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Horses in Costa Rica
- an experience you never forget -
The Rough Guide to Costa Rica 2004: "...who has several healthy, well-cared for horses..."
see also our guest book about Sabine's smiling horses health.
We held a horse clinic in January 2002 with Michael "Riverstone" Waldorf a professional farrier from Oregon in the U.S.A. He trained our local hoof care people. My horses had a big smile for him!!!
To keep horses "be and stay healthy" in my opinion horses need to be kept closest to their natural needs and most important to be handled in natural horse sense. That means to get to understand their language and use this knowledge to communicate with them. This way we make and have friendship for ever and not only healthy horses, but also happy and SMILING!!! FRANK BELL, well-known horse whisperer in the United States came to our favor to Monteverde in Costa Rica and held a 2-day clinic in March 2004.
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The hoof grows like our finger nails and need to be cut every 6 to 8 weeks, depending on the horse hoof and the work they do. Most of the time there is the need of a new shoe to be fixed on the hoof after cutting it. Formerly in Costa Rica the hoof smith put the iron on while it is hot. In our days most of the time the hoof is filed very equal and the shoe is nailed on the bottom with 3 nails each side. We try to be conscientious that our horses' feet do not have excessive hoof growth. By maintaining healthy trimming and shoeing practices, we can better ensure that our horses have a sound footing and are prepared for the demands of the mountainous terrain of Monteverde. The horses are so sure footed here in Costa Rica's mountains, that it is almost impossible to believe in some western countries. Costa Rican people almost find it funny that people in the western countries clean the hoof with a hoof cleaner. Since we have brought many over here and keep on giving them as a present, some of them start to use it. The hoof clinic with Michael Riverstone helped many local horsemen and Sabine to improve their knowledge about hoof care. |
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this needs to be done every day. It helps to keep the fur very nice as keeps parasites away. In Costa Rica the horsemen have all kind of reasons why they cut the mane, the hair in the ear or the tail, sometimes even the end of the clomp. Learn more about it, when you are here, there is so many stories about keeping horses here.
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| washing horse | |
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| vaccination | |
| In Costa Rica it is not very common to make injections. We give them every year Tetanus and test them for equine infectious anemia on buy sell and breeding. | |
| worming | |
| We worm the horses in
our herd every 3 months and change the product every time to make sure
that there all covered. They are very lucky. Most horses in the field
never get any worming. They have a big belly and people think they are
well fed, but in fact they have a blown up stomach because of the
worms.
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| pasture | |
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for 1 horse in Costa Rica
you need to have 1 ha of land to make sure there is enough grass for them
to eat. In the raining season there is more grass than in dry season, but
not always as good as in the dry season. In Costa Rica we know many
different types of grass, some of them are more nutritious and healthy tan
other. Not always the greenest is the best. A pasture with many different
herbs and types of grass is ideal.
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| nutrition | |
| If horses do work with riders
there is not enough energy and vitamins in a pasture. We feed our horses a
special type of concentrate, that we add also vitamins and calcium.
They have at all times in the year hey for additional food. Additional we give them some oil in there food too. |
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Some people don't believe it: Horses in the tropics can get crazy on bananas, but don't like apples. |
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Horses have an incredible self healing system, if they are kept in natural environment. Still sometimes it helps them to heal faster once a good hand of a chiropractor. Eduardo, specialist and well-known in the area of Tilaran and Monteverde has 30 years of experience and helps people as well as horses. |
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In our opinion best horse care takes place, when people
are getting educated how to be around horses, so horses can enjoy their
lives, which basically means they SMILE.
That's why our stable has the name Sabine's "Smiling Horses" |
at the farm Ph: 506-2-645-6894 or Cell Ph: 506-8-385-2424
all photos and web content copyright Sabine Hein, email me, if you want to use them.
