Some more issues to worry about:

1) Floating of the teeth.

Horses need to have their teeth checked/filed down at least every 6 months to prevent sharp "hooks" from forming. If a horse does not have its teeth floated it presents all sorts of problems, the number one being unable to chew food completely. The tongue and inside of the cheek can also get cut up from sharp points form on the molars and tooth loss will follow.

2) Sheath cleaning.

If this horse is indeed a male like you've implied I'm sure he needs a good sheath cleaning too. As embarrassing/gross as it sounds male horses that are not sexually active need to have their male parts washed to prevent "smegma" from building up. If they aren't washed and smegma is allowed to build it up causes "beans" which are very hard balls that range anywhere in size from a pea or bigger. Beans block the urethra and make it extremely hard and painful to urinate. A good indicator if a male horse has beans is if it stands awkwardly while urinating, if the penis doesn't fully drop down out of the steath, and a lot of them actually groan/moan in pain. A weak stream of urine is another sign. It's a rather nasty part of owning male horses, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I've done it hundreds of times - kinda icky and first but then you get used to it. I've pulled some very big beans out of a few horses (back when I worked at the horse camp), the size of quarters, I felt so bad for them. This job is definitely not to be done by anyone inexperienced, seeing how kicking/bitting/panicing are high factors unless the horse has become used to the ritual.

The vet is normally called in to perform teeth floating & sheath cleaning.

I know the picture you posted is not the actual horse that's on the property- please try to get some real photos on here. That way we can better judge what's exactly wrong with the horse.

As far as the horse being in a cold region such as Canda, the horse is going to be acclimated to it and will survive. You have to be worried about young foals and senior horses that do not have a lot of insulating body fat to keep them warm. Of course when the weather dips down in to the extremes, you have to be worried about any domestic animal - but for the most part- they'll be just fine. Also, leaving a halter on a horse that's constantly out to pasture- unsupervised/unchecked for a long amount of time is a big no-no. That's very dangerous, an accident waiting to happen. It can get snagged on something and lead to injury. Most halter buckles will snap under extreme force to allow the horse to escape, but it's better to be safe than sorry. It's also rather uncomfortable for the horses and will eventually cause bald spots where the halter is in constant contact with the skin.


Sounds like this individual should not be owning this horse if they do not step up to the plate and take better care of it. Hopefully you can get this guy some much needed help and make him happy!!