# Monthly Horse Care Checklist A solid monthly horse care routine combines one hands-on health check, one hoof and equipment review, one feed and water audit, and one update to your written health records, all completed on the same day each month. Daily feeding and turnout handle most of your horse's needs. The monthly layer catches slow changes that daily observation hides, such as gradual weight loss, a shifting gait, a loose fence board, or an overdue vaccination. This article gives you a complete monthly horse care checklist you can act on today, a step-by-step walkthrough of each task, practical tips, the mistakes owners make most often, and clear guidance on when a finding needs a veterinarian. **This article is educational and is not a substitute for veterinary diagnosis or treatment.** ## Monthly Horse Care Checklist At a Glance Print this list, laminate it, and hang it outside the tack room door. Tick each item on the same date every month. | Task | What you do | Why it matters | |--|--|--| | Weight and body condition | Weigh with a tape or scale, score body condition by hand | Catches gradual gain or loss early | | Hands-on health check | Temperature, pulse, hydration, skin, eyes, legs | Establishes your horse's normal baselines | | Hoof and shoe check | Pick out all four feet, look for cracks, heat, loose nails | Hoof problems advance quietly | | Dental watch | Note dropping feed, quidding, head tossing, weight loss | Dental pain mimics other problems | | Preventive care calendar | Review vaccination, deworming, and dental exam due dates | Keeps you on schedule with your veterinarian | | Feed and water audit | Check hay quality, storage, troughs, and salt availability | Feed errors cause colic and weight loss | | Facility safety sweep | Walk fences, stalls, gates, and waterers for hazards | Prevents traumatic injuries | | Tack and equipment inspection | Check girths, billets, bits, helmets, and trailer | Worn tack breaks at the worst time | | Pest and parasite control | Manage manure, standing water, and rodents | Reduces disease vectors around the barn | | Records update | Log everything in your horse health record | Trends over months reveal problems early | | Travel planning | Inspect the trailer and plan transport health checks | Transport carries real health and injury risk | Schedule the farrier according to your horse's individual needs rather than a fixed rule. Many horses do well on a four to eight week cycle, but the right interval depends on hoof quality, workload, and whether your horse wears shoes. Ask your farrier and veterinarian to set the schedule for your horse and put the next appointment on the monthly checklist each time. ## Why a Monthly Routine Matters Horses are prey animals. They mask pain and weakness until a problem is advanced, which is why owners often notice disease only when colic, lameness, or rapid weight loss appears. A structured monthly check forces you to look for the subtle changes that daily routines let you overlook. You see your horse every day, so small shifts in shape, appetite, or attitude are easy to miss. Comparing this month to last month, with numbers written down, breaks that blindness. A monthly routine also protects horses that travel. Transport is one of the most stressful routine events in a domestic horse's life. In a large Australian survey of nearly 800 people responsible for moving horses, transport-related health problems during or after a journey were reported by 67% of respondents, and behavioral problems, especially at loading, were reported by 38% [1]. If your horse travels to shows, clinics, or new pasture during the month, transport-related checks deserve a permanent line on your checklist. There is a paperwork benefit too. Consistent monthly records turn your barn into a longitudinal health file. When your veterinarian asks whether the weight loss started last month or four months ago, the answer changes the differential list completely. ## Monthly Horse Care Routine Step by Step Follow these steps in order. Set aside 30 to 60 minutes per horse. Work at a calm time of day, and always tie or hold your horse safely. ### Step 1: Weigh and Body Condition Score Your Horse Use a weight tape at the same spot on the heart girth each month, or use a [livestock scale](/knowledge/animal-farming/alternative-livestock/livestock-scale-selection-installation) if you have access to one. Record the number immediately. Weight tapes estimate rather than measure, but a consistent technique gives you a reliable trend line. Then run your hands over the ribs, neck crest, withers, behind the shoulders, over the loin, and at the tailhead. You should feel ribs easily with light pressure but not see them prominently. Score the condition subjectively in words in your notes, such as "ribs easy to feel, no crest" or "crest developing, ribs hard to feel." The Merck Veterinary Manual's horse owner resources describe body condition scoring as a practical hands-on assessment of fat cover, and your veterinarian can teach you the technique in one visit. If you have never been shown, ask for a demonstration at your next wellness exam. Compare against last month. Any steady trend over two or more months in either direction deserves a conversation with your veterinarian, even if the horse looks fine to your eye. ### Step 2: Run a Hands-On Health Check Take baseline readings and inspect from nose to tail. - **Temperature.