Your 4-H Horse: Care, Management, and Horsemanship
Things to Learn
The following are things you can learn by doing in the 4-H Horse project. Your leader or Extension agent should check each one.
Breaking Horses not Bones: Properly Raising Young Horses to Avoid Costly Injuries
Determining the best age to begin training young horses is a heated debate within the equine industry. While many believe that horses should be skeletally mature when training begins, others believe it is unnecessary to wait 6 years until skeletal maturity. An online poll by an equine feed company indicated that 79 percent of their followers felt horses should begin training around the age of skeletal maturity (>4 years old) and 21 percent felt that horses should begin training before 2 years of age.
Addressing Reproductive Injuries of Stallions
It is not uncommon for breeding stallions to experience testicular injuries due to trauma. This occurrence is especially common in live-cover practices. Aggressive stallions often charge mares, and aggressive mares occasionally kick stallions in response, which may lead to subsequent trauma to the testicles. The effects of a traumatic testicular injury could negatively impact the overall income of the owner during the subsequent breeding seasons. If an injury of this nature occurs, what options do owners have to minimize profit loss on the breeding season?
2024 Mississippi 4-H Horse Show Education Contest Rules and Regulations
Horse Bowl will be held on Saturday, April 13, in Starkville starting at 9 a.m. All other horse educational contests will take place at MSU in Starkville on April 5 and 6. More details will be emailed closer to the contest dates.
Safety Awareness in Mississippi 4-H Horse Programs
Injuries, even fatalities, can occur when working with horses, and children may be at an increased risk (Cripps, 2000). The incidence of children needing medical attention after falling from a horse while riding may be as high as 85 percent (Altgärde, Redéen, Hilding, & Drott, 2014).
Working Safely Around Horses
Approximately 9.2 million horses are owned by around 2 million people in the U.S. (AHC 2005). Many of these horses weigh around 1,000 pounds and are very fast and powerful (the American Quarter Horse Association alone has more than 3 million registered horses). The size and strength of these animals, along with the large number of people who ride and handle them, make safe horse management vital.
Responsible Horse Ownership
The equine industry involves a very diverse group of people from various backgrounds and levels of equine experience. Nationally, about 72 percent of horses are owned primarily for recreational and showing purposes. In Mississippi, that’s about 112,000 horses, according to the American Horse Council. Education in basic horse management and handling is vital to provide optimal horse health.