Observe Attitude

STEVE: Evaluating a horse’s attitude is something you should be doing routinely anyway. Because what you see is their normal occurrence or appearance and what their normal routine is and how they respond to you and how they are in the environment that you put them in.

When they have a behavior that is different or aberrant from what they normally would be. If they are a little depressed. If they are not acting like themselves, then it may be indicative that they’re potential coming down with something. And then you maybe want to go ahead and check the pulse in their feet, go ahead and check their rectal temperature. And see if they have eaten that day, if they have cleaned up their hay, if they have drank water, if you house them.

And if not, you may want to put them in a place where can observe them closer and evaluate them to determine if there is something going on. At that point in time then you need to make a determination if you need to call a professional in or not.