I thought it would be neat for everyone to share their secrets with cheap ways to do things at home or just interesting tips for showing. For Example:
1. I use Iodine on my horses feet to strengthen them
2. You can use hair spray to stick your western hat to your head at a horse show
3. You can spray hair spray on your horses back in the bareback class to help you stay on
4. Use baby oil on your horses face at shows to make him glow!
Lets share some secrets!
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- Horse Riding Hats
Not exactly a home remedy, but some years ago on a Saturday morning, I went up to the stable and found my Arab covered with hives!!!! The poor beastie was a patchwork of swellings from his neck to his tail.
He was obviously uncomfortable but not in severe distress. I called my vet immediately, panicky because of the extent of the hives. Once my vet established that my horse wasn’t having trouble breathing and that the hives were just swellings, not weeping serum or rubbed raw and open, he gave me two choices:
1. Have him come down to the stable to treat my horse. He told me he’d charge me a $75 emergency call, probably $25-50 for shots and medication, plus anything for tests that was required. Or….
2. Alternatively, he told me to go to the drugstore and buy a pack of Contac allergy capsules, and give eight of them to my horse, wait half an hour to see if this had any affect on the hives, and then call him back.
I was flabbergasted. "Contac? Do you mean like for people, just the normal people Contac capsules?" I asked him.
He told me that was exactly what he meant. He told me it didn’t sound like my horse was in such extreme condition that he needed to come out right that second, but it was certainly my choice and if I wanted him to come out, he would.
I decided to try the Contac capsules. They were little gelatin capsules filled with tiny pills. I took eight of them apart, poured the little pills into a good portion of bran that I mixed with warm water and a LOT of molasses, and fed this to my horse. I guess my horse wasn’t feeling too awful because he ate it right up.
And I’ll be darned if within 15-20 minutes the hives didn’t start to fade away, and within half an hour or so they were all gone!!! I called the vet back and told him, and he laughed at my surprise and told me he thought that the Contac would work, and now he didn’t have to cancel his golf game.
I think I paid about $2.50 for the Contac, which was pretty good compared with a $100 vet bill.