Horse Clothing Cleaning Tips

horse clothing

Horse clothing can be a hassle to keep clean. Don’t forget that horse clothing is not disinfected when cleaned. If you do own some, then you probably have what is called a turnout. Turnouts are not good with hot water, which is needed to disinfect and rid the material of germ build up, because of the nature of the membranes that make up their fabrics.

Horse clothing can be very expensive and the last thing you want to do is damage it. Though it takes extra time, keeping your equine clothing clean and disinfected is worth doing because it ensures your animals overall health when wearing these types of garments. Also, if you are looking for a horse property for sale in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property today and speak with one of our horse-person realtors.

Tips on Cleaning Horse Clothing

As outlined above, some horse clothing is composed of materials that are sensitive to hot water. Make sure you know your material before attempting any cleaning or disinfecting for best practices. Products containing this type of oil, such as  Pine-Sol, Real Pine, Spic and Span Pine, are great disinfectants. As long as the brand contains 80% pine oil is should be effective.

If you are going to use chlorine bleach then remember that you should always dilute it with water before adding it to the washer. Never pour bleach directly on it; it could possible ruin it. These types of disinfectants are extremely effective in all water temperatures but are harder to find in stores. Check out Amway’s Pursue, which is specifically formulated for laundry.

Renting for Horse Owners

Renting for Horse Owners

Do you own your own horse in Colorado but don’t own your home? Do you rent an apartment and board your horse? There are many reasons why a horse owner should own their own home. Colorado Horse Property has over 10,00 horse property listings. Also, we are committed to getting you into the horse property you and your horses deserve. Here are a few problems with renting in general.

Rending As A Horse Owner

The problem with renting is that you payment is higher that what home owners are paying for their mortgage payment including taxes and insurance. The experts in the field are saying that we may never again experience the incredibly low mortgage interest rates currently available. When you rent, you do not have the same advantage that homeowners have by using their home as a leveraged investment.

If you are renting, consider looking for loans that could help you buy your own home. Talk to a loan professional to find out exactly what types of loans are available and the specific down payment required. Remember, down payments can be a whole lot less than twenty percent, and therefore very affordable. Contact Colorado Horse Property for a referral to a loan professional near you.

Muzzle Tips for Horses

Muzzle Tips for Horses

Muzzle tips are here to help your overgrazing horse. Horses love to graze freely. Horses are happier when they are not cooped up in a stables all day. However, some horses when left unsupervised will over feed.

If your horse is at risk for laminitis, Cushing’s disease, or is insulin resistant, then binging on grass while grazing can make matters much worse. Consider using a muzzle to manage how much your horse is eating. Here are a few muzzle tips to remember when using caring for your horse.

Muzzle Tips for Horses

  1. The Right Muzzle
    There are different types of muzzles in the materials they are made of and how they are made. Some models have a breakaway headstall, while others might attach to the halter. You should experiment and find out which one works best with your horse.
  2. Muzzle Placement
    Muzzle’s don’t always fit perfectly, and your job as an owner is to make sure you get one that does. With any new muzzles, keep an eye on it during the first few days and make strap adjustments when necessary.
  3. Drinking
    Your horse should still be able to drink water with its muzzle on, so make sure that your horse is getting enough water when it comes to a new muzzle.
  4. Exposure
    Though muzzles help with over feeding, make sure that your horse gets some free time away from the muzzle as well. Consider a schedule in which the muzzle is removed at certain times of their grazing periods.
  5. Keep Watch
    Just because your horse has a muzzle on doesn’t mean that your animal doesn’t need to be watched. If a horse it at risk for a disease that grass binging will affect negatively, then keep a watch and make sure the muzzle do not come off while grazing.

Retiring Horse Owners

retiring horse owners

Retiring horse owners can sometimes find it hard to relocate. Looking for a horse property is now easier than ever with coloradohorseproperty.comwhich has over 3,500 properties listed in Colorado. So, are looking for an equestrian property for sale for you and your horse? We got you covered. Your retirement is for you to enjoy, not to worry about where you will be living.

