the digestive system of horses.
• Explain the function of different components in a horse's diet.
• Explain how the watering of a horse, as observed by you, on a specific property is likely to affect that horses digestive processes.
• Evaluate the digestive processes involved in the digestion of three different horse feeds analysed by you.
• Â Differentiate between the digestive processes in three different types of horses, including:
  
  • very active horses
  • horses being rested.
• Compare the advantages with the disadvantages of keeping a horse at grass.
• Recommend paddock facilities, in your locality, which are appropriate for horses kept at grass.
• Prepare a description, and use illustrations where appropriate, of the facilities you recommended.
• Differentiate between the requirements of a specified horse kept at grass, at different times of the year, in your locality.
• Develop guidelines for managing a specific horse at grass, on a property visited and investigated by you.
• Explain three different husbandry tasks which are essential to the management of the horse investigated by you.
• List the different reasons for grooming horses.
• Describe how to use different items of grooming equipment.
• Write a procedure for washing a horse, in a specified situation.
• Compare how to groom horses for different situations, including:
  
  • dressage
  • pony club competition
  • exhibitions
  • stock work.
• List the different applications for horses in modern society.
• List the resources available for different sectors of the horse industry in your locality, including:
  
  • racing
  • breeding
  • competitions
  • recreational riding.
• Determine the minimum facilities required to establish three different specified businesses in the horse industry, including;
  
  • a riding school
  • a stock agent
  • another horse business.
• Evaluate the financial viability of four different sectors of the horse industry.
• Evaluate the potential of two different specified horse enterprises in your locality.

Learn to manage the daily requirements of a horse at grass

• The ability to handle horses using a range of different procedures
• Skills to evaluate a horses conformation
• An understanding of diet
• Knowledge of grooming procedures
• An ability to develop appropriate management procedures for a specific situation.
• Knowledge of commercial opportunities in the equine industry, including how to buy and sell horses.

Anyone who has a horse or works with horses.

None.

Riding Schools and stables.