Karen Briggs
Karen Briggs is the author of six books, including the recently updated Understanding Equine Nutrition as well as Understanding The Pony, both published by Eclipse Press. She's written a few thousand articles on subjects ranging from guttural pouch infections to how to compost your manure. She is also a Canadian certified riding coach, an equine nutritionist, and works in media relations for the harness racing industry. She lives with her band of off-the-track Thoroughbreds on a farm near Guelph, Ontario, and dabbles in eventing.
Articles by Karen Briggs
Feeding The Geriatric Horse
October 01, 1998
Rusty's been your faithful companion for many years, and he never seemed to show any signs of getting older...until this past winter, that is. One morning, you looked at him and noticed that he had dropped some weight, and that he didn't Read More
The Aging Equine
October 01, 1998
The average lifespan of a horse is said to be about 24 years; but as with humans, a horse's chronological age isn't always a good indicator of how old he really is. Some horses still are active at the age of 35, while others suffer significant signs Read More
Feeding the High-Octane Horse
August 01, 1998
But because forages are not high-energy feeds, the athletic horse's diet needs to be supplemented in order to provide enough energy for him to perform at peak capacity. Traditionally, this is done by feeding grains, which are rich in carbohydrates Read More
Weaning Strategies
August 01, 1998
No one looks forward to weaning time. There's nothing quite as heart-rending as the sound of a panicky foal, galloping up and down the fence line calling desperately for the mother who's been taken away--unless it's the sound of his dam calling Read More
Hay Alternatives
July 01, 1998
Although regular baled hay is the mainstay of equine diets across North America, it's sometimes more trouble than it's worth. Heavy to stack, bulky to store, prone to vitamin breakdown, and -- heaven forbid! -- also spontaneous combustion, not t Read More
Determining Conditioning
July 01, 1998
Among the animals we call "livestock," horses are unique because they are the only ones we regard as athletes. Unlike other animals that are bred for better milk production or tastier flesh, horses are bred for athletic performance, each type Read More
The Fat Farm: Nutrition for the Overweight Horse
May 01, 1998
Is your mare looking a bit rotund lately? Does her gait have a waddling roll to it? Has her spine disappeared in a dimpled groove along her back? Has she outgrown her girth, her winter blanket, and the stall door? If she’s not due to foal, then Read More
Feeding Yearlings
May 01, 1998
Yearlings are a funny bunch. Gangly and half-grown they're at that gawky stage where hips are higher than withers and where legs seem all knobby knees and hocks. Sometimes it seems that designing a correct feeding program for them is almost as Read More
The Battle of the Bugs
May 01, 1998
We don't tend to give external parasites--creepy little critters like mites, lice, and ticks-a lot of consideration in our day-to-day horse management, but they can have just as much impact on our equines' health as the internal parasites (worms and Read More
Trailering Your Horse: The Movable Feast
April 01, 1998
Alas not only are horses dedicated herbivores but the average horse trailer doesn't fit that easily into a fast-food drive-thru. Other solutions must be sought. If you travel with your horse in tow whether it's to the local Sunday morning gymkhana Read More
Vitamins: Diet Fundamentals
February 01, 1998
Vitamins: tiny organic compounds that have a huge impact on the health and well-being of your horse. Sometimes gleaned from the diet, sometimes manufactured within the digestive tract, vitamins have the power to promote and regulate virtually Read More
Sound and Pictures
February 01, 1998
One of the most significant advances in equine management in recent years has been the advent of ultrasonography, or ultrasound. Through this technology, which bounces repeating sound waves off tissues and structures in the horse's body and Read More
Cooking Supper: Bran Mash
January 01, 1998
If there is anything as fragrant and tempting as a bran mash, redolent with molasses and apples, a horse doesn't know what it might be. Many an owner has been caught licking the spoon before dishing out that warm concoction to a barn full of Read More
Fiber Facts
December 01, 1997
Grazing is a full-time job for horses. Given their druthers, they'd graze for 12 hours or more every day, thei Read More
The Power of Protein
November 01, 1997
Of all the components of your horse's diet, protein is probably the most misunderstood. Long assumed to be an energy source, protein actually has quite a different function--it provides amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of bones, Read More
Buying and Storing Feeds
October 01, 1997
Feed is a major expenditure for any horse owner, and we all want it to be money well spent--both in terms of nutrition and quality. Getting the best value often means buying and storing feed in bulk. But unless that's done properly, you might Read More
Pelleted Feeds: Packaged Nutrition
October 01, 1997
They look like rabbit food, and the technology that made those bunny pellets a complete diet now is used regularly to make feeds for horses. Granted, pelleted feeds don't usually exude the tempting aroma that most molasses-laced Read More
When the Bone Breaks
September 01, 1997
They shoot horses, don't they? We all know about the rather depressing traditional "cure" for a horse with a broken leg. But there's good news--they "shoot" them a lot less often these days. The reason is that remarkable advances in equine Read More
Hay, Look Me Over
August 01, 1997
Performing a hay analysis whenever you get a shipment of hay is an excellent management routine, especially since the results can have a significant impact on the grains and supplements you choose to feed. Read More
Feeding Fat for Energy and Performance
July 01, 1997
If there was a nutritional buzzword that was started in the '90s, it was fat. We fitness-conscious (and frequently overweight) North Americans still might not fully understand the differences between "good" cholesterol and "bad" cholesterol Read More
Barren Mares
June 01, 1997
For a successful domestic species, the fertility rate of the horse is surprisingly low. Coupled with an 11-month gestation period and a single offspring per year, producing a foal is a significant investment for any breeder. So, if you're Read More
Focus: Physitis
April 01, 1997
Developmental orthopedic disease (DOD) remains one of the top concerns of breeders worldwide. Not one condition, but rather a series of related syndromes, DOD encompasses anything that contributes to poor skeletal development in foals: angular Read More
Arthritis: When Bones Collide
March 01, 1997
Osteoarthritis probably accounts for the end of more equine performance careers than any other single cause. And until recently, it was considered an irreversible process. Read More
Cushing's Disease Diagnosis
February 01, 1997
To many horse owners, it's just "old horse disease," and it's an affliction with a number of names--pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), hyperadrenocorticism, ECD (equine Cushing's disease), and, most commonly, Cushing's syndrome. It ca Read More
Complementary Therapies for Horses
December 01, 1996
Alternative therapies, such as homeopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture, and herbal treatments, have been generating phenomenal interest in recent years, and many people believe these modalities might provide an adjunct to veterinary medicine Read More
