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Show Points ' On Pets Q Owning a horse means time, money By R.G. ELMORE D.V.M. Copley News Service Q. I am 12 years old and want a horse of my own. My ancle has a very gentle quarter horse mare that be wants to give to me. All I have to do is give him the first foal in return. My parents par-ents are very reluctant to allow me to accept this offer. What is your advice? A. Without knowing you, the horse, or your particular particu-lar situation, it is impossible impossi-ble for me to give you exactly ex-actly the correct advice. However, some general guidelines for obtaining a first horse may be helpful. There is an old saying that there is no such thing as a free horse. There are many expenses involved in owning a horse. You should be prepared for these before be-fore accepting your uncle's offer. Owning a horse requires a commitment of both time and money. You should be prepared to spend at least on hour per day grooming, exercising, feeding and caring for the horse. If you cannot do these chores yourself, someone else will have to be hired to do them. Other costs involved in owning a horse include those for shelter, feed, veterinary vet-erinary care, shoeing, transportation and riding equipment. Before you accept the horse you should decide where the animal will be kept and how much it will cost Boarding fees can be very expensive. Riding is a team sport involving the rider and the horse. Therefore the temperaments tem-peraments of the horse and the rider should be compatible. com-patible. You should spend enough time with the horse prior to accepting her to know that you will enjoy each other. Another question to answer an-swer is whether the horse is able already or can be trained to do the things you want her to do. Although it is probably not as important in your situation, before purchas ing a horse it should be examined ex-amined by a veterinarian. The veterinarian should examine the horse to determine deter-mine its age, its general condition, its musculoskeletal musculosk-eletal soundness, its breeding breed-ing soundness if it's a breeding animal and its parasite status. In addition, the medical history including includ-ing vaccination dates, etc., should be evaluated. The veterinarian's position should be to help the prospective pro-spective buyer and seller to determine the health status of the animal and not to make the decision regarding the sale for the buyer. If your parents allow you to accept your uncle's offer, your veterinarian is your best source for information infor-mation regarding vaccinations, vaccina-tions, internal and external parasite control, and other routine and emergency veterinary care. Accepting horse ownership owner-ship is a big responsibility, and you should always remember re-member that your horse's life and well-being are in your hands. Owning a pet such as a horse, or a dog, or a cat can be both a learning learn-ing and character-building experience. Q. How often should a dog's nails be clipped? A. Dog's toenails should be level with the foot pads. Therefore they should be clipped whenever they get much longer than this. Some dogs tolerate toenail clipping quite welL Others do not tolerate it at all. This is usually due to someone clipping the nails too short in the past If the "quick" is cut into, the dog usually remembers it and toenail clipping is a battle forever. Questions should be mailed to R.G. Elmore, D.VjM, Copley News Service, Ser-vice, in care of this newspaper. news-paper. Volume of mail prohibits individual responses. re-sponses. Only questions of general interest will be answered an-swered in this column. |