** Use a digital rectal thermometer. Know your horse's own normal rather than a textbook number. Record it. - **Pulse and gut sounds.** Learn the resting heart rate and the location of gut sounds on your horse with your veterinarian's help, then listen each month. - **Hydration.** Check gum moisture and note the drinking pattern in your records. - **Skin and coat.** Run your hands over the whole body. Feel for lumps, heat, swelling, scabs, rain rot, and tick attachments. Look under the tail and between the hind legs. - **Eyes and nostrils.** Look for discharge, cloudiness, swelling, or asymmetry. Eye problems escalate quickly and are never a wait-and-see item. - **Legs and joints.** Run hands down all four limbs before exercise. Compare left to right for heat, swelling, or filling. - **Attitude and appetite.** Note eating behavior, manure consistency, and water intake over the past week in your log. The point of the monthly exam is not diagnosis. The point is building a written record of what normal looks like for your specific horse, so that an abnormal day in the future is obvious. ### Step 3: Check Hooves and Shoes Pick out all four feet. Look for embedded stones, thrush odor or dark discharge in the frog, hoof wall cracks, heat in the hooves, and a pounding digital pulse, which you can learn to feel with your veterinarian's guidance. If your horse wears shoes, check for loose or missing nails and clinches that have lifted. Note the date of the last farrier visit and confirm the next one. Hoof disease often develops over weeks. A monthly close look catches cracks and thrush while they are still simple to manage. ### Step 4: Watch for Dental Signals You do not examine teeth yourself, but your monthly check should screen for the signs that dental disease produces. Note any of the following and call your veterinarian if they appear: - Dropping grain or hay balls (quidding) - Chewing on one side or slowly - Head tossing or resistance when bridled that is new behavior - Unexplained weight loss despite good feed - Long undigested hay fibers in manure - Facial swelling or a foul odor from the mouth Ask your veterinarian how often your horse needs a formal dental examination. Horses with sharp enamel points, missing teeth, or heavy work schedules often need more frequent attention than horses with simple mouths, and only an oral exam with a speculum can answer that for your horse. ### Step 5: Review the Preventive Care Calendar Once a month, open your records and check three due dates. - **Vaccinations.** Your veterinarian designs a vaccination plan around your horse's age, location, exposure to other horses, and intended travel. Review which vaccines are due in the coming two months so you can schedule the visit rather than react to a lapsed schedule. - **Parasite control.** Modern parasite management is strategic, not calendar-driven. Fecal egg count testing guides which horses need treatment and when, and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) promotes this targeted approach to slow drug resistance. Ask your veterinarian to interpret your horse's results and prescribe a program. Do not rotate dewormers on your own schedule. - **Dental exam.** Confirm when the next exam is due and book it. The monthly calendar review is what turns a wellness plan on paper into a wellness plan in practice. ### Step 6: Audit Feed and Water Walk your feed room and pasture water sources with a critical eye. - Check hay for dust, mold, unusual heat inside bales, or weed contamination. - Confirm stored feed is in a sealed container, off the ground, and free of rodents. - Scrub water troughs or buckets. Algae buildup reduces how much some horses drink. - Confirm a salt source is available and not fouled. - Note any feed change you made this month, including hay source, because abrupt changes disturb the hindgut. If your horse's weight trend from Step 1 is moving in the wrong direction, the feed audit is where you look first, together with your veterinarian or an equine nutritionist. Kentucky Equine Research publishes extensive guidance on matching forage and concentrate amounts to a horse's workload and life stage, and their resources can help you frame questions before you call your vet. ### Step 7: Sweep the Property for