Retiring horse owners will find a haven in Colorado.

But let’s be honest—when it comes to making decisions, we spend more time thinking about which cell phone plan we want to buy than we do our own retirements. Take a moment and imagine retiring on your very own horse property. It doesn’t take long to sit down and calculate how much money you will have to put towards your retirement is you keep a close watch on your spending. The average American has the ability to save around thirty thousand dollars over a period of fifteen years.

Using around $35,000 for a 20% down payment and closing costs on a $150,000 rental home could give you all the money you will need for retirement and much more. The $35,000 could grow to $153,302. The rate of return on a rental could be as high as 14.19%. Remember, the same agent at Colorado Horse Property who helped you with your home can help you invest in a rental home.

It Costs to Wait on Your Horse Property

It Costs to Wait

It costs to wait when it comes to purchasing your horse property.

It costs to wait in respect to buying property. The last thing you want to do is pay more later for a property that you are looking at now. There are many things that can affect the price of a home just as there are many reasons to wait and not wait on buying. Here are a few things that you need to know.

Colorado Horse Property knows that buying a home is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make this year, but did you know that waiting could be costing you more money? Financial experts have been expecting interest rates to increase along with home prices. While homes have definitely increased over the past five years, the mortgage rates today are actually lower than they were a year ago.

Consider the following scenario. Interest rates have increase by 1% over the next year while homes appreciated at 5.5%. That means that a $260,000 home would go up by $16,000 and the payment would be well over two hundred dollars more. The increased payments alone would amount to $17,800 for the next seven years. When facing a decision to postpone a home purchase, you should ask yourself: “how will it feel to have to pay more to live in basically the same home?”

Use the Cost of Waiting to Buy calculator to estimate what it might cost to wait to purchase you horse property based on your own estimates of what interest rates and prices will do in the next year. This cost of waiting calculator is a great tool that you can use to get yourself prepared. Finding out how much it costs to wait on buying a home should be your first step in the home buying process.

Grooming Your Horse

grooming your horse

Grooming your horse is very important when it comes to their well being.

Grooming your horse regularly can be very time consuming. Depending on the type of equestrian property that you own, and the state of the weather of course, your horse can wander back to the stables after feeding very dirty. Colorado Horse Property advises horse owners to spot clean your animal with a towel so that when it comes time to give your horse its regular cleaning you can finish quicker. As a horse owner, we know what your time is important, but your horse shouldn’t have to suffer when it comes to hygiene. Cleaning with a towel when spots or stains occur, it quick and easy. The moist heat and rubbing action of the towel will help lift the stain out. The quick evaporation of the water will keep the horse from becoming soaked or chilled. Here’s how to do it.

  1. Gather Materials—You should use a clean bucket, an electric teakettle for heating water, and rubber gloves. Make sure you have a lot of towels on hand as well.
  2. Hot Water—You will need to pour boiling water from the kettle with water in your bucket. You will know that it’s hot enough when you can just stand to put your gloved hand into it.
  3. Soak Towel—Now you have to get your towel wet for cleaning your horse. Dunk the entire clean towel into the hot water. You don’t want your towel dripping water all over your animal, so wring the towel thoroughly to remove as much of the excess water that you can.
  4. Rub It—Quickly rub the stain or spot on your horse and don’t stop until the towel stops steaming.
  5. Repeat—Repeat steps 2-4 until the stain has been thoroughly wash out.

Horse Laminitis

Photo by Åsmund Gimre on Unsplash

The staff at Colorado Horse Property knows how important your horse’s health is to you. One of the issues to look out for is known as horse Laminitis. Looking for a horse clinician? Check out our horse clinician directory for a vet near you. Also, if you are looking for a horse property for sale in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property today and speak with one of our horse-person realtors.

Horse Laminitis is a serious health concern that could possibly end your equine’s career. In some cases laminitis may cause such severe pain that euthanasia is the only way to end your horses suffering. If that wasn’t bad enough, the statistics surrounding horse Laminitis are grim. Surveys show that this disease affects about 1% of all horses in America, leading to death.

