When buying your first horse, it’s important to have the information you need to choose the right horse and to care for them properly whether that’s with enough food and water or where to buy the best cheap horse rugs. Here are just a few tips for first time horse owners.
- Take Horse Riding Lessons
First things first, making sure you know how to properly ride and handle horses is an important first step. Without proper training, you are more likely to experience more accidents. Horse riding lessons allows you to understand horses body language and how to give your horse proper riding cues, so first-time horse owners should acquire the proper general knowledge regarding care and upkeep of their horse as well as basic skills like riding and saddling up correctly. It’s also important to note that proper lessons are different from paying for pony rides as these horses are already well trained. Lessons let you understand how to manage the horses during riding and general care.
- Take an Experienced Horse Person to Buy Your Horse
If you’re not currently very knowledgeable on horses, it’s imperative that you take someone who is when meeting your potential new addition to the family. Even after taking some riding lessons, an experienced horse owner or trainer will know what to check for in terms of being sound, healthy, happy and how they ride. These things can be easily missed if you’re not totally familiar with what to look for. If you aren’t aware of any experienced horse owners, ask your horse-riding instructor if they’d be willing to go with you.
- Find Out the Horses History
You need to know everything about the horse’s history so that you can make a fully informed decision. You need to know how long the seller has owned the horse, why they are selling, if the horse has registration papers, if there is any medical history etc. You can never ask too many questions when looking for your new companion. If the seller isn’t giving much away or hasn’t owned the horse long enough to answer, you should find the previous owners and contact them for information. If you have registration papers, you can find out the previous owner’s history!
- Make Sure Your Horse Gets Enough to Eat and Drink
It’s highly important to make sure your horse gets enough to eat and drink as they can eat up to 2% of their body weight a day with hay and grass. They also need at least 5 gallons of water a day to stay healthy. Because of their size, horses need a lot of substance. Horses need to spend much of their day grazing which means you. Need to provide enough food to adhere to this by turning them out in the pasture or putting hay in their stalls. If your horse isn’t getting enough to eat, you’ll start to see their ribs. You can encourage horses to drink more by putting salt blocks in their living area. They salt will cause them to drink more water.
