Hub Editorial: Midges – is there any point to them?

When it is still a bit nippy at night there is some small reprieve for sweet itch sufferers but, as soon as it warms up, the midges are back.

The bane of many horse owners’ lives and, the misery of itchy horses up and down the country – can there really be any benefit from the midge population? Surprisingly yes – midges are the primary pollinators of the cacao tree. So, without a thriving midge population, one of the staples of a horse owner’s diet, chocolate would not exist! Yes, sadly for all those who would willingly see every last midge wiped from the face of the earth, we would have to accept that chocolate also, would be gone.

Plan B then, might be to get a really good handle on managing our sweet itch sufferers and, to get preparations in place before the teeny tiny blood-sucking beasts start ruling our lives. To catch up on what the options are, check out the  ‘Itchy horse’ feature, live on The Horse Hub now.

Something else that, as a horse owner scares the *** out of me is COLIC. I have had a few close encounters but luckily, I’ve always known my horses well and, even though I’ve tried to manage any dietary changes very carefully, we’ve still had a couple of near misses – sorted thank goodness by a speedy vet visit. That’s why we are so pleased to support the REACT colic campaign and, to be able to bring you a series of features, written just for The Horse Hub, by the campaign specialists – if nothing else let the quote below guide your judgement when making any changes to your horse’s management. And of course, to read more check out the features live on the Hub now.

“Research by the University of Nottingham found colic accounted for one in three emergency vet call outs to horses. The same group also found that in 47% of colic cases, the horse had recently had a change of management and, the majority of evidence on risk factors for colic related to management change.”

And finally, of the things you all seem very keen to read, are Liz Eaton’s insightful thoughts on training our horses. I’m so pleased to say then, that I have just uploaded her latest piece to The Horse Hub and it is of course, a cracker! What could possibly be the link I hear you ask, between Liz’s very first yoga session (a certain number of years ago) and, how we begin the training of our young horses? Take a look you won’t be disappointed.

Have a great weekend!

Your editor

Chris