Hazards Set a timer for 15 minutes and walk the horse areas deliberately. - Walk every fence line. Look for loose boards, protruding nails, sagging wire, gaps under gates, and frayed electric tape. - Check stall walls, bucket hardware, and feeders for sharp edges and broken latches. - Move or flag machinery, stored vehicles, and debris horses can reach. - Look for standing water where insects breed. - Check that gate latches work and that no one has propped a gate open. Traumatic injury is one of the most common transport-related problems reported by horse owners, and property hazards cause the same category of wounds at home [1]. The monthly sweep is the cheapest lameness prevention you will ever do. ### Step 8: Inspect Tack and Equipment Faulty equipment fails under load. Once a month: - Clean and inspect the girth, billets, and stitching. Billets that stretch, crack, or tear at the holes are a safety failure waiting to happen. - Check the bit for wear, sharp edges, and loose rein attachments. - Inspect stirrup leathers and pads. - Check every halter and lead rope, including trailer ties, for cracked leather or frayed webbing. - Inspect your own helmet for age, impacts, and manufacturer replacement guidance. Cleaning tack monthly also puts your hands on the leather often enough to notice a problem before it is dangerous. ### Step 9: Manage Pests and Parasites Around the Barn Monthly property-level parasite and pest control supports the individual deworming plan your veterinarian sets. - Drag or harrow pastures where feasible to break parasite life cycles in manure piles, and ask your veterinarian whether this suits your property. - Remove manure from stalls and high-traffic areas regularly. - Eliminate standing water and manage insect habitat. - Keep feed sealed and clean up spills to discourage rodents. - Check your horse's monthly hands-on exam findings for tick loads and skin reactions, and discuss tick-borne disease risk in your region with your veterinarian. ### Step 10: Update the Horse Health Record ![Four pillars of a horse health record: weight, baselines, due dates, and dated photos.](/article-images/illustrations/monthly-horse-care-routine-record-keeping.webp) A [horse health record template](/knowledge/veterinary-medicine/equine-care/horse-health-record-template) does not need to be fancy. It needs to be consistent. Use one page per horse, either on a clipboard or in a spreadsheet, with these fields: - Date of the monthly check - Weight or weight tape reading - Body condition notes - Temperature and pulse - Appetite, water intake, and manure notes - Hoof findings and farrier date (done and next due) - Dental exam date and findings (done and next due) - Vaccinations given or due - Deworming given, product used, and any fecal egg count results - Injuries, illnesses, or behavior changes during the month - Feed changes - Vet and farrier visits with their contact notes - Travel events, with dates and destinations Photograph anything visual, such as a swelling or a skin lesion, with a ruler or coin for scale. Photos paired with dated notes are powerful evidence when you ask your veterinarian whether something is changing. ### Step 11: Close the Loop on Travel If your horse traveled this month, transport deserves dedicated attention in your records and in your checks. The Australian transport survey found that traumatic injuries, diarrhea, muscular problems, respiratory problems, overheating, and colic were the health problems owners most commonly reported in connection with transport, and that transport-associated deaths occurred across a two-year review window [1]. The authors also noted that amateur owners who traveled less often and over shorter distances did not escape these problems, which means every owner who trailers a horse carries this risk [1]. Build three transport-related habits into the monthly routine: - **Before any trip in the coming month,** inspect the trailer floor, walls, ramps, dividers, and ventilation. Check that the truck and hitch are serviced. - **Practice loading** during a calm session. Loading refusal is the most commonly reported transport behavior problem, and regular low-pressure practice prevents it from becoming a crisis on show day [1]. - **After every trip,** monitor appetite, manure, attitude, and leg heat for the following days, and record anything abnormal in the monthly log. ## Monthly Horse Care Routine Tips - **Anchor the routine to a date, not a mood.** The first Saturday of the month, every month, works better than "when I get around to it." - **Do the hands-on exam before grooming.** Dirt and sweat hide skin lesions, and a clean horse hides ticks. - **Weigh the horse before the farrier visit** if they come monthly, so hoof and weight trends sit next to each other in your notes. - **Photograph your horse from both sides and the front every month.