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I remember being so intrigued by bot eggs on my little gymkhana horse: plainly evident on the darkened, wet hair during grooming and bathing. I would gaze at them and search for more, thinking about how amazing and adaptive parasites can be. The contrast between the black hair and the creamy nits made them easy to find; they would stand out like coconut on a chocolate cupcake. Yuck. No, thank you. Lovely, yet disappointing and unacceptable. Even back in the early 1980’s it was common knowledge that washing the nits with warm soapy water would trick them into hatching, only to be swept away, never to enter my horse’s mouth.

Spring is here and with blue skies and warm, sunny days it is the perfect time to spend more time outdoors! Although most are harmless, Australia is home to some nasty ticks that can be fatal to your pets. As we approach September, it is important to be vigilant and take extra precautions against tick-borne diseases during this period. Paralysis ticks are much more than a nuisance and pose a serious threat to the health (and life) of your pets.

Thrush in the horse Thrush is an infection in the frog and the grooves (sulci) in and around the frog of the hoof. It can be caused by various organisms like fungus and anaerobic bacteria. One species of bacteria, Fusobacterium necrophorum, can destroy the frog and cause permanent damage if not treated early.

The garden is waking up, and you're in charge! It's time to start planting, pruning, and preparing your flower beds. Just like giving your house a good spring cleaning to help freshen it up after a long winter, you can take a similar approach to your yard to get it back in shape for the warmer months. Even after the snow and ice melts, it can be a little overwhelming to tackle all the work that needs to be done for a picture-perfect spring landscape. Use this checklist to help pace yourself as you get your flower beds, trees, shrubs, and other areas of your yard cleaned up. It's broken down into early, mid-, and late spring so you can plan out your garden clean-up tasks and hit each area of your landscape before summer arrives.

One of the most common questions that arises with horse owners is worming of their horse, and its an important one! However, misinformation and glossy marketing from several big pharmaceutical companies have contributed to poor use of our deworming drugs to the point there is now widespread drug resistance, this will be devastating for our horses when we're unable to treat basic conditions like intestinal worms. Lets try and clear up some mistruths and set a path forward for better use of these important drugs...

How to Feed the toothless Horse As owners, we are doing a wonderful job looking after our horses. They are living longer and happier lives. They are performing well into their senior years. We have perfected diets, exercise programs, stable management, and pasture maintenance. We are catching and treating diseases that used to end careers like PPID (Cushing’s Disease) sooner and more effectively.

With the development of a hoof abscess, an energetic and active horse can suddenly become severely lame. It can happen quickly, painfully, and with no prior signs of a problem. Finding your horse in this state can be terrifying, especially if you’ve had little experience dealing with a hoof abscess. Luckily, with time, patience and proper treatment most horses will fully recover. In this blog, we will discuss five tips that can be utilized to assist in your horse’s recovery.

Manage the moult: how to care for your chooks during colder months Autumn is the season where poultry owners begin noticing their hens losing feathers as egg production declines or stops completely. This is known as moulting and it is a natural phenomenon that all laying poultry go through. Moulting is characterised by a reduction in feed intake and body weight, loss of feathers, cessation of lay, regrowth of feather and resumption of lay. It is your hen’s rest and rejuvenation after giving you eggs throughout the year. It is also her way of preparing for winter and her next laying season.

As humans, we know just how frustrating it is to have itchy skin so, when you see your dog struggling with it, your heart naturally goes out to them...for the first few weeks. By week three, you’ve had it and, if you sleep with your pet, you’ve lost more sleep than you care to think about. Now both you and your pet are at your wit’s end, which is no place to be. The best thing to do is to get to the root cause of the itch, so we’ve taken some time in this blog post to explore the many reasons your dog could be getting itchy skin, toes, or hot spots. We also discuss some solutions so that you can save your pooch's skin and your sanit

Electric fencing is really easy and SO useful! If you have a small area that you need to fence permanently or temporarily, electric fencing is the cheapest, most flexible and quickest method. For a simple temporary fence, all you need is electric fence wire or tape, fence posts or clips to attach to an existing fence, an energiser and a battery (unless you get a mains powered energiser). Electric fence "earth" is the key