Study and Self-Assessment Articles

Learn how to evaluate equine conformation with this complete study guide covering balance, proportions, topline, limb alignment, movement, and common faults. Explore Horse Education Online’s Equine Conformation Study Kit, detailed articles, and printable flashcards to strengthen your knowledge and study with confidence.

Learn how maternal nutrition and fetal programming in horses can influence foal health, skeletal development, metabolism, immunity, and future performance. This science-based guide explains broodmare body condition, energy, protein, mineral balance, placental health, obesity, stress, and colostrum, with practical feeding and management advice for every stage of pregnancy.

Learn about the major respiratory diseases in horses, including equine asthma, influenza, strangles, pneumonia, EHV, guttural pouch disorders, airway obstruction, and exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage. This introductory guide explains common symptoms, respiratory emergencies, diagnostic tests, treatment, prevention, biosecurity, and when to call a veterinarian, with links to detailed resources on individual conditions.

Chronic progressive lymphedema (CPL) is a lifelong condition that causes swelling, thickened skin, folds, sores, and recurrent infections in draft horses and other heavily feathered breeds. Learn how CPL develops, which horses are most at risk, how to recognize early and advanced signs, and how veterinarians and owners manage mites, skin infections, swelling, wounds, hoof care, movement, and long-term comfort.

Hoof balance describes how the shape and alignment of the hoof work with the internal structures of the foot and lower limb during standing and movement. This evidence-based guide explains static and dynamic balance, center of pressure, mediolateral and toe-to-heel loading, breakover, trimming, footing, and why a balanced hoof cannot be defined by perfect symmetry or one universal formula.

Forging is often first noticed as a "clicking" sound when the horse moves. It occurs when the toe of a hind hoof strikes the underside or shoe of the forefoot. Learn how hoof proportions, conformation, lameness, rider balance, saddle fit, fatigue, footing, and neurological coordination can affect limb timing, how forging differs from overreaching, and when to involve a farrier or veterinarian.

A popped knee can range from a harmless cosmetic blemish to a painful joint condition. Learn about the anatomy of the equine carpus, common causes of knee swelling, signs of lameness, carpal hygromas, chip fractures, arthritis, veterinary diagnosis, and when a swollen knee requires urgent care.

Learn what polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM) means for horses, including the differences between PSSM1 and conditions historically grouped as PSSM2. Explore common symptoms, tying-up episodes, inheritance, diagnosis, treatment, diet, exercise, emergency care, breeding considerations, and long-term prognosis.

Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) is a mosquito-borne viral disease that attacks a horse’s brain and spinal cord. Learn how EEE spreads, recognize its early and advanced neurological signs, understand treatment and prognosis, and discover why vaccination and mosquito control are essential for protecting every horse.

Fibrotic myopathy in horses causes a shortened, hoof-slapping gait. Learn about its causes, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.

Dressage has evolved over thousands of years, shaped by ancient horsemanship, Renaissance riding academies, royal courts, military cavalry schools, and modern international competition. Take a trip across the history of Dressage in this article.

Modern research has dramatically changed our understanding of shivers. What was once believed to be primarily a muscle disease is now recognized as a neurologic disorder involving the cerebellum, the region of the brain responsible for coordinating smooth, controlled movement. Read this article to understand this progressive neurologic movement disease.

Stringhalt is an uncommon neuromuscular disorder characterized by sudden, exaggerated flexion of one or both hind limbs during movement. Learn the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis for this condition.

Equine Body Muscle Scoring is a practical system used to evaluate visible and palpable muscle over key regions of the horse. The goal is not simply to decide whether a horse “looks fit,” but to identify whether muscle is normal, reduced, uneven, or progressively wasting. Learn how it works, and how it differs from Body Condition Scoring, in this article.

Body condition scoring (BCS) is one of the simplest and most valuable tools available to horse owners. It allows you to objectively evaluate whether a horse is underweight, overweight, or maintaining an appropriate amount of body fat. Learn how to assess your horse's weight and fat cover in this article.

Sidewinder syndrome is one of the more unusual gait abnormalities seen in horses. It is also called sidewinder gait, side-walker syndrome, side-walking, or crab-walker syndrome. Learn the causes, treatments, and prognosis of this disease.

Epiphysitis, more accurately called physitis, is a growth-related condition in young horses that affects the physis, or growth plate. Learn what causes it, how to recognize it, and how it should be addressed.

For horse owners, students, and equine learners, the mustang offers an important lesson: horse history is rarely simple. Behind every familiar term is a deeper story shaped by biology, culture, and human choices. Learn the history and ancestry of the horses we call "Mustangs".

Growth plates are one of the most important parts of the growing horse's skeleton. They are the reason a foal’s legs lengthen, the reason young horses change shape as they mature, and one of the reasons training decisions must be matched to age, development, and individual condition. Learn everything a horse owner should know about growth plates here.

Upward fixation of the patella, often called a “locking stifle,” can look dramatic and alarming. A horse may suddenly appear unable to bend a hind leg, drag the toe behind, hesitate when stepping forward, or release the limb with a sudden snap. Learn what upward fixation of the patella is, how to recognize it, and how it is treated.