Journal
38 articles
Summer eczema — why the skin is rarely where it starts
The reaction to the midge bite is the visible part. What lies beneath it decides the course.
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Growing old without looking old — what really counts in the senior
Many complaints that pass for age-related are not. A look at what can be influenced.
12 min · Equiterna Redaktion
When the coat whispers — what the coat change reveals about the metabolism
Twice a year the horse rebuilds its entire coat. What happens in the metabolism while it does — and which signs can be read.
11 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Vitamin E in winter — why the hay ration is not enough
Preserved forage loses alpha-tocopherol. A look at supply gaps and the body of evidence.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
FEI doping list 2026 — what is changing for phytotherapeutics
Devil's claw, willow bark, salicylates: withdrawal times and thresholds at a glance.
6 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Body Condition Score in practice — the hand beats the eye
How the Henneke scale distinguishes between winter coat and fat pad.
5 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Biotin and the hoof horn — what the studies show, and what they do not
Biotin is regarded as the hoof supplement par excellence. A sober look at the data, the patience it takes, and the building blocks that are often forgotten.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Magnesium and calmness — between myth and evidence
Magnesium and L-tryptophan appear on many "nerve" products. What of this is documented, what is expectation — and where is it worth looking at husbandry instead of the powder?
6 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Omega-3 in the horse — linseed oil, algae oil or salmon oil?
Plant and marine sources supply different fatty acids. Why the choice of source decides more than the sheer amount.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Joint metabolism in old age — what the compounds really deliver
Green-lipped mussel, MSM, glucosamine, chondroitin, hyaluronic acid: a sober look at a group of compounds with unevenly distributed evidence.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
EMS and laminitis prevention — the lever lies in the ration
Insulin dysregulation, sugar and starch of the ration, pasture management: why especially easy keepers benefit from a clear feeding line.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Understanding summer eczema — the mechanism behind the itch
A hypersensitivity to Culicoides saliva, not a cosmetic flaw. What lies behind the clinical picture and which levers the management knows.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
WFFS and the genetic test — what a carrier status really means
Warmblood Fragile Foal Syndrome is inherited recessively. Why carriers do not have to be removed from breeding and mating control is the actual lever.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Equine asthma — why the stable matters more than any powder
Dust, mould spores and endotoxins in the forage are the driving triggers. Husbandry and hay management are the central lever in this airway disease.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
PSSM and the muscle metabolism — why fat replaces starch
Polysaccharide storage myopathy backs glycogen up in the muscle. Why a starch- and sugar-low, fat-focused ration plus regular movement carry the management — and where the genetic test ends.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Electrolytes and sweating — why a salt lick falls short in summer
Horse sweat is hypertonic: it carries out more sodium and chloride than pure water or a lick can replace under intense work. A look at losses, replacement and timing.
6 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Preventing colic — the lever lies in feeding and husbandry
Abrupt ration changes, too little water and too much concentrate count among the documented risk factors. Why continuous forage supply and slow changes are the most effective adjusting screws.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Recognising PPID — what stands behind Equine Cushing's Syndrome
Delayed, curly coat shedding, muscle loss and a laminitis tendency in the older horse: why a hormonal disease of the pituitary gland can lie behind these signs and how the diagnostic path looks.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Selective deworming — why the faecal sample replaces the calendar wormer
Anthelmintics lose their effect through resistance. Needs-based deworming by faecal sample instead of by calendar slows the resistance development and protects the agents we still have.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
The training scale — why suppleness is the gate to everything
Rhythm, suppleness, contact, impulsion, straightness, collection: the six stages are no curriculum to work through, but a connected system. At the centre stands one stage that carries everything.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Tendon injuries — why healing takes months and patience carries the rehab
Deep digital flexor tendon, superficial digital flexor tendon, suspensory ligament: tendon tissue heals slowly and with inferior scar tissue. Why the controlled build-up of movement over months is the central lever — and why too early load invites the relapse.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Understanding mud fever — why pastern eczema has many causes
Wet and mud, bacteria, mites and a feather-related moist milieu: mud fever is rarely a single problem. Why keeping the pastern dry stands at the centre and why feathered breeds are more often affected.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Avoiding sand colic — how sand gets into the gut and out again
