There are all sorts of devices available for humans to monitor their own bodies during workouts. You can track your steps, heart rate, respiration rate, distance traveled, and countless other factors to better maximize your health and workout effectiveness. But what about your horse? Horses are athletes too, but there isn't really an easy way for you to monitor how your horse is doing during your rides.

Until now. Enter Balios, a revolutionary device which can be attached to any girth. Balios gathers data during your horse's workout and records those sessions on your smartphone. You can monitor your workout in real-time, meaning that you can also adjust your workout appropriately so that your horse gets the maximum benefit.

Have you ever thought that your horse felt just a little bit off, but you couldn't pinpoint what was going on? Balios has the ability to analyze asymmetry in your horse's movement, which could potentially alert you of lameness before it becomes a serious issue.

Additionally, Balios can provide discipline-specific feedback. Analyze the path, speed, and trajectory of your horse's jump, or look at the path, cadence, stride length, and elevation of your dressage horse's movement.

There is currently a Kickstarter campaign for Balios, through which you have a chance to support the initial stages of this product's creation. Additionally, be sure to check out the website for Balios. We'll do our best to bring you a product review once Balios is available.

Blanco, the stunning grey Andalusian who played Gandalf’s mount Shadowfax in the Lord of the Ring movies, has passed away. Blanco’s owner, Cynthia Royal of California, reported that the horse suddenly became gravely ill. He was hospitalized for several days before his condition worsened and Royal was faced with the difficult decision of letting him go.

In addition to his role in the Lord of the Rings series, Blanco also appeared in the Hercules movie and TV series, as well as in numerous commercials. This beautiful horse will be missed.  

The responsibilities of Connecticut horse owners were significantly changed on Wednesday, thanks to a ruling by the Connecticut Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the horse is “a species naturally inclined to do mischief or be vicious.” Supreme Court members deemed that horses are naturally inclined to bite.

The court ruled that owners have “a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent the animal from causing injuries that are foreseeable because the animal belongs to a class of animals that is naturally inclined to cause such injuries.” This ruling means that owners can be held liable if a horse causes an injury that the owner hasn’t taken preemptive steps to prevent. While liability insurance is available to individual horse owners, the horse’s being deemed an animal "naturally inclined to do mischief or be vicious" could result in their becoming uninsurable.

The ruling was prompted by an incident in 2006 when a boy was bitten by a horse he was trying to pet on a farm in Milford, Connecticut. The responsibilities of the horse's owner were called into question - if a horse is naturally prone to bite or be vicious, should the horse have been muzzled or kept in an area where people could not easily access him? 

We all know that some horses are more mischievous than others, and some horses may be more prone to bite or kick than others. But ruling that all horses are naturally vicious is an extreme step, and one that could have significant implications for horse owners down the road.