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| By N2H | |||||||
Recent Articles
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Horse Lifespan
In the wild, horses live about nineteen to twenty human years, while domesticated horses live about twenty five to now thirty years, with many reaching the golden age of forty or more. Some are record holders still alive to day at more than an entire forty five years! With advancements in horse nutrition, care, handling, and medications it is expected that horse lifespans will increase further, and so will their working ability. Much like dogs today, horses are living much longer than they were half a century ago, and with that comes more health problems that we normally did not see. Horses, like humans, apes, dogs, cats, and other domesticated animals can develop dementia and also some forms of animal alzheimer’s where their minds gradually deteriorate over time. It is important to keep the animal active, as the horse’s lifespan increases you can prevent dementia and other behavioral problems by keeping their minds active. Letting them do things, taking them on walks, and if they can handle it, still ride them to new areas and let them see new things. It may sound somewhat inane to think an animal can learn new things when they are older - but Mythbusters proved age is not a factor in the ability of an animal to learn new ticks or new commands. Horses can be verbally trained to do certain things if enough patience is given, and teaching your old horse something new for treats can be both rewarding for the horse and for you.
In addition to the horses lifespan causing problems with the mind, it can also play a number on the joins and bones. As all animals seem to do, horses develop arthritis and other ailments that we do, and it is through our advancements in pharmaceutical chemicals that we now have adequate pain relievers for older horses, that can keep them spry and feeling young without side effects. there are also joint lubricants that can be given to horses to help keep cartilage sustained, and if given while still young and throughout life may decrease the effects of arthritis and slow down its progression significantly.
Posted in Horses | |