On short grazed-down, sandy pastures the horse takes up sand, which can accumulate in the hindgut. Why clean feeding and plenty of forage are the most effective levers — and how honestly psyllium must be classified.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Dental health in the horse — why the annual check is prophylaxis
Horse teeth grow throughout life and wear down through chewing. Where this balance tips, sharp edges and hooks develop — usually long before the horse visibly suffers. A look at why the regular oral cavity check is early recognition instead of repair.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
The old horse — management for good years
From about 18 to 20 years on the priorities shift: weight and teeth need more attention, the feeding follows the chewing ability, and the watchfulness for age-related metabolic changes rises. A guide for quality of life instead of repair.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Straightness — the natural crookedness and the path to evenness
Almost every horse comes into the world with an innate handedness: a hollow and a stiff side. The fifth stage of the training scale, straightness, answers this inequality not with coercion, but with patient, two-sided gymnasticising.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Navicular syndrome — why podotrochlosis is a complex and not a single finding
Navicular bone, navicular bursa and deep digital flexor tendon work as one mechanical system. When this system is chronically overloaded, a multilayered pain process arises in the horse's hoof — with hoof balance and even movement as the central adjusting screws.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Strangles — why temperature taking and quarantine stop the spread
Strangles is a highly contagious bacterial respiratory disease with lymph node abscesses. The most effective protection in the stable is not a treatment but consistent biosecurity: isolate new horses, take temperatures daily, keep hygiene — and take the carrier problem in the guttural pouch seriously.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Moon blindness — why equine recurrent uveitis returns in flares
Equine recurrent uveitis is an immune-mediated inflammation of the inner eye coat that returns in flares — and in Central Europe the most common cause of blindness in the horse. Why every acute flare is an ophthalmic emergency and leopard-spotted horses like the Knabstrupper carry an increased risk.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Free faecal water and the hindgut — a symptom, not a diagnosis
Free faecal water is no disease picture of its own but a visible sign with many possible causes. Why feeding and husbandry management is the first lever — and where live yeast honestly belongs.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Protein quality instead of protein quantity — why lysine decides the ration
Not how much protein counts, but which. Limiting amino acids, biological value and the typical gaps of a pure grass ration — soberly classified.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Contact — the bridge between hindquarters and hand
Contact is the third stage of the training scale and at the same time its most frequently misunderstood term. It is not a matter of the reins but the result of a horse that steps from the hindquarters over the swinging back trustingly up to the hand — from back to front, never the other way round.
6 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Headshaking — when the head tossing is a nerve pain and not a vice
Headshaking is usually not a behavioural problem, but often a facial pain mediated via the facial nerve. Why the abrupt, involuntary head flinging is a symptom complex requiring exclusion diagnostics — and why light and season so frequently appear as triggers.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Hoof abscess — why a tiny pocket of pus makes the horse as lame as after a fracture
The hoof abscess is the most common cause of sudden, severe lameness — and at the same time one of the most curable. Why a small pocket of pus under the sole or horn causes such pain, how to recognise it and why the pressure has to get out.
6 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Equine influenza — why vaccination and biosecurity together protect the herd
Equine influenza is a highly contagious respiratory virus that spreads through groups at breakneck speed. Why high vaccination coverage carries the herd protection, why competition and LPO rules provide for mandatory vaccination — and why the vaccination scheme and its boosters belong in veterinary hands.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Why almost every hay ration needs a mineral feed
Forage roughly covers energy and protein — but copper, zinc, selenium and often sodium lie in deficit depending on the soil. What a balanced mineral feed achieves and why more does not help more.
7 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Foal growth and minerals — even beats fast
Copper, zinc and a balanced calcium-phosphorus ratio accompany the skeletal development of the young horse. Why not the fastest, but the even growth is the key.
8 min · Equiterna Redaktion
Impulsion — the transferred thrust of the hindquarters
Impulsion is the fourth stage of the training scale and is often confused with tempo. Yet it means something quite different: the thrust of an actively pushing-off hindquarters carried forward over the swinging back. Not haste, but carrying power in motion — and only possible where a moment of suspension exists.
6 min · Equiterna Redaktion