The key to saving a horse that has contracted the disease is early, aggressive treatment. Though Laminitis has no cure, treatment can limit damage and may save your horse’s life, so call your veterinarian immediately if you see signs. In septic laminitis there’s typically a lag of 24 to 72 hours between the triggering event and the first signs, but the inflammatory response begins almost immediately. The faster you can halt it, the better your horse’s chances will be. We have a lot to read about the prevention of horse diseases.

What About Refinancing?

Photo by Austin Paquette on Unsplash

If you are planning on refinancing your horse property, consider not taking money out of it. I know that might sound ludicrous at first, but there are advantages to this strategy. You could more than likely come out of the deal with a lower rate, allowing you to build equity faster so that you can pay off your home sooner. Also, if you are looking for a horse property for sale in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property today and speak with one of our horse-person realtors.

Refinancing Horse Property

Paying off your home sooner than later can be the smartest decision you’ve ever made, especially when it comes to being a homeowner in today’s economic climate. So, if you have the extra cash sitting around, opt into lower rates and avoid the low savings rates being paid by banks these days.

Here’s how it works—Consider the following scenario. You, the homeowner, have made nearly fifty payments of over thirteen hundred dollars, making the current mortgage a five percent for a thirty year loan. Now, consider that you decide to refinance for a rate of fifteen years at a little over three percent. If the homeowner puts in $36,000, their payments will be slightly more but the mortgage will be paid off in fifteen years. At that same point, if they keep the current mortgage, their unpaid balance will be well over one hundred thousand dollars. Talk to your financial adviser to see if a cash-in refinance is the right thing for you.

Treating Horse Thrush

We at Colorado Horse Property know that taking care of your horses is probably the biggest worry that you have as an owner and though it can be very challenging it is very important to insure your animals are healthy all year long. Something that you should be looking out for is horse thrush. Also, if you are looking for a horse property for sale in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property today and speak with one of our horse-person realtors.

Horse Thrush

Thrush is a bacterial infection that occurs in the tissue of the V-shaped structure in the hoof, more commonly known as the frog. The bacteria can penetrate epidermis of the frog causing the tissue to deteriorate. Horse owners can check for this by looking for a ragged frog that is producing a smelly discharge, or by looking for blood on the end of the hoof pick when cleaning the area.

The key to curing thrush and preventing if from coming back is to fix your horses frog. Farriers are the first defense against thrush from occurring, because they can trim your horse’s hooves so that the frog and the heel are on the same plane. This will help promote new, healthy growth of the hoof. Depending on how bad the thrush has infected the frog, you will probably want to treat the area by cutting away loose tissue and applying diluted bleach solution. Another thing you can do is replace straw bedding, which holds moisture and increases the chance your horse’s hooves will become infected, with sawdust or another similar alternative.

Horse Joints

Photo by Vladimir Vujeva on Unsplash

Taking care of your horses is probably the biggest worry that you have as an owner and though it can be very challenging it is very important to insure your animals are healthy all year long. Something that you may be worrying about that isn’t serious are the periodic pops or clicks coming from the joints of your horse. Colorado Horse Property is here to tell you that if your horse is a comfortable, sound animal than there is nothing to fret about.

Horse Joints

Most large animal veterinarians will tell you that noisy joints in horses are caused by the same physiological process that allows people to crack their knuckles. When you bend your fingers the joint capsule releases gas within the fluid rapidly, causing the noise; when the gases return you can crack the same joint again. This is the same thing that is happening to your horse.

The joints you usually hear cracking in your horse are the highly mobile ones closest to the saddle, which is how you can hear it in the first place. These joints include the knees, hocks, stifles, and rarely the back and neck. In most cases, cracking does not mean a joint is in any way misaligned or damaged. Though there are some injuries and orthopedic conditions that occur in horses that can cause the joints to rub against each other and cause a cracking sound, you will probably already be aware of the problems your animal has.