Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
of sheet or fly mask. But don't plan to do everything in one session just to save time. In
fact, try to schedule it so that you do only one large management task per week. That will
give you a reason to gather up your horse once a week for the up-close-and-personal check.
Caution
It is dangerous to leave a halter on a pasture horse. He could catch the halter on fence
posts, tree branches, or his own shoe when scratching his head with a hind leg. And a
haltered horse is usually easier to steal. If it is essential that a horse wear a halter, be
sure it is a safety, breakaway halter (as shown here) that has an element that will break
if the horse gets caught on something.
Weekly hands-on pasture check
Remove blanket and mask.
Look for any obvious problems such as wounds, scabs from fly bites, blanket
or mask rub marks, and sores or lumps, which could indicate an abscess.
Run your hands from throatlatch to shoulder down both sides of your horse's
neck, paying special attention to the crest of the mane, where there might be
