Author Archives: Dr. David Ramey

Dogma has always been a curious phenomenon to me. In the horse world, people often get dogmatic, from the “best” way to feed a horse, to the “proper” way to...

One of the hardest decisions that a horse owner will ever have to make is deciding when a horse’s time is over. I want to talk to you about it....

What with all of the products out there to help “support” your horse’s gastrointestinal system, I thought it might be fun to share some thoughts and research with my friend...

Here’s something about which I get calls all the time. Say you come out to the barn and you find that your horse has a bit of swollen leg. You...

To Dr. David Ramey, a mystery is something that is begging to be solved. And he happens to have one sitting in on his desk at home: a very old...

One writes a blog at the risk of sounding preachy. In my blog, I try to share my opinions, my experience, as well as links to scientific research. I realize...

In my experience, horse owners worry about a lot of things, and especially disease caused by bacteria and viruses—but I don’t think that most horse owners really understand much about...

I often wonder about the word “need” as it applies to working on horse teeth. Need means: “To require something because it is essential, or very important.” So, it seems...

When horses get older, people often talk about retiring them.  And until asked, I never really thought that much about it. I mean, I’ve seen plenty of horses that have...

Lameness, as pretty much everyone knows, is the bane of anyone who wants to ride a horse: particularly horses that are being asked to perform. Although the most common site...

So, I was walking up to this barn, and I see a client strolling down the aisle, shaking her head, obviously concerned about something. “What’s the matter?” I asked. “I...

If you look through any horse periodical, or get any horse-related catalog, or if you listen to just about anyone talking about horses and horse health, you may have noticed...

I tend to be pretty flexible. There aren’t a whole lot of things that I believe are absolutely critical. But when it comes to horses, when it comes to feeding...

I’ve often thought it was kind of unfair that reindeer get to be so closely associated with the Christmas holidays, instead of horses. When it comes to human history, horses...

I get that some horses cost more to buy than others. In fact, I wrote about it. (Read “On the Value of Horses.”) Over my career, I’ve been fortunate enough...

There’s a problem that crops up pretty regularly when it’s wet outside. I hope that you horse hasn’t had it. It’s called “scratches.” Or mud fever. Or greasy heel. Or...

You have a horse. You take him to shows (doesn’t really matter much what kind). Congratulations, you horse is now a “performance” horse. Look out. You are undoubtedly subjected to—or going to...

I’ve written a few articles about colic—myths, when to go to surgery, and such—and, with all that's been said, by me, and by many other folks, I think that there’s...

If you have your horses where they can hang out with their buddies in big grass pastures, good for you.  Good for them, too. Horses are social creatures. They are very curious...

For every yin, there is a yang. I wrote an article on fat horses—here’s one on skinny horses. Skinny horses are the flip side of the coin from fat horses....