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slips to the side, it could cause an injury to the inner, sensitive back leg. Also, if you must turn your horse out in a headcollar, make it a fieldsafe one or one that will break easily. A horse could acquire a bad injury by getting their headcollar caught.

A horse should always be fed a suitable diet. They are trickle feeders and like grazing all of the time and to have a constant supply of hay if indoors. They should never be allowed to help themselves to hard feed. If a horse were to find its way into the feed room, it would easily be able to remove the lid from the feed bin. The horse would then eat and eat. This would not be good for them at all. It could easily cause colic. Feed rooms should be secure with no access for horses.

Other horses can even be a hazard. Not all horses will like each other. There will always be a certain amount of bickering in a field to establish the pecking order. This is just healthy horse relationships. Some horses will not get on at all though, to the extent that they should not be in the same field. This doesn`t happen very often luckily. Given a situation where a horse is injured and bullied by another one, it may be necessary to separate them.

Preventing horse hazards is fairly straightforward, it just requires a bit of thought. Try to think like a horse. The grass is always greener so I will make sure there are no holes in the fence. The horse gets excited when the others go by so I will make the stable door high enough with no sharp edges. You want the bag of feed to last all week but the horse isn`t bothered. The feed room must be secure. Horse ownership can be very rewarding. To avoid heartache and vets bills in the event of an injured horse, try to make the yard safe for horses. Horses will still manage to injure themselves at times however horseproof the yard is. However, a safe yard will minimise the risks.

Learn more about this author, Lucy Collins.
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