** Conformation and condition changes are easier to compare in photos than in memory. - **Keep the checklist where feed is stored,** not in a drawer. Visible systems get used. - **Involve a second pair of hands.** Ask a trainer, barn manager, or friend to look at the horse with you monthly. Fresh eyes catch what yours have normalized. - **Write notes during the check, not after.** Undocumented observations are lost observations. - **Ask your veterinarian to review your records annually.** A vet reading twelve months of weights, temperatures, and notes can spot trends you cannot, and can adjust your preventive care plan against real data. ## Monthly Horse Care Routine Common Mistakes - **Skipping the records.** The single most common failure is doing the work and not writing it down. Without numbers, you cannot compare months, and your veterinarian loses the history. - **Treating deworming as a fixed monthly habit.** Strategic deworming guided by fecal egg counts and your veterinarian is the current standard, because blanket scheduling drives drug resistance. A monthly calendar check of the plan is right. Automatic monthly deworming is not. - **Confusing a checklist with a diagnosis.** Finding heat in a hoof or a firm lump means "call the vet," not "watch it for two more months." - **Weighing inconsistently.** A weight tape in a different spot, applied with different tension, produces noise instead of trend. Fix the technique and keep it fixed. - **Ignoring water in winter and summer both.** Reduced intake is a colic risk factor in every season. Scrubbing and monitoring troughs belongs in every month, not just hot ones. - **Letting the farrier schedule drift.** A horse that was due at four weeks but gets trimmed at ten has a different hoof, and a different risk profile, by the time the farrier arrives. - **Checking the trailer only before a big trip.** Floors and ramps rot quietly. A monthly glance prevents the discovery happening in a driveway with a horse on board. - **Normalizing small changes.** "He's always been a little stiff on the left" is a sentence that should end up in front of a veterinarian, with dates attached. ## Troubleshooting Your Monthly Check ![Decision path sorting monthly horse check findings into monitor, call this week, or call immediately.](/article-images/illustrations/monthly-horse-care-routine-triage-findings.webp) Most monthly findings fall into three groups. **Group one, document and monitor within the month.** A small, soft, non-painful lump with no heat, a minor coat rub, or a slightly loose manure pattern with normal appetite and attitude. Photograph it, note it, and reassess in two weeks. If it is unchanged and the horse is comfortable, discuss it at the next routine visit. **Group two, call your veterinarian this week.** A new lameness, a wound, heat or filling in a limb, a suspected dental signal such as quidding, weight loss over two consecutive months, a fever above your horse's normal range, or diarrhea lasting more than a day. These are conversations, not emergencies, but they should not wait for the next monthly check. **Group three, call immediately.** Signs of colic such as rolling, flank watching, pawing, or refusing food, a hot hoof with a strong digital pulse, a grossly swollen limb with severe lameness, eye pain or cloudiness, or a horse that is down or shivering after transport. These are emergency calls at any hour. Diarrhea and colic appearing within days of travel belong in a special category. Both are recognized transport-related health problems [1], and both can escalate fast. Tell your veterinarian about the trip dates when you call, because the travel history changes their thinking. Transport-related respiratory signs, such as coughing or fever after a long journey, also warrant a prompt call. Shipping-associated pneumonia appeared in the transport survey as a real, recurring outcome over a two-year period [1]. Rest, ventilation, and monitoring after travel are cheap insurance. ## Welfare and Safety Points - Every monthly task should be performed with the horse secured by a safe knot or quick-release tie, or held by a competent handler. - Move around a horse at the shoulder, keep a hand on the body, and never sit or kneel beside legs during the exam. - Learn your horse's normal temperature and pulse only with veterinary instruction, and never attempt procedures your veterinarian has not taught you. - Children and dogs should be managed during the monthly session. Interruptions cause most handler injuries. - If your horse shows fear or aggression during any step, stop and ask a trainer or your veterinarian for help. Forcing a check teaches a dangerous lesson. - A checklist never replaces daily observation. The monthly routine sits on top of daily feeding, turnout, and attention, not in place of it. ## Limitations and When to