Horse

Horse vet supplies are the everyday first-aid and barn-care items you keep on hand between farrier and veterinary visits: wrap and bandage material, topical liniments and salves, fly and chew deterrents, oral pastes, and treats for easy handling. Ashario Pets carries 11 equine items from CoFlex, Animal-Pro Products, Panomec, Farnam, Fiske's and Bio-Bite, ranging from $3.71 to $25.64 CAD.

What belongs in a basic equine vet supply kit?

Most riders and barn managers build around four groups: wrapping, topicals, pest control, and oral products. Start with wrapping, because it is the item you reach for fastest and replace most often.

• Bandaging — CoFlex self-adherent bandages in 4-inch width stick to themselves rather than to hair, which makes them practical for leg wraps and for holding a dressing in place.
• Topicals — Absorbine Veterinary Liniment Gel from Animal-Pro Products is a classic rub-on for use after work or a long haul. Fiske's Horse Skin & Wound Salve and Hoof & Hide Balm cover surface skin and hoof-wall upkeep.
• Pest and chew control — Farnam Bronco Horse Fly Spray for turnout season, and Farnam No Chew with sprayer in 946 mL for horses that gnaw blankets, wraps or stall wood.
• Oral products — Panomec Horse Oral Paste comes in a 642 g tube, the format most shoppers mean when they search for a "horse tube."

Equine meds in Canada: what to check before ordering

Read the label for the product's own dosing chart, which is generally set by body weight, and follow it as written. Anything beyond routine topical or over-the-counter barn supplies should go through your veterinarian, especially for a horse that is pregnant, underweight, or already on a treatment plan. Nothing here replaces a vet exam.

Which items suit which owner?

One-horse owners usually do well with a compact kit: one roll pack of bandages, one liniment, one fly spray, and treats. Trainers and multi-horse barns tend to restock wraps and fly spray by the case, since both are consumed seasonally. If you are handling a horse that is hard to catch or nervous about hoof work, Bio-Bite offers apple horse treats along with peppermint and anise flavours, which gives you a few options if your horse is picky.

Ashario Pets ships horse supplies Canada-wide and offers same-day pickup at our North York store, so GTA riders can grab wraps or fly spray on the way to the barn.