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Story by: Jackie Bellamy-Zions

Home of several popular online healthcare tools, Equine Guelph is pleased to announce its latest development, the Senior Horse Challenge. With the medical and research advances of today, horses are living longer lives! These are not the only reasons that horses are happily trotting into their late twenties or thirties. Behind every example of a senior shining with good health is an educated horse owner with an excellent support team.

The importance of seeking input from your veterinarian and farrier to help maintain the health of an elderly equine and to spot conditions that will need special treatment sooner rather than later cannot be understated. Recognizing changes and not just dismissing them as "old age setting in" is a large part of the responsibility assumed when caring for the senior horse.

“Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd is very pleased to be able to partner with Equine Guelph on the Senior Horse Challenge project,” says Jelle Bergmans, Product Manager for Bovine and Equine at Boehringer-Ingelheim. “We believe that this educational tool will be highly valuable for those who own or care for senior horses. By increasing the awareness of health issues and management of aging horses, we hope this will result in improved health and animal welfare for these seniors.”

Equine Guelph’s Senior Horse Challenge goes far beyond testing general management knowledge of hoof care, nutrition and dental care with its quiz of 20 questions. This healthcare tool also assists horse owners to understand health challenges including diseases, disorders and conditions that are common to the aging equid. There is also a special section geared toward becoming adept at pain recognition. As a prey species the horse is a master at concealing weakness. The savvy owner is ever vigilant noticing subtle changes in behavior and stays on the lookout every time they groom for lumps, bumps, cuts, heat or swelling and sensitivity to touch.

‘Old’ does not mean put out to pasture; the senior horse still needs daily care to stay in optimal health.

Check out the Senior Horse challenge for more information.

Equine Guelph is the horse owners’ and care givers’ Centre at the University of Guelph. It is a unique partnership dedicated to the health and well-being of horses, supported and overseen by equine industry groups. Equine Guelph is the epicentre for academia, industry and government – for the good of the equine industry as a whole.

For further information, visit EquineGuelph.ca.