Contact a Veterinarian This article describes a general framework for a monthly horse care routine. Individual horses need individual plans. Age, breed tendencies, workload, pregnancy, underlying disease, climate, and property layout all modify what the right routine looks like, and only your veterinarian, who knows your horse, can set vaccination intervals, deworming strategy, dental exam frequency, and hoof care cycles for you. Contact your veterinarian promptly, within days, when you find: - Any lameness or gait change - Heat, swelling, or filling in a limb or hoof - A wound, even a small one, especially over a joint - Weight loss or gain across two consecutive monthly checks - New dental signals such as dropping feed or resistance to the bit - Diarrhea, especially after travel - Fever, meaning a temperature above what your horse's own baseline records show - Any eye abnormality - New behavior change with no obvious cause Contact your veterinarian immediately, as an emergency, for: - Signs of colic, including rolling, pawing, flank watching, or refusing food - Non-passage of manure with discomfort - A hot hoof with a bounding digital pulse - Severe swelling with non-weight-bearing lameness - Eye pain with tearing and squinting - A horse down, shivering, or in obvious distress - Labored breathing or fever after transport When in doubt between "this week" and "right now," call and describe what you see. Telephone triage is a normal part of equine practice, and your dated monthly records will make that call faster and more accurate. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What should a monthly horse care checklist include? It should include a weight and body condition check, a hands-on nose-to-tail health exam, a hoof and shoe inspection, a review of vaccination, deworming, and dental due dates, a feed and water audit, a property safety sweep, a tack inspection, pest control around the barn, an update to your health records, and transport checks if the horse travels. Ten to fifteen minutes of focused attention per area is enough. ### How often should the farrier visit my horse? There is no single correct interval. Many horses do well between four and eight weeks, but the right schedule depends on hoof growth, workload, hoof quality, and whether your horse is shod. Ask your farrier and veterinarian to set the interval for your horse, then track the appointments on your monthly checklist. ### Do I need to deworm my horse every month? No. Modern equine parasite control is strategic, based on fecal egg count testing and your veterinarian's recommendations, rather than automatic monthly treatment. Blanket scheduling accelerates drug resistance. Use your monthly checklist to review the plan your veterinarian has set, not to deworm by the calendar. ### How do I keep a horse health record? Use one page or spreadsheet row per month with fields for weight, body condition notes, temperature, pulse, appetite and manure notes, hoof and farrier entries, dental entries, vaccinations, deworming with fecal egg count results, illnesses or injuries, feed changes, and travel events. Photograph anything visual with a scale reference. Consistency matters more than format. ### What is the most commonly missed part of a monthly horse care routine? Record keeping. Owners perform the checks but do not write numbers down, so gradual weight loss and creeping condition changes go unnoticed until they are advanced. Write the weight, temperature, and observations down every single month. ### How does horse transport connect to my monthly routine? If your horse travels, add three transport tasks to the month. Inspect the trailer floor, walls, ramp, and ventilation, practice calm loading during a low-pressure session, and monitor appetite, manure, attitude, and legs closely for several days after each trip. Transport is a recognized source of injuries, diarrhea, respiratory disease, and colic. ### What supplies should I keep stocked for monthly checks? Keep a digital rectal thermometer, a weight tape, hoof pick, flashlight, pen and clipboard or a charged tablet, salt for scrubbing troughs, clean bucket, hand sanitizer, and your horse health record template in one container. Restock anything missing during the monthly check so the kit is always ready. ### When does a monthly routine finding become an emergency? Call immediately for colic signs, non-passage of manure with discomfort, a hot hoof with a strong digital pulse, severe non-weight-bearing lameness, eye pain, labored breathing, or a horse that is down or in distress. Call within days for lameness, wounds, fever, persistent diarrhea, weight changes, or dental signals. When unsure, call and describe the signs. ## Sources 1. [Survey of horse transportation in Australia: issues and practices.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27671078/)